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Watch Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe talk about their roles in Beyond: Two Souls
We've played bits of Beyond: Two Souls, had some mixed views views on it, talked with Quantic Dream's David Cage about multiplayer and how Jodi can die, but it's arguably two Hollywood actors that get closest to selling me on the PS3 game. Actors are good at that. Willem Dafoe, who plays scientist Nathan Dawkins, and Ellen Page, starring as Jodi, do an excellent job of talking up Beyond here. As do the game clips, to be fair, switching from Jodi's childhood to her teen and adult years, giving glimpses of how the young hero copes with the presence of supernatural companion Aiden. Beyond spans Jodi's life between the ages of 8 and 23, and like Heavy Rain player choices will guide how that life progresses. Beyond: Two Souls will be one of the last major PS3 games out before the PS4's launch in November, arriving for the current-gen console on October 8 in North America.
No 'game over' in Beyond: Two Souls, but Jodi can die
There is no "game over" in Beyond: Two Souls – the screen never fades to black, there's no inspirational quote in sight, and, most importantly to creator David Cage, the story doesn't come to a complete stop. "I've always felt that 'game over' is a state of failure more for the game designer than from the player," Cage told me at Gamescom. "It's like creating an artificial loop saying, 'You didn't play the game the way I wanted you to play, so now you're punished and you're going to come back and play it again until you do what I want you to do.' In an action game, I can get that – why not? It's all about skills. But in a story-driven experience it doesn't make any sense." Instead, Cage said he focused on giving consequences to failures without hindering the narrative. In one scene, two police officers hunt down Jodi, the protagonist, on a moving passenger train. Jodi is able to circumvent the officers and run away, leading to an intense standoff on the roof of the speeding train. "Failing" this scene means the cops capture Jodi before she has a chance to bolt, and in the standard video game design scheme, this would mean cut, fade to black and try again. In Beyond, players are given an alternate story path, this time where Jodi is locked in a train car with the officers standing guard, and she has to escape. Players who "fail" the train scene won't see the rooftop battle, but those who "beat" it won't experience the escape narrative. In at least one of these scenarios, a path can lead to Jodi's death. This raises a question that humankind has asked itself for eons: What happens when we die? "It's a game about death, so you can imagine that death plays a role in all of this," Cage said. "Actually, it's one of the big discoveries – one of the big mysteries in the game is to discover what's on the other side. And it's definitely not a black screen."
Beyond: Two Souls soundtrack from Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe
Hans Zimmer is producer on the soundtrack for Beyond: Two Souls, with Assassin's Creed 3 composer Lorne Balfe at the helm. Balfe and Zimmer collaborate frequently, including on films such as Inception and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Beyond creator David Cage confirmed the music news at Gamescom, adding that the soundtrack is two hours of full orchestral music. "We believe that with the addition of Ellen Page, Willem Dafoe, and now Hans Zimmer with the soundtrack – we were really looking for the best, most talented people out there to create the emotion in Beyond, and we have a beautiful soundtrack in the game," Cage said. During that panel, Cage revealed multiplayer for Beyond, including a free app that turns touchscreen devices into controllers, intended to make the AAA game less intimidating to casual players.
Daily Update for August 21, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Beyond: Two Souls has multiplayer, an app that turns touchscreens into controllers
Beyond: Two Souls features two-player, co-op multiplayer, with one person controlling Jodi Holmes, the main protagonist, and the other controlling Aiden, the entity tethered to her entire existence, Quantic Dream founder David Cage revealed at Gamescom. Players pass control between Jodi and Aiden, on a single screen, by pressing triangle. Yes, press triangle to Jodi. In multiplayer or solo, Beyond is playable with iOS and Android touchscreen devices, with the "Beyond Touch" app. It's a free app that allows players to control a character – it's a blank slate, with no buttons or on-screen sticks, that players use like a touchpad. Slide one finger around the screen and the character moves. The game automatically switches to easy mode when a touchscreen controller is in use. Cage said the touchscreen feature is an attempt to reel in casual players or those who don't play games often. Most people are comfortable with a smartphone, though avid players will want to use the DualShock controller, Cage said.
Beyond: Two Souls behind the scenes video covers gameplay, crying at payphones
This latest look into the Quantic Dream's development process for Beyond: Two Souls gives insight into how different departments plan, communicate and coordinate their efforts to produce the World's Most-Psychic Ellen Page and a gameplay system befitting her purposes.
Beyond: Two Souls dev diary features a kingly Dafoe
Behind-the-scenes footage, production notes, and mocapped kisses await in this brief developer diary video for Quantic Dream's upcoming PlayStation 3 adventure game Beyond: Two Souls. As a bonus, you'll also get to see Willem Dafoe perched on a stately throne. An extended version of this video will be featured in the GameStop-exclusive Beyond: Two Souls Special Edition.
Beyond: Two Souls puts on its warpaint
The Beyond: Two Souls demo I played at E3 featured protagonist Jodi Holmes as a CIA operative, undergoing a perilous mission in the war-torn streets of Somalia. Quite how Jodi and her accompanying supernatural entity 'Aiden' came to this point is unclear, and that's fine; Quantic Dream has a curious life story in mind for its unusual heroine, and this was a mere portion of the game's ten or so hours. Still, it was jarring. Heavy Rain often placed itself in the more normal, human situations that games tend to avoid. While it had its share of action, those sequences were smaller parts of bigger scenes, and not necessarily what defined them. In contrast, Beyond's Somalia demo offered 20 minutes of war-based intensity, and at times it outwardly resembled the medium's bevy of military shooters. It was weird. %Gallery-191353%
Behold all 12 minutes of Quantic Dream's The Dark Sorcerer E3 tech demo
Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream has released a full-length version of its satirical PlayStation 4 tech demo The Dark Sorcerer, first shown at Sony's E3 press event last night. The Dark Sorcerer recasts the old man character featured in a previous Quantic Dream tech demo as a struggling actor with a goblinish/trollish co-star. Hijinks ensue. Shenanigans, even. %Gallery-191355%
Beyond: Two Souls takes possession of UK retail on October 11
Beyond: Two Souls hits UK shelves on October 11, three days after the US launch on October 8, SCEE confirmed to Video Gamer. Sony announced the US release date in March, and a television ad in the UK this month featured the launch date across the pond. Beyond is the next game from Heavy Rain creator David Cage, and it stars Ellen Page and 160 other actors in a serious motion-capture setting. Yes, one of those actors is Willem Dafoe, and yes, Cage looked deep into our eyes and lied about that fact at San Diego Comic-Con last year. Nice try, Cage. Nice try.
New Beyond: Two Souls trailer premieres at Tribeca Film Festival [Update: Gameplay video]
Quantic Dream showed off its upcoming mysterious action-adventure game Beyond: Two Souls in a two-hour screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Saturday. The latest trailer for the game shows a young Jodie Holmes and her encounters with an unseen being she calls Aiden, which sets the tone for her struggles into adulthood.The game stars Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, the latter having been officially revealed as part of the game's cast in March. Beyond: Two Souls will launch on October 8 for PS3.Update: GamesHQMedia has the 35-minute gameplay video from the film festival, which can be found after the break. Be warned: the video contains some spoilers. %Gallery-186984%
Heavy Rain cost $52 million but made $130 million, you do the math
Heavy Rain cost developer Quantic Dream $21.8 million to make, and with Sony's marketing budget added in, production costs topped out at $52.2 million (based on a mid-range euro-dollar exchange rate of $1.31), Quantic CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere tells Eurogamer. It was worth it in the end – Heavy Rain made Sony more than $130.6 million."It's very profitable," Fondaumiere says. Since there seems to be a wide discrepancy between the definition of "successful" in AAA and smaller games, it's always good to know that yes, more than $100 million is still "profitable" to some developers.
Beyond: Two Souls out Oct. 8, and Willem Dafoe's in it
Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream's PS3 game about a superpowered Ellen Page, will be out October 8, Sony announced today. Joining the stable of actors to have their faces Uncanny Valleyed into the game is Willem Dafoe, who will play scientist Nathan Dawkins.Dawkins works with Page's character Jodie, studying her strange supernatural abilities for the government. While details of his role in the story have yet to be fully revealed – like whether his interests lie in helping Jodie or in capturing her – we'd venture to guess that Willem is da bad guy.Quantic Dream also revealed that GameStop (or EB Canada) pre-orders will get an extra "30-minute playable scene DLC, continuing the model that worked out so well for Heavy Rain. And all pre-orders, "while supplies last," will be upgraded to the "Special Edition" in a steelbook, with a soundtrack, extra video content, a dynamic theme, and avatars.Update: What's really interesting about Dafoe's presence in this game is that David Cage led us to believe Dafoe would not be in the game. Now that's acting.
Quantic Dream's new PS4 engine debuted
During Sony's PlayStation 2013 event, Quantic Dream head David Cage showed off a tech demo of the developer's newest engine for the PlayStation 4. The demonstration showed an old man with wispy hair and impressive facial expressions. Cage praised the abilities of the PlayStation 4, saying, "We are now limited only by our imagination." As our own Ludwig Kietzmann notes, we'll probably hear that line again whenever the PlayStation 5 is announced.The video hearkens back to Quantic Dream's emotionally charged "Kara" demo, which was showcased during GDC last year. At the time, when asked if games using the engine would look as good as the Kara demo, Cage responded that they would "look much better," and that Kara was running on the first version of the studio's latest tech. Presumably, today's demonstration is indicative of Quantic Dream's most recent progress. Even so, as impressive as today's demonstration was, we're not out of the uncanny valley just yet.
Heavy Rain composer Normand Corbeil passes away, aged 56
Normand Corbeil, the celebrated screen and video game composer, has died at age 56. Corbeil, twice nominated for Emmy awards for his work on Hitler: The Rise of Evil and Human Trafficking, composed the award-winning music of Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain. He also co-composed Indigo Prophecy, and was working on the studio's next project, Beyond: Two Souls. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2012, Corbeil passed away on January 25.One of the key components of Heavy Rain, a game Joystiq doled out five stars to, was its powerful, often deeply melancholic music. As our reviewer put it, Corbeil's "superb" accompanying score drew you into the experience because it fit the situation so well.Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and colleagues. Gaming has lost a great composer, but Corbeil's work lives on, and we hope you take the time today to enjoy it.
Cage: Using a new engine for Beyond is crazy but 'we want to take risks'
Quantic Dreams boss David Cage admitted going with a newly developed engine for Beyond: Two Souls is "absurd," but defended the decision as one of passion and risk-taking. Speaking to Shacknews, Cage said that not re-using the engine Quantic toiled over for Heavy Rain was "absurd," but it's clear 'coulda' excites him much more than 'shoulda.'"We're just crazy people," Cage said. "We don't do this for money or fame. We want to take risks because we enjoy trying to push the envelope. Does it make sense from a company point of view? Not really, to be honest. Being the CEO of the company, I can tell you that it's totally absurd. But we enjoy it so much. We're a team of passionate people. This is 'what we should have done,' but we've done something else."Cage spoke to the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in our Hit List feature last month, noting Apocalypse Now and the works of Kubrick as the two greatest filmic influences on his creative process. Whether or not the creative channels he's chosen are Paths of Glory for Beyond remains to be seen.
Hit List Q&A: David Cage, founder of Quantic Dream
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Quantic Dream's David Cage. David Cage founded Quantic Dream in 1997, with the ambition of using interactivity as a new means of expression. He developed a creative vision based upon emotion, innovation and immersive storytelling. After his first video game Omikron featuring famous singer David Bowie, the game Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) received great critical acclaim and won several awards worldwide. In 2010, Heavy Rain, a dark thriller produced by Sony, met critical acclaim and commercial success, selling over 2.3 million units to date. Heavy Rain was the winner of three Interactive Achievement Awards in 2011 (now called the D.I.C.E. Awards) - Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Achievement in Original Music CompositionIn 2012, Cage launched a new tech demo called KARA, featuring an android girl with an actress who delivered a stunning acting performance. Quantic Dream is currently in production of Beyond, a game written and directed by David Cage, starring actress Ellen Page. The game, produced by Sony exclusively on PlayStation 3, will be released in 2013.In his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, Cage will be speaking on "The Peter Pan Syndrome: The Industry that Refused to Grow Up." In a significantly changing landscape dominated by franchises, where new devices with 89c games get more and more of consumers' attention, the video game industry is confronted with a massive challenge. A new console cycle is about to start, new business models and platforms appear while creativity and risk taking has never been lower.The game industry, having always refused to grow up, is now confronted with a new dilemma: evolve or stagnate. The first and most important revolution to start is about content. Based on his experience and fifteen years in the industry developing original content, David Cage will explain in a passionate, thought-provoking presentation (with a French accent) his vision for content in the future and why he believes it is the key to expanding our market and finally become a mature industry.
Beyond: Two Souls discussion with Ellen Page and David Cage
There was a lengthy panel on Beyond: Two Souls back at SDCC, which revealed Kadeem Hardison will also play a starring role in the game. Immediately following the panel, both David Cage and Ellen Page sat down with the PlayStation Blog for the video interview above.Within, Page discusses her own relationship with games and how Heavy Rain really got her on board with what Cage is trying to do in Beyond: Two Souls. There's also a good deal of mo-cap footage, giving us a glimpse at some of the more physical acting Page has done so far for the game.
Beyond: Two Souls features 160 actors, Ellen Page in a submarine
Watching a video of herself in a full performance-capture suit and reclined in a bucket seat on the set of Beyond: Two Souls, Ellen Page announced to the audience at Quantic Dream's San Diego Comic-Con panel, "And that's the submarine. Oh, shit."Quantic Dream founder David Cage laughed off the flub and Page continued to describe her experience with Beyond as "incredible" and "completely fulfilling.""My brain didn't even know how to process this opportunity," Page said. Once she met Cage at a bar in L.A. to read his script, however, her mind was made up, and filming turned out to be an incredible experience, she said. "It completely exceeded my expectations and was completely fulfilling as an actor."Beyond took 10 months and 160 actors to film, and that's after Cage spent one year writing the script. During that year, he referenced a photograph of Page with a shaved head from Mouth to Mouth, a movie she did when she was 16, for the main character, Jodie Holmes. He ended up using Page in later movies as models for Jodie as she aged through the game. By the time he finished writing he said he couldn't picture another actress in Page's place.Page seemed satisfied with Cage's decision as well: "What David has written is so powerful and so beautiful," she said. Beyond: Two Souls is due out in 2013 for PS3.
Willem Dafoe not starring in Beyond: Two Souls, Kadeem Hardison is
Actor Willem Dafoe is definitely not starring in Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream's David Cage confirmed to Joystiq after a panel at San Diego Comic-Con. "Nice try," Cage said, shaking his head.Dafoe was previously rumored to be co-starring in Beyond alongside Inception's Ellen Page, who made an appearance at the Quantic Dream panel. Kadeem Hardison, best known for playing Dwayne Wayne on A Different World, was also at the panel to reveal his own role: a paranormal investigator who "raises" Jodie Holmes, Page's character.Video at the panel showed off Page with another actor, Eric Winter, both in full performance-capture suits and in a range of scenarios, from conversing around a dinner table to maneuvering in what appeared to be an earthquake. The identity of Winter's character has not been disclosed.
