We contacted SCEA and were told the company has not "made any announcements on Heavy Rain's [release] date in North America." Yes, right, we know, that's why we're emailing ...
We contacted SCEA and were told the company has not "made any announcements on Heavy Rain's [release] date in North America." Yes, right, we know, that's why we're emailing ...
Reader Comments (72)
Posted: Dec 2nd 2009 6:14AM (Unverified) said
Great.......Scott! 1.21 Jigawatts (what the H! is a jigawatt?)
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 10:33PM (Unverified) said
I think I made an inappropriate giggle when I saw that date...is that bad?
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 10:46PM (Unverified) said
I actually forgot about that.
I was just happy this is finally coming out.
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I was just happy this is finally coming out.
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 10:41PM (Unverified) said
Joker andherewego.gif
And here I thought that stupid comment died with MGS4
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And here I thought that stupid comment died with MGS4
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 10:45PM MarkezJM said
I'm still in disbelief that game had cutscenes as long as it did. For my gaming tastes, personally, it makes the game 100% unplayable. My cousin and best friend was drooling like a rabid dog to play through it, was one of his fave series.
Oh fuck I just accidentally picked 'zoinks' as an internationally recognized symbol for trouble at sea since I'd assumed SOS would be the final option. Curse you 1 v 100!
Zoinks indeed.
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Oh fuck I just accidentally picked 'zoinks' as an internationally recognized symbol for trouble at sea since I'd assumed SOS would be the final option. Curse you 1 v 100!
Zoinks indeed.
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:36PM Cheesus Crust said
What ever happened to the dark Wayne? Has he gottenkilled.gif?
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 10:42PM (Unverified) said
Yeah a more concrete western release date would be aces, Sony. I'd like to know if it's coming anywhere near Splinter Cell (February), as I want both but if forced to choose I would go with HR.
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Posted: Dec 2nd 2009 12:30AM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said
You probably can't go wrong with either game. I think SC has fallen off since Pandora Tomorrow (chaos theory was good but double agent was a turd) but this new one looks promising. I like the Fringe esque compositing of sequences thats in the environment instead of a generic text overlay like most games. I think Ubisoft is going to be hard pressed to impress on anything they make coming off AC2 which is in the top 5 games this generation. For me, it's really been Little Big Planet, Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed 2, Gears Of War (campaign & competitive in 1 and Co-op in 2 for Horde) & MGS4 as my favorites this generation.
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:02PM Pure Black World Tendency said
David Cage has promised that there would be no sci-fi mumbojumbo ending in this game, so relax.
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:02PM ch3burashka said
Where the hell have you been for the past 6 months? There's been a bunch of Joystiq and IGN posts every month!
...and yes, it DOES look pretty cool.
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...and yes, it DOES look pretty cool.
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:02PM tenacioustoaster said
blahhh, i dont know why that just double posted, sorry guys!
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:07PM Discotheque said
Nice! I hope that's the same as the US/EU release date. Can't wait for this. Along with Bayonetta and Bad Company 2 Q1 is gonna be hype.
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:09PM (Unverified) said
You kinda left out Mass Effect 2 and MAG in there...
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:23PM Discotheque said
I forgot FF XIII (thanks). And I don't give a shite about Mass Effect 2. Didn't like the first one that much (and Dragon Age is one of my games of the decade, so yeah I like Bioware).
I'll wait for it to hit 20 bucks on Steam in the summer or something.
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I'll wait for it to hit 20 bucks on Steam in the summer or something.
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:12PM CaramelZappa said
I'm still very skeptical of this game. I've watched all the gameplay footage I can get my hands on and it seems less than great.
The developers talk so much about making real, believable characters, but from what I've seen it's anything but. The characters look the closest to photorealistic I've ever seen in a game, but that's not what makes a believable character. The animation is competent, but not lifelike. It's somewhat rigid. The kind of thing you can't put your finger on why, but it's not natural looking.
Then, the characters start talking. The voice acting isn't horrible, but it's not great either. Some lines shine but most of the dialog it seems like they're just sitting there, reading a script that they've never read before. The mouths are moving in sync with the audio, but the mouth is flapping about independently of the head. It's exaggerated, and it immediately made me think of the talking animation from Sonic Adventure.
In a lot of other games I wouldn't nitpick these things. They aren't that far gone to ruin a game. However, it seems the entire point of Heavy Rain is to have a complex story that focuses on key characters you are supposed to care about. This means that the characters being believable is one of if not the most important aspect of the game. In my opinion other games like Half Life 2: EP2 and Uncharted 2 have done a much better job at making believable characters. Those games are action games at the core, and despite being story driven have a lot more weight on other parts of development than heavy rain does. I mean, the game is essentially a movie driven by QTE's. Most of it is scripted and it all focuses closely on the characters, so why are the characters less believable than other games?
Credit where credit is due. It's an interesting, original game with the best use of QTE's I've ever seen. Plus, the graphics look phenomenal. It could end up really fantastic, but I'm still keeping my distance for now.
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The developers talk so much about making real, believable characters, but from what I've seen it's anything but. The characters look the closest to photorealistic I've ever seen in a game, but that's not what makes a believable character. The animation is competent, but not lifelike. It's somewhat rigid. The kind of thing you can't put your finger on why, but it's not natural looking.
Then, the characters start talking. The voice acting isn't horrible, but it's not great either. Some lines shine but most of the dialog it seems like they're just sitting there, reading a script that they've never read before. The mouths are moving in sync with the audio, but the mouth is flapping about independently of the head. It's exaggerated, and it immediately made me think of the talking animation from Sonic Adventure.
In a lot of other games I wouldn't nitpick these things. They aren't that far gone to ruin a game. However, it seems the entire point of Heavy Rain is to have a complex story that focuses on key characters you are supposed to care about. This means that the characters being believable is one of if not the most important aspect of the game. In my opinion other games like Half Life 2: EP2 and Uncharted 2 have done a much better job at making believable characters. Those games are action games at the core, and despite being story driven have a lot more weight on other parts of development than heavy rain does. I mean, the game is essentially a movie driven by QTE's. Most of it is scripted and it all focuses closely on the characters, so why are the characters less believable than other games?
Credit where credit is due. It's an interesting, original game with the best use of QTE's I've ever seen. Plus, the graphics look phenomenal. It could end up really fantastic, but I'm still keeping my distance for now.
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:17PM MarkezJM said
You are indeed nitpicking, and imo, exaggerating a few perceived details quite a bit. Understand where you're coming from though, I suppose. I think part of the issue there is because this is supposed to be such a deep, narrative driven game, that bite-sized gameplay clips are just not going to give you a good idea about how this game is going to turn out.
Oooh, should I have put game in quotes? Maybe it's not even a game, oooooh. Or is that type of criticism just saved for elitist douches who want to rip on casual games they don't like?
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Oooh, should I have put game in quotes? Maybe it's not even a game, oooooh. Or is that type of criticism just saved for elitist douches who want to rip on casual games they don't like?
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:19PM (Unverified) said
This is far from a casual title.
I'm a little leery of it (bad flashbacks of 'interactive movie type games' from the SegaCD days), but unless I see terrible reviews, I'll give it a shot.
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I'm a little leery of it (bad flashbacks of 'interactive movie type games' from the SegaCD days), but unless I see terrible reviews, I'll give it a shot.
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:34PM CaramelZappa said
It's definitely a game, and in general it's both original and compelling. Not a casual title at all.
I realize it's nitpicking and exaggerated, but when you're whole purpose of developing a game is story (which doesn't happen often enough) the story needs to shine, and it's a lot harder for that to happen with characters that aren't believable and sub-par acting.
While you say it's hard to judge these things on small bite-sized clips, I think the opposite. The things we've seen are the things that are usually the things that are the best of the game. This is the stuff the developer chose to say "look, this is our game, this is why you want to buy it." And if the details in animation are less than stellar in those select clips and the overall acting leaves the characters feeling like blank slates, it's hard to think the rest of the game will be any better. Like I said, none of the stuff in Heavy Rain is bad compared to most other games. It's just that if you really want to sell a game on the narrative instead of the core gameplay, you really need to get it right.
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I realize it's nitpicking and exaggerated, but when you're whole purpose of developing a game is story (which doesn't happen often enough) the story needs to shine, and it's a lot harder for that to happen with characters that aren't believable and sub-par acting.
While you say it's hard to judge these things on small bite-sized clips, I think the opposite. The things we've seen are the things that are usually the things that are the best of the game. This is the stuff the developer chose to say "look, this is our game, this is why you want to buy it." And if the details in animation are less than stellar in those select clips and the overall acting leaves the characters feeling like blank slates, it's hard to think the rest of the game will be any better. Like I said, none of the stuff in Heavy Rain is bad compared to most other games. It's just that if you really want to sell a game on the narrative instead of the core gameplay, you really need to get it right.
Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:38PM CaramelZappa said
Wow. "What we've seen are are usually the things that are the best of the game." Is what that sentence should say. I fail at proofreading.
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Posted: Dec 2nd 2009 12:18AM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said
@Carmel
The point still stands that you can't judge the entirety of a narrative driven game on short bite sized gameplay sequences some of which have already been said aren't even in the actual game.
Just stop overanalyzing it and wait for it to release. It could be fantastic or it could suck but at least it'll be original and hopefully ... epic.
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The point still stands that you can't judge the entirety of a narrative driven game on short bite sized gameplay sequences some of which have already been said aren't even in the actual game.
Just stop overanalyzing it and wait for it to release. It could be fantastic or it could suck but at least it'll be original and hopefully ... epic.
Posted: Dec 2nd 2009 11:50PM eat it said
Yeah I agree with you from what I've seen as well. It's the little things in the way a person moves, their body language, their eyes...as well as voice acting. from what I've seen it looks nice but not quite where uncharted is at. at the same time I think we have to realize that this game probably didn't get half the budget the uncharted franchise got.
All that said, I'm still buying it immediately.
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All that said, I'm still buying it immediately.
Posted: Dec 3rd 2009 12:24AM CaramelZappa said
I'm amazed you bothered to read my invisible text. I'm glad someone else can see what I'm talking about. The fact that the budget is probably a lot less is a really good point, and something I hadn't considered.
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Posted: Dec 1st 2009 11:22PM Nate Addison said
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