In the thread on Heavy Rain in Liberty City, the original posted posted this line about Heavy Rain: "Be it positive or negative reactions like the infamous "press X to Jason" bit, i think just the fact that someone thought it was worthwhile to make something like this tells a lot about the phenomenon Heavy Rain has become.". 

Well, exactly what kind of phenomenon has Heavy Rain become?  All I saw is one fan-made video, here and mocking of "Press X to Jason".  Outside of that, I saw a few other spoofs.  I don't see anything that would put the game in a "phenomenon" level.  I just see stuff in keeping with a title that may be considered a sleeper hit, and related material around that.

But, is Heavy Rain really a phenomenon?

well it's a new genre, a new way of telling the story, all the characters can die and the story still goes on, the gamplay makes you feel like you are in the game experiencing what the characters are facing.

thumbs up to sony they helped bring to life two new genras this gen.

Well, CliffyB thinks it's starting a genre of its own. He's a big fan by the way.

I don't know if it's a phenomenon though, but I would certainly love to see it become one.

You're gonna get stick for this but, yeah it really isn't a phenomenon.

It always amuses me when people say things like well Cliff B said like it actually means something. If another rockstar dev like David Jaffe came out and said that game fucking sucks would that make it so?

Ontopic, it's a refresh of the classic adventure game and a few fan videos don't really make it a phenomenon (yet).

What, you don't think celebrity developers rule the industry?!

Note the original quote I referenced in this thread. The poster happened to say that Heavy Rain HAS become a phenomenon. This is a reference to the buzz about it, and how it is discussed and referenced. A phenomenon in this context is some sort of unusual and rare topic that is discussed, and has gone viral and recycles a bunch. RickRoll fits in this, as does other things like that, where something goes viral. It is something even larger than something going viral. It goes viral in an even larger way than normal go viral. The Ron Paul campaign in 2008 over the Internet had that.

In regards to the game itself, one can argue that the game is "phenomenal", because it is that good. That is a different animal. A game could also be a landmark title, and have influence over future games. This can happen, and will often happen, quietly originally, and have an effect later. This usually isn't determined until years later. And Heavy Rain could fit into both of these.

However, exactly how does Heavy Rain fit into the phenomenon level now? I don't see it. I saw a few viral references. MAYBE it becomes a phenomenon later, but I don't see it now. I see it is a game with a cult following, at best, at this point. Beyond that though?

This thread was about as necessary as this reply...

Perhaps I'll go calling other games phenomenon's in threads about those games and see if we can get some more threads created as to whether or not they are.

In the other thread, where the user posted the GTA-Heavy Rain video, that person called Heavy Rain a phenomenon.  I tried to discuss that in there, and CGI said that I was derailing the thread.  So, what else to do, but discuss that comment in another thread?  And that is what I did. 

Heavy Rain is not a new genre. it is basically a modern version of the classic point & click adventure games.