Ben-DutkaIt seems that just about everyone has fallen in love with Heavy Rain , even those who normally don't work with the PlayStation 3.
First, designer and Fable creator Peter Molyneux, who has been a definite supporter of Microsoft and their Xbox platform, said that Quantic Dream's masterpiece was "absolutely brilliant," and now, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski – also known as "CliffyB" to most Xboxers – has praised Heavy Rain 's uniqueness and innovation. Over at his Twitter page , he said:
"By combining elements we’ve seen before in an excellent manner it appears as if Heavy Rain has birthed a new genre, the 'Interactive Drama.'"
A reader responded by clarifying that past titles like Sega's Shenmue and Quantic's own Indigo Prophecy introduced such gameplay styles first, but Cliffy responded by simply saying that the reason Heavy Rain is unique is "because this game does it better than anyone else." See, it's one thing to introduce the concept; it's quite another to flesh it out and bring it to a completely revolutionary level. Even when I was playing IP – and loving it, by the way – I was saying to myself, "man, think of what else could be done with this…" Like I said before, love it or hate it, everyone seems to recognize what Heavy Rain has done for the industry.
Related Game(s): Heavy Rain
Yeah, Heavy Rain is better than any game Cliff has ever programmed. He thinks games where you shoot stuff are the only ones that matter.
Last edited by n/a on 3/20/2010 11:17:20 AM
"He thinks games where you shoot stuff are the only ones that matter."
Brighat, Cliff was being complimentary to Heavy Rain, then you have to go diss him?
So, you think Gears Of War and Unreal Tournament are great games?
Sorry, I still don't trust the likes of Peter Molyneux, Cliff Bieszinski and Aaron Greenberg just yet when they praise games from their competition. I want to see them create a game on the PS3. I know Molyneux's company is owned by Microsoft, though.
Last edited by n/a on 3/20/2010 11:47:49 AM
Hmmmm, not sure where you are taking this conversation. I was responding to your original comment.
In this article, Cliff states that Heavy Rain is the birth of a new genre, and that they do it better than anyone else. Sounds like praise to me. Then you proceed to state that he only thinks shooters matter.
That is what I was responding to. I was not making a comment about Gears or Unreal T. which by the way were generally praised by critics since you bring it up. Now if your next comment would be that critics don't matter, then I guess critics praising Heavy Rain, GOWIII, and Uncharted 2 don't matter either.
As far as them praising the game, I think it is great that they praise it. I would hope that deep down, they are gamers, and they probably all have a PS3's at home. they probably just send their wives to the store to pick up Heavy Rain and God of War III for them.
Last edited by MyWorstNightmar on 3/20/2010 11:57:30 AM
The Original Unreal Games were effin fantastic, and the main reason I never even bothered with Halo. UT3 was pretty weak, imo, but that in no way diminishes (in my eyes), what was done with its previous Iterations.
Fine. The praise is nice. Now, I'd like to see Cliff make a game for the PS3. Not Gears Of War 3 but a whole new franchise.
Fair enough, I wouldn't mind seeing what his brain could produce on the PS3 either.
But yeah, and I wasn't trying to smash you or anything, but some of what he's done has truly been great.
Didn't Epic release Unreal Tournament 3 on the PS3? And why does it matter whether they did or not? Does a developer automatically become "good" when they make games on a particular platform you happen to like?
I really like seeing developers respond positively to each others work, especially those who aren't typically associated with the hardware that its presented on.
Good to see that Quantic Dream is getting some serious props for this accomplishment. No, it's not the best game ever made, but it's certainly a new (or revived) genre, that's been sorely missing this gen. And done very well.
With the success of Heavy Rain, I wonder if Sega and the creators of Shenmue will ever reconsider canning part 3? If nothing else, Heavy Rain shows there is a substantial audience for this type of game.
Perhaps if they did a port of 1 & 2 and brought them to the PSN/XBL or released them as a set beforehand with optimised for HD graphics alá the God of War Collection?
I always thought it was a shame Shenmue never got the ending it deserved.
Sega said they are willing to do it but, only if a publisher is willing to snap it up to make it exclusive like Sony or MS
Could the Doctor know?
It's funny with all this shenmue talk going on while I've been considering playing part 2 on the ol Dreamcast. I liked the first one, but it had some major boredom issues (working at the docks every day)
World the North American Dreamcast version isnt in english. You'd be better off getting it on Xbox(english) if you still have your old one.
Edit: Oops sorry didn't see the bottom comments.
Last edited by Hitch on 3/21/2010 12:24:55 AM
Shen didn't do interactive drama 1st but, Shen did 10x more than Heavy Rain 1st.
Now before people cry, thats not me saying Shen is a better game because of that or what not, Shen remains one of the most innovative games ever. It birthed so many things in multiple genres, not just one thing.
Im in no way taking anything away from Heavy Rain but Shen deserved what Heavy Rain got. Shen should never be ignored, it was doing much of Heavy Rains activity, 10 years ago….i guess the world wasn't ready.
Anyway, about, interactive drama…
*THIS IS ENTIRELY PERSONAL PREFERENCE*
I want them to expand on how the opening chapters were done in Heavy Rain. The delicate, subtle scenes like playing with your kids, wife bonding, work or for a better example, the entire father and son scene.
I want a whole game done like those scenes. I felt so much emotion in those opening chapters and i slowly began to disconnect as the game went on due to its tonal shifting into more action.
To me, it ended up becoming an almost remake of the film "Seven" with flaws here and there, mostly in the writing.
This doesn't mean i disliked it, i thoroughly enjoyed it and fully support it….im just being picky 😛
Anyway, as said, in this "new genre" i would like to see them more delicate scenes expanded on.
Last edited by Lotusflow3r on 3/20/2010 12:04:58 PM
I felt the complete opposite, like the more touching scenes with your kids was really just a warm up on how to use the controls, and that like any narrative it properly picked up the pace and introduced numerous conflicts that are what made the earlier emotional connections important. Just my opinion though.
*EXTREMELY MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*
Exactly, which is why i stated it's personal preference.
Heavy Rain would have a hard time being Heavy Rain if it continued the whole way how it began.
Those scenes simply got you connected to your characters so that you feel the horror later on.
But, my personal preference doesn't entirely like mystery thrillers in the vein of Seven. I enjoyed the actual interactive drama at the beginning.
It just felt so much better to me. Later on, i became a bit mind numb doing quick times in the heavy amount of action/tense scenes that followed.
There were a few more scenes that catered to my preference later on like Shelby taking care of that baby…very well done and you don't realise why your asked to do that in such detail until later dramatic scenes in which that baby scene becomes a haunting realisation.
So, there are moments of more "heavy" scenes and story telling but, it wasn't enough for me.
You stated you hated going to work on Shen, i saw it as not only fantastic innovation but, more character development….you felt more like you are him and his world.
Character development is something that is forgotten in both movie and game industries.
I could see doing SOME work in Shen, like in order to ferret out the info you need, but it just dragged on. Was there anything like that in Shen2?
No, none like that BUT, there is a job involving crate moving that is easily completed to earn money.
Shen 2 was more uptempo then the 1st. You will probably enjoy it more.
Thanks Lotus, my lack of Heavy Rain newness may drive me into Shen2. I have the xbox version, but it doesn't feel right on anything but the Dreamcast. So I got the version with the Xbox English.
Oh no, play the Dreamcast version!
The Xbox version has the most outrageous dubbing known to man! Dreamcast is all in chinese (subtitled) and gives it an authentic feel….and as always, its convincing
As long as they don't go around copying stuff and making some xbot game out of it, keep the praise rollin'.
Oh I'm sure one is coming.
although it would probably be on 3+ dvds
You are correct 'World'.
Instead of Heavy Rain, the game would be called 'Light Drizzle' and would be 3 dvd's as dlte said.
You know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
woa, you shouldn't quote around my name, makes me sound bad.
I'm not sure a game like this would be very popular on the 360, its a very mature and psychological game and I think that 360 gamers pretty much just want instant and constant action where you shoot anything that moves. I know I'm generalising 360 gamers but you just need to look at how they flock in the millions to nearly every FPS game released, Halo impaticulary.
They probably need to make this game an fps for xbox fans to enjoy.just put a cross hair in the middle of the screen and a trigger button.
Usually I am not into these types of games, I favor more action based games.
I played the demo and the writing and scenes are very, very well done. I have a friend will be getting a ps3 because off it and I should it myself. Good job QD!
Nice to see other devs from other generas complementing a great game like HR.
damn it, i still havent played heavy rain yet, i have it though installed and everything. i'm more inclined to play rpgs and shooters though. I still have mag, bad company 2, final fantasy 13, white knight chronicles, god of war series, and resonance of fate to go through.
Its pretty funny though, i never had a backlog problem before when i was in school. I stayed in school from 8am to 12 midnight alot but i still got my games done. now that i have a lot of time after graduation and no available job, i started to have a lot of games i havent played yet. damn all these games coming out right after the other.
I don't think it can be a new genre unless there are more games coming that have the same gameplay. I haven't heard of any but maybe Cliff knows something I don't. (Besides how to design games!)
gears of war is amazing and will boost online play you have no idea…. if it came to ps3,,, but he said it would be amazing with natal…… and that threw me off natal is going to be a joke… it dont even have its own processor, hello carnival games… lol
<<<<A reader responded by clarifying that past titles like Sega's Shenmue and Quantic's own Indigo Prophecy introduced such gameplay styles first>>>>
True that, but that reader also forgot to mention "Deus Ex"(or else he's never played it)
Deus Ex came out on the PC in 2000, only 1 year after "Shenmue".
Then DE showed up for the PS2 in 2002, and that was a full 3 years EVEN before Fahrenheit, which came out 2005(quoting my toned-down North American version-ed "Indigo Prophecy" copy of it).
And even the Xbox got their DE sequel in 2003, a full two years before Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy was released too.
Glad to see Heavy Rain still getting the attention a month after release.
Now, if Cliffy B. could 'birth' a ps3 game, people might start taking him a little more serious.
Yeah it would be great if he brought a game over to the PS3 but who doesn't take this guy serious? He is the mastermind behind a critically acclaimed franchise. Get your facts right.
Glad to see you back Hitch.
I for one don't take Cliffy B. seriously so as far as I am concerned, my facts are straight.
Anytime I hear about Cliffy B., all I can think about are his interviews when the PS3 first came onto the market. He spent all his time putting Sony and the PS3 down to make MS and the 360 look better. Therefore, I don't take him seriously.
I am glad he gave QD some recognition but until I hear him say something positive about Sony and the PS3, he will be just another developer too scared to embark on a journey with the superior PS3. Is that good enough for you?
Yeah I guess so but just like you did in your second post, speak for yourself. You can't speak for "people". But everyone has the right to their own opinion as long as they can discern the difference.
Hell, when CliffyB actually gives "birth" to any game, I'll nominate his pregnant belly into both, the……
American Medical Association Journal,
and the Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not Museum!
I'll pass out the cigars!
no, they have not given birth to a new genre, the genre already existed.
desus ex and quantics previous titles for example, heavy rain certainly gave the genre the kick it needed to become more popular but it certainly did not create it.
i really hope developers have the balls to take what quantic gave us and build on it, because its by far the most fun ive had playing a game ever!
DICE and mirrors edge, now thats giving birth to a new genre.
in fact there really the only ones who have given us a new genre this gen.
who said first person platformers cant work?
o, yea thats right my teacher, another nail in the coffin to prove hes a idiot.
nice guy, but is more of a follow the sheep person than a step out from the crowd.
thats why his games will always be confined to XBLA and never hit the big time!
to survive in this industry you need to do at least 1 of these things.
1 create a new genre.
2 take something some one has made and bring it to the next level.
3 take something some one has made and do it yourself.
the more the better, if you just copy and paste 10 year old ideas your going to sink like a lead balloon!
read the article again, but this time while using your brain.
Heavy Rain rocks, can't wait to pick it up (: