Heavy Rain Producer Speaks About Modern Warfare 2

Quantic Dreams Co-CEO and Heavy Rain Executive Producer Guillaume de Fondaumiere has weighed in on the controversial airport scene in Modern Warfare 2.

In de Fondaumiere's eyes, videogame creators should have the same freedom as other artists to deal with difficult subjects and to depict controversial topics.

"My take on it is very simple. I don't see any reason why video games should be treated differently than movies, for instance," he said. "I think that we should leave game creators free of expressing their vision as they see fit. I think the guys at Infinity Ward had something very precise in mind when they did this scene."

"The real danger for me is, when you put out such a scene out of context. I can take any movie and take a sequence and make up a story and it will look like something that's amoral or that crosses the line. This is most of the time what happens in video games [in the media]."

It's likely that Heavy Rain, which also handles mature themes, will come under fire as well when it is released, although not to the same degree as Modern Warfare 2.

Source: VG247

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He's right, creatively they should be able to go as far as anyone else. Any idiot(s) *cough*Faux News*cough* can take something out of context and say why it's bad.

Films depict rape for example. If you don't know the context you can just say "this film depicts a gross amount of detail during a scene in which a woman is raped." Yes, OK, but why's it really there? To be gratuitous or to show why a character is the way they are, or just how violent and void of emotion they can be?

Do IW let you murder civilians for the sake of it? I think the fact that you're not actually a terrorist, as well as you being forced to walk answer that.

Furburt:
However the Dedicated servers business is another thing...

Yes, because that is what this is about...

OT - I'm glad to see that now it's come out and a decent number of people have seen this isn't the big deal it looked like it could have been, more games might try something more adult. Maybe, in time and with (depressingly) Activision's help, we can educate parents to realise that a giant red circle with 18 on it means that same with games as it does with movies...

I think the dedicated servers and no party chat on XBL is much more controversial than the airport scene with GAMERS. Everyone who is complaining about the airport scene would not have bought the game in the first place so IW shouldn't care about them too much. In general, everyone who complains about games being too 'violent' are the soccer moms who are too busy buying shovelware for their children on the Wii.

I never really got what the whole fuss was with the airport scene. Unless you have lost a friend or family member by an act of terrorism, in which case you don't buy the game, there shouldn't be a problem.

*Claps*

Thank you!

I think this is just something we are going to see more of in gaming, the controversial playable scenes i mean.

Talking about the scene in question, i don't think it particularly added anything to the experience anymore than if it had been done as a cut-scene.

Speaking of Heavy Rain, when the hell is that game going to be released??

dodo1331:
I think the dedicated servers and no party chat on XBL is much more controversial than the airport scene with GAMERS. Everyone who is complaining about the airport scene would not have bought the game in the first place so IW shouldn't care about them too much.

Stay on topic please.

OT: I agree wholeheartedly. People do pretty much what they want in movies now a days so why shouldn't video game developers be forwarded the same courtsey?

This thread is going to get derailed faster than Al Qaeida airlines...

ANYWHO!

He has a good point. Any scene from any game, movie, book, comic or whatever can easily be taken out of context, and before people rag on a game they should try and get all the facts. This is almost exactly like the controversy that sprang up over ME's romance storyline. In the context it was the final culmination of a long and dedicated romancing effort. Out of context it was clearly the spawn(ing) of Satan and Hitler.

I feel like this is the same for the MW2 airport scene. I haven't got the game or really done any research into it, but by hearing what non-gamers say about it, this game is evil, and I sincerely doubt that they're telling the whole story.

I certainly think that the airport scene was okay. If the context was taken into account then it's perfectly acceptable. I bet had it happened in a film people wouldn't have thought twice about the appropriateness. I guess it'll still be some time before games are given the same widespread repect movies are given.

Hmm, not a good example. Airport scene is similar to bad films with stupid plot that offend people and show mass murder.

they make an excellant point about context. imagine if hostel didnt have its story and was just pure torture scene porn.

"The real danger for me is, when you put out such a scene out of context. I can take any movie and take a sequence and make up a story and it will look like something that's amoral or that crosses the line. This is most of the time what happens in video games [in the media]."

The problem is that movies have respect within our culture, so when people take a scene out of context we rarely bat an eye. As long as people refuse to consider games as another medium to express ideas they (video games) will never get out of the hot seat.

dodo1331:
I think the dedicated servers and no party chat on XBL is much more controversial than the airport scene with GAMERS. Everyone who is complaining about the airport scene would not have bought the game in the first place so IW shouldn't care about them too much. In general, everyone who complains about games being too 'violent' are the soccer moms who are too busy buying shovelware for their children on the Wii.

Can we stay on topic for more than 5 posts?

Furburt:
I thought that the airport scene was certainly a good way to test the waters as far as what is acceptable and what isn't. Apparently it isn't.

However the Dedicated servers business is another thing...

Probably would have been acceptable if done by some Hollywood douche. Which is a double-standard in my view.

thefreeman0001:
they make an excellant point about context. imagine if hostel didnt have its story and was just pure torture scene porn.

Hostel DOESN'T have a story and is just torture porn.

I dont like the airport scene, mainly because it was just tossed in there to shock us and not to tell a story, basically making it a cheap and simple way of lazy writers to shock people as they obviously did not have the true talent needed to write a proper story that would do the same without all the forced shock.

Movies do the same all the time, those that do usually get less respect and money in than movies that consist of a proper story and proper story telling mechanics. Look at Dark Knight, they managed to make it a dark and gritty film without having a single drop of fake blood throughout the entire scene, all the scenes that would otherwise be really graphic scenes full of blood are made in such a perfect way that the effect still comes over without a single drop of blood!

IW could have done something similar with the MW2 story without forcing players to go around mindlessly massacring people.

It would have been more acceptable if there was more context to the entire thing but how long it is and how pointless it all is, makes it a stupid level in the game

Damn it I need a PS3 and Heavy Rain, Must support this way of thinking!

one thing i've seldom seen mention is the fast that until the swat arrives you dont even have to hurt a single civilian. accept the already mentioned swat teams.

The main contraversy as far as Heavy Rain is concerned is whether anyone is actually interested in it.

It is nice to see QD talking about something other than their own mediocre titles for a change though.

We deserve to be shocked, it keeps us communicating. LOL

Shall I be one to point out that at what point does the game make you shoot civilians? As far as I remember, I didn't pull the trigger until I decided to pull the trigger. Until you actively become a part of it by YOUR OWN free will, it is nothing more than an interactive cut scene. And in that respect, it's no different from any other media.

And I propose that anyone who thinks this scene has gone too far, but had played any Grand Theft Auto game, not be allowed to comment on it anymore. Might I recommend a Hypocrite badge?

Macgyvercas:
Speaking of Heavy Rain, when the hell is that game going to be released??

Seriously, I want to play it so badly.

OP: %100 correct sir, bravo!

wouldyoukindly99:
[quote="Macgyvercas" post="7.155536.3797440"]Speaking of Heavy Rain, when the hell is that game going to be released??

Seriously, I want to play it so badly.
/quote]

Well, after playing Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit (and liking the ending, too!!!!), I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'll likely pickup a PS3 around its release time, if that time is next year.

Well, this guy gets the award for saying what needs to be said.

Man, this controversy sure has been great advertisement for a lot of people.

Here's the deal. Killing civillians is bad. Anybody he was enjoying it in a nonhealthy way needs help. I personally thought that it was extremely interesting and really caught my emotion. They did it very well and give you the option not to shoot. They also give you the option to skip te level.

I also am really strating to get interested in this heavy rain game.

He's right, games get treated differently than movies because people still think it's a young kid's hobby, when games like MW2 have the SAME age restrictions as movies like hostel.

The difference is that parents are stupid enough to ignore the age reccomendations, and blame the companies that make them when they realize their own damn mistake.

Tdc2182:
Here's the deal. Killing civillians is bad. Anybody he was enjoying it in a nonhealthy way needs help. I personally thought that it was extremely interesting and really caught my emotion. They did it very well and give you the option not to shoot. They also give you the option to skip te level.

I also am really strating to get interested in this heavy rain game.

No, having fantasies of being an evil sadistic bastard are completely healthy to a point, and video games are a way to express that... GTA anyone?

Chipperz:

Furburt:
However the Dedicated servers business is another thing...

Yes, because that is what this is about...

OT - I'm glad to see that now it's come out and a decent number of people have seen this isn't the big deal it looked like it could have been, more games might try something more adult. Maybe, in time and with (depressingly) Activision's help, we can educate parents to realise that a giant red circle with 18 on it means that same with games as it does with movies...

Well considering we've now switched to PEGI, a different symbol to the films ratings and with pictures instead of actually saying the content (to remove confusion about what it means!), they might just carry on using the same excuse that they don't know what the number means.

Well, Infinity Ward wanted controversy, and they got it. In a way, I have little sympathy for them, because the game is selling like hot cakes and it would have without that scene.

The fact is, MW2 is an 18 certificate. If you're not 18, you shouldn't be playing it. The Keith Vazs of this world and assorted other clueless do-gooders should concentrate on enforcing the law on sales rather than banning something which is rated responsibly. And if parents buy the game for their children, they can't be surprised when they wake up one morning wearing a Columbian Necktie, eh?

Well said Guillaume, well said. Makes more sense than any other persons description of game violence.

Maybe we should have had him talking on 'Faux' & Friends instead of that stuttering waste.

DarkSaber:

thefreeman0001:
they make an excellant point about context. imagine if hostel didnt have its story and was just pure torture scene porn.

Hostel DOESN'T have a story and is just torture porn.

Copy that.
That Guillaume guy knows his stuff. It is true. Games should be treated like movies when it comes to context. Also, the ESRB gave this game a rating for a reason. Then, Activision warns you before the scene. Both sides did a good job. Now it is up to parents and retailers.

Something I forgot to mention: COD4 featured a nuke. A NUKE. And people bitch about something like that?

Also, a statement like that coming from a developer... gets me excited for his game.

So not surprised.
My regards to Quantic Dream. Iknew those guys would say that,they are one of thefew developers that know how important immersion is in gaming (I put IW in that category, too).
It's so nice when the guys who made my second favorite video game of all-time support the guys who made the first.