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Konami says Sony made the call to drop 'PES 2019' from PS Plus freebies
Sony raised some eyebrows when it said Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 would no longer be a free game for PS Plus subscribers in July, with Detroit: Become Human Digital Deluxe Edition (which includes Heavy Rain) taking its place. But if you're wondering why the change occurred, statements from Sony and PES publisher Konami didn't shed too much light on the matter, beyond revealing who made the call.
Sony subs ‘PES' for 'Detroit' in July's PS Plus lineup
In an unusual move for Sony, it's making a change to its free PS Plus game lineup for July. It previously said the offerings would be Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 and Horizon Chase Turbo. Now, it's swapping out PES 2019 for Detroit: Become Human Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes another Quantic Dream game in Heavy Rain (a previous PS Plus giveaway).
'Detroit', 'Heavy Rain' and 'Beyond' will hit the Epic Games Store
Detroit: Become Human, Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain are all making their way to PC for the first time in 2019 through the Epic Games Store. To date, the games have only been available on PlayStation 3 and/or PS4. The Quantic Dream titles are a bit of a coup for Epic as it takes aim at the likes of Steam, though Epic had plenty of other news about its store at GDC, including a Humble Bundle partnership and deals for upcoming games.
Cult classic 'Indigo Prophecy' gets a new PS4 release date
Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream has announced that one of its earlier pseudo-cinematic games, Indigo Prophecy, will be released for PlayStation 4 via the PlayStation Store on August 9th. It will arrive as a PS2-to-PS4 game so it won't be fully remastered, but this version will still support Trophies. The game was originally supposed to come out on Sony's console in July, but was held up for unknown reasons.
PS4's 'Detroit' couldn't have taken place anywhere else
"When you set your story in a specific city, it's a very sensitive thing to do," said David Cage, the director of the upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive Detroit: Become Human. "You don't want to do it if you're not respectful of the place, of the people living there." Cage's next game with studio Quantic Dream deals with a near-future world where androids aren't a mobile operating system for your phone; instead they're "living" among us with hopes and desires of their own. Specifically? Transcending their circuitry and, as the name suggests, being human.
'Beyond: Two Souls' hits PS4 next week
When it comes to story-driven gameplay, few developers are quite as ambitious as Quantic Dream. We already knew that its PS3 titles, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, were coming to PS4, and now we've got some release dates. Beyond is coming out digitally next week: November 24th in the US ($29.99) and November 26th in Europe (€29.99/£24.99). If you buy the game that way, you'll also get access to a discounted version of Heavy Rain -- it's due on March 1st in the US, but it's not clear exactly when it'll be available digitally elsewhere. For Europe, Quantic Dream has confirmed a physical bundle called, unsurprisingly, The Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls Collection. That'll arrive on March 4th in the UK and March 2nd for the rest of Europe. There's no word on pricing, and we suspect that's roughly when Heavy Rain will launch digitally across the continent.
Heavy Rain creator details the difficulties of game engines and what he hopes the future holds
Heavy Rain development studio Quantic Dream is notorious for long development times. The studio's also notorious for critically-loved games with strong cinematic cores, and games that often look very different from the competition. Part of that is game design, but another major piece of the puzzle is the engines driving those games -- each game that Quantic Dream makes is built in a unique game engine, which is both very expensive and very time-consuming. The studio's founder and lead, David Cage, explained as much to us in an interview at DICE 2013. "Quantic Dream is a very special company in the sense that we do a lot of things that wouldn't make any sense in any other company. We haven't done any sequels so far, we work on new IPs each time. And we pretty much develop a new engine each time we develop a new game." But Cage doesn't harbor much love for that last part -- the game engine bit. He says that his studio opted out of the current console generation's game engine of choice (Unreal Engine 3) because, "we work with Sony, [and] we want to create the best technology for the hardware and see how far we can go." As a result, even Cage's latest work (Beyond: Two Souls) is crafted in a new engine -- the same one used to build the Kara demo we saw last March -- intended to show off the PlayStation 3's late-generation graphical and processing chops. Yes, even with the next PlayStation (codenamed "Orbis") waiting in the wings, his second-party Sony studio is still showing off the aging PS3's prowess. Beyond: Two Souls is more than just a showpiece, of course, with Quantic Dream employing actress Ellen Page to motion performance-capture the game's main character, and the same emphasis on storytelling the studio's practiced previously. Still, Cage hopes for a future where technology isn't something he and his studio need be concerned with.
Heavy Rain creators produce 'Kara' PS3 tech-demo (video)
Heavy Rain creator David Cage was showing off Quantic Dream's new game engine at GDC, which includes an innovative new performance-capture technology the company's developed. He's directed a seven-minute original short called Kara, which is the story of a female android as she becomes self-aware. Unlike traditional game production methods, this technology is able to record face and body movements at the same time as recording the actors voice -- ensuring natural and consistent performances from the characters. Actress Valorie Curry wore 90 sensors on her face, unlike in, say, Avatar, where the performers wore head-mounted cameras. Cage promises that the short is nothing more than a demo (it was rendered in real-time on a PlayStation 3) and none of these elements will appear in his next game. You can catch the impressive-looking footage after the break with one disclaimer: there's nudity throughout and a reference to adult themes, okay?
PlayStation Move review
The PlayStation Move. It's funny to think just 15 months have passed since Sony first unveiled its motion controller, and now we're mere weeks away from hitting the retail market. To be sure, it's not like the company didn't have waggle on the mind already -- patents dating as far back as 2005 reveal as much, and of course the incredible success of Nintendo's Wii proved there's a market for more physically exerting gameplay. And it's not just PlayStation; Microsoft's got its controller-free Kinect motion camera system coming this November. So, in the year where all major game consoles now ask you to get off the couch and earn arm muscle, how does Move fare? Read on for more!
Sony partners with Quantic Dream on exclusive PS3 title
Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios today announced a collaboration with Paris-based developer Quantic Dream, one which promises to "redefine cinematic real-time entertainment" with a new PlayStation-exclusive title. Judging by Quantic Dream's past efforts in David Bowie dystopia sim, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, or the multi-angle murder mystery Fahrenheit (dubbed Indigo Prophecy in America), cinematic presentation and integral narratives seem du jour on the developer's list of goals. Quantic Dream President and CEO, David Cage commented on the choice of console and the sheer pleasantness of the folks at Sony. "We always believed that "next generation" meant more meaningful content based on players' emotional involvement. To us, PS3 is the only platform that can truly deliver on this promise, and SCE WWS is a group that is both inspiring and pleasant to work with." Though the name of the upcoming PS3 game isn't specified and could very well be an entirely new game, Quantic Dream's website currently lists Heavy Rain as a "confidential next generation console game." The film-like poster above, which bears the subtitle "The Origami Killer," certainly seems to highlight the title's cinematic aspirations, if not the question of why anybody would want to murder folded pieces of paper. What did they ever do to you?Venture into the Uncanny Valley after the break to see Heavy Rain's impressive and quietly disturbing E3 2006 Virtual Actor demonstration. If the announced collaboration turns out to be a different game entirely, we fully encourage the parties involved to step into the rain and scream, "Gotcha, suckas!"[Via Sony press release]
Sony to publish Quantic Dream game exclusively for PS3
Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios is partnering with game developer Quantic Dream to produce a game exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Quantic Dream have produced games that focus on being true interactive cinematic experiences that allow the player to get emotionally involved. In the past they have developed Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the US). Quantic Dream are looking forward to utilising the power of the Cell processor in order to create an intense cinematic experience that will be emotionally compelling. The founder of the company, David Cage, stated that they "always believed that "next generation" meant more meaningful content based on players' emotional involvement. To us, PS3 is the only platform that can truly deliver on this promise." There will be more information about the game later in the year. Presumably it's a bit short notice to show anything at E3 next week, but you never know. Whether this is confirmation that Heavy Rain will be PS3 exclusive or that there is a new game being developed is not clear. We were shown a tech demo for the game at E3 last year so, with an annoncement like this, it sounds like a deal has been setup between Sony and Quantic Dream for another exclusive title, on the back of Heavy Rain's development. We look forward to finding out more.
Want to work on Heavy Rain? Quantic Dream wants you to...
This is from Quantic Dream's support page: "Quantic Dream is the multiple award-winning video game developer of Omikron and Fahrenheit. Being part of our team means sharing in our excitement and inventing, designing and developing some of the industry's most innovative products. Our future depends on bright, highly motivated and talented people who share a passion for creating the best in tomorrow's digital entertainment. Join our international team based in Paris (France) now and bring your talent to create Heavy Rain, an ambitious next generation interactive entertainment experience unlike any other..."The spots are filling up! Even though we know Heavy Rain is on its way and seeking some help from new people, we still don't know a lot about the game. In fact, we hardly know anything at all except that it's probably going to be good. What do you think the final Heavy Rain will play like?
Remember Heavy Rain? No? Here's a reminder... [update 1]
First, a note: this game is only possible on the Playstation 3. Almost mythical, the title Heavy Rain has been in and out of the public eye ever since last year's E3. You must remember -- the woman auditioning for something who slowly changes from an amicable young lady into a mad, raving, murdering lunatic... and then back again? Pssh, women. Anyway, Quantic Dream's lead designer David Cage recently spoke about the idea of all characters in games showing the full gamut of emotions in the near future. He said, "The pleasure we feel watching a movie or reading a book comes from the different emotions we go through. There is no doubt in my mind that games will follow the same direction and offer more interesting, emotionally involving experiences, with more meaning and depth."The enormous response from the Heavy Rain trailer really sparked Cage and his crew on to continue creating the title with emotional quality no less than already displayed. What's interesting is they had no intention to show this off -- it was created simply as a test to test how hard the PS3 was to program for. It was never edited, never re-worked. This is a raw, practically from the drawing board, trailer. As such, it's also real-time footage, not a cut-scene. In fact, the game is slated to have no cutscenes. "Also, this trailer is just a real-time non-interactive movie, where the game will be fully interactive, without cut scenes."Please, keep reading.
Heavy Rain in the "Uncanny Valley" [update 1]
Clive Thompson over at collision detection has spotted a very bad example of the "Uncanny Valley" rearing its ugly head (literally) in the trailer for the upcoming PS3 game, Heavy Rain, the sequel to Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy. The theory of the "Uncanny Valley", realized by Japanese robotics engineer Masahiro Mori, states that people's attitudes towards robots (or in-game characters) will become negative at the point at which the model is regarded as "almost human". Characters that lie within the valley are technically realistic, but their subtle differences compared to real humans freak us out.This trailer well and truly scrapes the bottom of the valley: the poor lip animation, the glazed eyes and the lifeless skin combine to make the model look like a mash-up of Sofia Coppola and a deformed porcelain doll (ouch!). Now that console hardware is capable of near-CGI quality graphics, game developers and artists better watch their backs if they don't want to unintentionally scare their customers. As for designers of horror games, they can quite happily add another tool to their belt.[Via collision detection]Update: added an extra word that restored sense to the sentence (and to life, the universe and everything).
