Will Heavy Rain Be Heavy Fail, Or Will It Set A New Benchmark?

David Cage, Sony and Quantic Dream have been trying their best to get the Heavy Rain hype train full steam on course, and they've accomplished exactly that. For years now Quantic Dream has left gamers awestruck with the title's realistic visuals that promises to bring out emotions of in-game characters like we've never seen done before. The developer is promising a mature experience that will be something new to the gaming world; so obviously expectations are through the roof. But since the game is bringing so many new and unfamiliar experiences in an industry that has gotten used to 'more of the same', the question remains: will Heavy Rain fail hard, or might it be one of the biggest success stories in gaming history?

Founder and CEO of Quantic Dream, David Cage, has been making the rounds on various gaming websites and other media outlets promoting the game to the max. But it's not your conventional marketing strategy, in fact the path they're taking with advertising is one most developers dare not venture. In a recent interview with GameInformer, Cage was asked whether Heavy Rain was an adventure game and how did he feel about said genre being applied to the title. He gave the definition for what exactly an adventure game is and then uttered, "Based on this definition, Heavy Rain is NOT an adventure game," he told the website. "There is no inventory in the game, no objective to combine or examine, no puzzle, the game does not rely on everlasting dialogues. The story is through players actions and not through cutscenes and players actions have significant consequences on the narrative."

As it stands now according the Mr. Cage, the game can't be tagged under any genre, apparently it's not even a game anymore. That's what he told D'toid in a recent interiview adding even more hype, mystery and of course high anticipation if for nothing else, to see how the effort turns out.

"Heavy Rain is not a videogame anymore in my mind, because it breaks most of the traditional paradigms, but it's fully interactive," he told D'toid. "If the format becomes successful, we will probably have to find a different name for this type of experience," he concluded.

One of two things can happen, either Heavy Rain defy all odds and be successful at creating a new genre, or the game will fail miserably. I see no middle ground. But at least Sony and Quantic Dream must be respected for taking risks in an industry that offers no second chances.

Will you purchase Heavy Rain on day one, or are you staring away all together? Share your thoughts below.

12/22/09 Ernice Gilbert

Heavy Rain Screens Are... Well, Heavy

Heavy Rain is the game Quantic Dream and Sony hope will usher in a positive change in the industry, one that will help people on the outside realize that gaming is not just for kids anymore but rather just like Hollywood, it's graduated from infancy stages and now can cater to mature audiences. This according to David Cage, after all, the people who play the games don't stay young forever, and if the art form don't grow and mature with them, statistics show how drastic the results can be.

A recent survey performed by the NPD finds that as gamers age, they eventually migrate from the gaming industry. So I guess Mr. Cage has a point. Actually he has more than one, his latest show-off being new screens from Quantic Dream's upcoming title Heavy Rain.

They're over at Eurogamer. Understand what the man is trying to say people, take time out to understand.

12/15/09 Ernice Gilbert

David Cage agrees that adventure games are dead

How this could be true I have no clue. In fact in my humble opinion, adventure games are the best! So for one of the leading minds in the industry to agree with the notion that somehow the genre is dead comes off as a premature statement. In fact take any poll today and you'll find out that action/adventure games are at the top of a great percent of gamers favorite genre list.

The Quantic Dream boss man gave his opinion in a response to a question posed by GameInformer.

GameInformer: "Adventure games are dead" is a common phrase in the gaming industry. Do you think that discussion is even relevant in the current gaming landscape?

"I probably agree with the phrase. The adventure genre is one I really enjoyed but it has struggled probably because it's been unable to evolve with the games becoming outdated and of less interest," he said.

"Again, I'm talking about games based on inventory management, puzzle and dialogue choices.

"It certainly does not mean people lost interest in good stories and interesting characters, but more in the specific experience this type of games had to offer.

Leaping from discussing the action/adventure genre, Mr. Cage delved into what differentiates his title from the rest.

"Heavy Rain offers a new approach to interactive storytelling: it is not based on mechanics, it fully integrates real time 3D and cutting edge visuals, it mixes storytelling and actions, and most of all, it offers players to have a real impact on the story. It is not just seeing one or another cutscene at the end, it is about living different stories, being a writer, actor and director of their own story."

Interesting interview, however I still disagree with the notion that action/adventure games are a dying breed.

12/08/09 Ernice Gilbert

Quantic Dream tells Gama "games can be meaningful"

Quantic Dream co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere sat down for an interview with Gamasutra, in which he said if done right, games could be "meaningful."

"I think the most important goal for us is to show that video games can be more than just shooting, driving - that games can be meaningful."

Guillaume de Fondaumiere was also pleased the their game was being called an "interactive movie."

"The best short-term definition we found [for Heavy Rain] was 'interactive movie' which is a double edged sword quite simple because it reminds people of those games at the early '90s when you were basically in a movie and you had the going to the left or opening the door to the right - which of course Heavy Rain is absolutely not."

Heavy Rain will be out February 2010.

Get the full thing through the link.

12/01/09 Ernice Gilbert

Heavy Rain producer adds his two cents on MW2 controversy

The game you're most likely playing right now is causing quite a stir outside the gaming world. As we reported, Fox Noise News had to lend their lips to the controversy and now Russia has banned the game because of the "No Russian" airport scene.

So you can imagine what's going through devs minds throughout this industry; some must be thinking about the implications of said issue and what it means for the games they develop in the future. Well Quantic Dream's Guillaume de Fondaumiere think it's ridiculous that games get treated this way.

"My take is very simple. I don't see any reason why video games should be treated differently than movies, for instance," he told MTV. "I think that we should leave game creators free of expressing their vision as they see fit. I think the guys at Infinity Ward had something very precise in mind when they did the scene.

"The real danger for me is, when you put out such a scene out of context. I can take any movie and take a sequence and make up a story and it will look like something that's amoral or that crosses the line. This is most of the times what happens in video games [in the media].

Well put Mr. Fondaumiere, well put.

Get more up there.

11/14/09 Ernice Gilbert

Video Thirst: Gameplay Demo Of Heavy Rain Is Out

Heavy Rain has been the recipient of praise, and in some instances harsh criticism. Some decry it as going too far, especially with the striptease scene, and others hail it for creating a new genre and pushing the boundaries.

We know one thing, David Cage and his team don't really care what you think. They'll take the risk anyway.

SCEJ has just released a gameplay presentation of Heavy Rain. It shows Quantic Dream CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere play through two scenes from the PS3 exclusive title. Your Son needs help, would you help or ignore him? Any good father would do the first.

Promising game indeed, it's out early next year. Quench your video thirst over here.

10/19/09 Ernice Gilbert

Quantic Dream On Striptease Reaction: That's exactly what we wanted

When Quantic Dream revealed a striptease sequence contained in Heavy Rain never seen before to an audience at E3 09, some were uncomfortable with what they saw. There were many who thought it was not necessary to go that far, and questioned the developer's decision.

Well according to founder of Quantic Dream David Cage, that's exactly the response they were hoping for. He relayed his sentiment best in an interview with EGTV, when asked about the reaction.

EGTV: What did you make of the reaction to the striptease sequence revealed at E3?

"We had a couple of people who felt uncomfortable watching the scene which is perfect because this is exactly what we wanted," he said.

"I mean you can't pretend to trigger different type of emotions and just focus on adrenaline and fight and competition and frustration. You need to go through different emotions and showing this scene in particular was for us a test to see if we could make people feel like Madison, having to get Naked to do a striptease in front of this ugly guy, and obviously it worked because people felt very uncomfortable," cage added.

"It depends, if you want to do toys for kids with video games then you certainly shouldn't do that, but if you pretend to do an adult experience for a major audience, then there's nothing you can't do and you certainly shouldn't count on me to censor myself and say, oh, I can't do this I don't want to do that because it's too sensitive it's too controversial or whatever. I'll do what ever it takes to tell my story," he concluded.

What do you think? Was it an overreaction from the audience, or should there be real concern about the path certain games are taking? Get the full vibe here.

10/15/09 Ernice Gilbert

2009 crowd’s too heavy for Heavy Rain release

The highly anticipated Playstation 3 exclusive Heavy Rain won’t be flooding store shelves this year. In an interview with GI, Quantic Dream’s co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere made it clear that around Christmas is not the best time to release an IP, he said:

"Also, purely from my perspective, most publishers today realise that it's not ideal to release a new IP or a new genre just before Christmas. It's a very crowded place to be, and certain games need more space to live their life. Everybody at working on the project, both at Quantic and Sony, believe this is the right time."

Heavy Rain to me is shaping up to be a Genre defining experience and the team at Quantic Dream has shown their dedication in making the game a masterpiece. Here’s for hoping all expectations are met. He also goes on to say they delivered the alpha of the game on April 15 - on time and on budget so they’re a pretty happy bunch.

Heavy Rain is set to release exclusively for the PS3 and we here at Gamesthirst.com will surely keep you updated with the latest breaking news concerning the new IP, (that’s what we do here my friends).

07/20/09 Ernice Gilbert