A possibility here is that Heavy Rain is supposed to be more than just a videogame.  It has been elevated into a new genre defining experience that will hold the world in such awe, that they won't be able help think that the art of storytelling has passed from movies to videogames, by this one title.   And it will be such a huge lynchpin event, that even money that the world will end up buying PS3s in droves in order to JUST get this game.  It needs to be the killer app of this generation.  Anything short fo that will disappoint.

As far as I am concerned, any game that turns shaving into a minigame, unless it involves Wario, really doesn't do it for me.  If the story is that awesome, let me know when the move adaptation comes out.

By the way, I am not completely against videogames as a storytelling device.  I think Uncharted 2 is awesome.  I also cut Deadly Premonition a ton of slack, because the F K... in the coffee alone makes it a full of win experience.

That was hilariously awful, yes. Jason and Shaun both creeped me out, anyway. They had that weird French-American accent which half the characters share, and their faces give me nightmares.

I overstated a bit, for emphasis, trying to capture the absurity that the game went to.  What you highlight is what people say about "a killer app".  Well, I did google: Deadly Rain killer app, and I found a thread on here, discussing Deadly Rain as a killer app:

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=64802

And here is a link to the interview:

http://www.dpadmagazine.com/2009/03/16/killer-app-an-interview-with-david-cage/

After spending three years in pre-production, fifteen months writing and almost two hundred days motion capture shooting, Quantic Dream’s David Cage is ready to talk more about his studio’s upcoming PS3 title, Heavy Rain; a game that he hopes won’t just prove to be an outstanding dark thriller, but a title that will forever change the face of the industry.

"a title that will forever to change the face of the industry".  And that is how the article in this post was positioning Heavy Rain, as this.  And such a title that IS this, does drive people to buy a console in droves, the way Halo had done, and arguably Gran Turismo has done, or Super Mario Bros. did.  With hype like this, no wonder why you can't make fun of a scene like this, without being called a troll.

And the beat goes on:

http://eucantinablogs.net/nathanpbutler/2010/03/02/video-game-review-heavy-rain/

The Verdict: If you are a Playstation 3 owner (and an adult), I cannot recommend Heavy Rain highly enough. It is as much of a “must play” or possible “killer app,”

Ok, I get it.  Heavy Rain is a sacred industry changing title that we can't poke fun off, lest we don't get its brilliance.  We need to treat it as a sacred piece of art that will change the world.  Shoot, maybe it will have such an impact and Goes-to-11 will give it the first ever coveted "Over 9000"!

The Jason thing became its own little meme.

The form of the meme would be best as "Press X to ______" and then put a person in there or a thing.

The scene was fine in principle, and pretty well handled overall, particularly towards the end... with the exception of the aforementioned lack of alternative calls.

I didn't find the scene awful - it evoked too well that particular not too pleasant experience to fail that badly, but QD needed to give some variety there or simply remove the ability to call out at will after a few attempts.

Yeah, the scene itself wasn't awful, it was good in fact (though I don't think I've ever seen a mall that busy when it wasn't Christmas and I live around some ginormous busy malls) it was the fact he only had two calls and they both just didn't fit that well that made it laughably bad.

If it were "Press X to 'Call Jason'" I am sure it wouldn't of been made a big deal out of, except maybe the acting not being as good as it can be.

Anyhow, I am think things should be patchable, shouldn't it?

I'm sure it could be but there really wouldn't be much of a point.  It wouldn't cost a significant amount of money to get the voice actor back in there, record some lines, mix them, and then put them in along with making it X: Call Jason but it wouldn't be an insignificant amount either.

There's not really a need to, it's just an unintentionally humorous part of the game because of several unintentional things.

just finished the game a few days ago and i really enjoyed it. However i'm really glad i only rented it, i had 2 days on the rental left after i beat it and started playing through it again but i got bored and just returned it. The game started to pick up at the end of the mall scene, i remember yelling for jason so many times he kinda starts to sound like a robot. It's a little awkward but it's really not a bad scene.