As a few of you may know, I am a bit of a sentimental guy. It doesn't take much to get me crying when I am alone. I've found a few things always bring tears to my eyes; the sad abandoned puppy commercials asking for my money, the abuse support center commercials and the M.A.D.D. commercial with the baby crying in her crib while no one comes to get her. Presumably the mother died in a drunk driving accident while out to get formula for the baby. The reasons these make me cry isn't because of the commercial, but what it means. It means there are people in this world suffering, and for a brief moment, I get to glimpse but a small portion of that suffering.

Using this imagery to spark a reaction of pity and sadness in a person is a sign that someone in marketing has done a job well, and the CEO's haven't botched the message by "helping." (CEOs, please run your company, you studied years for it and do it marvellously. Leave design to designers, they studied it for year and do it marvellously.) With that reaction, the advertiser is hoping to get us to donate to their cause, or to make us aware of something. If the carrot won't work use the stick, right? This whole negative emotional blackmail is one of the reasons I don't like watching TV anymore. It's also...

Why I love Child of Eden.

For those of you who have never played the game, Child of Eden is the spiritual successor to Q Entertainment's Rez and Rez HD. It's made by the same people, so don't worry, no copyright issues involved. The game takes place inside Eden, what the people of the future call the internet. The amount of information on Eden has inspired scientist to create an AI within the network, by compiling the knowledge and memories of the first girl ever born in space, Lumi.

If you aren't already aware, Lumi is the lead singer from the band "Genki Rockets". She isn't a real person, and is actually more like a vocaloid, using multiple voices synthesized together!

The project was successful and Lumi skips about happily in cyberspace , enjoying the scenery and creatures that live there. Until a virus strikes. It's up to you to float (not fly) though Eden and purify viruses in time to music. The viruses themselves give off music too, creating a very calm and flowy game. The imagery found in Child of Eden reflects a more positive side of our world, demonstrating the beauty of code, of evolution and life, of the nature that surrounds us and of human progress and the technology we have built. In that order. All of this leading to a climactic and well paced battle with the virus holding lumi captive, which sounds more like a symphony then a battle. The effect is elegant and breathtaking for those who are looking for a more artsy game.

Now, you are probably wondering why this game makes me cry, well its simple. This game shows me the world I live in with a positive flair, demonstrating it's not as bad as we think and that there is always a reason to smile. Two trees are enough to bring back a forest, with a bit of help. We evolved from such tiny creatures into the vast complex multi-celled organisms we are today. We are shown how we went from sketches in Leonardo Di Vinci's art books to rockets that hurl themselves towards the stars.

And the final scene of the game breaks me each time.

Ubisoft asked the people of the world to donate memories, photos of moments that made them happy to be placed in the game. Perfect strangers have allowed us to see into their worlds, the things that make them smile. It's always the wedding photo that starts the waterworks, I won't lie.

So that's why this incredible game makes me cry and if you haven't played it, get yourself a copy. This game makes the Kinect work. It's 20$ and I promise you it's worth so much more, because at last we aren't being told what humanity is doing wrong, we are being shown what we are doing right.