Heavy Rain - Light info appears and two vague screenshots.

[Tron Bonne]

http://kotaku.com/5344201/heavy-rain-eyes-on-meet-scott-shelby-private-eye

Quantic Dream's Guillaume de Fondaumièr offered us our third official look at the developer's PlayStation 3 game Heavy Rain at Gamescom, showing us just a few of the many possibilities that await us in the hi-def choose your own adventure.

Since Quantic Dream had already thoroughly teased the adventures of newly revealed character Ethan Mars at Sony's Gamescom press conference, our demo focused on the fourth and final playable character, Scott Shelby. In Heavy Rain, Shelby's been hired to do a little detective work on the Origami Killer, in service to those who have long lost loved ones to the mysterious serial killer. The Shelby segment shown to us didn't reveal much of the game's story line, instead putting a heavy emphasis on its characters and the consequences of their choices.

The brief scene was set in a convenience store run by a man named Hassan, father of one of the Origami Killer's victims. Shelby's there to interview Hassan, but the private dick finds it hard to get anything out of the shop owner who is clearly still hurting from the loss of his son. Shelby's solution? Make use of his proximity to convenience and pick up some asthma inhalers.

Whilst shopping for said inhalers, Hassan's Shop is robbed by a young and jittery thief. Shelby, luckily out of sight, has a choice to make.

Fondaumièr showed us the results of one of those choices, with Shelby slowly creeping down one of the store aisles directly behind the thief. Along the way, Shelby nearly knocked over what appeared to be a box of detergent, but Fondaumièr was dexterous enough to catch it via an on-screen prompt, quietly replacing the box. He then, just as quietly, pulled a bottle of booze from the shelf to his left. Sneaking up behind the assailant, Fondaumièr swung the PS3 controller downward, knocking the thief unconscious.

Hold up averted.

Shelby's alternate attempt wasn't as cut and dry. Fondaumièr instead chose a different aisle to sneak down. Upon exiting, he found himself perpendicular to the thief who spotted Shelby in his peripheral.

At the thief's nervous request Shelby held his arms up—really, Fondaumièr held the R1 and L1 buttons on the DualShock controller—and attempted to talk the thief down. Negotiating is as technically simple as pressing one of the controller's face buttons, but you'll have to make the right decision. Fondaumièr did, choosing a series of soothing, grounding dialogue options that tied into the game's thread of love and loss.

The demo didn't show off much that we didn't already know about. We've seen Heavy Rain in action multiple times and have become familiar with its control scheme, its mechanic of letting the player hear the internal thoughts of its cast, and the complex threads that weave between each of the four characters' respective stories. Co-creator David Cage has been careful about not revealing much in the way of intertwining plot, so we'll be interested to see how scenarios and characters overlap in the final product.

What we saw at Gamescom was as consistently good as Heavy Rain has been over the past year in its public showings—it's now been a year since we first saw a playable build. It's not due to hit PlayStation 3s until sometime next year, so we're guessing there's still more yet to be revealed about the game.

We'll let you know our internal thoughts on those details when the time comes.

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/26/quantic-dream-considering-dlc-sequels-prequels-for-heavy-rains/

Don't fret -- Quantic Dream founder David Cage isn't planning on charging you for the ending to the studio's upcoming Heavy Rain. In a recent interview with VideoGamer.com, Cage explained that the game's eight to ten hour story was "a self-contained experience," but that Quantic is "talking with Sony at the moment about having maybe extra downloadable content, maybe with prequels or sequels about the characters." He added that players will most likely "get attached to some of them and will want to know them even better."

We don't doubt Quantic Dream's proven ability to tell captivating stories, but we have one qualm with this statement -- what if all our characters get offed by the Origami Killer? Sure, the prequels could ostensibly still work, but sequels starring corpses probably wouldn't be that interesting.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm already pretty attached to Ethan. His trailer was really, really good.

 

[Soapy]

Was Ethan in the newer trailer? I wandered into Playstation Home for reasons that are beyond me and there was a Heavy Rain trailer playing in theatre.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Was it about a guy losing his kid and having his life go to s***? 'Cause that's the Ethan trailer I'm talking about.

 

[Soapy]

Yeah, that's the one.

It's fascinating (and refreshing) to see game trailers that don't have a guy running around blowing **** up. Haha.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That trailer did a fantastic job of conveying Ethan's character--a guy who's pushed so far that he just goes over the edge. Right around the point where he pulls a gun on a guy, I was as engrossed in that trailer as I would be watching a really good full-scale movie.

 

[Watchman]

So I finished Indigo Prophecy and while I think it was great character work that looks like it will carry over to Heavy Rain the story was a let down.

[blackout]
It started out fine with hints of supernatural influence then it will full blown Neo is the one crazy. I was waiting for the Oracle to walk out and say "Mr. Anderson". Then the Mxyzptlk from Whatever happen to the Man of Tomorrow look alike shows up and something about a race of A.I. It transformed into the Matrix/the Invisibles and it completely lost me.
[/blackout]

I don't care if Heavy Rain hinted at something supernatural happening but just don't go down the path of Indigo Prophecy.

 

[KALEL114]

So I finished Indigo Prophecy and while I think it was great character work that looks like it will carry over to Heavy Rain the story was a let down.

[blackout]
It started out fine with hints of supernatural influence then it will full blown Neo is the one crazy. I was waiting for the Oracle to walk out and say "Mr. Anderson". Then the Mxyzptlk from Whatever happen to the Man of Tomorrow look alike shows up and something about a race of A.I. It transformed into the Matrix/the Invisibles and it completely lost me.
[/blackout]

I don't care if Heavy Rain hinted at something supernatural happening but just don't go down the path of Indigo Prophecy.

The second half is indeed the most controversial thing about that game, but Cage says not to worry about it Heavy Rain.

“That’s absolutely not the case with Heavy Rain,” explained Quantic Dream’s David Cage, director of both the aforementioned Indigo Prophecy and forthcoming Heavy Rain, when questioned during an E3 breakout session about the possibility of “fantasy” elements in the studio’s new game.
The ARI – Artificial Reality Interface – is the only liberty taken in Heavy Rain. “It’s not a sci-fi game; no magic; no alien nothing; just reality.”

http://www.pushsquare.com/3055/david-cage-heavy-rain-wont-go-balls-out-bonkers-in-the-second-half/

 

[Havok83]

The problem with Indigo Prophecy was that the last third was rushed. It was pretty evident as it didnt quite mesh will with what came before it. I dont think the same problems will arise here bc the team is taking their time with the story and developing the game. As much as I wish it were coming out this year, Im all fine for it being pushed to next year and any further delays (provided they arent excessive) as long as it means that they do get enough time to create a consistent and coherent story which they unfortuently didnt have the last time

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I find it hilarious that Cage wrote the final act of IP that way because he thought his video game wasn't "video gamey" enough.

 

[Nathan]

No way, that was his reason?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I can't remember the exact quote or where the interview was, but someone posted it a while back. Basically, Cage was afraid that the game was too focused on character work and didn't have enough action in the plot, which would make players bored or something. Now, having gotten all the ambivalent reviews about IP because of that final act, he's realized that telling a good, character-based story is very plausible with modern game audiences--thus, Heavy Rain.

 

[Watchman]

Good to hear that Heavy Rain will concentrate on character work instead of going all Matrix on us. This is one of my anticipated games along with Brutal Legend.

 

[Nathan]

I don't mind fantastical elements, I loved the beginning of IP, the Matrix stuff was just too much.

 

[Watchman]

I don't mind fantastical elements, I loved the beginning of IP, the Matrix stuff was just too much.

Horror would actually fit wonderfully in this game if they were going with fantastical elements but yeah IP did get out of hand.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't mind fantastical elements, I loved the beginning of IP, the Matrix stuff was just too much.

I don't mind fantastical elements either, but it made for a really disjointed story to have the early part of the game be so focused on down-to-earth character work and crime thriller stuff and then catapult into outlandish sci fi craziness for the last bit.

 

[Nathan]

So Corp, did you give Shadows of Destiny another try yet?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I got it for the PC. Pretty cheap on Amazon's non-Amazon sellers thing. I played a bit of it earlier today but I had to turn it off and go to work. I'll probably play either some more of that or some more Arkham Asylum challenges when I get back home from work tonight. The keyboard and mouse really make it a lot easier to control. I've gotta populate the main square before 2:30 so I can avoid death for the first time.

 

[Nathan]

Have fun avoiding death many times. It always finds another way to get you.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I played through the first two chapters last night. Pretty fun, although it's very simplistic at this point. I'm looking forward to when it gets more challenging.

 

[Nathan]

I wish I could say it does, but I honestly don't remember whether it got difficult or not. I only vaguely remember it and I will never forget how I died , but I don't remember much of the actual gameplay anymore.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The dialogue and acting are pretty crappy. They sound like every bad anime dub you've ever heard. The gameplay's pretty straightforward so far: travel back in time, go here, find something or talk to people to prevent your death in the present, go back, encounter the next way you'll die, rinse, repeat.

 

[Superhero 101]

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[Tron Bonne]

Interview with Cage

http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/811232/quantic-dream-project/videos/heavyrain_intv_083109.html