I don't know a lot about this game, but it does look like it could be rather fun. The literary references on the emotion icons are nice touches.

 The IGN article leaves me a bit confused however.

"The emotions don't have any impact on gameplay aside from granting certain benefits to some power-ups."

So the emotions, which are important enough to be in the title, don't affect gameplay, but they affect the gameplay under powerups?

 "The strategy of the gameplay is meant to come in by managing your power-ups and mega power-ups in order to combat your opponent's collection of pellets. For instance, there's a power-up called super jumpbash that launches your cube into the air and then crashing back down onto the grid. If you can line it up properly with your opponent's position you'll be able to blast a bunch of its pellets out and back onto the grid. That having been said, strategy never played a huge role in my efforts in Geon. I never lost a single duel, and while I used the power-ups, I never plotted a plan of action and certainly didn't plot out a clever route to the pellets. But then again, I am naturally clever."

Um, so assuming a player of equal skill power up usage will be the deciding factor? In which case won't the emotions be a big influence on game play? Having an emotion that meshes with your playstyle would seem to be very important then.

 "Oh no, I have gone cross eyed."

I agree that the preview was confusing in the bits your mentioned.  Obviously choosing the right emotion at the right time to maximize the payoff of the power-ups *IS* the game.  So why they said it wasn't, I don't know.  Probably just because they were too busy tooting their own horn regarding their inate cleverness.

I have no idea what's going on but I like it and want to see more.