Square-Enix Boss Wants More Heavy Rain

[John Funk]

Square-Enix Boss Wants More Heavy Rain

Square-Enix CEO and noted Westernophile Yoichi Wada is a fan of Quantic Dream's quick-time-event thriller, and wants to see more games like it.

Have you been feeling like kick lately [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97346-Yoichi-Wada-Blasts-Japanese-Retailers-for-Anti-Western-Bias]? Good, you aren't the only one.

In an interview with Japanese gaming uber-mag Famitsu, Squeenix boss Yoichi Wada said that he'd been playing Quantic Dream's thriller Heavy Rain [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=74389] as of late, and that he'd become a fan: "It would be good if they made more games like Heavy Rain."

Hey, Wada-san, last I checked you were the President and CEO of one of the largest game studios in the world. It's not like you guys haven't specialized in making essentially interactive cutscenes before, either. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you want to see more games like Heavy Rain, you can probably make that happen.

They'd probably have better voice acting, too.

(Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5547972/square-enix-wants-more-games-like-heavy-rain])

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[Mr. Socky]

But Heavy Rain isn't a game... It's an interactive shaving cutscene. There may have been something else too, but I forgot what it was.

 

[Pipotchi]

I quite liked the voice acting in Heavy Rain, Scott Shelby in particular

 

[Korten12]

Story yes! QTEs no!

why not? it made the game good, since it wasnt annyonig QTE's.

 

[Irridium]

If he meant he wants more games with a great story-line, then yes, I agree. If he's talking about its gameplay, then no thank you.

 

[sougo13]

I have no objection against more games like Heavy Rain, as long as their plot twist don't feel like a slap in the face.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Of course he does, most of the Final Fantasys are damn cut scenes.

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

I'm all for liking Heavy Rain, but I'm sick of Yoichi Wada's love for western games. I just get this feeling that Square-Enix is going to be run into the ground if he keeps trying to make money from the west. Doesn't he realise that more people buy games in Japan then the rest of the world?

Also I kinda hate Heavy Rain in a way because it doesn't works as a replayable game because of the killer being the same and it's hard to forget how compelling your first play was. I played it at a mates place and even he can't replay it anytime soon thanks to his first playthrough but refuses to trade it in due to trade in prices sucking so bad, that and he says maybe after a few more months he may forget what happened.

 

[Proteus214]

Another interactive drama game is definitely needed. Heavy Rain's saving grace was the fact that its core concept actually made the game better. Get rid of the plot holes, make the voice acting better, and actually animate the upper brow of the character models (seriously, this bugged the hell out of me).

 

[Formica Archonis]

I just realized I know that guy better as "Imperial Hot" than by his real name. Damn you ENN!

But yeah.... When your competitor publicly tells you to keep doing what you're doing rather than quietly ripping you off, one has to wonder how sincere the praise is. I suppose if the game were something completely outside Square-Enix's normal domain it would sound more honest, and maybe he really does mean it, but... ehhhh....

 

[Kuchinawa212]

So what? Light Sleet? Mild Hail? Heavy Rain 2 sounds like a bland sequel name

 

[Desworks]

No game industry! I know it sold well, but we only got it because we figured it was a one off and we could get back to actual games again afterwards.

 

[Korten12]

Story yes! QTEs no!

why not? it made the game good, since it wasnt annyonig QTE's.

I thought they were insufferably annoying.

but then what gameplay would you give the game?

 

[John Funk]

Doesn't he realise that more people buy games in Japan then the rest of the world?

Er, I hope he doesn't, because that's actually not true.

Sales of Pokemon Heart Gold/SoulSilver [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100568-Pokemon-HeartGold-SoulSilver-Sell-8-4-Million], for example.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

That photo is solid gold. Up there with Hideo Kojima on a duck. No other photo can be used.

 

[PiCroft]

Heavy Rain rocked, if you disagree then you are evil and should be punished.

 

[Formica Archonis]

I played it at a mates place and even he can't replay it anytime soon thanks to his first playthrough but refuses to trade it in due to trade in prices sucking so bad, that and he says maybe after a few more months he may forget what happened.

Only if he falls on his head at some point. Forgetting who the killer is seems like a rather hard thing to do. Hell, I remember the murderer in novels years after the fact.

That said, IMHO a good mystery should survive multiple rereads/replays. Even once you know whodunnit, you get to see how the evidence assembles, why the false leads are false, how the villain hides in plain sight, and how the evidence against him/her SEEMS obvious once you know who did it.

 

[Dr. Wily III]

Press X to Jason PART 2!