What kind of phenomenon is Heavy Rain?

[richardhutnik]

Rainbird said:

Seece said:

darthdevidem01 said:
It may not be a phenomenon but its definetely one of the biggest Sleeper Hits of the generation & the rise of possibly a new genre.

Really if we go by direct definitions there has only been 1 phenomenon this generation, Wii Sports.

Do you know what Sleeper hit means? It means something going big out of nowhere, if anything L4D is a sleeper hit, wasn't on hardly anyone's radar and sold v well. Even that's stretching the term though.

If Heavy Rain isn't a sleeper hit, then I don't know what is. Most people were guessing it would do .5-.75 mio. LTD at the most, and it did .5 mio in its first week!

Ok, look a minute at the word "phenomenon".  As I see it, Avatar (the movie) is a phenomenon, as it does billions in box offer and has a lot of buzz about it, and is discussed as being huge.  It is well know, and is the talk of a lot of people.   This, to me, is the opposite of a "sleeper hit".  Anyone here talk about Left 4 Dead being a "phenomenon"?  It even has viral stuff, but who talks about a "phenomenon" it has "become"?  The phenomenon has to do with more than just the game, but all that is around it.