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Heavy Rain - Playing a Story
Edge Magazine is running a piece about Heavy Rain, a thriller by Quantic Dream that's been in development for a few years now. Edge spoke with David Cage, the game's writer and director, about using graphics technology not simply for breathtaking landscapes or realistic lighting, but to bring the characters to life and make them more believable. Cage walked the folks at Kotaku through a demo, and they provided details on how the controls will work. From Edge:
"'We worked very hard on motion capture, especially facial motion capture,' explains Cage. 'As you know, eyes are incredibly hard to do: the minute movements they constantly make mean you can tell whether something is human or not. We created a technology to motion-capture that from actors.' The shaders applied to the lead character's eyes and the skin that surrounds them also conspire to nudge Heavy Rain's characters closer to believability. The 'deadness' that so often afflicts such digital mannequins has been significantly chipped away, and we are presented with Madison, a character whose facial features, though attractive in an expectedly unnatural sort of way, also carry blemishes that succeed in breaking down her artificiality."
Right, because reality has a well known Microsoft bias?
Check the sales figures. MGS4 was able to nearly double PS3 sales for a couple of weeks. Then they fell right back to their normal pathetic levels.
The PS3 is losing to the PSP of all things, which is losing horribly to both the DS and Wii individually!
If you've been following cross-platform titles at all, you'd be aware that the Xbox 360 version always, without fail, works better than the PS3 version, has better graphics and more consistent frame rate than the PS3 version, and infinitely better online support than the PS3 version.
There's more downloadable content on the Xbox 360. There's better online support on the Xbox 360. There's a larger, better game library on the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 has sold something like double the figures of the PS3.
There's a reason the PS3 is losing exclusives left and right. Square Enix has released multiple Xbox 360 exclusives, and has decided to port their PS3 exclusives to the Xbox 360. The writing's on the wall, even in Japan: the PS3 is doomed.
Ahahahahahahahaha.
Oh, wait... you're serious.
Gamers should watch more movies in order to understand that few if any video games made to date can compare to them.
There's also a sense of distance and scale because going on foot to the next objective can often take a very long time.
Due to the 10 cut-scenes you have the pleasure to watch while trying to get from A to B.
Realistic graphics in a game don't make a good game. They can help make a game better. If a game is 90% cutscenes, intercut with "now press the A-,X-, up-, up- buttons, then pause exactly 4.5 secs, and press Y to get to the next 10 minute long cutscene" interaction, then they are the equivalent to a (BAD) Steve Jackson Gamebook or, more accurately, one of the old Laserdisc-based games. They are not games. They are movies with an interactive element thrown in.
"DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day."-C.Doctorow
From the trailers and TFA, heavy rain will be MGS4-like in that it's about pressing the right buttons at the right time. Thus the relevance
Crysis ... I honestly can't say I played it long. I tried it at a friend's who had the gear to run it. My experience went like this : .. uiii .. shiny clouds... I land and run for 30 sec. first cutscene. I run a bit more, shoot 2 enemies, next cutscene ... I run a bit more ... cutscene ... I run a tiny bit more ... the sun goes up .. uhh .. cutscene.
I am in a plane, I can move my head around, I jump out of the plane, I can move my head around a bit
That's where I gave up.
Interestingly, the best game of the last few years in my opinion used a relatively old (but quite good) engine and had exactly TWO cutscenes. The first one when you woke up, and the last one where you were not served cake. Somehow it was able to convey a complex and interesting story all the same.
"DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day."-C.Doctorow
Not everyone is into intellectual copouts.
I'm not trolling and you have no way of knowing my age.