You can't beg the question as though it was an answer. As in you have to actually show whether new IPs are often frontloaded or not. Just asking doesn't prove either way.

And I'm not denying people are interested in the promise of this game. The point is that if it doesnt' have legs, then it shows people didn't find this game fulfills that promise. If it has legs, it shows it does.

i am so sick of hearing people complain about other people that praise graphics, seriously, just because the graphics of a game are hyped, does not mean the gameplay/story is gonna be ass...

There are more reasons than that. I mean for some that is a reason. For others, it's just fanboyism (as in finding anything to knock on a game). For others it's the notion that any game that doesn't mean this gets bashed for having "bad" graphics. The latter I'm in. I'm sick of the "I can't even look at a PS2 game now" lines.

That's not really about this game, just stating it's a bit more complex than that. I find the graphics in this game are good, but not really above most big budget HD games.

for anyone calling graphics, till i see a game that beats Crysis on Very High, you guys should quit talking graphics.

and I know of Crysis 2, on PC Very High will still destroy console graphics, including its own.

Still gameplay is what matters, story too. This is what Heavy Rain has in spades.

I thought the demo was poor, the controls seem overly complicated, which makes doing anything feel slightly awkward, this isnt helped at all by the camera angles, you can barely control them at all, which only adds to the awkward feel that the demo had, its looks great, but the demo at least played poorly, definitley not a game that im likely to pick up now.

You comparing LAIR and CONDUIT with Heavy rain?

Lair was a launch tittle made by B studio, only big thing it had was SONY help marketing.
Conduit was a B game, small studio, small budget, last gen engine, last gen production assets... For a B game on the console that is less supporting of 3rd party core game, it sold what deserved it.

Heavy rain is next gen quality game UNIQUE... first week sales show how fans of innovation help with sales. The publicity is all trough word of mouth. Great demo on the PSN store definitely made 30% of people that played pre-order.

Remember, Heavy rain is indeed a niche game, but is a niche game without any competitors whatsoever. Is the only game this gen of its kind. Is unique.

"Lair was a launch tittle made by B studio"

I wouldn't call Factor 5 a b studio. Sure they got in over their head this time, but they were known for doing amazing things with systems before.

"Conduit was a B game, small studio, small budget, last gen engine, last gen production assets... For a B game on the console that is less supporting of 3rd party core game, it sold what deserved it."

Also wrong on most of those. HVS isn't small as much as they didn't have much FPS experience (whereas Quadratic Dream knows making the kind of game they made). And the engine and assets were all new. If you are calling them last gen based on the specs, that is still wrong, as the effects were not something done on the last gen systems. And how does the Wii support affect the sales of that game? In fact, that actually helped sell this game, unless that is what you meant.

"Heavy rain is next gen quality game"

That I'm calling on because it's been thrown around too much already for loads of games before this.

"UNIQUE"

Sort of. This has been building on element seen in FMV games for years. The main difference are simple prompts and you don't lose the game or a life for failing. That does make it distinct, but not anything totally unique.

"The publicity is all trough word of mouth."

That is just false. There are plenty of ads and trailers. Word of mouth cannot happen in the first week. Those things affect later sales. If it's good, then we will see this game have better sales, but applying that to the first week shows you don't know what that term means.

Unless HR is heavily traded in/sold used due to low replay value or consumer confusion (thought they were buying another type of game), I really don't see overall sales being front loaded, specifically because it is a new IP.

I'm sure many will remember that the "new IP" reason/excuse is one of the most common ones given for why a game that had generated a fair amount of hype among gamers before release actually turns a luke warm public reception upon release.

Uncharted comes to mind and everyone knows how that story turned out. Infamous was another if I remember correctly.

How can people find the controls complicated??You push what you see on screen!It isn't that hard :P

Heavy Rain is successfull because of the gigantic marketing hype. Even mainstream media writing about this.

And yes. Heavy Rain is all about pretty graphics and the story, the gameplay is boring and dull. To enjoy this game look at a walktrough video on youtube, much better than playing it. :)