Warp Zoned Presents
All Articles: Heavy Rain
Broforce, Mortal Kombat XL, Heavy Rain on PS4, more added to PlayStation Store
It’s time to bro wild with this week’s PlayStation Store update as the uber-American side-scrolling shooter Broforce is now available to download for the PS4. Developed by Free Lives, a South African-based team, Broforce is also available this month as a free download for PlayStation Plus subscribers. That’s a good deal, bro!
Also new to the PlayStation Store this week, and just as violent as Broforce, is NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat XL. A super-sized re-release of a fighting game that everyone loved on the PS4 last year, the XL version adds nine new characters, a ton of costume changes, and the return of “The Pit.”
Finally, Quantic Dream’s interlocking serial killer story, Heavy Rain, will make the jump from the PS3 to the PS4 this week. The remake will include improved visuals and more realistic lighting. And NIS America will put out their own upgraded re-release with The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition, a PS4 remake of an action RPG originally released for the PS3.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. And a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged Broforce, Heavy Rain, Mortal Kombat X
Beyond: Two Souls will be released for PS4 next week; Heavy Rain delayed to March 1, 2016
Sony has announced (via the PlayStation Blog) that Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls will make its PS4 debut on the PlayStation Store next Tuesday, November 24. The supernatural adventure game, which stars Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, was originally released for the PS3 in 2013.
Quantic Dream has made a number of changes to the PS4 re-release, including:
- Enhanced 1080p graphics including motion blur, bloom, and depth of field effects, as well as improved lighting and shadows. The game also makes use of the DualShock 4 speaker to improve immersion when playing as the Entity.
- Decisions are highlighted at the end of each scene and compared with those made by other players.
- You can now play the game in chronological order right from the start.
- Increased difficulty in certain fight scenes, combined with improved controls for action sequences.
- Includes the “Enhanced Experiments” downloadable expansion.
In the same post, Sony confirmed that Heavy Rain‘s PS4 re-release has suffered a slight delay. Originally expected to be available by the end of the year, Heavy Rain will now be released through the PlayStation Store on March 1, 2016. A retail release containing both titles will be available in the European region on the same day, but it’s currently unknown if Sony will make the same deal available to North American PS4 owners.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain
Launch date for PS4 re-release of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls will be revealed soon
During this year’s E3 Expo, Sony quietly confirmed that Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls would be re-released for the PS4 sometime in the near future.
Not much was mentioned about either re-release, though Sony did say that the games would be sold on store shelves (in a two-game bundle) and through the PlayStation Store (as individual downloads). A “Chronological Mode” will be added to Beyond, and both games will also receive a graphical overhaul.
And yesterday, we learned that a release date for the re-releases will be announced soon:
Hi everyone, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls PS4 release dates will be revealed soon now. Thank you for your patience!
— QUANTIC DREAM (@QUANTIC_DREAM) September 23, 2015
How soon is soon? Nobody’s quite sure. But Quantic Dream is also working on a brand new game for the PS4, which isn’t connected in any way to the brilliant tech demos (Kara and The Dark Sorcerer) they’ve showcased for the public in recent years. I’m sure we’ll hear more about that project “soon” too.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream “lost” $8-16 million because of used sales
Another developer is pissing and moaning about secondhand sales and this time it’s Quantic Dream, the team behind Heavy Rain. Guillaume de Fondaumiere, the company’s co-founder, recently sat down for an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. During the exchange, he laid out the details of the company’s “lost sales” due to the used game market:
“I think [second hand gaming] is one of the number one problems right now in the industry.
“I can take just one example of Heavy Rain – we basically sold to date approximately two million units, we know from the trophy system that probably more than three million people bought this game and played it. On my small level it’s a million people playing my game without giving me one cent. And my calculation is, as Quantic Dream, I lost between [$8 and $16] million worth of royalties because of second hand gaming.”
Ignoring the fact that de Fondaumiere seems to have completely forgotten the rental market for Heavy Rain, he is falling into the same trap as other developers who rail against used games: if someone buys it used, there’s no guarantee they would have bought it new. He goes on to say that if gamers stop buying games like Heavy Rain new, developers will stop making them:
“Because when developers and publishers alike are going to see that they can’t make a living out of producing games that are sold through retail channels, because of second hand gaming, they will simply stop making these games.”
This is obviously a man who clearly doesn’t get it. If developers aren’t making enough money from retail sales, the answer isn’t to crack down on used sales (as if that were even legal). Instead, they should be looking for ways to get development costs down and make gamers want to buy new.
Nah, that’d make too much sense.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream is up to something
According to the amazing information sleuth superannuation, Quantic Dream is up to something. The creators of Heavy Rain have registered seven new domain names, all with the words Play Series and Five (written as Fiv5): playseries.fr, playseries.net, playseries.de, fiv5.net, fiv5.co.uk, fiv5.de, and fiv5.fr.
Fiv5 has been trademarked in Europe by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe as well. To top it all off, Benoit Godde, recently hired by Quantic Dream, has both Five and Infraworld listed on his resume on LinkedIn (Infraworld was a title the company was working on back in 2006 that was canceled due to disinterest by publishers).
While I’m excited to hear Quantic Dream is working on another game – I love Heavy Rain – it saddens me to find out this way. I do respect (and fear) superannuation’s amazing sleuthing skills, but at the same time, I really prefer to hear about games when they’re more fleshed out – and when the company is ready to tell us about them. Nothing gets me more excited for a game than a sexy trailer or some steamy screenshots, and while I do love information, it’s almost anti-climactic to read about it on LinkedIn. Talk about a boring way to find out about a game. Either way, hopefully David Cage releases some more information now that this has surfaced.
Posted in News
Tagged Heavy Rain
The 2010-2011 Video Game Awards Season
Beginning with the Spike TV Video Game Awards in early December and culminating with last night’s BAFTA Games Awards, the 2010-2011 “video game awards season” has come to a close. And after four months of awards, acceptance speeches and arguments, we have a clearer picture of what really were the best games of the year.
The snobbier segments of the game community love to decry the Spike TV Video Game Awards as an embarrassment and not representative of the feelings of “real” gamers. Typically, the show’s world premiere trailers overshadow the actual awards themselves. But the event is spearheaded by Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TV and the winners are voted on by a well-respected contingent of game journalists, so I guess it could be worse.
That said, this year’s Spike TV Video Game Awards “Game of the Year” was awarded to Rockstar’s epic western Red Dead Redemption. Keighley and company spread the love as the remaining major awards all went to other games: “Best PC Game” StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty; “Best PS3 Game” God of War III; “Best Wii Game” Super Mario Galaxy 2; “Best Xbox 360 Game” Halo: Reach; “Best Handheld Game” God of War: Ghost of Sparta; and “Best Downloadable Game” Costume Quest.
If Spike TV’s annual awards attempt to reach the mainstream, Time Magazine‘s top ten is the polar opposite, reaching into corners of the gaming world that are often ignored. This year’s selections are no different, including Alan Wake being awarded the #1 spot with iOS phenomenon Angry Birds at #2. The rest of the list was pretty typical, but the lack of Alan Wake’s spiritual twin, Heavy Rain, was the baffling part. Also, Limbo received its first love of the year-end awards with a sixth-place selection. (more…)
Mass Effect 2 named Best Game at 2011 BAFTAs
The final Game of the Year awards ceremony for 2010 releases, the BAFTA Games Awards, have been handed out in London and BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 has been named “Best Game.”
But aside from its big win, Mass Effect 2 was shut out during the rest of the show. Instead, Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain took home the most trophies, three, for “Original Music,” “Story” and “Technical Innovation.” Heavy Rain’s heavy hand on the podium also resulted in a shutout for Call of Duty: Black Ops, which was nominated in an astounding six categories. Though, Treyarch’s shooter did capture the “GAME Award of 2010,” which is the only BAFTA award voted on by the public.
The other special award, the “BAFTA Ones to Watch Award,” was presented out to That Game Studio’s Twang.
Hit the jump for the complete list of winners. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2
God of War III, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2 become Greatest Hits
Sony has added a quintet of new titles to the PlayStation’s Greatest Hits line and it’s hard to argue about the greatness of any of them.
The latest Greatest Hits include God of War III, Heavy Rain, ModNation Racers, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Game of the Year Edition (which includes a voucher for all of the game’s downloadable contenst) and THQ’s UFC Undisputed 2010. All of the games will now retail for the insanely great price of $29.99. As you can see on the left, the games look pretty snazzy in red with their new Greatest Hits cases.
Sony has promised that more games will be added to the Greatest Hits lineup as 2011 progresses.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged God of War III, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves