Interactive-Drama
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Freaks and Geeks sees new life as interactive YouTube game
A game-ified version of NBC's 1999 teen drama, Freaks and Geeks, is now available on YouTube, courtesy of The Fine Bros and Doctor Octoroc. The game plays out automatically as it follows a loose interpretation of the show's plot, but key decisions are left to players, with each choice leading to a new video. This first game tackles the "freaks" half of the show, while a later expansion will explore life as a geek at William McKinley High School during the neon and synthesizer-infused 80s. Even if you're not familiar with Freaks and Geeks, you probably recognize some of the stars whose careers it helped launch, including Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and James Franco. They're like, famous and stuff.
Radio drama game Codename Cygnus crosses funding finish line
Codename Cygnus successfully reached its Kickstarter funding goal this week, earning a total of $13,943. The interactive radio drama app for iOS has players acting as secret agents, with their choices impacting a fictional world through both touch and voice commands. Each of Codename Cygnus' episodes are around 20 minutes in length, with the first episode launching this month and subsequent episodes arriving every week. Among the cast involved in a few episodes are Logan Cunningham, known for voicing the narrator Rucks in Bastion, and Red Dead Redemption's Rob Wiethoff, the voice of John Marston.
Bastion narrator lending his voice to Codename Cygnus radio drama
Logan Cunningham, known as the voice behind Bastion narrator Rucks, is lending his pipes to an interactive radio drama for iOS, Codename Cygnus. Developed by Reactive Studios, the project is seeking $11,000 on Kickstarter by August 11 to fund more episodes in its story arc. Cunningham's role in the story is that of the "first spy nemesis," and will deliver a "villainous speech" in the first episode, slated to launch this month. Each episode is expected to run between 15 and 20 minutes, "although the total playable content will be a lot more," the project page notes. Sarah Elmaleh (Skulls of the Shogun, Gone Home, Resonance) and Chris Ciulla (Fallout: New Vegas) are two of the 25+ voice actors that are also involved in the project. Codename Cygnus offers a simple UI and voice recognition for listeners to audibly direct how each episode plays out. The project is currently sitting at $7,388 in funding with nine days left in the campaign.
Canned Quantic Dream project 'Infraworld' trademarked by SCEE
Earlier this year, gaming industry sleuth Superannuation uncovered the possible monikers of two projects from Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream. The first was Fiv5, which showed up in a domain and European trademark registered by the developer. The second was Infraworld, a project the studio canceled in 2006. It later showed up as a Heavy Rain Easter egg, as well as a Quantic Dream hire's LinkedIn profile. Today, the latter name showed even more signs of life when it surfaced in a U.S. trademark filed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe this past May. If Infraworld has indeed been saved from the Quantic Dream cutting room floor, it's possible that it follows the same style of Heavy Rain -- in March, David Cage explained that he wanted to build on his treasured "Interactive Drama" genre. That's still a pretty broad set of expectations, though one thing's for sure: Bizarre and unplaceable accents are pretty much a lock.
Heavy Rain director encourages more 'personal' stories
Speaking to The Guardian about storytelling in games, Heavy Rain director Cage singled out the FPS genre -- its use of WWII and sci-fi settings in general -- as an example where that aspect of the medium is stagnating. His advice for other game writers: " Don't write about being a rookie soldier in WWII, because you don't have a clue what that's like." Heavy Rain has drawn accolades, Cage says, because the inspiration for its story is personal and relatable. "Talk about yourself, your life, your emotions, the people around you, what you like, what you hate," he advised. "This is how the industry will make a huge step forward. I'm fed up with space marines." In his case, inspiration came from something much more down to earth. "It was not about space marines fighting aliens, it was about my relationship with my first son and how he changed my life –- and also about how loving someone without expecting anything in return was something totally new." So, Modern Warfare 3 writers: instead of "how many people can you shoot?," why not try asking players "how many people would you shoot to save someone you love?"
Press X to Jason: the music video
We know it's supposed to be a moving moment in Heavy Rain, but we can't get enough of parody tributes to the game's true protagonist, little lost Jason. First there was the hit Flash game Press X to Jason and now the Dead Workers Party brings us "Press X to Jason," a bubbly, melodic retelling of the story of the boy who touched America's heart as America touched its X button. You can find it right after the break. We're intentionally being pretty vague about the content of the scene here, since you really shouldn't be watching the clip unless you've already played Heavy Rain. Like, you really shouldn't. Trust us. [Thanks, Spencer]
Unique Features acquiring Heavy Rain movie rights
Heavy Rain continues its slow progression from "like a movie with lots of button inputs" to "just a movie." Deadline reports that Unique Features is in the process of acquiring the film rights to Quantic Dream's game. Unique Features is a production company started by Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, who used to be with New Line, the studio that had optioned the rights to the game in 2006. Shaye and Lynne are apparently so interested in the project that they bought the rights with their own money. Maybe the game was too hard for them and they just wanted to see how it ends. [Via Dread Central]
Heavy Rain sells one million worldwide
No one was exactly sure if Sony's gamble with Heavy Rain would pay off. With no aliens, no stealth kills, and no epic boss battles, the game strayed so far from the mainstream norm that some wondered if it could possibly succeed. Considering the incredible technical effort Heavy Rain represented, it's clear that this was also an expensive experiment for both Sony and Quantic Dream to take on. After seven weeks of release, Heavy Rain has managed to sell through a million units worldwide, according to an announcement on the PlayStation.Blog. No specifics are offered, but we'll deduce that Europe represents the largest piece of the sales pie; Heavy Rain was completely sold out in that part of the world. It's unclear if a million units sold is enough for Quantic Dream and Sony to break even on Heavy Rain's lengthy development. Undoubtedly, the game will continue selling through the year, which has us hopeful that the industry will be unafraid to invest in another game like it in the future.
PSN Thursday: Get stuffed by 'The Taxidermist'
Heavy Rain's "The Taxidermist" DLC is ready to fill you up with more suspense for $5. To access your wallet, you'll have to flick your analog stick up and to the right. PSP owners can download titles like BlazBlue Calamity Trigger and Perv Simu ... ok, fine, Dead or Alive Paradise -- we still contend we were going down the right path the first time. As is pretty common, the latest deluge of PSP comics is the real draw for the handheld. Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Heavy Rain 'Taxidermist' DLC hitting PSN for $4.99 on April 1
We have a hard time watching films where people get caught being in places they totally shouldn't be. We get no enjoyment from watching a Misery or a Rear Window, for example. That kind of scenario is the bread and butter of Heavy Rain's first downloadable chapter, "The Taxidermist," which pre-order customers of the game have already gotten their hands on. The rest of us will have our chance to grab the suspenseful scene on April 1, when it hits the PSN storefront for $4.99. Check out the video above for a brief teaser of the chapter's events. Actually, it doesn't look that scary to us. Madison climbs in a window, walks up some stairs, and accidentally intrudes on a woman taking a bath. What's that? The woman is dead? Yes, well, that is significantly more upsetting.
Interview: Spoiling Heavy Rain with David Cage
Once a major release has been completed and propelled to the top of the sales charts, the critical discussion surrounding it typically evaporates just as the Next Big Thing appears on the horizon. But Heavy Rain -- whether you like it, love it or loathe it -- has been kept afloat in popular opinion, with critics still debating its controversial design and embarrassing themselves as they attempt to shoehorn water puns like "afloat" and "evaporates" into ham-fisted introductory paragraphs. We drew Heavy Rain's director and writer, the soft-spoken, passionate and occasionally enigmatic David Cage, into the ongoing discussion and asked him to elaborate upon the game's story, its technology and its critical reception. Oh, and the nature of the Origami Killer, which means ... SPOILER WARNING: The following interview contains massive, big-huge spoilers for Heavy Rain. If you have not completed Quantic Dream's cinematic adventure, do not proceed beyond the break -- and don't even think about reading the comments. Just turn around and slowly R2 away.
Heavy Rain patch development complete, release 'very soon'
While the Joystiq staff hasn't experienced a game-ending Heavy Rain crash, there are a number of vocal members of the PlayStation forums that have reported some serious issues, most notably save file corruption. Quantic Dream is working on a new patch for the adventure game, one that "address a range of minor issues," but isn't "targeted purely at the issues reported." According to Sam_Protagonist, SCEE has had difficulty in reproducing the reported bugs, but hopes that the patch should fix various "contributing factors" that may be at the root of Heavy Rain's issues. "We're optimistic that this patch resolves your problems but cannot guarantee that this will be the case." Development on the patch is now complete, and is undergoing the "final stages of testing." Let's hope the patch actually does its job -- otherwise, angry Heavy Rain owners will be left with nothing to play but Press X to Jason. [Via VG247]
'Press X to Jason' distills Heavy Rain
Sure, Heavy Rain was great, but what was with all the story? Don't you just wish someone would come along, strip out that cinematic nonsense and leave only the visceral thrill of repeatedly calling for your missing son while tearing through a shopping mall? For you, there's Press X to Jason, a low-rez action/puzzle/platformer/adventure from Heavy.com that nails just one mechanic: Yelling for Jason. [Fair warning: If you don't know how this particular Heavy Rain scene plays out, like, in the real game, you may not want to play Press X to Jason just yet.] If afterwards you still aren't sure about little Jason's fate, you'll be happy to know that we've located him, and he's on Twitter. [Thanks, Wez]
Molyneux says Heavy Rain offers the 'first glimpses of the future' of games
If only Sony had waited until after the South by Southwest festival to release Heavy Rain, the publisher could have printed several glowing quotes from a known Xbox consorter on the back of the PS3-exclusive's game box. Oh, well -- there's always the "Game of the Year" edition. During a a one-on-one conversation with writer Frank Rose at SXSW this week, Fabled designer Peter Molyneux heaped praise on Heavy Rain, calling it "absolutely brilliant." "I recommend anyone who wants to start to see the first glimpses of the future of video games to go out and buy it," Molyneux advocated, before exposing his softer side to the audience. "But, personally, I could not bring myself to play more than 90 minutes, because the world that was there was so dark and so emotionally involving I felt emotionally beaten up." Aww, Mr. Molyneux. "But there's no question in my mind that games like Heavy Rain -- games that have a new fidelity in the way that they present their experiences; obviously made with cinematography and motion capture in mind -- can really show the way forward to a new form of entertainment, which is evolving the story and choices and consequences." Molyneux steadfastly declared, having apparently recovered from painful memories of the game (perhaps cries of Jason? Jason? Jason! still faintly echoing in his head). Molyneux also commended developer Quantic Dream's design choices, observing that the QTE interface "really meant that you had to pay attention all the time because you didn't know whether these quick-time events were going to come up"; though he noted that such gameplay mechanics "may be a little bit tired after a while." Still, he said, "I have to take my hat off to [Quantic Dream] ... There's a couple of things they do in that game which were really revolutionary, and what they do with quick-time is fantastic." "Us designers were just laughing because we thought quick-time was dead, but that really was part of the drama of Heavy Rain."
Heavy Rain buoyed to top of UK sales charts
Consumers in the UK poured out the pounds for PS3's Heavy Rain last week, according to Chart-Track's all-formats chart. The adventure game took the hill from Aliens vs. Predator, which slipped down one spot. Meanwhile, Just Dance kept doing its cha-cha of endurance and took third. Nintendo's Wii Fit Plus got a second wind (or a big shipment to the region) and overtook Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 after moving up five spots and into fourth. Finally, Napoleon: Total War marched in at #12 while White Knight Chronicles began its quest at #35. Source – Heavy Rain storms the charts [GFK Chart-Track] Source – Latest UK Software Charts [GFK Chart-Track]
New Line Cinema options rights for film adaptation of Heavy Rain
What if Heavy Rain, which is so often heralded by creator David Cage as "interactive fiction," was just a bit less interactive? Is the game's story and cast of vaguely-French-sounding characters strong enough to carry a feature-length film? We might just find out, some day -- internet super-sleuth superannuation recently uncovered copyright documents which reveal that New Line Productions optioned the rights to turn Heavy Rain into a movie on May 15, 2006 -- just a few days after "The Casting" trailer (NSFW) was revealed at E3. This doesn't ensure the development of a Heavy Rain movie, of course; it only means if any film studio makes the film, it's going to be New Line Cinema. We think the rights are in good hands -- New Line did some great work on the film adaptations of those Lord of the Rings games.
RE5 Gold tops Japanese charts; Heavy Rain floods top ten
Even without the PlayStation Motion Controller to back it up, Resident Evil 5 has struck gold for a second time. The PS3 version of Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (Alternative Edition in Japan) hit the top of the Media Create sales chart in Japan following its February 18 release, selling 143,339 copies. God Eater continues to gobble up attention, taking the #2 spot with 64,192 units sold (while passing 500k units sold to date). Another big PS3 game also debuted in the top ten this week: Heavy Rain, which fell in at #6, selling 26,775 copies. In a way, the Japanese version is the superior release, because the voice acting doesn't seem to have been performed by French people faking Japanese accents. See the full top ten after the break.
Heavy Rain Special Edition soundtrack suffers 'technical delay'
Expressing their concerns on the PlayStation forums, several owners of the Euro-exclusive Special Edition of Heavy Rain have been unable to solve one of the game's most sinister enigmas: "Where is the soundtrack that was supposed to be included with this thing?" Heavy Rain product manager for the region Alex Pavey has provided an answer on PlayStation Blog post, saying, "I'm sorry to say that there has been a last-minute technical delay with the Official Soundtrack, meaning that if you redeem your voucher code before 4th March, you will be able to download Chronicle 1 and the Dynamic Theme, but not the Official Soundtrack." Should players redeem the voucher after March 4th, they'll gain access to all three pieces of Special Edition content: a dynamic theme; the first prequel Chronicle; and the game's orchestral soundtrack (though it's still unclear what format it will take). If the code has already been redeemed (the theme and DLC are already available for download), Pavel asks that players contact their "local customer service teams," which should be listed on the packaging. To pick up the phone or send an email, do a semi-circle with the right analog stick, hold R1 and Triangle and tap Circle. [Thanks, Josh]
Metareview: Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream's serial-killer-suspense-meets-family-drama adventure title, Heavy Rain, received the official Joystiq Seal of Approval™, but how did our peers in the world of gaming journalism feel about the title? Let's see what some other critics had to say about the interactive romp through rainy Frenchadelphia: GamePro (5/5): "Put simply, Heavy Rain is a gaming experience that took huge risks in design, narrative, and game mechanics, and executed on its ideas to masterful effect. You will care, in the end, about the decisions you made to shape the fates of your characters, and wonder long after it's over if you made the right choices." 1UP (A-): "Though shorter than other epic, multi-disc titles, there's more than enough content in Heavy Rain to warrant a purchase. At the end of my first playthrough I was left utterly satisfied with the conclusion of the story and wanting more titles of this caliber." Eurogamer (9/10): "A thrilling mystery, cleverly composed, and unlike anything else you will play this year. It may also be the only game you play this year where pulling the trigger makes you really feel something, and I can think of no greater compliment." Giant Bomb (4/5): "Interactive storytelling might not yet be able to evoke the same degree of raw human emotion as more traditional art forms, but this is a big step in the right direction."
Mega64: Heavy Rain makes you cry (a lot)
Whether it's through its potent pixel combinations or the fact that the game regularly gives you purple nurples (not really ... we hope), Heavy Rain is bound to make you cry. Don't believe us? Well, would you believe the talented and scholarly chaps at Mega64? Yeah, we thought so! The troupe's latest contribution posits that Heavy Rain is so sad, you won't even crack a smile if you go to Disneyland after playing it. Certainly, one must keep in mind that this is simply one man's experience, but it doesn't necessarily rule out Heavy Rain as a tear-inducing descent into a bottomless well of sadness. Figure out the case of The Crying Amusement Park Attendee for yourself by watching the video past the break.
