David Cage reiterates games need to go beyond

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/games-should-go-beyond-zombies-and-monsters-heavy-/1100-6444822/

David Cage, the CEO of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream, is no stranger to calling on the gaming industry to try new things. He did that again at a speaking event in London this week, when he said he predicts that more and more developers will make games that tell personal, relatable stories, instead of ones that focus on zombies and monsters.

As reported by GI.biz, Cage said he met a woman at a party who told him about how much Beyond's homeless chapter moved her, as she herself had lived on the streets for two years. The game "took her back to that time in her life" and this had a big impact on Cage.

"I was so moved by that," he said. "When you're a creator, you can't hope for a more powerful reaction than that. I think there's a tradition in video games that they should be separate from the real world and not talk about real issues, our society, and so on. I don't know where that comes from."

"Over the past few years, I see more games creators thinking differently, realizing that films, books, poetry--any art form--can talk about those issues, so why not games?" he added. "Why should we always focus on zombies, monsters, or things that are cool but not connected to our world? The industry has been very successful that way, but I think we'll see more creators trying to talk about issues like this. Using interactivity to say something meaningful is very exciting."

Cage went on to say that he's more interested, from a personal perspective, in indie games becuase "there is more creativity and more courage there." He added that he feels very fortunate to work for Quantic Dream, which, being a partner with Sony, affords it the resources and support for taking on games that "talk about different topics."

Also during his talk, Cage spoke about the polarizing nature of Quantic Dream's games. He said Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in North America), Heavy Rain, and Beyond are polarizing because they don't fit into the mold of what people might expect.

"If we were making first-person shooters, there wouldn't be as much discussion about what we're doing," he said. "With Fahrenheit, I was pitching a game that would be about interactive storytelling, about emotion, and things that no one thought could be in a game. Emotions? Dilemmas? Moral choices? Why would you want that in a video game? Today, you see emotions in every title--even action games. I'm not saying we invented that, but we believed in something very early on."

Anything that's new can be polarizing, Cage said, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I would love to make a game that everyone loves, but at the same time I wouldn't want to compromise and just give the market what it wants," he explained. "We could all make first-person shooters, but we have a much more exciting industry with people exploring different routes."

Go to GI.biz to get the full story.

In 2012, Cage made headlines when he called for anApocalypse Now-type shooter that focuses on the painful realities of war; he wants to see a game "not just about shooting and glorifying violence."

Quantic Dream's next game is the PlayStation 4-exclusive Detroit: Become Human. The story focuses on the robot character Kara, who is seeking to learn the nature of her existence, as well as the robot-hunter Connor. No release date for the game has been announced.

Dawn Of Dead and zombies at shopping mails are completely unrelated.

The only war games are Call Of Duty ones.

He's inspired.

Not seeking mass appeal by ripping off well known movies such as Blade Runner or AI with cool robots, which is creative.

I would suggest to him that he include more gameplay in his games.

Heavy Rain was great but the controls were terrible because he wanted it to be cinematic and scripted.

Let me explore a bit.

Since when did David cage make games? he make interactive movies.

But he's already went Beyond in 2013 and he got average reviews.

I like what he's trying to do I'm just not sold on how he goes about it. Heavy Rain was a good 'adventure lite' sort of game with far too much time spent doing really mundane things in the name of realism. F*** realism if I want reality I walk outside (I wonder if 'outside' still looks the same these days).

Beyond was even worse, almost completely ignoring gameplay to handhold players through a confusing story that I'm still not sure made sense. Until Dawn has basically out-Caged Cage and made a mockery of the shitheap that is Telltale. I think Cage can make a good game if he actually decides he wants to make a game and not a spectacle. Not holding out much hope really.

I am really looking forward to dust off the PS4 to play Detroit. This is much better than all those cinematic walkers with occasional gameplay. His games go way in the opposite direction... all while keeping you in control and involved.

I think Omikron is the only game he ever made.

David Cage is a hack in both cinema and game development.

I see what your did thar! LOL

Sorry David, no everyone wants a game thats based solely on realistic situations.

With all due respect, Quantic Dream "games" are just terrible.

Another thread by the one poster here that finds 0 fun in this hobby, complains about anything and finds fault in everything.

Anyway, these "games" are just like the point and click adventure games of yesteryear.

People just want to hate on them bc "it's cool".

I don't see them as point and click, if you want a real point and click, you go to GoG.com, those are wannabe movies with bad characters and stories disguised as games.

Where the hell is Omikron 2 David Cage? ...Where? I don't see it, wtf? I'm tired of you're movie crap, if I want to be moved as I sit there with the thought process of a gnat, I'd buy a Broke back mountain DVD or some such. Just get back to the world of Omikron where you belong.

David Cage is a bad man.

Or simply watch cinematic after cinematic with "gameplay" sections sparsely spread out. If it was all about realism, and realistic situations, maybe Cage should ask himself why tax accounting games and DMV simulator 2017 are not all the rage, and why DOOM, Witcher 3, and GTA V are.

Yeah, if everyone went form making zombies and monster games to making what he does, then he's gonna be put out of business. The only reason David Cage games work is because nobody really does that stuff besides him.

Whether you like the games or not they are an evolution of those types of games.

Your statement could be said about anything. FPS games aren't what they used to be, etc.

The games might not have movie quality stories or characters, but that's not what makes them like the grandchildren of those games.

Detroit looks pretty good. Hope it turns out well

I didn't know that making "Adventure" games cinematic linear and helps you falling asleep is evolving the genre? :o Didn't Adventure titles also give you choices and puzzle solving quest like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle?

HEavy rain was a turd, didn't bother with beyond

thats all i have to say

Guess if bullshit is the only part of evolving you know about, I can't really argue.

Bc those games did have choices and puzzles. Did you even play them or are you one of the ppl I described.

I'd have to say he's right that games should aspire to more, but his version of what that means actually feels like less.

It should also be about running around shopping malls screaming "Jason!"

David Cage says the same thing every year, LOL.

uninspiredcup is a troll here.

Why are all your posts shit, sniper?

Now this is what I call pushing gaming to new heights as well as the "Adventure" genre, right @mr_huggles_dog?

@uninspiredcup: Well, first off it's "Dawn of THE dead" and it was in a shopping MALL, not "mail".

On topic, Cage can be applauded for challenging devs to risk. I think many here say that often. But the other thing many here say is, pushing the left or right stick in a semi circle on order to open a door doesn't equate new gameplay. It's shit. And Beyond 2 Souls was whale dung.

I enjoyed Heavy Rain for one play through but that Beyond game was fromunda cheese Imo. Nothing made me want to finish it, it wasn't innovative, interesting or cool. So I am not hyped for Detroit beyond shithole. This guy has become the M. Night Shamalong-ding dong of game devs Imo. One decent idea/game and nobody gives a crap anymore.

Oh wow...you mean....something isn't perfect.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT SOMEONE GET THE PRESIDENT - WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A PAIR OF DAVID DUCHOVNEY'S HERE!!!!

And yet I could still comprehend an allegory at 13, where as he, a probable film student, apparently couldn't.

Go figure.

@FireEmblem_Man: Also...do you have to piggy back on other's posts or can you not fight your own battles?

I find it cute that you still don't have a direct response to anything I said last.

@uninspiredcup said:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/games-should-go-beyond-zombies-and-monsters-heavy-/1100-6444822/

David Cage, the CEO of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream, is no stranger to calling on the gaming industry to try new things. He did that again at a speaking event in London this week, when he said he predicts that more and more developers will make games that tell personal, relatable stories, instead of ones that focus on zombies and monsters.

As reported by GI.biz, Cage said he met a woman at a party who told him about how much Beyond's homeless chapter moved her, as she herself had lived on the streets for two years. The game "took her back to that time in her life" and this had a big impact on Cage.

"I was so moved by that," he said. "When you're a creator, you can't hope for a more powerful reaction than that. I think there's a tradition in video games that they should be separate from the real world and not talk about real issues, our society, and so on. I don't know where that comes from."

"Over the past few years, I see more games creators thinking differently, realizing that films, books, poetry--any art form--can talk about those issues, so why not games?" he added. "Why should we always focus on zombies, monsters, or things that are cool but not connected to our world? The industry has been very successful that way, but I think we'll see more creators trying to talk about issues like this. Using interactivity to say something meaningful is very exciting."

Cage went on to say that he's more interested, from a personal perspective, in indie games becuase "there is more creativity and more courage there." He added that he feels very fortunate to work for Quantic Dream, which, being a partner with Sony, affords it the resources and support for taking on games that "talk about different topics."

Also during his talk, Cage spoke about the polarizing nature of Quantic Dream's games. He said Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in North America), Heavy Rain, and Beyond are polarizing because they don't fit into the mold of what people might expect.

"If we were making first-person shooters, there wouldn't be as much discussion about what we're doing," he said. "With Fahrenheit, I was pitching a game that would be about interactive storytelling, about emotion, and things that no one thought could be in a game. Emotions? Dilemmas? Moral choices? Why would you want that in a video game? Today, you see emotions in every title--even action games. I'm not saying we invented that, but we believed in something very early on."

Anything that's new can be polarizing, Cage said, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I would love to make a game that everyone loves, but at the same time I wouldn't want to compromise and just give the market what it wants," he explained. "We could all make first-person shooters, but we have a much more exciting industry with people exploring different routes."

Go to GI.biz to get the full story.

In 2012, Cage made headlines when he called for anApocalypse Now-type shooter that focuses on the painful realities of war; he wants to see a game "not just about shooting and glorifying violence."

Quantic Dream's next game is the PlayStation 4-exclusive Detroit: Become Human. The story focuses on the robot character Kara, who is seeking to learn the nature of her existence, as well as the robot-hunter Connor. No release date for the game has been announced.

Dawn Of Dead and zombies at shopping mails are completely unrelated.

The only war games are Call Of Duty ones.

He's inspired.

Not seeking mass appeal by ripping off well known movies such as Blade Runner or AI with cool robots, which is creative.

Its well know David Cage is hated around these parts. Heavy Rain was really fun. Beyond Two Souls was a little to long and dragged out. Two different kind of stories, but the wife enjoyed them. She liked Heavy Rain way more than Beyond Two Souls though. The Ghost was a little hard to control. Both games are great for casuals so hardcore FPS gamers really need not apply. Love to see more work from Cage and the people behind After Dawn and The Wolf Among Us.

After reading the comments here.....

Yep he is still hated lol. Not going to fault the guy for being creative and making games "other" people can enjoy. Cage is right video gaming does need to fucking evolve. They make the same games over and and over for Anglo Saxon white males who all seem to have the same interest. The world is filled with people who dont fit that demographic. That is where games like Heavy Rain come in. A lot of you guys like to keep video gaming bland as ****. Boring as ****. People wonder why we have 1000 FPS games and nothing else. Its because most of the players suck ass just like they clam Cage does.

Cage himself, for diplomatic purposes, seems to hide a veneer of "I am above this" which seems similar to the elite of the movie industry who see horror movies as below them, when i reality, monsters in almost every medium have have had some core human element that intrinsically appeal to people.

Something like Doom, manipulating hell for it's own needs and, hell in it's unrepentant fury, biting back - immediately Fukyushima Daichi and Chernobyl come to mind.

Doom is very much a moral lesson about abusing resources and the dangers of morally bankrupt bureaucracy, integrating biblical, legend and myth into a fun interactive manner readily comprehensible to a mass audience without infringing on the actual interactive part, it has a lot more to say than Heavy Rain, while saying less.

It appears Sniper was very much right in his appraisal, and seemed aware of this before everyone else.

No worries. The video game industry's subject matter portfolio is growing at a healthy rate. There is no "need" to go beyond.

Worrying about subject matter and the impression you cause on your consumers is what makes a bad product. The interest needs to come from within and not from some "necessity". If zombies are the correct vehicle for the idea of the developers than the game will be a great zombie game. If it's a noire police investigation, the exact same applies. There shouldn't be any pressure to change subject matter unless the developers want it or the consumers want it.

lol says the dude who makes the worst "games" in gaming

Wait...didn't Fahrenheit include a zombie created by the internet, who fights an ancient magician via a ton of quicktime events?

At least you're not so thin skinned you felt the need to tell us about something you feel makes it certain how smart you are............

Funnily enough it was merely (while both acknowledging and subverting) a response to someone attempting show how smarter they were by demeaning another in a particularly petty and condescending fashion.

The response, though casual, was exceptional. Probably the best.

EmotionzZzZzZzZ

I disagree, only in that I want developers to reach for their own vision and be creative about that.

We don't need everyone reaching for this. Sometimes I like things mindless and don't want to get bogged down in these things, other times it's not the point of a game.

In order to move games forward you shouldn't have to remove gameplay.

But regardless, you can tell great stories with zombies and monsters. I think David Cage is just overly pretentious.

Personally I'm glad that devs like Quantic Dreams exist. Not every games needs to be about shooting people or jumping on platforms. I welcome story driven games and quantic dreams has me covered in that department.

His writing needs to go beyond(pun intended) first. I've yet to play an actual good david cage game

I wonder if Cage has even played classic narrative driven games like Gabriel Knight, Grim Fandango, Planescape Torment, Last Express, Pathologic, Silent hill 2.
You know, ones that dont sacrifice gameplay and dont over rely on cinematics at the cost of world building and atmosphere.

Not on GS, scrubby.

Has he ever made a good game? No.