I’ve always wanted to write a videogame – it’s on my list of things to do before I lose interest in writing videogames. Therefore, I look forward to interviews with the Heavy Rain writer and director David Cage and I’m always keen to listen to his storytelling philosophies. I managed to catch up with him outside the showfloor at gamescom, away from the gunfire and heavy metal that is still ringing in my ears.

I didn’t get to play the new scene in the end, partly because I acted like a headless chicken and partly because I want to take in the whole game in one sitting when I get hold of a copy, but it looks stunning. If you want to check it out for yourselves, head on over to US PlayStation.Blog to see David Cage walk you through the new level.

Rate: (Average: 4.20 out of 5)

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Hi everyone! I’m Alex Pavey, the European Product Manager for Heavy Rain. We’ve got a lot of exciting news coming up over the next few weeks, and to get you started, here’s an interview with Guillaume de Fondaumiere, co-CEO of Quantic Dream and Executive Producer of Heavy Rain.

Guillaume recently visited Dublin for an exclusive preview event for Irish media, hosted by Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland. In this feature recorded for the PlayStation Blog, Guillaume gives an overview of the highly anticipated Heavy Rain, which is due for release in early 2010.

As ever, I’ll be around in the comments section for a while, and I’ll try and answer any questions you may have, or pass them back to the team at Quantic Dream. And keep an eye out for more Heavy Rain news soon…

Rate: (Average: 4.45 out of 5)

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To make sure you didn’t miss any of the “must sees”, here’s a quick look back at some of our favourite trailers and photos we’ve posted this week from the show.

E3 Game Trailers

(To see more video, check out our Viddler page)

EyePet

Fat Princess

Gran Turismo PSP (mmMMMmm… shiny…)

Heavy Rain (more…)

Rate: (Average: 4.56 out of 5)

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My creative writing professor at university once told me that “good readers make good writers”; it always stayed with me and it sprang to mind as I prepared to interview David Cage, the writer of Heavy Rain. It’s a game that, more so than most, will be judged on its storytelling. So, one writer to another, I asked him what he likes to read.

David Cage, writer of Heavy Rain

“I had quite a classical upbringing,” he said, “and I read Shakespeare, a lot of French writers from the middle ages and the Greek classics, as well as quite a lot of sci-fi. I’m quite eclectic in my tastes. One of the things that makes Heavy Rain’s storytelling unique is that it’s the first thing I’ve written that relates to my personal life; I don’t know any serial killers, of course, but the real topic of the game is how far you’re prepared to go to save someone you love and that’s something I really wanted to talk about.”

“Each time you start a project you want it to be the best thing you’ve done, but as Heavy Rain is the beginning of a new genre – we’re calling it interactive drama – and we’re the only team doing anything like this, there’s a lot of expectation around the story, so we’ve given it more attention than we would have if we were developing a more traditional shooter.”

He then introduces me to the stage he’s allowing people to play here at E3, called Mad Jack, where a detective must examine a car wrecking yard for clues leading to a murder.

“Norman Jayden is an FBI agent who has arrived in the city to help the local police force,” he told me. “He has a special piece of equipment called ARI – Artificial Reality Interface – consisting of glasses and a glove allowing him to scan his surroundings for clues such as fingerprints and pheromone samples in the air, and transmit them for analysis later on. His weakness is his addiction to a drug called Triptocaine and the player will have to deal with this because if he goes too long without a dose he will get sick and his vision will blur, and if he takes too much he risks dying from an overdose.”

Someone back at SCEE HQ once told me, having seen an early demo of Heavy Rain last year, that they thought it would be the first game to make people cry. David laughed when I told him this and explained that he wants this game to be a more emotional experience than any other.

“I think it will be one of the first games to bring out a full palette of emotions; we want people to feel empathy, happiness, sadness, rather than just excite or scare them. I don’t know if people are going to cry but there are a few scenes that are very impressive on a psychological level.”

Another unique aspect of the title is that there is no such thing as game over, and David was keen to elaborate on this.

“We felt that ‘game over’ was a very frustrating thing from a narrative point of view because all it means is that you didn’t play the game how the developer wanted you to play it. We got rid of that so if your character dies then you lose them and the story continues accordingly.”

“This game isn’t about challenges or counting points; it’s really about the journey, so the idea is that you shape the story as it unfolds.”

It’s great to see such mature storytelling in a PS3 game and every time I see more of Heavy Rain, some aspect of it gets me thinking in ways I never have before in my 20+ years of gaming. I can’t wait to spend a weekend with it once it comes out, how about you?

Rate: (Average: 4.79 out of 5)

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It was eerily quiet around the LA Convention Centre on Monday, with the only activity coming from frantic crews applying a last lick of paint to the show stands and the few earlybird visitors taking pictures of the outside and working their way around the massive venue.

I’ll have pictures of the PlayStation stand for you very soon but, in the meantime, I can tell you that it’s looking spectacular and that many of the games you asked for in my first post are going to be playable. As I type, I can hear the pitter-patter of Heavy Rain falling behind me…

What I can show you is some behind the scenes photos from Room 502, which is kind of like SCEE’s living room while we’re here: a gorgeous space where we’ll invite journalists and retailers to try upcoming titles and interview the developers. It’s a real marvel in terms of design, with bright colours, quirky trinkets and funky furniture scattered among huge screens hosting cracking games. Here’s a few pics but there are plenty more on Flickr!

I’m also trying to arrange appointments to see all of the games you’ve been asking for. It’s going well and I’ll be meeting up with the developers behind Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, SingStar, VidZone and many more, although I’m still waiting to find out when they’ll all be slotted in. I’ve just received an invite to go and try a demo of FIFA 10 tomorrow and will be posting later in the week with my impressions and quotes from those in the know. If you have any burning questions for them then let me know in the comments.

Tomorrow is when it all kicks off so check back throughout the day for a cornucopia (word of the day) of announcements, revelations and discussion points from SCEA’s press conference, which takes place at 11am, LA time.

Rate: (Average: 4.26 out of 5)

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