Heavy Rain Dev: "Let's Stop Making Games For Kids"

[John Funk]

Well, if they're going to do that with Heavy Rain they need better voice acting. What I heard in that little QTE gameplay montage was abysmal.

 

[Blights]

I personally think this is bullshit.

Im not against it, just not with it. Games were MEANT to be for the FAMILY. Cutting off a bit of gaming for children and teenagers will cut off about 1/4 of the market.

If you want a story, watch a movie. If you want FUN, play a game. Leave it at that.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I'm very tempted to link to that GameOverthinker (moviebob) video, stopping making games for kids altogether is a very, very bad thing.

I was thinking the same thing. Alienate the next generation of users and we crash just like the Comic industry.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

[sarcasm]Yeah. They should stop making games that generate profit for a company, so they don't have any money to spend on a risky new game idea.[/sarcasm]

 

[ExaltedK9]

I think there is room for this new breed of storytelling in the games industry.

 

[sumanoskae]

Like any other art form games shouldnt be censored

 

[oliveira8]

I think I've confirmed my feeling that Heavy Rain is going to be rubbish. Sure, they've got a good point hidden in there somewhere, but I just feel that they're going to make a pretentious game which I won't enjoy.

A pretencious game based on QTE.

If you think Indigo Prophecy was all about QTEs, you clearly didn't play the game and only heard about it. Only the action scenes go into QTE. What about the adventure game mundane shit like making Tyler drink coffee, and other stupid but grounding activities? Keeping your character's psyche at a sane level? Making different dialogue choices, leading to branching paths?

Last time I saw we were talking about Hard Rain and not Indigo Prophecy.

Heavy Rain, not Hard Rain lol

And none of us has played Heavy Rain, so we're just going by assumptions of their previous game, Indigo Prophecy. If IP is any indication, Heavy Rain won't have QTEs that much.

I was thinking of the Bob Dylan song...damn!

The only videos I saw from it was only videos pimping the graphics and QTE thats it.

 

[Bat Vader]

Well, I think a lot of Pixar films are deeply emotional and well-written, albeit they lack "real questions."

Wall-E was pretty questionable. It spoke against big business, who usually supports them.

 

[Bat Vader]

Yes I agree lets stop making so many bloody games for kids. It would be nice to see a game that tells real stories, with real characters.
However it seems I'm daydreaming again and games will continue to be piles of stupid with the occasional good one here or there.

Edit: Don't get me wrong I love a stupid fun game here and there but let's bring in some quality people.

There are a lot of games not made for children. GTA IV, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Silent Hill, Resident Evil. Crysis, Indigo Prophecy.

I agree though, we need more games for us adult gamers. Not child gamers.

 

[RedVelvet]

A: that guy is an idiot for thinking that emotional storytelling is behind games. *cries over Aeris again*
B: Heavy Rain is once again, like Fahrenheit, Quick Time Event: The movie disguised as a game.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Great way to inflate his own ego.

 

[SykoSilver]

People are saying kids are what makes games sell. 18-24 is the REAL gaming demographic, remember? Most gamers *are* adults.

 

[SonofSeth]

Why does everyone assume that making one mature game will kill the development of games for kids?

Because they think like children? Black or white and such nonsense...

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

Yes I agree lets stop making so many bloody games for kids. It would be nice to see a game that tells real stories, with real characters.
However it seems I'm daydreaming again and games will continue to be piles of stupid with the occasional good one here or there.

Edit: Don't get me wrong I love a stupid fun game here and there but let's bring in some quality people.

There are a lot of games not made for children. GTA IV, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Silent Hill, Resident Evil. Crysis, Indigo Prophecy.

I agree though, we need more games for us adult gamers. Not child gamers.

But he means it in terms of depth as well. (See: Silent Hill 2, Indigo Prophecy, Condemned: Criminal Origins) That is what I want to see more of. I want more adult written games not adult* games.
* Shooting, gore, breasts, and lack of depth.

Well, I think a lot of Pixar films are deeply emotional and well-written, albeit they lack "real questions."

True but Wall-E had a pointed anti-big business theme to it.

 

[Bat Vader]

Yes I agree lets stop making so many bloody games for kids. It would be nice to see a game that tells real stories, with real characters.
However it seems I'm daydreaming again and games will continue to be piles of stupid with the occasional good one here or there.

Edit: Don't get me wrong I love a stupid fun game here and there but let's bring in some quality people.

There are a lot of games not made for children. GTA IV, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Silent Hill, Resident Evil. Crysis, Indigo Prophecy.

I agree though, we need more games for us adult gamers. Not child gamers.

But he means it in terms of depth as well. (See: Silent Hill 2, Indigo Prophecy, Condemned: Criminal Origins) That is what I want to see more of. I want more adult written games not adult* games.
* Shooting, gore, breasts, and lack of depth.

Well, I think a lot of Pixar films are deeply emotional and well-written, albeit they lack "real questions."

True but Wall-E had a pointed anti-big business theme to it.

Wall-E did speak out about how big business does sort of rule America and China.

Also, GTA IV did have adult themed parts of it but the characters did have depth to them. Niko was not a bad man, he just did bad things to make a living. Through the talks he has with his friends more of his past and his driven motives are seen.

Sometimes it is the characters that offer the depth for the story, not the story itself.

 

[level250geek]

Maybe if "mature" and adult rating were separate but equal to distinguish.

I've said it before, I'll say it a hundred times:

If I want story, I'll read a book or watch a movie. I play games for game play mechanics; to engage in a social activity, or to stimulate the puzzle-solving parts of my brain. Story, characters, emotion: the potential is there and should be explored, but it should be secondary. Mechanics come first.

Why? What's the harm in exploring the boundries? If interactive media became better at storytelling and conducting emotion than books or film, could you honestly say it should be limited to generally asinine logic puzzles? All game mechanics are, are a set of rules and a goal. Whether the puzzle ends up being how best to point and click on the bad guy, or how to figure out a riddle, I don't see the point of limiting the vast power of an interactive world to a set of remarkably easy puzzles*. (by puzzles, I mean any objective set by the game that you must achieve within the games rules.)

It bothers me when I hear too much talk of making games narrative devices. They are not narrative devices; that doesn't mean they can't be vehicles for narrative, but their primary function should not be to explore human emotion or to tell a story. Their primary function should be play.

The best way a game can deliver narrative is as a sandbox/canvas. Give me the potential to create my own story, to forge the role I play in an open-ended narrative. Games are also a great way to stimulate discussion on themes and issues, since they are interactive. But please; don't let the day where video games become interactive movies come to pass.

That's all I'm saying.

And you ask why not? Simple: I love playing games, and I want games to retain their integrity and their form.