OrtizGames

Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer

Joystiq gave us their hands-on impression of a Heavy Rain demo/bonus level playthrough yesterday, and as I read it I kept having to stop myself from screaming again and again in pure excitement. Read it now.

Everything I remember from Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit that excited me about games as a storytelling/interactive medium is brought back and hyperextended by David Cage, founder of Quantic Dream and mastermind behind both Indigo Prophecy (known as Farenheit in Europe) and the new title Heavy Rain for the PS3 (also known as Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer).

Because most every hit on my website for the past few days seemed to have been somehow related to Heavy Rain (people continue to read my old Heavy Rain article despite the fact that I have written like, sixty others) I decided to continue reporting on every scrap of information I can get–simply because Heavy Rain really is pushing the boundary on games as a medium that should appeal to more than just kids and teenagers. David Cage has an interview up on Gamasutra in which he talks about a number of things, including his belief that games are really marketed far too much towards teenagers, a reflection of how the industry started: teenagers making games for other teenagers. Even a seriously gritty, mature work such as MadWorld seems to be a fest of all the things that a teenager would find cool, from badasses to blood to chainsaws. There’s also this video interview with David Cage to pore over in which he mentions much of the same thing.

And for now, that’s everything. I’ll continue keeping my eyes out for all information I can, including screens, videos and more, especially since I seem to be such a valuable resource according to search engines.

Thanks a lot for your reading, and I hope my providing concise information is of some use to you interested people!

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The full quality scans of the FFXIII screens have been released, and can be found here. Every time that game is mentioned, I feel myself squirm in desperation. I’m so excited about it–my hopes have risen to climactic peaks for it, and I’m so anxious to see the demo I could pop.

No news on when the battlesystem demo might be headed our way, but FFXII’s demo was a very good indicator to me of what I was to expect from the game–if FFXIII’s is miraculous, I can rest assured the game will be just as phenomenal.

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I’ve realized that from a design perspective, demos are some of the most powerful tools available to experiment with your game mechanics in a real, out-of-studio setting. Previously, I always saw demos as an advertising tactic, and I never really appreciated the idea of getting only a fraction of a game–it made me feel like I was being sucked into eventually buying the full version. But now I see demos as such an exciting phenomenon.

Weekly I’ll check my news to see what’s been uploaded to the PSN Store. I’ll download most any little demo that comes out–Sam and Max, World in Conflict; you name it, I want to try the beta. I love to be able to see how the mechanics of a game work, and what the premise and definition behind it are before the studio actually gets around to releasing it.

The trouble is, most companies do still see it as an advertising tactic in order to get people excited and buy the product. The only time you hear the word “testing” related to demos is when it’s been grafted to the words “beta” or “alpha”. Which is fine, I suppose–but why don’t we see much beta and alpha on consoles, now that we have such intricate systems as 24Connect, XBLive and PSN? We’re seeing some examples–Playstation Home has had a private beta for a while, though we’ve still been waiting on the public one. I’m sure there’s other games that are being considered for alpha and beta release. But I want to see more of it–demos shouldn’t just be a “sneak preview” factor, but an experiment to see how the gaming community reacts to the dynamics being presented to them. Look at the Burnout Paradise example, and the different things EA tried (including amping the online multiplayer–for a demo of a game, of all things).

There should be more attempts to exploit the tool provided by releasing demos–or beta tests, if you want–and seeing the public’s response to the premise and mechanics.

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And indeed, there are more FFXIII screenshots available.

I have to say, this game has me the worst kind of excited. The kind of excited where you’re so excited you barely feel it any more and any more news is just adding to the load of anxiety you have because you want to be satisfied so badly. But as it is, it doesn’t come out till December. Until then, I’ll be suffering from my Final Fantasy blueballs and losing myself in Assassin’s Creed.

Here’s a recent hi-quality scan of a couple of pages of the mag–the rest can be found by following the link. It’s exciting!

Final Fantasy XIII Magazine Scan – Click for Full Size

PS

I beat Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Honestly, it was such an awesome, fun experience. I recommend it to everyone who’s bought a PS3–no matter what genre you like. That game is solid.

Now I need to get all the achievements.

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