Heavy Rain - Light info appears and two vague screenshots.

[The Squirrel]

There is no biggie about the scene.

If shooting people point blank in the face and ripping off heads is acceptable then why isn't what we have seen? Games with violence and nudity are given a 18 rating meaning that no one under the age of 18 should be playing the game and is not allowed to purchase the game just like a DVD.

Some people are just ignorant and think that video games are just for kids when they aren't.

Games are just like films, some are meant to be played/viewed by kids and others aren't.

If a 10 year old ends up playing Heavy Rain then it is the parents fault not the games developer who will probably get the blame if anything like this happens!

Blame the parents!? That's crazy talk!

 

[omen_s]

lol ^^

 

[The Riddler]

just read about this game yesterday.

really looking forward to it, though from the videos i've seen, i'm not sure if i'll get it. i'm all for the use directional buttons, but it seems like it prohibits you from being in more control of action sequences. like not being able to physically aim a gun sucks.

 

[Havok83]

just read about this game yesterday.

really looking forward to it, though from the videos i've seen, i'm not sure if i'll get it. i'm all for the use directional buttons, but it seems like it prohibits you from being in more control of action sequences. like not being able to physically aim a gun sucks.

well its not an action game and its not a shooter. I dont think they need to focus on aiming and shooting mechanics.

 

[Soapy]

Yeah. There really isn't a whole lot to be in control of. If you're looking for an action game, then you should probably look elsewhere. This is mostly a descendant of classic adventure games.

 

[The Riddler]

well its not an action game and its not a shooter. I dont think they need to focus on aiming and shooting mechanics.

i'd like it if they allowed you to aim though when given the opportunity in the game for a more hands on feel.

just me though.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's more of an interactive novel. You control scenarios via your character, basically, not your character's direct skills. Think of it in role-playing terms: The characters' ability to shoot someone shouldn't be dependent on your ability to shoot someone. You're interacting with their story; you yourself are not a part of it.

 

[jacobed]

I'm really looking forward to this game, I think its really interesting and definitely a different concept than what we've been getting from games lately.

 

[shadowdog]

I agree
the things Ive seen make it seem very interesting
I'm excited to see how it turns out

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Me too. I hope we're not the only ones, though. It's getting a lot of press coverage, but it's definitely not the kind of game your typical gamer buys.

 

[shadowdog]

totally
but recent studies have shown the age of the average console gamer is much higher than it used to be
you know, since all us NES and Atari kids are all old now and still play when we can
I hope it does well
I love the idea of trying to use a game to envoke emotions other than fear and terror and excitment, like usual
Im all about it

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/16/taking-care-of-a-child-four-minutes-of-heavy-rain-footage/

It's not every day that Quantic Dream's Guillaume de Fondaumiere decides to show off four minutes of gameplay from the developer's upcoming PS3 adventure Heavy Rain. This video, shot for Japanese audiences, goes into great detail about Ethan -- the character of focus in the last trailer for the game. [Spoiler Alert!] After a car accident kills one of his sons, you'll take control of Ethan as he deals with his grief and takes care of his other child.

"I obviously need to take care of my son. There is nothing that I have to do. This is really a free choice scene. If I want, I can just sit down or do nothing, or not take care of my son," Fondaumiere explains. Whether or not you choose to be a deadbeat dad, you'll have to deal with the repercussions. "Actions in Heavy Rain always have consequences. You can see consequences of your actions in two, three scenes after they occur. Some other consequences can be dramatic and completely change the story."

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ethan's story is the one I'm most looking forward to. Interesting that they even make your level of fondness for your kid an interactive variable for Ethan. Man, I can't wait for this game.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Here's an article I found pretty interesting about the use of sex we've seen from Heavy Rain thus far

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/1...x-what-video-games-might-or-might-not-teach-/

Much like the “major award” won by Ralphie’s father in A Christmas Story, contemporary video games with “the snap of a few sparks, and a quick whiff of ozone” tend to offer rather ideal, if incomplete images of lurid matter to their audience. Indeed, sexuality tends to get treated in one of two distinct ways these days.

The first treatment appeals to Ralphie’s voyeuristic curiosity at the sight of the simulation of an adult female leg in its electrified form, the infamous leg lamp itself. Getting to view some T&A in a Leisure Suit Larry game as a result of solving some puzzles or beating some mini-game or getting to ogle Dead or Alive babes clad in the scanty suits that took a lot of effort and deductive skill to convince those women to put on are both ways of treating electric (or stimulatory) versions of sex as if such images are indeed “a major award”. After all, they serve as a visual reward for the player’s efforts in the game.
The second common treatment of sex is to reduce it to manual operations, seemingly a more suitable and participatory effort than other media can usually provide in their expressions of the pornographic. Film, television, and books can merely offer the same fleeting voyeurism of the aforementioned games, but video games offer the opportunity to participate in the representation of sex by potentially simulating its process and not merely by representing images similar to it as a Playboy magazine might.

While Ralphie’s groping of the leg lamp in A Christmas Story has a certain passionate pubescent charm to it, efforts of the manual variety in recent video games maintain the cold, plastic feel of a mannequin leg and teach probably less about effective groping than Ralphie’s initial efforts at such business. The sex mini-game in God of War reduces sex to the stabbing motions of button mashing (while obscuring the activity as the camera modestly turns its gaze away from the ménage à trois that Kratos is participating in). Similarly modest is the Saint’s Row “ho-ing” mini-game that allows only the view of a bathroom door behind which some lurid behavior is apparently occurring between the player’s avatar and a john. The only participation in this activity is represented by some odd manipulations of the right and left sticks of the controller that vaguely resembles the mechanics of a rhythm game.
Such efforts reduce sexual representation to some kind of weirdly mechanical process. Participating in simulated sexual acts in these games seem to maybe offer less insight into what sex is about than traditional passive, voyeuristic pornography does.
That is why I was fascinated by a recent interview with David Cage of Quantic Dream, the developer of the forthcoming Heavy Rain. In the interview published in the October 2009 issue of Game Informer, the interviewer comments on a sequence in the E3 demo of the game, in which one of the game’s protagonists, Madison, is forced to strip at gun point by a mob boss. The interviewer reports that playing this sequence “made me feel uncomfortable”. Cage responds by saying:

Fantastic. You know what? That is exactly what we wanted. Exactly. It was really funny to read the reactions to this scene because people were kind of confused. They really feel uncomfortable because it’s a really strange situation . . . You control a girl and you’re forced to strip in front of a guy, and the guy is really disgusting . . . Yes, it’s a strong moment for the character. But if we managed to make you feel uncomfortable it is because at some point we made you believe you were Madison.
​

If I am interpreting Cage’s thinking correctly, he seems to be suggesting that Heavy Rain is moving beyond the voyeuristic simulations of sexuality offered by countless other forms of more passive media and also beyond simply making a participatory simulation of sexuality into a mere simulation of the “‘ol in-out, in-out”. Instead, what seems to be offered here is a potential simulation of some of the psychology of the sexual experience.

In this particular instance, the psychology is particularly fascinating as it is likely a rather novel experience for the largest demographic of video game players, males. If feminist theory concerning the tendency for women to become the object of the male gaze holds any credence, the experience of being made object to that gaze may be an entirely new experience for many players. Indeed, it may also be an uncomfortable one as traditional gender roles and perspectives may be tested and reversed as a result of being made to “believe you were Madison” because players will participate in this humiliating act rather than merely view it.
Certainly, Cage and Quantic Dream’s efforts are not entirely new. Many video game players have toyed with gender bending experiments such as playing avatars that represent themselves as the opposite of their own gender. I have played female avatars in online games and have noted differences in the ways that I am treated when playing as a female character as opposed to a male character. Largely, my own experience had led me to observe that I seemed to receive a lot more gifts from other players when playing as a female (which may suggest something about cultural norms and expectations concerning male-female relationships).
However, this limited sort of experience was not placed in the context of a story or a character whose entire personality is coded as female (my avatar was always driven by my own personality as I am not one to play “in character” in games, not attempting then to specifically act like the character that I am playing in the context of the gaming world). Adding layers of storytelling and the more objective, dramatic qualities of scripted and directed behaviors into this mix may produce more focused statements on sexuality than we have seen in gaming thus far and may push this participatory art in directions that the passive arts are limited in exploring. Because we may have to reconsider who we are as we play out the experiences of someone else. Games have the potential to create empathy with characters rather than the sympathy that film or books might evoke in watching someone else suffer or experience pleasure.

Such illumination might shed some interesting light on sexual issues by provoking emotional responses from players invested in “being” their characters rather than practicing the merely mechanical aspects of sex as if it were a mere game or puzzle to be solved. I am hoping that more developers are willing to produce a more interesting and insightful vision of real sex through the simulation of the electric, rather than offering us the same leering peeks at it through the window that we have had before.
—G. Christopher Williams

Just thought it was a pretty interesting read

 

[Electro UK]

Holy crap, so today I sat in on a developer session with none other than DAVID CAGE!!!

He took us through 3 different versions of the Shelby level, and answered questions.

Afterwards, I got my hands on that level for myself. Had an interesting way of getting shop pretty much as quick as you could, by raising my hands half way and lowering them 3 times in a row. Robber didn't like that.

 

[Tron Bonne]

What did you think of overall, Electro? I remember you were person who seemed to be least enthused about it

 

[Electro UK]

While I'm still not 100%, this game is a definite improvement over Fahrenheight.

The controls are a little confusing (R2 is go, and you move his head around with other sticks), but when you get used to it, you can really see how this is going to be a game that is unique to every player.

I for example, entered the shop, and questionned the keeper very sensitively at the start, sympathizing with his loss and playing the "another kid out there" angle. When this didn't work, I shrugged it off and made my way to the back of the store.

Obviously the robber then entered, and I decided to skip the talk and go in for the kill. I'd noticed the crisps on the floor of my isle, but decided I'd be able to step on them lightly. Caught by surprise having to press X to avoid heavy steps, the robber was alerted to my presence.

This was when I decided I wasn't going to go along with some 2-bit mug's plan, so I mocked him with my hand gestures... which got my shot.

When Cage played it, I saw an entirley different way of going about the scene.

My problem is that right now, that all ended up in the same place. The scene ended the same however you went about it. But this is a minor scene, getting shot doesn't kill Shelby, but I guess in following scenes possible dialogue and bandages may appear.

I think its slowly but surley moving onto my buying list, I was really impressed with what I saw today. The best part was my friend who hadn't played the Norman Jayden part, got his ass kicked by Mad Jack, and died in the crusher.

Cage is an amazing man though. He told these fascinating stories of visiting Phillidelphia, of the near slums people lived in, doing research with a family that had just lost a daughter and how it changed his whole perspective of writing.

Plus he's hilarious. He earned a trophy for getting the guy to leave, talking-wise and screamed "YAY! I EARNED A TROPHY!!" which made everyone laugh. Or when he stepped on the crisps on one play through "Oh no, I forgot about the crisps!"

Great guy.

 

[Tron Bonne]

This was when I decided I wasn't going to go along with some 2-bit mug's plan, so I mocked him with my hand gestures... which got my shot.

My problem is that right now, that all ended up in the same place. The scene ended the same however you went about it. But this is a minor scene, getting shot doesn't kill Shelby, but I guess in following scenes possible dialogue and bandages may appear.

So, like no matter how you go about taking out the robber (killing him or talking him out) it all ends up the same?

 

[Havok83]

I got my 360 controller to work with Indigo Prophecy on my PC and Im replaying it now. I forgot how great it was when it was released. Still enjoying it now

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/02/cage-explains-why-ps3-is-the-best-platform-for-heavy-rain/

Cage's explanation for why the game is a PS3 exclusive.

With Quantic Dream's previous (and very weird) Indigo Prophecy available on multiple platforms, many gamers have been curious as to why Heavy Rain is a PS3 exclusive. PushSquare reports that Quantic Dream's David Cage -- once again -- explained the reasoning behind the game's exclusivity at the Eurogamer Expo. He first noted that any answer he gave would be "suspicious," but further explained that the PS3 hardware is "extremely powerful," adding, "If you make a real PS3 engine, then you can have really fantastic performances." He elaborated that porting to the Playstation 3 from other platforms "becomes difficult" (something we've heard before).

Beyond technical reasons, Cage said that the team at Quantic Dream loves the console. "I play PSOne, PS2, it's really a part of my culture," said Cage. Cage also added that realistic graphics aren't necessary to create emotional characters, but noted that the goal of Heavy Rain was to create truly believable characters. "With this approach," said Cage, "PS3 was by far the best platform."

Given what we've seen of Heavy Rain thus far, we'd be hard-pressed to argue.

Well, I'm sure there's truth to it, but I'm sure the fact that Sony picked up publishing rights also has something to do with it :/

 

[Havok83]

the best looking games on the platform are the ones that are made specifically for the PS3 and since this is such a story based experience, Im glad they took that approach

 

[Electro UK]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/02/cage-explains-why-ps3-is-the-best-platform-for-heavy-rain/

Cage's explanation for why the game is a PS3 exclusive.



Well, I'm sure there's truth to it, but I'm sure the fact that Sony picked up publishing rights also has something to do with it :/

This was the session I sat in on.

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3176737

Heavy Rain is an unusual game, and certainly not the easiest one in the world to describe. Unless you've read previews or heard the game talked about, it might not be particularly easy to wrap your head around. As a result, it might be a hard sell to gamers who aren't able to get their hands on it. Quantic Dream is well aware of this and is working on a demo for the game, which is no easy task in and of itself. Quantic Dream CEO and Heavy Rain writer and director David Cage recently spoke with G4tv, confirming that a demo is in the works and explaining some of the difficulties of creating a demo for a game like Heavy Rain:

We are currently working on a demo, which is a real challenge. Finding one scene that can convey what we are trying to achieve with Heavy Rain is something really difficult. If we show an action scene, some players will think that this is what Heavy Rain is all about, and it is the same thing if we show an exploration scene. The problem is that each scene of the game offers contextual game play, which is something very difficult to explain and convey in a single demo. Demos are often a double-edge thing: if you don't release one, players may think that you have something to hide. We also know many good games that ended up not being massive hits because the demo could not convey the quality of the game behind it.​

That's certainly good news for anyone who is unsure that Heavy Rain is really something they want to play. As Cage says, "Because Heavy Rain is a new concept and since many gamers will want to check what it is before buying it, we will be releasing a demo. We just need to find the best scene for it." There's no release date attached to the demo at this point, but the full version of the game is set to release in early 2010.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I hope the demo is received well. I really want HR to succeed.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I think it will.

If there's anything that pisses consumers off, it's misleading them about a product. And Heavy Rain at no point has come off, or been shown to be, one of the traditional games. So, off the bat most people know it's not going to be that. Aside from that, which probably would be the biggest hurdle in getting the gameplay across to gamers who don't neccessarily think outside the box...the game is getting buzz, I think.