Game demos represent a pint size taste of a game and some developers have been outspoken on their effectiveness. In the case of highly-anticipated Heavy Rain, the answer is uncertain. Speaking with VideoGamer.com at GamesCom last week, David Cage talked about Heavy Rain, and about a possible demo for the title.
“There are some big debates at the moment within Sony about the proposal and the interest of a demo. Even to make shows like Cologne, it’s a real nightmare to pick out one scene and say, look, we’re going to choose one scene and people will understand what this game is all about.”
“It’s very difficult to find one scene like that because each scene in Heavy Rain is different. So when we showed Mad Jackal, people thought, okay this is the game. You are a profiler and you investigate and you fight and we got 20 scenes like this. No, it’s the only scene structure like that in the full game. Then we show Madison – they say okay you go with this character and you explore. No, it’s the only scene like that. Now we show Shelby, and we’re going to show Ethan’s scene. All four scenes are different, so it’s difficult to say look, this is Heavy Rain.”
However, Cage does still not know if a demo is actually coming.
“Honestly I don’t know at the moment. There are pros and cons to doing this. If you release a demo some people may think this demo represents the game where it’s not the case. Like in a movie, can you imagine I’m going to release two minutes of a movie and you’re going to imagine what the movie’s about? Not easy. It’s the same thing. How can you convey the emotional side of the game just with a scene? But there’s also the other counterpoint, which is if you don’t release a demo some people may think, oh they don’t release a demo because the game is not good. No that’s not the case.”
In conclusion, Cage had this to say.
“It’s a difficult situation because it’s a different type of game and it’s difficult just to take a sample and say, look, you understand everything if you play this thing. And there are some examples of very good games in the past who released not that good demo. The game was fantastic, but the demo was kind of okay. So it’s still in debate.”
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