Microsoft Rejected Heavy Rain Due To Child Abduction Plot

[Sonic Doctor]

Or maybe Microsoft rejected the game because it's a load of horse manure, and even Microsoft wasn't willing to dirty their hands with David Cage's latest I-wish-I-was-a-movie-producer-so-bad-but-could-never-make-it-in-Hollywood-so-I-write-games-instead game.

Just sayin'.

So by your logic, microsoft is okay with fable 3 having no gameplay and a stupid story yet it's not okay for Heavy Rain. Microsoft is just as guilty if not more so for releasing a stupid game. More so, as in having far, far less exclusives and one of the few they had was WORSE in terms of gameplay and story then heavy rain.

Really, Fable 3 isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I had a good bit of fun with it. Ya, the story wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. But really, no gameplay?

I guess all that questing I did killing baddies and collecting items, isn't gameplay. Right, right....riiiggghhht? Yeah, no. I mean really, if Fable 3 has no gameplay, then games like Dragon Age, the Banjo Kazooie games, the Mario games, and anything like those have no gameplay.

From what I've seen of Heavy Rain, it was basically a movie with quick-time events, now that isn't a game, I don't care how good the story is, which that was even a mixed bag from what I've heard.

 

[MCerberus]

Really, Fable 3 isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I had a good bit of fun with it. Ya, the story wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. But really, no gameplay?

I guess all that questing I did killing baddies and collecting items, isn't gameplay. Right, right....riiiggghhht? Yeah, no. I mean really, if Fable 3 has no gameplay, then games like Dragon Age, the Banjo Kazooie games, the Mario games, and anything like those have no gameplay.

From what I've seen of Heavy Rain, it was basically a movie with quick-time events, now that isn't a game, I don't care how good the story is, which that was even a mixed bag from what I've heard.

Hyperbole aside, Fable 3 was pretty bad. It was really an amazing sum of bad decisions like "hey let's have our leveling system be magic chests with no real character customization," and, "NPCs are flat and lifeless, let's make it even less interesting to interact with them for simplicity sake."

That and MSGS doesn't have the same reputation for quality it used to. You can easily say that there hasn't been a Crimson Skies or Halo this entire game generation... but hey, there's an on-rails Kinect game they're soooo proud of.

And if it was actually rejected for quality concerns, Microsoft should have told them that. Saying 'nope child abduction' helps no one.

 

[ExtraDebit]

I've traded my xbox360 for a ps3 just for this game and it was the best gaming decision this gen. The only notable x360 exclusive was halo, and I hated shooters.

I guess it all depends on what you like to play, approaching middle age that I am, I like my games more mature and less shooty, also something different and new like Journey once in a while. Relive my childhood dreams as a super hero in Infamous or go on adventures like indiana jones in Uncharted. It seems sony just got more to offer for my taste than microsoft ever will.

In addition, I think microsoft just don't understand games and gamers in general. That is why they made all the wrong decisions on the Xbone to me. We buy consoles for the games, it's never going to be a monopoly or "one box for all" in the living room as long as there is a good enough exclusive game for another console, they didn't get that, and that's why they'll lose.

Personally I wouldn't support microsoft or buy their console not because it's a bad machine or doesn't have good games, but because they people that's running the company believed in something that I can't agree with.

 

[Evonisia]

Well that's a shame, but at least the PS3 exclusivity is explained. I did always want to try Heavy Rain out.

 

[kenu12345]

I have heard many great things of this game, but one game alone is not sufficient justification for a console. Maybe they will do a PC release?

Infamous 1 and 2
Ratchet and Clank series
God of War series
Disgaea series
Gran Turismo series

plenty of reasons to play PS3.

Heh, I only bought a PS3 to play Gundam Extreme VS. (Since I am a huge fan of the series.)

Sure, over time it became my "main" gaming console alongside the Vita, but the library of the PS3 is definitely as solid as my X360 library.

Infamous is a brilliant series. Only issue I had was with Cole and hygiene? Poor guy not being able to shower anymore, that's just sad.

This aint related to the topic but lol man. He doesn't get zapped from a little bit of water just a large amount like a ocean lol

 

[porous_shield]

I can easily see Microsoft turning down Heavy Rain for the reasons mentioned in the article but I also can't shake the feeling they turned them down for other reasons and "no child abduction" is the reason they told Quantic Dream; it reminds me of the only time I was fired in my life and found out from a mutual friend to my boss that they did it to hire one of her (my boss') friends. There's no way to know for certain if they had other reasons for turning Heavy Rain down but it feels like they had other reasons for it.

I actually enjoyed Heavy Rain more than, a game very similar to it, in the Walking Dead.

 

[Vrach]

speaking of heavy rain i'm wondering if i should get it

I'd recommend it. I got PS3 relatively recently mostly for the exclusives and Heavy Rain was one of the things I really wanted to play, so I had high expectations of it. The game definitely delivered. I'm the sort of guy who hates QTEs and while I can't say I loved that aspect of it, it didn't bother me much and I even enjoyed most of it as they kinda sorta made sense. Being still quite new to the console controls when I played it, I didn't have too much trouble with them and the game never punished me too much for it.

So yeah, again - get it imo. It's a one shot game, doesn't really have replayability as it's all about telling that story, but the game's been out for a while now, so you can get it cheap anyway.

OT: Microsoft are idiots. If you're scared of publishing a game like this, you don't deserve to be a publisher at all. I'm not saying that out of some fanboish love for Heavy Rain - the fact is, the game tells a great story, doesn't glorify any violence or anything and there's nothing to be "afraid of" here unless you have no interest in games other than making money from them. And that's clearly all Microsoft sees in this medium.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

speaking of heavy rain i'm wondering if i should get it

I'd recommend it. I got PS3 relatively recently mostly for the exclusives and Heavy Rain was one of the things I really wanted to play, so I had high expectations of it. The game definitely delivered. I'm the sort of guy who hates QTEs and while I can't say I loved that aspect of it, it didn't bother me much and I even enjoyed most of it as they kinda sorta made sense. Being still quite new to the console controls when I played it, I didn't have too much trouble with them and the game never punished me too much for it.

So yeah, again - get it imo. It's a one shot game, doesn't really have replayability as it's all about telling that story, but the game's been out for a while now, so you can get it cheap anyway.

OT: Microsoft are idiots. If you're scared of publishing a game like this, you don't deserve to be a publisher at all. I'm not saying that out of some fanboish love for Heavy Rain - the fact is, the game tells a great story, doesn't glorify any violence or anything and there's nothing to be "afraid of" here unless you have no interest in games other than making money from them. And that's clearly all Microsoft sees in this medium.

You're right, that sounds more like fanboish love for Sony, not heavy rain.

And it is still up to system creators if they want a game on their system or not. Nintendo probably didn't want this on wii, does that make them a "bad" publisher as you say? If that's the case, Sony "turning down" backwards compatibility for the new PS3's makes them a bad console maker.

 

[Tony2077]

speaking of heavy rain i'm wondering if i should get it

I'd recommend it. I got PS3 relatively recently mostly for the exclusives and Heavy Rain was one of the things I really wanted to play, so I had high expectations of it. The game definitely delivered. I'm the sort of guy who hates QTEs and while I can't say I loved that aspect of it, it didn't bother me much and I even enjoyed most of it as they kinda sorta made sense. Being still quite new to the console controls when I played it, I didn't have too much trouble with them and the game never punished me too much for it.

So yeah, again - get it imo. It's a one shot game, doesn't really have replayability as it's all about telling that story, but the game's been out for a while now, so you can get it cheap anyway.

OT: Microsoft are idiots. If you're scared of publishing a game like this, you don't deserve to be a publisher at all. I'm not saying that out of some fanboish love for Heavy Rain - the fact is, the game tells a great story, doesn't glorify any violence or anything and there's nothing to be "afraid of" here unless you have no interest in games other than making money from them. And that's clearly all Microsoft sees in this medium.

considering what i've played watched read if the story is really good i may pick it up the next time i go to ebgames when ever that may be.

 

[Frezzato]

speaking of heavy rain i'm wondering if i should get it

For $20 brand new? Hell yeah. It's a bit slow, but honestly, it's the only game I can think of that truly showcases the use of a controller for a game.

 

[Frezzato]

[...]aztec robot[...]matrix style kung fu fights[....]

Oh man, I can't stop laughing...Fahrenheit. That's so true. The first five minutes were so good, I felt duped in the last few minutes. First five minutes of Fahrenheit, meet the last 30 seconds of The Blair Witch Project; out of character, and oh so very good.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Maybe they refused it for being a crappy FMV game?

 

[porous_shield]

Maybe they refused it for being a crappy FMV game?

But Heavy Rain isn't an FMV game. FMV stand for full motion video when Heavy Rain is done in engine with polygons. Police Quest 4 was a fmv game but not Heavy Rain.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Though this is David Cage we're talking about and I've always found his opinions and philosophies to be very suspect. Heavy Rain just wasn't very good and its attempts to be "mature" kind of exposed just how juvenile it really was.

 

[cainx10a]

I have heard many great things of this game, but one game alone is not sufficient justification for a console. Maybe they will do a PC release?

Infamous 1 and 2
Ratchet and Clank series
God of War series
Disgaea series
Gran Turismo series

plenty of reasons to play PS3.

Heh, I only bought a PS3 to play Gundam Extreme VS. (Since I am a huge fan of the series.)

Sure, over time it became my "main" gaming console alongside the Vita, but the library of the PS3 is definitely as solid as my X360 library.

Infamous is a brilliant series. Only issue I had was with Cole and hygiene? Poor guy not being able to shower anymore, that's just sad.

Hundred of lemon fresh dry wipes

Also, Extreme Vs is bloody amazing, and I want to import it ASAP.

It's only $40 these days

Full Boost is looking amazing, the amount of new suits is just freaking awesome. + I like how they are not rushing to release it on console until they have finished adding more content to the arcade game. Hopefully it will be on current-gen consoles, and not just the PS4.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Maybe they refused it for being a crappy FMV game?

But Heavy Rain isn't an FMV game. FMV stand for full motion video when Heavy Rain is done in engine with polygons. Police Quest 4 was a fmv game but not Heavy Rain.

Might as well be with the limited gameplay and all.

 

[Vrach]

speaking of heavy rain i'm wondering if i should get it

I'd recommend it. I got PS3 relatively recently mostly for the exclusives and Heavy Rain was one of the things I really wanted to play, so I had high expectations of it. The game definitely delivered. I'm the sort of guy who hates QTEs and while I can't say I loved that aspect of it, it didn't bother me much and I even enjoyed most of it as they kinda sorta made sense. Being still quite new to the console controls when I played it, I didn't have too much trouble with them and the game never punished me too much for it.

So yeah, again - get it imo. It's a one shot game, doesn't really have replayability as it's all about telling that story, but the game's been out for a while now, so you can get it cheap anyway.

OT: Microsoft are idiots. If you're scared of publishing a game like this, you don't deserve to be a publisher at all. I'm not saying that out of some fanboish love for Heavy Rain - the fact is, the game tells a great story, doesn't glorify any violence or anything and there's nothing to be "afraid of" here unless you have no interest in games other than making money from them. And that's clearly all Microsoft sees in this medium.

You're right, that sounds more like fanboish love for Sony, not heavy rain.

And it is still up to system creators if they want a game on their system or not. Nintendo probably didn't want this on wii, does that make them a "bad" publisher as you say? If that's the case, Sony "turning down" backwards compatibility for the new PS3's makes them a bad console maker.

Nah, no fanboish love for Sony at all, I've only had the system less than a year now, I'm a PC gamer. Got it from a friend as I wanted to play some exclusives that weren't on PC, particularly stuff like Journey, Heavy Rain, SoTC etc. I will admit I like some things Sony does, like their PS+ and I do enjoy their exclusives, though I'd be happier if they weren't exclusives and I could just play them on a PC (I can understand the business logic behind them though and it leads to good games being made).

And of course it's up to the system creators if they want a game on their system. There is however a matter of why they don't want the game there. And the reasons described in this article are idiotic. Firstly, there's a giant difference between the game being "about kidnapping children" and the game being "about a child getting kidnapped". Note, I'm not using quotation marks to say that's what they've said, I'm using it to illustrate a difference between two very different kinds of games. I'd understand the former being banned for questionable content, but the latter really doesn't have much for a publisher to be scared of, assuming it's done right (and it is).

Secondly, Xbox has a ton of violent games that have all kinds of "unsavory" things in them. The difference is, Microsoft knows those games will make money. A different game like Heavy Rain though is not a sure hitter and taking a chance when it involves a sensitive subject is something Microsoft doesn't want to do. Ie. quite clearly, they only care about their bottom line.

 

[theaudioprophet]

I abducted Roman in one of The Lost and Damned's more forgettable missions, no one batted an eyelid