Heavy Rain (PS3)

[eDotd]

While Sony has been hemorrhaging exclusives for quite a while now, one of the titles they've decided to hype is Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain. This game has been getting a good amount of buzz in the day or two since a post on Sony's blog talked about the title and pegged it a Sony exclusive.

This is an exciting development, as Quantic Dream has made some great story-driven games like Indigo Prophecy and Omikron: the Nomad Soul, but I'm skeptical about the game's financial future. Based on the video demowhen we featured him in our article about writing in games, these things make for great experiences but rarely pay off when it comes to actual sales. (NSFW language) shown at E3 last year, David Cage hasn't lost any of his love for emotionally-charged writing or story-based game play. However, as we noted when we featured him in our article about writing in games, these things make for great experiences but rarely pay off when it comes to actual sales.



TECH DEMO: HEAVY RAIN

[HMcCoy]

Quote:

Indigo Prophecy and Omikron: the Nomad Soul

Loved both of those. This should be hot.

[Flawless]

New details


On Locations:
"I don't want to do a big free-roaming city like GTA, because the flow of the story will then be hard to control. Nevertheless, I do want to incorporate big sets, with a crowd, heavy populated areas like a mall and a subway are going to be in there. Of course, the gameplay has got to make use of that aspect too."

On Graphics:
"People will be surprised. Internal (Sony's) feedback on graphics has been great. This is going to be a truly next-gen game. But still, we want to do something unique with the graphics, going beyond just making the most photorealistic world we can."

On Gameplay:
"With the release of Fahrenheit, we gave the adventure genre a new grammar. We brought new ways into the genre, new words if you want to see it like that, a new vocabulaire. With Heavy Rain, where going to expand on that same grammar."

On Story:
"Heavy Rain is about normal people that have landed in extraordinary situations. I wanted a much more personal story. The first thing that came to my mind, as a father of two little boys, was that the main theme should simply be a father's love for his son. This is not a game about saving the princess or the world. Its purely about a father's love."

"The main story will revolve around 4 different characters, and we're putting the spotlight on their perceptions. The question 'what is good and what is evil' is the key here, that will be just a matter of viewpoint...I believe heavily in moral choices, I'm going to use them A LOT. They're not about being good or bad, but about finding the right balance."

[Flawless]

Dreaming of a New Day: Heavy Rain's David Cage

Quote:

The first and most obvious thing that I want to talk about is emotion in games. One thing that comes to mind for me is that you're going very far into realism, and quite often, the more realistic you get, the more difficult it can be for players to identify with the characters, given the Uncanny Valley situation. So why do you want to push toward realism? DC: I agree and disagree with your statement. You don't have to be realistic to create emotion. Of course it's not required. There are many, many examples of that in the game industry. What I'm interested in with realism is that I want to learn, basically, what it means to perform for an actor, and what it requires to translate this performance from a technical and creative point of view. Basically, I want to learn, and we really learned a lot working on the casting demo, for example, not only from what worked but also from what didn't work. I think the uncanny valley is something that people talk a lot about, but I think we'll start to see the end of it. We're not out of the Uncanny Valley yet, but we can start to see how to limit it. Once we have learned how to create really realistic characters, then they will be contrasted to nonrealistic characters, and we will apply what we've discovered to different types of rendering and characters. So you don't feel that realism limits your audience? DC: No, I'm the opposite. To tell you the truth, I think it's easier for a major part of users to relate to something that looks real, as opposed to something that's totally out there. I wouldn't say this is my personal opinion, because as an educated gamer, I can relate to basically anything based in talent. But I think a lot of games explore realism, and I think it's easier for players to relate to something that's close to what they know, rather than something totally strange.

Heavy Rain will be shown at the Leipzig Games Convention next month.

[stiffarmleft]

I loved Indigo Prophecy, can't wait for this.

[Flawless]

New Screens

[ThaGenecyst]

eat your heart out metal gear

[in mid air]

Amazing graphics!!