Both types will probably find these comments of interest, then. "Heavy Rain is not a video game anymore in my mind because it breaks with most of the traditional paradigms, but it's fully interactive," he told Destructoid. "If the format becomes successful, we will probably have to find a different name for this type of experience".

And if it doesn't, we will probably have to find a different name for David Cage.

Cage: Heavy Rain 'not a videogame anymore in my mind' [Destructoid]

Since Quantic Dream had already thoroughly teased the adventures of newly revealed character Ethan Mars at Sony's Gamescom press conference, our demo focused on the fourth and final playable character, Scott Shelby. In Heavy Rain, Shelby's been hired to do a little detective work on the Origami Killer, in service to those who have long lost loved ones to the mysterious serial killer. The Shelby segment shown to us didn't reveal much of the game's story line, instead putting a heavy emphasis on its characters and the consequences of their choices.

The brief scene was set in a convenience store run by a man named Hassan, father of one of the Origami Killer's victims. Shelby's there to interview Hassan, but the private dick finds it hard to get anything out of the shop owner who is clearly still hurting from the loss of his son. Shelby's solution? Make use of his proximity to convenience and pick up some asthma inhalers.

Whilst shopping for said inhalers, Hassan's Shop is robbed by a young and jittery thief. Shelby, luckily out of sight, has a choice to make.

Fondaumièr showed us the results of one of those choices, with Shelby slowly creeping down one of the store aisles directly behind the thief. Along the way, Shelby nearly knocked over what appeared to be a box of detergent, but Fondaumièr was dexterous enough to catch it via an on-screen prompt, quietly replacing the box. He then, just as quietly, pulled a bottle of booze from the shelf to his left. Sneaking up behind the assailant, Fondaumièr swung the PS3 controller downward, knocking the thief unconscious.

Hold up averted.

Shelby's alternate attempt wasn't as cut and dry. Fondaumièr instead chose a different aisle to sneak down. Upon exiting, he found himself perpendicular to the thief who spotted Shelby in his peripheral.

At the thief's nervous request Shelby held his arms up—really, Fondaumièr held the R1 and L1 buttons on the DualShock controller—and attempted to talk the thief down. Negotiating is as technically simple as pressing one of the controller's face buttons, but you'll have to make the right decision. Fondaumièr did, choosing a series of soothing, grounding dialogue options that tied into the game's thread of love and loss.

The demo didn't show off much that we didn't already know about. We've seen Heavy Rain in action multiple times and have become familiar with its control scheme, its mechanic of letting the player hear the internal thoughts of its cast, and the complex threads that weave between each of the four characters' respective stories. Co-creator David Cage has been careful about not revealing much in the way of intertwining plot, so we'll be interested to see how scenarios and characters overlap in the final product.

What we saw at Gamescom was as consistently good as Heavy Rain has been over the past year in its public showings—it's now been a year since we first saw a playable build. It's not due to hit PlayStation 3s until sometime next year, so we're guessing there's still more yet to be revealed about the game.

We'll let you know our internal thoughts on those details when the time comes.

In an interview with NOW Gamer, Cage says:

Actors (and their agents) often have so little consideration for games that the only discussion you can have is how much money for how much time. No one cares about what you try to achieve, they very rarely agree to invest time and energy in their part, all they want is a maximum amount of money for a minimum amount of time, and ideally, on a game that won't hurt their image too much…

David! You must have been asking the wrong types, because I've found that when Keith David steps behind the microphone (and he steps behind the microphone often), he is nothing but the consummate professional.

Interview: David Cage [NOW Gamer, via VG247] [Image: rokphotoz]

David Cage, who is also president of Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream says that we won't see the French equivalent of a Dragon Ball-esque karate hover battle, a la Indigo Prophecy.

"I believe it'll be much more emotionally involving, as gamers will easily relate to the situations and characters," Cage said. "In Heavy Rain, you won't be a superhero or a gangster. You'll just be someone real." Given how good the game looked at Games Convention (and continues to look) we might be able to settle for normal, even if that sequence we saw won't be more than a potential bonus feature in the final game.

Heavy Rain (PS3) [1UP]

He first contrasts sandbox gaming in general with the deliberately-constructed "rollercoaster" of linear games:

"From the time you're in the line, you go in the back of the rollercoaster and through the tunnel and everything is defined. We knew while you were waiting how to make the stress grow, how to make you feel something, get you scared, make you feel better, et cetera. This rollercoaster is being conceived by someone to optimize the experience."

Calling MMOs the only "true" sandbox of which he's aware, Cage is a little bit critical:

I've played many MMOs these days, and most of the time, the experience is really poor, because you end up doing not very exciting things. I think the value of the experience is not on that. It's really about building yourself - the vision of yourself, like, "Oh, I want to be a hero, because I've spent so much time at level 16. I'm so strong. Look at my weapons and my helmet." These are the core mechanics these games are based on.

I think that's fine for people when they need to build self esteem, and it's a very important core complementing experience, but if you're not into that, what's the real narrative or emotional value? Sometimes it's really interesting when you're in the guild in a massively multiplayer game and you attack the fortress or whatever. Some great things can be told, but it's not guaranteed. The value is not always there."

What do you think, Kotaku readers? Do you get a "narrative or emotional" value out of MMOs most of the time, or do you prefer the "rollercoaster?"

Dreaming of a New Day: Heavy Rain's David Cage [Gamasutra]