Motion Control Still Possible for Heavy Rain

The first big PlayStation 3 exclusive of 2010 is Heavy Rain, a game set to be launched on February 23, promising an experience that goes beyond what videogames can offer at the moment. And one of the concepts the team tried out early in the development process was motion control as a way to guide the characters around. Unfortunately, the pace of hardware development did not manage to keep up with the ambitions of the game creators.

David Cage, the leading mind behind Heavy Rain and co-Chief Executive Officer of developer Quantic Dream, told Dagbladet that “If you are talking about Motion Control, this is something we initially considered for Heavy Rain. The very first version of the game design was based on motion control, but it was not feasible at the time. But all the controls of the final version of 'Heavy Rain' is still based on motion.”

The designer has also promised more news about the Sony motion tracking wand and its possible uses in Heavy Rain in the coming weeks.

The game is set to come out at the end of February, while Sony is expected to offer more details on the Arc or the Gem, as its device is rumored to be called, at the Game Developers Conference in March. Until now, the company has not offered details on which titles will support motion tracking on the PlayStation 3.

Sony initially sought to release its motion tracking solution during the spring, preempting the outing of Project Natal from Microsoft, which is set to come during the fall. But reasons that might include the lack of prominent launch titles forced it to push the launch date to an unspecified window during the fall. It's unlikely that Heavy Rain will have the longevity to actually justify a motion tracking patch more than six months after its release.