quick-time-events
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Eidos Montreal cuts the QTEs from Thief
When Square Enix launches its Thief reboot in February 2014, it will ship a game with one fewer gameplay element than was previously seen at E3: quick-time events. Developer Eidos Montreal revealed in a recent community blog that the game's QTEs were stripped out of the adventure entirely. "To begin with, there were very few instances of QTEs in the game; in fact there was only one in that whole hour-long E3 demo," the blog post reads. "However, given the strong reactions it evoked in the press and the community, it was an easy decision to do away with them entirely. So we're not doing it. No quick time." Our time with Thief last month didn't spotlight those now-absent timed button-press moments, but focused on the stealthier elements of the game and the ways it enforced resource conservation. The game will arrive on February 25, 2014 for Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Witcher 3 skipping quick-time events and multiplayer
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, project lead on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has confirmed multiplayer modes, quick-time events, and DRM are not part of the plan for the third entry in the role-playing game series.The "final saga of Geralt" will maintain a focus on single-player content, Tomaszkiewicz told Forbes, though multiplayer had been considered for the game at one point.Quick-time events found in previous Witcher games have also been abandoned. The lead designer noted that QTEs "didn't fit" the experience and often leads to frustration for players. "There is a small number of games where it is fun, like, for example, in the Uncharted series, where you don't even realize that you've just finished a QTE sequence. And I think that only this way of using QTE has any kind of future in games."Calling digital rights management "the worst thing in the gaming industry," Tomaszkiewicz confirmed The Witcher 3 will not have such restrictions. Though the decision against using DRM applies to retail copies and CD Projekt's GOG.com platform, other digital distributors such as Steam would still feature its own form of DRM. Distribution channels for The Witcher 3 have not been announced.The Witcher 3 is coming to the PC, PS4, and "high-end platforms" next year.
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's David Cage wants to set the record straight on QTEs
"No! We don't make Dragon's Lair! This is not Dragon's Lair – do you think I'm crazy? I'm not stupid. Do you think I develop on PlayStation 3 to do Dragon's Lair again? It would be absurd. Of course it's not." We typically lead into quotes with a bit more background than that, but those who've read message board diatribes dismissing the upcoming Heavy Rain as nothing more than a series of Quick Time Events surely understand the frustration of Quantic Dream founder David Cage -- who owns the mouth from which the above quote was uttered during a press demonstration at GamesCom 2009. Cage went on to explain "when there is an action sequence, yes we integrate [these] QTE sequences," but the rest of the time, the player will have full control as they navigate the game's four characters through a deep, choice-riddled story. That actually sounds pretty reminiscent of Quantic's last game, Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit. That's great and all -- but we actually wouldn't be disappointed by a new installment in the Dragon's Lair franchise. We admit it -- we're Dirkheads, through and through.
