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Sony unveils Quantic's Heavy Rain News
PlayStation 3 News by Oli Welsh
At its press conference at the Leipzig Games Convention, Sony lifted the lid on Heavy Rain, a "dark thriller" for PS3 due in 2009.
The game appears to be an extremely cinematic adventure with horror overtones, and a mature, emotionally involving story exploring adult themes not seen in videogames before is promsied.
Live gameplay footage was shown, but aside from very quick button-prompt flashes on-screen, it was virtually indistinguishable from a cut-scene, with fast cutting between static cameras.
David Cage, the writer and director of the game and head of French developer Quantic Dream, said it would be a new kind of emotional, story-led experience not seen in games before.
"For years we wanted to create a different type of experience not based on repetitive actions... but really based on narrative and emotion," Cage said. He said the core of the game would be "emotional involvement, empathy, contextual actions, moral choices and decision making".
He said the player would be " the actor, but also the writer and director at the same time," making decisions that have lasting consequences for the story that's told in Heavy Rain.
The footage showed what seemed to be a rain-soaked American suburban street, with children playing in a front yard. A young woman with short hair made a note into a voice recorder before breaking into a darkened house.
The house contained strangely-dresssed mannequins and the dark outlines of huge ravens hanging from the ceiling. The woman was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant and a very fast-paced combat scene began.
As the woman blocked her attacker with furniture, her actions seemed to be guided by button prompts on the screen; rather than combinations, these appeared to be single quick presses of the four shape buttons only.
Having effected her escape, the camera went in for a close-up, showing the a remarkable level of facial detail, with stunningly lifelike eyes in particular.
Quantic Dream is the French studio behind cult adventures The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit. Heavy Rain was first seen at E3 two years ago in the form of a tech demo called The Casting, showing its advanced facial animation technology.
After David Cage departed the stage, Sony Europe boss David Reeves described Heavy Rain as "the great game for PlayStation 3 next year".
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Latest Screenshots
19 August, 2009 [0]
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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JediMasterMalik
20/08/08 @ 16:42
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Looks fantastic, the action scene looked intense. Facial animation needs work on that woman though.
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http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager....
Heres a piece on how the game works sounds incredible. Leagues above all games we have seen this year.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/08/08 @ 18:12
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Kenshin001
20/08/08 @ 17:13
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Reading the controls you move forward with the right trigger and can move the head with the left analogue. I don't like the sound of that, sounds extraordinarly restrictive. Still, like the premise and atmosphere of the game.
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john_silence
20/08/08 @ 17:33
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I'd absolutely love this to be good - and to come out for the PC eventually. At the same time what they promise here is pretty much exactly what they promised for Fahrenheit, and that one didn't work out as far as I'm concerned, so... let's wait and see.
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It's as much a modern PC issue as it is a console issue. If you have rediculously amazing graphics, your gameplay needs to be super simply otherwise the whole thing grinds to a halt. Heavy rain will most likely be a series of hands off conversations and scenes between characters, with some canned animations triggered by QTEs. Quantic will argue that because they are telling a story and not doing an action game, this is how it's supposed to be. I suspect that gamers will see right through this nonsense and label it very good looking machinema, which is what it currently is.
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ThePissartist
20/08/08 @ 18:13
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Sony showing off all these great looking new Playstation games - where the fuck is Microsoft??
*is a 360 user* |
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If you saw the video, you'd know this couldn't be done on the Xbox...sorry but shapes are distinctive and letters are not :)
I'm glad Reeves thinks this game is THE Playstation game for next year. Now if he could just explain why he thinks we Sony fans should be so excited for those two or three shooters he thinks are so great...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/08/08 @ 19:40
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when did Quantic crawl up sonys ass?
When Sony backed up a dump truck full of money to their doorstep. ;) I wonder if this will stay exclusive to the PS3 though, since Sony doesn't own Quantic Dream? Not that I'd ever play it, since Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit was so gawdawful.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/08/08 @ 19:41
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Noctilucent
20/08/08 @ 18:42
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@Widge, yes Fahrenheit is out for the PC, that's the version I have.
Oh, and Quantic Dream: Give me another Nomad Soul!!!!!!! I'm still waiting for the prequel/sequel, whatever you promised.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/08/08 @ 19:43
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makeamazing
20/08/08 @ 18:43
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but aside from very quick button-prompt flashes on-screen, it
Ah hope its not like that, I really hate those types of games, press a key quick otherwise you will die. Like in parts of Bourne Identity... oh well i was expecting more, will have to wait and see. |
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Indecisive
20/08/08 @ 21:17
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Speculation:
Looks like points of interest are tagged with a button icon (see the O-button tracking the knife near the end of the fight). So not quite "random guessing at what button won't get you killed" as in Dragon's Lair, and not Farenheit-style "watching the HUD overlay instead of what's going on." Should feel pretty natural as you're already looking where the buttons appear. If that's the system, I'm interested. Even if that's all the interaction for the whole game. I loved the Resi4 knife fight. ;) |
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Negotiator
20/08/08 @ 22:14
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This is what N Gen gaming should look like, a fully realised 3D enviroment, the main character in a intense situation and realistic encounters. No 2D bullshit here my friends, gaming being moved forward, not staying in the past, thats what I want.
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SeesThroughAll
21/08/08 @ 01:07
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QTE is a disappointment.
I do like that the button cues are better integrated into the action. But still disappointing. |
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If it actually IS a next-gen Shenmue then that will be a good thing. Unfortunately it looks a lot like the usual B-Movie hollywood wannabee. If this was a trailer for a film then I suspect a lot of people would be going 'meh' at it. As it stands it looks nice graphically, nothing that couldn't be done on a PC or a 360, but nice. The real question is how representative of the game this trailer actually is. It really does seem to be a QTE narrative style thing at the moment.
Here's hoping it turns out good :) |
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The Bodybuilder
21/08/08 @ 07:42
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Why are people wondering why MS let this game slip through thier fingers? You don't think they are busy enough with thier own action-thriller in Alan Wake as it is?
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wewillselfdestruct
21/08/08 @ 08:09
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Hmmm. I wish they'd shown something more than just a QTE section.
Also the title reminds me of Chubby Rain from Bowfinger. |
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I sure think it's pretty.
Control scheme is interesting. Maybe mapping forward movement to a trigger instead of a stick will eliminate confusion with a fixed camera when switching angles. Kudos for trying and I hope it works. And I don't really mind QTE's as long as they're well implemented and aren't overused. There's only so many actions you can map to a joypad. Bourne turned even basic actions into a QTE which is overdoing it. At least that's what I thought.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 21/08/08 @ 09:50
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I like the fact that this particular movie sequence isn't on rails. You can play the sequence not triggering any confrontation, you can confront, defend in a manner of ways, even kill the attacker. Its not the same ever spawning on rails QTE.
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=31... for more details. Also says its not a game of going into houses and QTE-ing away from people. So have a read. Or ignore and keep moaning about QTE. Your choice. |
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Hmmm, this is the kind of gameplay which just doesn't appeal to me at all. :(
The game itself looks nice graphically (not amazing, but good), and that's about the only positive thing I can find to say about it really. Still, I know there are fans of this type of game, and so I'm sure they'll enjoy Heavy Rain upon release. |
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I had high expectations of this title before I saw it. It looked like one extended QTE. Not that I don't mind QTEs used sparingly but when people go on about "realtime" graphics I expect them to mean dynamic gameplay where the models and acting are directly controlled by the player. I don't think of an interactive cut sequence where everything is pre-animated with appropriate survive and death paths depending on your speed to push a button.
If this is how a substantial part of the game plays then I'm not interested. I hope it isn't. I hope that most of it does play out in an interactive fashion and still preserves the much touted graphics and plot. But so far we have so little to go on that I am worried by what has been shown.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/08/08 @ 11:27
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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