"There is no uncanny valley any more," declares French developer

[toblix]

My real name has two ø's in it. Also, I'll probably buy a PS3 soon, so I can play Uncharted, MGS4 and Heavy Rain. That Little Big Planet game? I don't get it.

[Scrobbs]

...and not wipeout?

[syntheticgerbil]

More like wipeøut if you get my drift.

[Cigol]

V9Q2ZEFZmhs&hd=1

- flat voicework
- poor lip-synching
- shoddy script
- unconvincing slow animation
- not enough QTE's

So yeah I've dialled down my anticipation a notch, but being a big fan of 'choose your own adventure' books I'm still (naively?) looking forward to it.

There is some footage of the other characters here at GameTrailers.

[toblix]

Holy shit, that looked pretty awful.

[Patters]

this game seems far too pretentious to me, although in a different way to metal gear solid, some of the graphics seem technically excellent (although bland) and others look really pretty weak.

[Nappi]

Interesting choice for a gameplay video as well, with 10 seconds of freedom of movement followed by 2 minute quick time event.

Unless..

crap.

[n0wak]

The only thing more horrible than that trailer is seeing The Telegraph write 2000+ words praising it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologyreviews/video gamereviewsandpreviews/5368503/Heavy-Rain-preview.html

I think I want to retire from video games.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Jesus... the uncanny valley is very much still there. I think I preferred GTAIV: Lost and Damned's cut-scenes!

[Erkki]

- not enough QTE's

Don't worry, they'll fill the rest with QTE's in the DLC.

[MrHoatzin]

This shit is not even choose your own adventure, it is mash keys along to a cutscene. Why don't they just shoot everything with real people and then edit it together in realtime based on or or player input? That would be a more interesting thing to be subject to, might even be more conducive to less linear storytelling than a very asset-intensive video game.

Don't worry, they'll fill the rest with QTE's in the DLC.

I want to pronounce QTE's as "cuties".

[ThunderPeel2001]

However you pronounce them, they SUCK.

I suppose it's about time somebody thought they'd give the "ooh, look at the graphics"/"forget the gameplay" model a go again. Shame no-one seems to learn: Dragon's Lair, Microcosm, Rise of the Robots, 7th Guest all weren't that long ago, were they?

[toblix]

I wonder if the PS3 SDK has an API for QTE DLC.

[Horticulture Tycoon]

This shit is not even choose your own adventure, it is mash keys along to a cutscene.

Well, on a macro level it's fair to compare it to a Choose Your Own Adventure, since if you fail to mash the correct buttons, presumably the cutscene ends a different way and sends the story in different direction. Granted, you're not so much choosing your own adventure as much as the game is choosing it for you based on how well you do at the arbitrary tasks it puts in front of you, but still...

[SignorSuperdouche]

David Cage's games tend to be noble failures (I've only actually played Fahrenheit myself, but I've heard the same is true of The Nomad Soul) and, if nothing else, seem to be unique enough experiences to justify playing them through.

I'm still interested in the game even if I'm not terribly excited by it.

[toblix]

Oh yeah, it'll probably be awesome. I'm a sucker for the kind of strongly directed, all-custom-made stuff that Fahrenheit had, so even if it's lame it'll be totally awesome.

[MrHoatzin]

Oh yeah, it'll probably be awesome. I'm a sucker for the kind of strongly directed, all-custom-made stuff that Fahrenheit had, so even if it's lame it'll be totally awesome.

Are you feeling ok? You've been saying rather bizarre things as of late.

[syntheticgerbil]

- flat voicework

- poor lip-synching

- shoddy script

- unconvincing slow animation

- not enough QTE's

So yeah I've dialled down my anticipation a notch, but being a big fan of 'choose your own adventure' books I'm still (naively?) looking forward to it.

There is some footage of the other characters here at GameTrailers.

Hahahah, funny how all of this "new" mo-cap technology creates acting similar to what was achieved Grand Theft Auto 3, albeit with more polygons higher textures. This stuff isn't even on par with Monster House or Polar Express in terms of motion capture acting, both of which I thought were very poor as well. What's up with that dude's cleft on his upper lip?

I want to pronounce QTE's as "cuties".

This thread on AG is good for a laugh because of all the pro-game trolling that goes on and then the disappointment that starts to sink in. Well, can it actually be trolling if it's overtly positive? Anyways:

http://adventuregamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22964

I may be wrong, but I imagine about some of the users in that thread are plants from the company there to cheerlead.

[toblix]

Are you feeling ok? You've been saying rather bizarre things as of late.

Bizzare things? If you're talking about this thread, I'm just thinking that, even though the voice work will probably be horrible, the dialogue silly and the plot ridiculous, it'll still be fun, with cool moments of interactivity and sweet graphics.

Also, God lives in my pants.

[toblix]

ALSO:

RAPE CONFIRMED

http://adventuregamers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=493325&postcount=124

Like the guy says, considering the full nude sexscene in previous game i hope ratings this time wont bother, imagine exscene in these graphics. Right?

[elmuerte]

And another fail for quantic dream.

[MrHoatzin]

Bizzare things? If you're talking about this thread...

The tone of the inFamous post, the Trico post, etc. I am ASSUMING you were being , rather than earnest.

[James]

Isn't this game meant to be some kind of huge step forward in interactive storytelling or something? If so, why is the content like something from a dumb action-thriller film? I don't have any particular vendetta against dumb action-thrillers, but after all the fuss about how believable the characters were meant to be and how it would convey real emotion, I'd expect it to tell a story where that sort of thing actually matters. It's also pretty weird that for all the focus they've put on the characters and lack of uncanny valley, the faces are significantly less impressive than those in numerous other games.

On the plus side, I do quite like what they've done with the quick time events (which has also been in previous trailers). Obviously whether such a thing should be used is a matter of contention, but if you are going to have the player stare at a portion of the screen in anticipation of a button prompt, it's much better to have it be the focus of the action, rather than a portion of the screen which is deliberately avoided by the action. It rewards the player for paying attention to the content of the cutscene rather than deliberately ignoring it.

There are some interesting ideas in the game. There's a certain appeal to not having any game over circumstances (they are doing that, right?), leaving it a near-continuous experience. However, considering that a large portion of the thing is made up of sequences of branching cutscenes, the transitions seem rather poor. The guy barely seems to be struck before he's already waking from his unconsciousness; later, as he's escaping, one moment you see his hands reaching out, then suddenly he's standing on the car.

I don't know, I may be being overly picky. I don't even know how near the game is to completion. Those are just my thoughts on that footage.

[syntheticgerbil]

...imagine exscene in these graphics. Right?

I can definitely imagine exscene these graphics. Ohhhh boy.

[Thrik]

If this were to be like the ultimate QTE-type game then I think I could actually enjoy it, where you can choose to handle each situation in totally different ways and genuinely change the outcome.

For example, I'd be quite impressed if during that encounter with the beastly black guy you could just crack some jokes to end the problem in a friendly way, and he becomes an ally or something in the story. You know, truly script-changing stuff.

Sadly I suspect that despite their promises of dozens and dozens of scenes, no game over screens, a flexible story, etc, it'll actually end up more like Fahrenheit where it's basically a series of long cutscenes and you pretty much just keep the cutscene going by hitting the right buttons.