BEYOND: Two Souls was also featured yesterday on Tribeca Film Festival’s “Future Of Film” blog, and will be making ongoing appearances on their site as they continue the discussion around how BEYOND: Two Souls is further blending the worlds of film and gaming.

Everything you’re seeing in the gameplay shown at Tribeca Film Festival is under the control of the player in some way shape or form, and the story evolves based on decisions and actions the player takes. In the coming months, we’ll definitely be highlighting much more clearly just what that means, so stay tuned!

We hope you enjoy the show, and remember to get out and pre-order your copy today! Pre-ordering at GameStop will get you a nice package of exclusive goodies too.

“Presenting Beyond at TFF is a groundbreaking example of the potential in the marriage of gaming and cinema.”

Ladies and gentlemen of the PlayStation family, today at 6:45pm EST (Update: Show’s over! Watch the trailer above) we’re overwhelmingly pleased to bring you Beyond: Two Souls, live from our screening at Tribeca Film Festival, right here on the PlayStation.Blog.

At the two-hour screening, we will be debuting the official trailer for Beyond: Two Souls and a 35-minute scene from the game (we’re taking care to avoid many of the major, major spoilers for you), followed by a live panel Q&A with game writer/director David Cage, star Ellen Page, and supporting cast members Kadeem Hardison and Eric Winter – moderated by video game journalist Harold Goldberg.

The Official Selection by Tribeca Film Festival really is an exciting accomplishment for Beyond: Two Souls and the industry as a whole. Geoff Gilmore, one of the founding fathers of film festivals like Sundance and Tribeca, has described it as “a watershed moment in storytelling and media”, and it’s an honor that Beyond: Two Souls is getting recognized for its powerful story and presentation at such a high level.

For those in NYC, you can join us in person at the screening to take in the Festival for yourself. Tickets can be purchased here.

We hope you enjoy the show, and remember to get out and pre-order your copy today!

We worked together with the team at Quantic Dream to choose an image that we felt was both cinematic and in keeping with the emotional journey that the final game will take you on. We hope you like it.

Developing the pack front for a game like BEYOND is always an exciting challenge. BEYOND is so unique in the sense that it spans a character’s entire lifetime and takes place in such a vast array of locations and situations, that picking a singular image to represent the game effectively really does feel like digging for a needle in a haystack. What age do we want Jodie to be in the image? Do we include co-star Willem Dafoe? Do you show Jodie doing something dynamic or do we show her more at peace? These are all questions we had to ask ourselves throughout the process (among a great deal of other questions!).

Ultimately, we decided on the packshot you see above because it felt sophisticated, mature and different from most traditional game packaging, and it really captures the emotion Ellen Page conveyed in her performance as Jodie. The image of Jodie at peace in the eye of the storm really speaks to her constant battle with the incredible gift she’s been given.

Next week, on Saturday April 27th, BEYOND will be screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, followed by a panel featuring writer/director David Cage and actress Ellen Page. Stay tuned next week on PlayStation Blog for details of how you can watch this event via a live stream.

Any questions, please just ask away below.

Two weeks ago, Oscar-nominee Willem Dafoe was added to the cast of BEYOND: Two Souls, and we announced pre-order bonuses for North America. Today, we’re talking about how BEYOND is blurring the lines between film and gaming – BEYOND has been chosen as an Official Selection by Tribeca Film Festival, the first such selection of this kind for a video game.

On April 27th, we will be hosting a screening at the festival where we’ll show a new one-hour scene from the game, debuting a major trailer and a new behind-the-scenes look, alongside a Q&A panel with Ellen Page and director David Cage discussing the way BEYOND is pushing the boundaries of storytelling. The entire team here is hugely excited that Tribeca is recognizing the powerful story of BEYOND, its star-studded cast, and the stunning visual technology that have contributed to the game’s uniquely cinematic experience.

Earlier this week, 100 journalists from around the world visited Quantic Dream’s studio in Paris for an exclusive BEYOND event. In the surrounds of the very motion capture room where Ellen’s and Willem’s performances were recorded, writer and director David Cage showcased several new scenes from the game, featuring both the Jodie and entity gameplay.

Press were shown the Aiden entity gameplay in a scene featuring a young Jodie taking part in a scientific experiment under the watchful eye of her mentor Nathan Dawkins (Willem Dafoe). And then they were treated to a full playthrough of what promises to be one of the most powerful scenes in gaming, which sees Jodie living on the streets, fighting for her life and those of the homeless people around her. David Cage also unveiled the brand new in-game user interface, which provides an even more immersive and seamless experience than the game’s predecessor Heavy Rain.

The new user interface allows for promptless contextual control in both general navigation and action sequence controls, while increasing the level of direct control the user has and opening the door for far more exploration than players experienced in Heavy Rain. To end the day, press were invited to be the first to play the game, and try out the new UI and gameplay for themselves.

All of the press write-ups should be going live, so keep an eye on the web for their reactions to Beyond’s new gameplay from this event.

Last year at E3 we announced the much anticipated title from Heavy Rain creators Quantic Dream and the mind of visionary director David Cage. BEYOND: Two Souls is a psychological action thriller starring Oscar nominee Ellen Page (Inception, Juno) in the lead role of Jodie Holmes and featuring Quantic Dream’s unique brand of gameplay.

BEYOND tells the story of Jodie, a young woman who’s known since birth that she is different from everyone else. She possesses supernatural powers through her psychic link to an invisible entity she calls Aiden, and this gift has changed her life forever. Playing through 15 years of Jodie’s life promises to deliver one of the most thrilling and powerfully emotional experiences on PS3.

Today, we’re pleased to announce that Ellen will be joined by another Oscar nominee in Willem Dafoe (Platoon, Spider-Man) who will star as Nathan Dawkins, a government scientist who works with Jodie to analyse her powers. At a later stage we’ll have lots more to reveal on the interplay between Nathan and Jodie in the game (no spoilers today!), but suffice to say they form a compelling bond and together deliver some of the most unique and powerful scenes yet seen in gaming.

We’ve got a gameplay trailer for you today showcasing an early scene from the game in which Nathan first meets a young Jodie (played by a child actress, not Ellen), and including some sneak peeks at other scenes from the game. Check it out at the top of the post, or right here.

And we’ve got an interview with Willem talking about his role in the game:

Willem’s exciting inclusion in the cast is just the tip of the iceberg for our announcements today though, as we are also pleased to announce that BEYOND will be coming to PS3 on October 8th, 2013.

Additionally, everyone who pre-orders BEYOND at GameStop (or EB games for our Canadian friends) will receive an exclusive 30-minute playable additional scene DLC. We’ll be announcing more details on what that scene entails in the coming months.

And while supplies last, everyone who pre-orders *at GameStop will also receive a free upgrade to the Special Edition of BEYOND, which includes:

• Exclusive Steelbook Premium Packaging
• Extensive Behind The Scenes Video Features
• Soundtrack
• PS3 Dynamic Theme
• PSN Avatar Bundle

*Steelbook art not final

Hopefully you’re as excited about BEYOND as we are, and remember to run out and pre-order early. We’ll have much, much more content coming down the line in the coming months, so stay tuned! Any questions, just add them below.

There are few forthcoming PlayStation 3 titles that are quite so keenly anticipated as Beyond: Two Souls, the latest project from Quantic Dream – the idiosyncratic French developer behind acclaimed 2010 adventure Heavy Rain. Following the story of young Jodie Holmes (played by Hollywood starlet Ellen Page) and her mysterious supernatural companion, Aiden, it lit up E3 earlier this year with its stunning reveal trailer.

We’ve not heard too much since, so we caught up with Quantic’s founder, David Cage, at Paris Games Week for a quick progress update.

We’ve not heard too much about Beyond since its E3 reveal back in June. Is development going well?
David Cage: Development is going very well. Indeed, it’s nice to go to all these shows but we also have to make the game! We’re advancing – we’re now a few weeks off the alpha version. It’s always a very critical moment in the development of a game since it’s the first time all the game data is assembled in a complete version. This first version is often not very playable, but it’s the first time you can see the “complete” game as a whole. After that we’ll move onto the beta version, which is when the game really starts to look like the final version.

Just how different is the gameplay and user interface from your last title, Heavy Rain?
David Cage: The game is very different from Heavy Rain, probably much more than people can imagine. The first obvious difference is that there will be two characters to control: Jodie and this entity that is Aiden. We can do some really interesting things with Aiden: fly, walk through walls and interact with matter or characters in a rather peculiar way. What we showed at E3 was in fact a working version based on the same interface as Heavy Rain, but it is not the final interface of the game.

The first elements of gameplay shown were focused on action. What else can we expect?
David Cage: It’s a balance that will be a little different from Heavy Rain, where we really aiming for the atmosphere of a psychological thriller. Beyond, of course, will also have these components of emotion, depth of characters, strong moments, but there will also be a more epic, dramatic dimension.

All this will be part of a story with a logical narrative following the philosophy that each scene must be unique and different. Take the forest scene for example. This is the only scene like this in the game. We will have more epic scenes and other action scenes, but they will be radically different and have nothing to do with each other in terms of environment and the type of action involved.

Our goal is not to release a game that will just please the fans of Heavy Rain and that we could say, “Ah, yes, it’s like Heavy Rain but a little better”. The idea is really to surprise players and show them that we can actually go much further with the concept of Heavy Rain.

Do any elements of Beyond: Two Souls echo your personal life?
David Cage: Absolutely. It’s a phenomenon that I’ve had with Heavy Rain when I became a father and I discovered the unique relationship one can have with their child. On Beyond, I’m drawing on another experience – one that’s less pleasant – because I lost someone very close in my family. This is what started it all – the desire to imagine that there may be an “after”.

Beyond is, of course, about death. But it is also about more positive things, like growth, change and learning to accept ourselves as we are. With Beyond, I really wanted to create a trip – something epic, emotional, and strong that the player will remember long after the end of the game.

Have you had much time to keep an eye on the competition? What games have you been playing recently?
David Cage: I loved a game that has not been discussed much – for anyone who loved Heavy Rain and is seeking different games made ​​by authors trying to express something that goes beyond bam-bam-boom-boom, it really is a game to try. I found it amazing, surprising and deeply moving. You can feel that there is a real author behind it – someone who has something to say. It is a game that really touched me.

Have you ever considered tackling something like this – a smaller scale PSN title?
David Cage: I have a huge problem. Every time I start writing… everything I do turns into an incredible historical epic. It depresses the team – they say they will finally be able to make an “easy” game and at the end they don’t! I dream of being able to make a PSN game, but I couldn’t do it even if I really want to.

Are you ever tempted to try your hand at shooting a movie?
David Cage: Quite honestly this is something that I do not feel capable of, and it’s not something I’m looking for right now, despite the few opportunities I have had. I’m happy to do what I do in video games. I’m not here by chance – it’s been 15 years since I chose to be in this environment. And even after 15 years, I do it with great pleasure, happiness and passion. To get up, go to work and to be with my extraordinarily talented team – year after year it still amazes me!

Do you have a message for prospective players of Beyond? How would you like them to approach the game?
David Cage: I think there should be no preparation for Beyond. You must go into the game trying to learn as little as possible!

Like other game creators, I wish I could say nothing and show nothing, and put a plain black cover on the shelves so that players start the game completely blank, with no information from trailers. This is something that is obviously not possible, unfortunately!

For people who trust us and who loved Heavy Rain – we will surprise you, we will give you something you expect without even knowing that you were expecting it! I think it will be a real experience. We believe in it and we’re working hard for it. We are really surprised every day to see the game being born on the screens; it’s a real treat and a real surprise. I hope it has the same effect on the players.

If sequels aren’t your thing, Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us lead off our look at 14 new PlayStation IP’s that promise to inject fresh ideas into gaming’s veins. We also sit down to chat with SCE Worldwide president Shuhei Yoshida for an update on Sony’s ace stable of first-part dev teams and all things PlayStation.

On the new games front, we’ve got our impressions on the gorgeous and enticingly mature-themed Star Wars 1313. We also go hands-on with sci-fi horrorfest Dead Space 3, stealth shooter Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and the war-iffic Medal of Honor: Warfighter. What was the unexpected surprise of this month’s previews? Metro: Last Light. We’re certainly going to keep our eyes on this atmospheric post-apocalyptic shooter.

The slow summer release season means the reviews section is a bit smallish this month, but some quality games lie within. Check out our in-depth analysis of the surprisingly evocative Spec Ops: The Line, and get other final verdicts on games like the mind-bending Quantum Conundrum, The Amazing Spider-Man, and LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (which, ahem, I’ve Platinumed).

Dive into all the gaming goodness in the September issue of PTOM, hitting newsstands on Tuesday, July 31st. To become a PTOM subscriber, just head here and sign up.

At last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, I sat down with Academy Award nominee Ellen Page, who’s playing the lead role of Jodie Holmes, and Quantic Dream writer/director David Cage. How did the star of films like Juno and Inception come to work with Quantic Dream in BEYOND: Two Souls? And what does this level of talent mean for the game? Let them tell you:

To see more from BEYOND: Two Souls, and meet some of the game’s other talent (including Kadeem Hardison), catch highlights from the Comic-Con panel here.

Greetings! Yesterday was my first time at San Diego Comic-Con and I was amazed at the people I saw! What costumes! It’s great to see so many people embracing their passion.

After such an amazing E3, I was lucky enough to come here to speak to some incredible supporters of the game in a panel hosted by IGN’s Greg Miller. Joining me was the lovely and talented Ellen Page, who we are very lucky to have playing BEYOND‘s main character, Jodie Holmes. We had a great discussion about how we are combining the latest in performance capture technology and amazing acting talent in the hopes of creating a truly unique and emotional experience for all of you to enjoy. We were also happy to reveal additional talented cast members, Kadeem Hardison and Eric Winter, experienced actors who you may have seen both on TV and film.

Please enjoy a recap of our Comic-Con panel above. And on behalf of the team at Quantic Dream, thank you so much for your support so far. We are hard at work and look forward to sharing more about BEYOND soon.

‘Til then… Adieu!

Last week at the PlayStation’s E3 Press Conference, one of the highlights of the night was Quantic Dream’s David Cage stepping into the stage finally reveal his team’s next masterpiece. BEYOND: Two Souls for the PS3 impressed the crowd with its extremely detailed graphics and convincing performances of motion actors, including Hollywood talent Ellen Page. By now, you must have seem the debut trailer dozens of times and may have even checked David Cage himself coming to our stage live at E3, but unfortunately the game was not available on the show floor for the general audience to try. Luckily for us, we were able to witness the power of this interactive psychological action-thriller in a private session where Producer Ray Khalastchi from SCEE’s XDev Studio walked us through a 20-plus-minute demo running on a PS3 – in case we had any doubts that the game was high-tech smoke and mirrors.

The demo consisted of five areas connected by a gripping narrative, all of which showed off the game’s new graphics technology in all its glory, including the startlingly lifelike performances of actors achieved through full performance capture. Of course, many details of the story are being kept secret, but we managed to pull some tidbits from Khalastchi. “At this point in the game, Jodie is about 23 years old and has been on the run for two or three weeks from the authorities,” he explains, setting the tone for the demo we’re about to see.

On the Train

Inside a train, Jodie Holmes is trying to get some sleep, wrapped in a hoodie to avoid attracting unwanted attention. We’re soon in control of Aiden, the ethereal entity she’s tied to – and you can immediately notice that spiritual connection, which is represented by a blue light thread linking the two. In first person (you never get to see Aiden’s appearance), you can wander the place with Sixaxis movements. Taking advantage of the fact you’re invisible to the other passengers, you can startle them by interacting with objects indicated by an orange glow. You can even cross the walls of the train to look at the heavy rain out there, but you can’t stray too far from Jodie – your view starts to blur and eventually go black and white. Aiden is bound to Jodie. “[Your view as Aiden] will also change based on what situation Jodie is in,” Khalastchi explains. “If she’s scared or in danger, it will impact your view.”

The train eventually stops at a station full of cops. You can go outside and try to listen to their conversation to find out what is happening, or you can just go wherever you want to – by the way, the police lights on a rainy night give an idea of the visual tricks the team at Quantic Dream is wringing out of the PS3. Anyway, it’s interesting to notice how you don’t “trigger” events with your presence, everything just happens in real time. People will carry on their conversation or whatever they are doing whether you are there or not, so you have to pick carefully what you’ll be doing.

Eventually, two cops board the train and it’s immediately obvious that they are looking for Jodie. You have to warn her somehow, and you do so by interacting with the bottle near her to wake her up. Noticing the girl tries to avoid them, the officers realize it’s Jodie, and a chase scene ensues. You’re now in direct control of Jodie trying to make your way through the corridors. This direct control of the action sequence is something Khalastchi emphasizes, contrasting with Heavy Rain, where you would simply follow command prompts in action scenes. Not that you don’t have the usual on-screen commands to follow, and here they can also determine the outcome of a scene. “If I was to be caught, I would be arrested and I would be put in one of these rooms. I would have to find a way outside the train”, explains Ray. “You cannot get a ‘Game Over’ screen, the game always moves forward.”

Cornered inside a toilet, Jodie comes up with a plan: open the latch to the rooftop. But she’s not strong enough, so it’s up to Aiden to crack it open. On the rooftop, we’re again controlling Jodie directly, and we’re once more overwhelmed by the scene before our eyes: Jodie moves carefully through the wet floor, her clothes soaked by the pouring rain, swinging with the strong wind, the lights of signposts occasionally remembering you of how fast the train is moving, and Ellen Page’s expression of anxiety giving an unsettling sense of danger.

The girl tries to get around the police officers who are also climbing to the rooftop, but is surrounded by three of them. A brutal fight follows, but despite getting hit by some blows, Jodie seems to know how to get rid of them. “For this part we had a martial artists group that came to do the choreography and motion capture session”, adds Khalastchi. “Then we took that data and applied to the characters in the scene.”

Noticing the cops are still coming at her, Jodie jumps out of the train and, upon successful command inputs, Aiden protects her with an ethereal shield so she can land safely.

At the Forest

“Are you telling why she’s so skilled?”, we ask. Khalastchi just smiles and shakes his head negatively, probably happy to leave us with this piercing question. Jodie is now in a forest area, rising from the ground with an expression that mixes relief and fatigue. But soon after she begins moving away from there, a helicopter lights the area and searchlights comes in her direction. Furious with their tenacity, the girl curses and darts into the forest.

While dogs bay in the background, Jodie tries to overcome trunks and branches – again, under a combination of direct control plus Quick Time Events. “If you fail repeatedly”, I insist, “can Jodie die?” It’s something that kept hammering my mind, because in Heavy Rain you would sometimes have to live with the tragic (and permanent) consequences of your actions. “No, she can’t die”, assures Ray. “But the story still continues in the context of all that happens. She can get arrested or get knocked down and wake up later.”

Jodie builds some distance between her and the cops, but still can hear them not very far from her. With direct control over her, you begin running in every different direction in search of a way out, and it soon becomes a desperate hunt for an exit. “Jodie is lost. You are lost. You don’t know where to go, so you’re trying to find your way around. We really wanted to make you feel like you’re lost.” Yeah, it definitely works.

The dogs catch up with her and a battle between Jodie and nature takes place. “Did you guys motion capture dogs too?”, I jokingly ask, trying to alleviate me from the tension caused by the ferocious scene. “Actually, yes,” answers Khalastchi with that confident smile of someone who means it.

After getting rid of the dogs, Jodie manages to climb a rock wall and hide from the cops bellow. Then, while they are pointing their lanterns around in search of her, comes my favorite scene: the camera closes in on Jodie’s face and you can clearly see the benefits of marrying the latest in motion capture and graphics technology with an Oscar nominee of the caliber of Ellen Page, as you can see the expression of fear in her excited eyes, while raindrops stream down her bruised skin, her hair plastered around her still panting face. “Are her bruises dynamic?”, I ask after seeing how she gets injured after so many brushes with danger. “Yes. For example, when I jumped out of the train before, if I failed to shield her properly, she would be in a much worse state.” Poor Jodie.

At the Barricade

Jodie escapes the guards and is now by the side of a road, where there’s a barricade. Controlling Aiden again, you check the situation: there are three cops, two cars and a motorbike. The producer explains the meaning of the colored auras surrounding every people: white is neutral, orange means the person can be possessed and red indicates someone who can be choked. And it’s all contextual.

Khalastchi goes to the officer by the bike and possesses him, gaining direct control over him. Our guide them makes the possessed guard mess with one of the cars to distract the other two. I noticed from a previous play session that he made something different to pass through this area. “Yes, in this very instance, you have two options”, explains Khalastchi. “After possessing the guard, I can enter the car and drive it back and forth, or I can get the shotgun in the back of the car and keep shooting to the air. Either way, the other cops get distracted and give Jodie the opportunity to go around and get the bike.”

“Even in the small sections, we’d like to give you a little bit of choice. It may have no difference in the outcome, but if you choose what to do, it feels more like it’s your story.”

On the Bike

“Here we are in control of the bike, whereas in Heavy Rain it would have been like ‘hit R2 and watch her drive away’.” And again, the PS3 hardware easily handles the kind of lighting and effects on the screen as Jodie drives the bike at a rainy night. And we’re curious as to how they’re balancing between giving you control and telling you an authorial story. “We’re still trying to give you as much control as possible while still keeping it cinematic, keeping control tightly and, you know, keeping story intact.”

Being chased by a helicopter, Jodie is trapped when she reaches a bridge guarded by a S.W.A.T. squad. With Aiden’s help, she breaks through the blockade and reaches a nearby town.

At the Town

The chase comes to its climax at the front of a theater. “In this final part of the demo, it’s almost a sandbox of Aiden gameplay. There are lots of different things you can do,” explains Khalastchi. And he’s not kidding: while Jodie is cornered behind a car, you control Aiden and search for people to possess or choke, or explore various environmental interactions. You can control a sniper and kill his teammates, take over another soldier on the ground and command him to shoot nearby officers and himself, throw a grenade with yet another officer and cause a massive explosion, flip cars and… blow the fire hydrant? “Some things you can do are not useful.” Reminds me of drinking milk in Heavy Rain…But then, it’s all in the name of interactivity.

As time goes on, the S.W.A.T. team is closing in on Jodie, which means they get in range of some hazards and in Aiden’s range as well. You can make a clock tower crumble upon some soldiers, which highlighted a curious detail in the game: you can actually see their spirits coming out of their bodies and rising into the air.

After helping Jodie get inside the theater, you can possess the helicopter pilot and cause the ultimate destruction, which leads to the closing scene of the debut trailer: Jodie walks to the S.W.A.T. leader and menacingly yells: “Tell them to leave me effin’ alone, because next time… I’ll kill everyone”. And, walking away, she calls Aiden and says “I think they got the message”.

By the end of the demo, we were totally blown away by the graphical and narrative qualities of BEYOND: Two Souls, and also looking forward to going hands-on with the game at a later date. There are still plenty of details we don’t know (PS Move support? “It’s something we’re looking into,” says Khalastchi), but it’s exciting to see how Quantic Dream is ahead of the technological race. After this brief demonstration, we can’t wait to find out what lies beyond.