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richardhutnik on 13 May 2010
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CGI-Quality said:
richardhutnik said:
If Heavy Rain were multiplatformed, would it of gotten as much of a buzz as it had, and people call it a "phenomenon"? It seems like console exclusives seem to generate far more buzz than multiplatform games. It seems to have far more with a need for a title only on one console to be hyped up, so it can help with the console wars.

Anyhow, I would be up to be corrected on this, but that is how it appears to me.

May be somewhat true, but what relevance does it have and why does it matter?

It is a matter of question the nature of the "buzz".  When a console exclusive comes out, individuals will get on it, out of hope,  because they believe it will end up generating more sales for the console of choice.  And the game generates attention it wouldn't normally get, and positive regard it shouldn't have.  That is why it matters.  I would count things like "The Conduit" in this, where you had some individuals in the Wii camp thinking it would end up converting HD FPS fans over to the Wii, and have the Wii be considered more of an option for them.  Killzone 2 also fell into this to, where you had individuals who were leaning on it being a "killer app" and hinting at "Halo Killer" with the title.  It wasn't just supposed to be a really good FPS with great graphics, and a bunch of features.  Killzone 2 was supposed to be an app that would make people buy a PS3 over a 360 if someone wanted a console to play a FPS on.

So, where does Heavy Rain fit into this?  Well, now it gets drummed up in this thread as a "phenomenon" and how it is supposed to be some huge buzz generator.  It isn't that.  It has "Press X to Jason" and also has fallen into a notable part of the videogame landscape, because of what it hinted at.  This was done because individuals in the Playstation side want it BADLY to be elevated as more than a game, but something that will cause the world to see that the Playstation 3 is a way to get movie-like experiences.  So, it is buzz, buzz, buzz.  As I see it, Heavy Rain is a less notable title than Uncharted 2, as far as awareness, and "phenomenon" status. 

And I will close, with some extent, by saying some in the XBox camp try to position Forza 3, as some sort of Gran Turismo killer.  And then Alan Wake is also supposed to be the "bestest graphics eva!"