Director David Cage explained the origins of “Kara” in a presentation at GDC:

After Heavy Rain, we wanted to push the envelope in terms of quality, starting with the visuals. We wanted to improve many things — things that were not possible with the Heavy Rain engine. So we had to develop a new engine from scratch.

We also wanted to improve the quality of the acting. With Heavy Rain, we did what many games do — split performances, recording a voice on one side and a body animation on the other, putting everything together and crossing your fingers that you get a consistent performance. It worked okay for Heavy Rain, but you lose a lot of a performance by splitting into two and rebuilding it artificially.

We wanted to do what Avatar did by having one full performance where we capture everything at the same time. And we wanted to demonstrate these new performance capture techniques and the new engine before going into production, so we developed a short showcase that would allow us to test these ideas and technologies. This is how “Kara” was created.

“Kara” is not our next game. It’s not the character, it’s not the world, it’s not the story. …We do things in a very strange way here, things that have nothing to do with the games we make. But I think that’s a part of the DNA of the studio, and hopefully something that people like about us – they never know what they’re going to get!

 

Quantic Dream boss David Cage has dismissed the MotionScan technology used by Rockstar and Team Bondi in L.A. Noire as “an interesting dead end.”

MotionScan captures an actor's facial performance and carefully reproduces its nuances in-game. In upcoming detective thriller L.A. Noire, the technology is used so that players can “read” the faces of characters they’re questioning.

In an interview with CVG, Cage said of MotionScan, “I think it's an interesting solution to a problem for now. But it's also an interesting dead end. That's exactly what I feel. Their technique is incredibly expensive and they will never be able to shoot body and face at the same time.”

 

Sony has announced that a Heavy Rain will receive a free patch next week to allow the game to be played with the Move motion control peripheral.

Due on the 22nd of September, the patch will enable players to use Move to “mimic real-world actions” such as knocking on doors in game.

There will also be a demo available on the 28th of September featuring two levels, Scott Shelby’s “Sleezy Place” and Norman Jayden’s “Crime Scene.”

 

Qauntic Dream’s David Cage has spoken out about his early ambitions for Heavy Rain, saying his studio was initially interested in both 3D and motion control.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Cage says, “We are interested in both 3D and motion control. The very first game design of Heavy Rain was based on a motion controller, actually, that we designed ourselves. We wanted to use the Dual Shock and clip a plastic part on it with three little lights that would be detected by the EyeToy.

 

Sit down with some gamers and in short order they will begin to repeat verbatim the dubious wisdom of electronic entertainment lobbies. They may inform you that the average gamer is 35 years old, or more often, that the videogame industry is bigger than the film industry.

True perhaps in monetary terms but certainly not in scope of audience or with regard to their social impact – regardless of what alarmist politicians and impressionable parties everywhere might choose to believe.

In truth videogames are a young form of entertainment, both demographically and industrially. In the years to come, and as a generation aptly named the digital natives come to supersede their predecessors, we’ll begin to understand the full cultural relevance of videogames. In the meantime, hegemonic digital colonists may well continue to categorise this newer medium as a variously childish and dangerous form of entertainment for the under-18 set.

 

THQ have released details for the upcoming PC edition of Red Faction: Guerrilla, stating that the sequel will be released in Europe on September 11 and in North America on September 15.

You can read about the title in our console review. THQ have also released the following system specifications:

 

Violently gushing, Heavy Rain twinkles as it pours down the side of a big iron door.

The bass resonates through you as you prepare for a momentous visual treat. The developers of Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer jump onto stage and introduce themselves. They explain there will be twisted bizarre story lines, created organically depending on how you play the character. In the background illustrious coloured scenes unwind, and yes, it does appear to be in game!

Visually I don’t think I’ve seen something that full bodied and cinematic before in any game.