Cage: Heavy Rain could redefine the term “videogame”

“If the format becomes successful, we will probably have to find a different name for this type of experience.” = “Heavy Rain could redefine the term ‘videogame’.”? Really?

Passionate French dude talks enthusiastically about an extreme hypothetical situation.

Lets just ignore it.

I’m gonna love seeing these guys being ripped to shreds once the game actually comes out. They think they’re just providing good hype, but really they’re making sure it can end up as nothing but a huge disappointment.

Classic case of Molyneux foot-in-mouth syndrome.

I got a name for it already!

‘Boring quicktime event game’.

Hey, if it’s not really a videogame, and more like a movie, then how’s about setting up the MSRP closer to the $20-30 range as opposed to standard $60 for videogames?

It’s gonna be somewhere in the middle, it’s not going to redefine the world and it is a lot more than just a series of QTE’s…

Only 18 months ago, weren’t we all bemoaning the trend of World War 2 games, so they should be applauded for trying to do something different (albeit based on an old QTE mechanic, but saying that a lot of things that are old are still rightfully used today)

@4
There’s already a name for it.
“Adventure game”
probably not for you

Cage really enjoys digging his own grave, doesn’t he?

Can’t be any worse than:

“Science fiction writers, film-makers, they haven’t even imagined what Lionhead are able to do today.”

“Natal/Milo is real technology which science fiction has not even written about.”

Nothing could be, on the pretentious self-aggrandising hype scale. There should be a better name for it than that though. The bullshit meter would do, I suppose. Or the “Molyneux scale”.

Oh for fuck sake, Why dont Cage closes his damn mouth. If he carries on he’ll kill this game long before its flippin’ out man!

Seriously.

Doesnt he realise this?

Clearly not

Well, I do think that this, from what I have seen at least, quite comfortably fits into what can be defined as a videogame, no matter what Cage says. I think videogames can be a lot more diverse than people generally think or give credit for, and I hope that they do continue to diverify.

So in summary, I think this rates quite highly on the Molyneux scale, a 7 or even an 8 maybe, if the Natal/Milo sci-fi nonsense registered at the full 10.

Hey, did anybody considered that the guy was right ?

Heavy Rain is a bad movie, it’s not that good a videogame, but it sits somewhere in the middle and it’s actually an interesting and entertaining experience, for the little segment I have played.

It’s an interesting way to tell a story, but it’s not really a videogame as the interactivity is really limited. So yes, a new name would be appropriate. There is a fine line between pretentiousness and being ambitious, and I don’t think that Cage crossed it.

Sion Lenton was pretentious when he was talking about the visual “fidelity” in OFP: Dragon Rising, because the game looks like crap. Cage says that his game is not suited to the word “video game”, and he is just ambitious, but accurate, because it’s not really a game.

setting up the MSRP closer to the $20-30 range as opposed to standard $60 for videogames?
The difference in price between videogames and movies is caused by the fact that videogames aren’t shown in theaters and so don’t benefit from that huge source of revenue.

It’s an adventure game, arguably one of the oldest genres around.

Cage should win some kind of award.

the genre was point and click quest, some call it ‘adventure’.

Well, it’s way more restrictive than an adventure game in my opinion. Whereas we’re talking about games like Monkey Island or Myst or Amerzone. There probably is no backtracking, and in the demo everything scripted, the freedom of movement is very limited or sometimes non-existent, and there’s no challenge (whereas in adventure games, you usually had to solve complex puzzles for exemple)

1. Who here’s played the entire game already? If not, stop judging/assuming please (ie…”There’s no backtracking, everything is scripted, the freedom of movement is very limited or sometimes non-existent, and there’s no challenge”)

2. My point earlier was cause he keeps saying it’s not a videogame, then don’t price it as a videogame. I don’t know, knock $10-20 off the standard $60 rate to make all buyers happy for their investment which, according to Cage himself, has little to no replay value.

3. I’m gonna buy it cause I like genre pushing titles and it looks interesting.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Some people need to grow up, how do we know if it will be bad or not if we aint played it. It looks different and i have a feeling with all the me to cod wannabes that will be out next year we will be grateful for this

I hate the genre, last time I ‘ve played a quest was in like 1998.

1. Who here’s played the entire game already? If not, stop judging/assuming please
I played a part of the game, and yes, there are some assumptions in my previous statement. But usually, the demos provided to journalists or players before release are representative of the final experience, and the developpers have been pretty clear about how the game is structured.

Anyway, I would love to play this when it’ll be released if I had a PS3.

The effort to do something beyond the mainstream should be commended.

A mainstream-as-they-come FPS game is number one in the christmas charts. It does nothing especially new. A discussion occured over the stagnation of the JRPG recently, lamenting that the genre was stuck in a rut and not taking risks.

It seems silly to complain about games staying the same in one breath and then complain about games trying to be different in the next.

‘It seems silly to complain about games staying the same in one breath and then complain about games trying to be different in the next.’

who here’s done that, Bojangles? I think you are imagining things.

Bojangles said:
“It seems silly to complain about games staying the same in one breath and then complain about games trying to be different in the next.”

Brilliant statement actually. DaMan, Bojangles wasn’t necesarily refering to anyone in this specific thread rather I think he’s more refering to the entire market as a whole. We do complain that Dantes Inferno is nothing but a GOW clone and U2 stole all it’s ideas from previous games, etc. Then people complain when a game that tries to be different like Heavy Rain comes along that it’s just a non-interactive QTE or something and have to label it before even playing it.

That’s what I got out of it anyway, and think he’s got a pretty good point.

I think that has nothing to do with this thread actually. it’s just people’s natural reaction to pompous statements by David Cage.

@Bojangles, but Heavy Rain isn’t about a new ‘genre’. I am all for new gaming experiences, in fact this generation has brought a lot of them.

But I really don’t see anything new in Heavy Rain. Nice pretty graphics, but that is about it. Thinking back, Cage spoke about Fahrenheit is exactly the same manner. That was a nice game – but the dudes story-telling skills leave a lot to be desired.

ah, Bojangles is the Beast. nvm then.

I thought the tone was familiar..

if this is much more than an interactive story then i will be a bit shocked.

It may not be, strictly speaking, a new genre, in that traditional adventure games were also primarily about making choices – if that is what Heavy Rain is about..

But it is I think new in the sense of how it is presenting and accomplishing this, it’s a modern take on the idea – as much as MW2 or whatever is still a shooter where you move, aim and shoot, as you did in Asteroids, say.

Me, I love the idea of choice-based, decision-making gaming, in which I would include my introduction to that genre, the Fighting Fantasy books.. Call it an interactive stroy, whatever, I’m definitely in favour. A modern, mature videogaming equivalent I would welcome – whether Heavy Rain succeeds in its ambitions remains to be seen.

@deanimate

I am rather curious as to why you put “more than” an interactive story though.. “More than” in what way? Less twitch-based gameplay? Is that it? Why is, say, Killzone 2, or GT5, or whatever, “more” than an interactive story? Why indeed is an interactive story not “more” than those games? How are you judging these things?

Dr.Ghettoblaster said:
December 21, 2009 at 5:03 pm

Hey, if it’s not really a videogame, and more like a movie, then how’s about setting up the MSRP closer to the $20-30 range as opposed to standard $60 for videogames?
——————
this

From the bits I played it definitely felt more like an interactive movie than a true adventure game. There weren’t really any ‘puzzles’ to be solved but there were plenty of different ways that you could do things, and some of the things that you could do required at least a little skill and patience with the controls.

For people who are interested in new and different things, it’s got a great deal of appeal. For people wanting to actually play a traditional ‘game’, it’s going to be a complete turn-off. I think it will review quite well, but I can’t imagine it’ll sell very well.

Cage has said in the past that he wants Heavy Rain to appeal to non-gamers and I can certainly see that that could be the case if it wasn’t for the movement controls, which are shockingly awful and likely to put your average non-gamer off in about five minutes.

@ ybfelix & Dr.Ghettoblaster: It costs more at retail because it costs (proportionally) more to make. QED.

It’s an Adventure game – it might not be a point-and-click, but that’s definitely, unequivocally the genre to which it belongs. Also, creators of work are not ultimately responsible for the classification of their efforts – that role is the preserve of critics and has been since time immemorial for all works of art and/or entertainment.

Heavy Rain has the potential to be a videogame revolution in a number of ways (including production, financing, marketing etc), so long as it lives up to its promise.

However, The only thing that Heavy Rain will redefine is the Adventure game genre. This is a good thing(TM) – that particular genre has been in need of revitalising for quite some time.

Most movies – and nearly every big-budget movies – get a world-wide cinema run of many weeks before they are released on disc. And most big movies have lots of money-making tie-ins too. So it’s rather stupid to ask for Heavy Rain to cost the same as a movie on DVD or Blu-ray.

Incidentally, I’m not defending the game itself – I don’t even have a console so I won’t be buying it.