Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Rain of Realism: Gaming crosses into Hollywood Borders

A Special Thanks to my Friend and housemate Charlie for bringing this game to my attention.

Ever wish you could watch a movie and interact with it through it's characters? Kissing the girl, punching the villain, or interrogating the tough suspects?

As of February 23rd a game by Quantic Dream by the name of Heavy Rain was released. Labeled as a Film Noir thriller (my favourite) the game immerses you into a film-like story, taking you on an interactive ride as several characters as they try to figure out the mystery of the oregami killer, a merciless and mysterious child murderer.

Now you must be thinking "aren't all video games interactive?" well of course, but the game's graphics and style as you will see in the trailer and review videos approach the gameplay and cinematics as completely immersed into one another. Many games limit your movement or improve graphics during cinematics before they switch back to the gameplay. The design of the game allows you to play with the most detailed and consistent graphics to date, almost bordering photorealism, and with a great soundtrack and compelling mystery I find it very hard to call it a videogame instead of a movie.

The nature of the movement-sensored gameplay and controls during the game do not take away from the camera positioning or cinematic techniques that are simulated in the game. Some reviewers wonder if this cross-over between cinematic storytelling and gameplay together is a watershed moment in video game and film technology.

If in a few years we are able to be part of our favourite movies by "playing them" would it be a cool new improvement? Or should we keep a healthy barrier between Hollywood and our ever evolving games?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I wouldn't mind fighting as russell crowe while watching Gladiator or Chasing a bomb maker through Madagascar as Daniel Craig in Casino Royale.


Christian A.V. Petrozza


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