Heavy Rain director tells game industry it's time to grow up

[reasonable_doubt]

I dont understand how hiring bunch of actors for his game make him a pioneer to the game industry.

unless QTE is consider a genres lol, even than others has done it before him.

A lot of ppl will hate me for this but this dude is just a failed movie director using the game industry as a second chance. And now he act like he's Steven Speilberg.

[Bio]

Well, don't hate the player (director), hate the game (industry). Regardless of our opinions of him...the guy always makes a good point about the state of our industry, IMO. I really don't think he's trying to imply anything beyond that.

As for being a pioneer, I'd say if he didn't pioneer extreme QTE-driven narratives (with no framework to "conventional" genre gameplay) with Indigo Prophecy, then he certainly brought it to the spotlight with Heavy Rain. He's definitely doing is own thing. I haven't played either of his games, but I wouldn't mind seeing more games aiming for newer, fresher experiences like his seem to do.

[admartian]

It's not unfair to me.

Considering it wasn't part of what Cage was saying at all, it is. But I get that it isn't revolutionary.

Just that it wasn't part of David Cage's overall argument.

[Joe Zombie]

LOL @ Peter Pan Syndrome. Seriously?

I look at my collection of games and the majority of them contain "mature" themes. Not that I'm some kind of psychopath. There are arguably more T- or M-rated games these days that are the best-sellers.

However, I do agree that the shooter genre is growing stale. I wouldn't necessarily say that these developers need to "grow up", rather they should do more to innovate.

Peter Pan Syndrome. Lol what a joke.

[Kauldron]

I agree with his point. The industry should be taking more risks.

This gen's shooter obsession was freaking retarded.

I'm capable of more thinking than pew pew peww.

[itachi73378]

I agree with cage.

I also think gamers need to grow up before the industry does, because gamers shape the games that come out. It hurts me when I see people who don't know other games exists besides COD. We need to start showing support for these innovative titles. It's 2012 and even renowned devs like Carmack are stuck in the 90s with there shooters, riding on their past successes too scared to take risks.

[admartian]

LOL @ Peter Pan Syndrome. Seriously?

I look at my collection of games and the majority of them contain "mature" themes. Not that I'm some kind of psychopath. There are arguably more T- or M-rated games these days that are the best-sellers.

However, I do agree that the shooter genre is growing stale. I wouldn't necessarily say that these developers need to "grow up", rather they should do more to innovate.

Peter Pan Syndrome. Lol what a joke.

I don't think Cage was referring to the age-rating on games.

While violence and sexual themes are 'adult' - they're not necessarily the 'mature' concepts that he's alluding to.

[The Black Wolf]

I agree with cage.

I also think gamers need to grow up before the industry does, because gamers shape the games that come out. It hurts me when I see people who don't know other games exists besides COD. We need to start showing support for these innovative titles. It's 2012 and even renowned devs like Carmack are stuck in the 90s with there shooters, riding on their past successes too scared to take risks.

This is true, gamers are part of the equation too.

You also have developers who take risks but get slammed for it, ex. Square Enix with FF and Capcom with Resident Evil.

What we and gaming needs is a balance of the two. We need more newer types or refreshing IPs, but at the same time we need something familiar. In other words, don't make the leap too fast.

[Soldier 95B]

Considering it wasn't part of what Cage was saying at all, it is. But I get that it isn't revolutionary.

Just that it wasn't part of David Cage's overall argument.

IMO it is related to his argument. I don't find that his QTE, story driven games are any more grown up than many of the other games we have today. I also don't think his games games are any more "outside the box".

That said, Heavy Rain is an awesome game that is in my top 5 all time favorites.

[RaY_210]

I think he just needs to realize that games aren't movies. It's a completely different medium and games have to portray "mature themes" in their own way (and I'm not talking about killing, zombies, etc.)

[Croyles]

I actually agree with Cage, to an extent. We need more adult orientated games, doesn't mean there can't be room for the usual stuff we have been playing. Subject matter isn't the only thing that evolves after all, and i'm not just talking about graphics. Game mechanics, systems, AI and general gameplay play a HUGE factor, which granted most shooters haven't bothered to tamper with (minus games like Borderlands). There are however plenty of games that HAVE evolved well that STILL use the old subject matters (zombies, monsters, bad guys etc).

I think Cage has good intentions but he needs to calm the fuck down a bit because his attitude is starting to irritate everybody! He's not the only one making strides.

You also have developers who take risks but get slammed for it, ex. Square Enix with FF and Capcom with Resident Evil.

What we and gaming needs is a balance of the two. We need more newer types or refreshing IPs, but at the same time we need something familiar. In other words, don't make the leap too fast.

I completely disagree with you about Square Enix and Capcom. They didn't take any risks at all. Resident Evil started pandering to outdated western gaming mechanics with RE4 and seemed to have de-evolved with RE5 out of a need to sell titles. They couldn't or didn't bother to figure out a way to evolve their puzzle-survival-horror system. Square Enix took their incredible cut scenes and decided to make a whole game based on that, and even though FFXIII had a fun battle system, all the gameplay around it was a massive step back from even the SNES days.

I dont. Shooting zombies, etc. doesn't sound "kid friendly" to me. Games like Doom, etc. seem pretty adult to me.

It really isn't. There is a difference between kid friendly and immature. Kid friendly are games with no blood, violence and sex, but just because a game features blood, violence and sex in no way means it's adult or mature! Pubescent probably would have been a better word for David Cage to use, rather than childish.
Don't get me wrong I enjoy those, but they still have plenty of room for improvement when it comes to subject matter.

[The Black Wolf]

You do have a point and I see what you are saying. Yes pandering to a different audience is a risk, but not the type of risk we're talking about.

[Blacksite]

I think the issue with Square Enix is that they simply have one too many groups of Final Fantasy fans to please. You have the fans who enjoy the classic turn-based, open world gameplay mechanics of the PSone era, the linear yet melodramatic routine that Toriyama brought to the table with Final Fantasy X and last, but not least, the fans of Final Fantasy XI's online mechanics.

As for Capcom, rarely does anyone, including myself, have anything good to say about them. I haven't been following Resident Evil 6 much but I remember they brought back zombies - which was great - only to give them the ability to arm themselves with firearms which defeats the purpose of bringing them back.

The Black Wolf is right in that it's not the same kind of risk David Cage is talking about. The game industry simply needs to evolve in such a way that we get more games like Journey and less of the same old Call of Duty look-alikes released every year by developers who want to play it safe.

[admartian]

IMO it is related to his argument. I don't find that his QTE, story driven games are any more grown up than many of the other games we have today. I also don't think his games games are any more "outside the box".

That said, Heavy Rain is an awesome game that is in my top 5 all time favorites.

Fair enough point about his games. But they are more to what he is saying

Again, QTE is just the mechanic and still largely irrelevant.

Just like the FPS view in Mirror's Edge or the Portal games are not directly related to their themes or content.

I think the issue with Square Enix is that they simply have one too many groups of Final Fantasy fans to please. You have the fans who enjoy the classic turn-based, open world gameplay mechanics of the PSone era, the linear yet melodramatic routine that Toriyama brought to the table with Final Fantasy X and last, but not least, the fans of Final Fantasy XI's online mechanics.

As for Capcom, rarely does anyone, including myself, have anything good to say about them. I haven't been following Resident Evil 6 much but I remember they brought back zombies - which was great - only to give them the ability to arm themselves with firearms which defeats the purpose of bringing them back.

The Black Wolf is right in that it's not the same kind of risk David Cage is talking about. The game industry simply needs to evolve in such a way that we get more games like Journey and less of the same old Call of Duty look-alikes released every year by developers who want to play it safe.

Absolutely. We need to be talking about more varied games like Heavy Rain, Journey etc; because devs are wiling to take a chance.

If people don't like thes games or aren't ready for them, they can always not buy oor play them. It's their choice really.