This morning, our friends over at SCEE launched their site, bringing you pertinent, region-specific news like local PlayStation Store updates, release dates, prices, and more. Also, they have charming accents.

We encourage you to drop in, subscribe to their feed, and drink in the European flavor (flavour?). Paris in springtime is wonderful, no?

We’ve been more than happy to serve our readers across the pond for the past two years or so (has it really been that long?), and we’ll still be here for you in the future, doing what we do. We hope you’ll still drop in on us from time to time. And, when you do, please bring us Jaffa Cakes.

We love them.

Last month, a group of roughly 35 journalists from around the world came to visit Quantic Dream. Following our first presentation of Heavy Rain in Leipzig in August, we wanted to be able to share our passion for the game and reveal in particular how such a massive project comes to life. When you play a game such as this, it is difficult to really understand how much effort goes into its production. Our hope was that through such a visit, we might be able to educate gamers a bit more on how a game is crafted and how important artistic direction is to ensure a consistent experience from the first to the last minute.

Following a quick tour of our studio, David Cage, Quantic’s CEO and creative director on Heavy Rain, gathered media in our motion capture studio located on the ground floor of our building. We had decided to present them the complete production process, from game design and initial concept art up until the final integration of all elements within one scene in real-time. The presentation lasted roughly two hours, in particular because we had prepared a number of making-of type videos and real-time code on PS3 illustrating the different steps of 3D set production, actor casting, 3D character creation, and Virtual Actor performance. At the end, we explored together a never before shown scene of the game live on PLAYSTATION 3 in which all elements had been put together.

I think the most fascinating aspect of Heavy Rain is the fact that more than 250 people are contributing to its making, all of which are working under the artistic supervision of David Cage, His attention to detail is really fascinating…I am sitting in the back of our studio while he is passionately talking about our project. More than anyone else in the team, Heavy Rain is his baby. For the past two and a half years, I can clearly feel how proud he is to show how his vision is coming to life.

For the end of the tour, we had prepared a little surprise for our guests: to practice live on stage and become a Virtual Actor in the game. We equipped two journalists with body suits and reflectors. The stage had been dressed with set elements: a door, two chairs, one table, a cupboard. David briefed the two journalists on the scene, explaining to each of them what their role were, the starting point of the scene, and what they were supposed to say and play.

Once fully equipped the two casually entered the stage. The rest of the crowd had assembled around the set, in a similar casual fashion. However, when David started to use his firm directing voice to ask for silence and pronounced the first syllabus of the typical movie-style check-up words “ready to roll. Rolling and….ACTION” we virtually felt the attention of our journalists-turned-actors spinning from vaguely alert to 100% focused. The crowd was holding its breath, as all assembled immediately sensed the change. David had decided to shoot the scene in three distinct steps. The first shot was repeated twice as David gave more direction to its actors after initial takes. The second and third shots however were played exactly how David had envisioned them. Our actors were “in their roles” and did actually play quite professionally. A big round of applause followed the last “…and CUT” words of David at the end of the third shot.

This concluded the presentation and the rest of the tour was spent answering interviews or casually discussing with the journalists what they had seen before.

When the game was unveiled at Games Convention in Leipzig, we were obviously delighted at what a great response we received. With the event that day, we wanted to take the unique opportunity to let journalists and gamers around the world take a look behind the scenes at how Heavy Rain is made. It is a very special feeling to see at the precise moment when everything comes together and is being assembled to create what we believe will be a unique interactive experience. We hope that we were able to communicate how much innovation and artistic effort goes into its production and look forward to showing you more of the actual game in the coming months.

Guillaume de Fondaumière, the co-CEO of Quantic Dream and Executive Producer of Heavy Rain wanted to share with readers of the PlayStation.Blog his feelings when revealing the title to a huge audience for the first time. As Heavy Rain is a deeper, more emotionally-tied game than we’re used to seeing – it’s actually a good fit. Also, we have a trailer to share with you that you may not have seen.

Take it away, Guillaume!

Leipzig Games Convention Day 1:

Here we are, finally unveiling Heavy Rain to the world after almost two years of hard work on the title. A first showing is always a very special moment, one that gets your heart pounding like the first time you are in love: Will the public react positively? Will it say “Yes, this is what I was waiting for, can’t wait to see more?”

The setting for the initial public announcement of the game could not have been better: David Reeves’s GC Leipzig keynote speech on Wednesday when all important European PlayStation announcements are made.

A first pleasant surprise: spontaneously, when David Reeves pronounces for the first time the words Heavy Rain, the hundreds of journalists attending start applauding, eager to finally see the title. We did not suspect such anticipation. The tension is palpable when David Cage enters the stage and the crowd claps hands again to welcome him. My hands are sweating, from where I am, I see our pre-teaser in pre-roll on one monitor. The time has come, the video is broadcast… and for the third time, the crowd applauds and cheers, visibly satisfied. The moment David Cage, myself and the whole team had been anxiously anticipating for weeks is now over. You can watch the video for yourself below.

A first impression is always very important and I think this one was quite positive. David and I are now anxiously awaiting the next two days, when we will be showing live code to the press. We know this will be the real thing, the real test…

Leipzig Games Convention, Days 2 & 3

The first look at the behind-closed-doors Heavy Rain press schedule for the next 48 hours makes me slightly shiver: 16 presentations of 45 minutes are planned for almost 320 journalists. This is going to be a marathon… While David Cage will be giving an introductory speech and commentary on the demo, I will be playing it. It is live code, I have no safety net. The male character is driven by AI and the two walkthroughs chosen to present what Heavy Rain is imply that I don’t lose the other – female – character half way through the demo…

At the end of the first run through a surprise awaits us: the journalists applaud the presentation, something I had never seen in the past 15 years of my career. Heavy Rain is a very different game, an emotional experience that sucks players and any audience attending a playthrough in. After all, this might be 16 long, but rewarding, presentations!

At 2 pm, the tension slightly raises for us when Shuhei Yoshida, head SCE of Worldwide Studios, and Michael Denny, VP of SCEE Worldwide Studios enter the room. The presentation goes well, we are even rewarded with an additional applause session half way through our demo.

On the following day, despite having gone to bed early, David and I are starting to feel some fatigue and back pain. During the first presentation, I realize my hands are shaking right from the beginning and for the first time, I am loosing the female character during a fight sequence at the end of the demo. David’s speech is less fluid at the start of the second one, but thankfully we regain confidence at the end of this presentation thanks to an unusually long and warm round of applause. The six following presentations all go without hiccups. To pump us up, Alex, Charlotte and Grégory from SCE PR are feeding us regularly with press quotes: Heavy Rain seems to be receiving an exceptional response from the international press. This helps us concentrate on our next presentation and gives us the confidence to always deliver the same level of presentation, hour after hour. When we finally leave the Leipzig convention center at close to 7 pm, we are extremely tired but also very happy.

David Cage and I will certainly remember this Games Convention in Leipzig for quite a few years!

Kicking off with a press conference, Kaz Hirai, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., and David Reeves, President of SCEE, introduced key upcoming content for PlayStation formats. Afterwards the assembled press got their hands on the first playable versions of several key titles, including LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, MotorStorm Pacific Rift and Resistance 2. Not a bad lineup! Expect to see updates on your favorite gaming site in the very near future.

In the meantime, there’s plenty of news, screens, and movies over at eu.playstation.com for you to check out.