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Cage explains why PS3 is 'the best platform' for Heavy Rain

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 2nd 2009 at 6:00PM }

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.

[Via VG247]

Ten spoiler-ific minutes of Heavy Rain

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 30th 2009 at 5:00PM }

It's not often we tell you not to click after the break. But this time around, you're going to have to make a choice: will you watch the ten minutes of unedited gameplay footage of Heavy Rain from G4TV, or will you restrain yourself? Let's not forget that David Cage believes multiple playthroughs of the game "kill the magic of it." This scene, which takes place in the Blue Lagoon nightclub, has some revealing moments you may want to enjoy during your own playthrough.

Should you refrain from taking a look, we'll reassure you that the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Heck, even the load screen is beautiful!

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Off-putting off-screen Heavy Rain footage

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 27th 2009 at 2:45PM }

Remember the scene in Heavy Rain that we told you about at E3? The emotional roller coaster in which private investigator Scott Shelby does his best to thwart a convenience store hold-up? Remember how we noted the plentitude of ways that players can tackle this single scene, using a variety of context sensitive inputs and quick time events? Try to remember that as you watch off-screen footage of the same scene after the break, which has the players rather amused at making Shelby repeatedly run into walls and, ultimately, getting him shot.

It's a bit silly, but it does prove one thing: It's fun to watch Heavy Rain even if you're only trying to see how bad the situation can get.

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Taking care of a child: Four minutes of Heavy Rain footage

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 16th 2009 at 9:00PM }

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."

Hands-on: Heavy Rain introduces Scott Shelby

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 6th 2009 at 3:30PM }

I don't think I'm being too cynical or jaded when I say that it's hard for me to get legitimately excited for video games anymore. I love playing video games, and I heartily appreciate the good ones -- but the games that fill me with keep-you-up-at-night anticipation are few and far between.

After playing Heavy Rain for the first time on the show floor at PAX, something tells me my slumbers will soon be interrupted by Quantic Dreams' upcoming ... well, for lack of a better term, interactive movie.

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Cage: Multiple playthroughs of Heavy Rain could 'kill the magic of it'

by Xav de Matos { Aug 31st 2009 at 4:00PM }

In a recently posted excerpt from a GamesCom 2009 interview, Quantic Dream's David Cage told G4TV that multiple playthroughs of the upcoming Heavy Rain could "kill the magic of it." Cage's hope is that players approach the title as they do life -- with no second chances -- but the dev understands (and accepts) that players will eventually attempt to relive the experience.

"The right way to enjoy Heavy Rain is really to make one thing because it's going to be your story. It's going to be unique to you. It's really the story you decided to write." While Cage is fine with players going back to experience the title multiple times, we have a sneaking suspicion that Quantic is working on an Inspector Gadget style self-destruction feature for Heavy Rain's retail release.

Gallery: Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer

David Cage explains Heavy Rain's striptease

by Justin McElroy { Aug 27th 2009 at 1:45PM }

We were personally scandalized by the Heavy Rain scene that featured one of the lead characters, Madison, stripping as a means to gain information. But Quantic Dream's David Cage explained to Eurogamer that it was all part of the plan. "You need to go through different emotions," Cage said, "and showing this scene in particular was for us a test to see if we can 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 later added, "Besides, did you see the sales numbers for Indigo Prophecy? Either we added a striptease or space marines with giant guns shaped like John Madden." ... No, no, he didn't say that. But he had to be thinking it, right?

Quantic Dream considering DLC sequels, prequels for Heavy Rain's characters

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 26th 2009 at 3:16PM }

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.

Heavy Rain features 10 voiced languages, subtitles in 6 more [update]

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 20th 2009 at 2:31PM }

Heavy Rain will be fully voice acted in 10 languages, with subtitles also available for all spoken languages, plus six more languages. These details were disclosed during a presentation at GamesCom this afternoon, when Quantic Dream founder David Cage introduced Pascal Langdale, the actor playing the English-speaking version of Heavy Rain's Ethan Mars (pictured right), and talked about the extensive voice work necessary for the game's many branching scenes.

Knowing a single Blu-ray disc can store language data in bulk, we were curious about how many language options would be available in the game. As it turns out, if Cage had brought out all of Mars' voices the the room would have gotten pretty tight. Check out the confirmed list of languages after the break. (We're still waiting for official confirmation on a couple -- the Quantic Dream team couldn't name them all off the top of their heads.)

Update: Heavy Rain's associate producer and localization manager, Romain Castillos, has given us the official list of languages and subtitles.

Gallery: Heavy Rain (GamesCom 2009)

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Heavy Rain's David Cage wants to set the record straight on QTEs

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 20th 2009 at 11:28AM }

"No! We don't make Dragon's Lair! This is not Dragon's Lair – do you think I'm crazy? I'm not stupid. Do you think I develop on PlayStation 3 to do Dragon's Lair again? It would be absurd. Of course it's not." We typically lead into quotes with a bit more background than that, but those who've read message board diatribes dismissing the upcoming Heavy Rain as nothing more than a series of Quick Time Events surely understand the frustration of Quantic Dream founder David Cage -- who owns the mouth from which the above quote was uttered during a press demonstration at GamesCom 2009.

Cage went on to explain "when there is an action sequence, yes we integrate [these] QTE sequences," but the rest of the time, the player will have full control as they navigate the game's four characters through a deep, choice-riddled story. That actually sounds pretty reminiscent of Quantic's last game, Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit. That's great and all -- but we actually wouldn't be disappointed by a new installment in the Dragon's Lair franchise. We admit it -- we're Dirkheads, through and through.

New Heavy Rain trailer is all about love

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 18th 2009 at 3:29PM }

Fresh from Gamescom comes a brand new trailer and screenshots for Heavy Rain, PS3's exclusive "psychological thriller." This latest trailer reveals a brand new character on his quest, one in which everything was done out of love. "How far will you go to save someone you love?" the trailer asks. We'll all find out when the game debuts next year.

Gallery: Heavy Rain (GamesCom 2009)

Heavy Rain producer talks characters, story, deaths

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 7th 2009 at 4:15PM }

If your thirst for information regarding Quantic Dream's upcoming psycho-killer drama, Heavy Rain, has yet to be slaked, you may want to check out the above video. It features an interview with the game's executive producer, Guillaume de Fondaumiere. No OMGMegatons are dropped during the duration of said interview, but Fondaumiere does explain the inspiration behind the game's story, and gives a few more details into the two out of the four characters the developer has chosen to reveal.

Try not to get too attached to these protagonists -- Fondaumiere also reminds us in this video that any of them could die at the drop of a hat. Or rather, a knife, assuming said knife drops into one of their more vital locations.

Heavy Rain's David Cage to deliver keynote at GDC Europe

by Griffin McElroy { Jul 28th 2009 at 6:20PM }

Administrators of the European version of the Game Developers Conference just revealed yet another keynote speaker for the event -- not at all shockingly, the speaker is Quantic Dream CEO and founder David Cage, whose company has released titles such as Omikron: The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy, as it was known in the States), and is currently hard at work on Heavy Rain. Considering said studio is based out of Paris, we suppose Cage is European enough to keynote the conference.

Cage's address sounds pretty interesting -- it's titled "Writing Interactive Narrative For A Mature Audience." Considering what we've seen of Heavy Rain, he's probably the right person to deliver such a speech. However, considering what we remember of Indigo Prophecy, the first half of the speech will likely be gripping and insightful, and the second half will be nigh-incomprehensible. We fully expect to hear Illuminati conspiracy theories spoken in Esperanto. Backwards.

[Image]

[Via Edge Online]

Quantic Dream selling motion capture libraries

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 19th 2009 at 3:15PM }

One look at Heavy Rain, and you'll know it was an expensive, expensive game to make. Looks like Quantic Dream is already thinking up new ways of recovering the costs of the enormous project. The developer of the upcoming PS3-exclusive adventure game is selling its motion capture data in library packages. The offering will be what Quantic Dream calls "the industry's first high-end, off-the-shelf solution for real-time 3D character animation," according to a report by Develop.

Considering the developer spent nearly a year doing motion capture work on Heavy Rain, it's no wonder why the developers are touting their work.

Impressions: Heavy Rain

by Jem Alexander { Jun 8th 2009 at 11:00AM }

Heavy Rain is not your typical game -- the experience promises to change and morph throughout the different scenes. While the Taxidermist and Mad Jack scenes are reasonably similar, with our protagonists infiltrating areas for clues and then making their escape after being discovered, the new scene shown off at E3 by Quantic Dream's David Cage illustrated how situations and gameplay styles will differ throughout.

This new scene does exactly what it says on the tin. Named "Madison At The Blue Lagoon," it follows the exploits of our female protagonist, Madison -- who you may recognise from the Taxidermist scene -- at a busy club called the Blue Lagoon. Madison has gone in search of the club's owner, Paco, in order to get new information regarding something. As usual, Quantic Dream's David Cage is appropriately cagey about giving away too much of the story.

In contrast to the other scenes we've been shown, which have involved only a couple of characters at a time, the Blue Lagoon is packed full of people. Madison weaves through them naturally and realistically as she makes her way through the dancing throng towards the bar. This game's graphical fidelity tends to range from "incredible" to "a bit iffy," but this scene looked great, despite the relatively large number of characters on screen. With a Q1 2010 release date and with the game 70% done, there's still time to iron out any graphical kinks.