Gaming For Primetime – Six Video Games That Would Conquer TV

Gaming For Primetime – Six Video Games That Would Conquer TV

Heavy Rain

What it’s about: This 2009 Playstation 3 title is more of an interactive crime drama than it is a video game. It revolves around four characters, a journalist, a father, an FBI profiler and a private investigator, involved in the hunt for a serial killer. Each character is playable at different parts of the game and if one dies, there is no game over. The game continues without them and that death further shapes the story.

Each character is searching for the Origami Killer, who is known for abducting children during the rainy season, drowning them and leaving an origami animal folded in the body’s hands and an orchid flower on their chest. Morbid, yes, but that gives players a real stake in finding Origami.

Who should play who: Ethan Mars, one of the game’s four protagonists and father of a missing boy, could be played by Peter Krause of ‘Six Feet Under’and ‘Parenthood’fame. Krause played the greiving family man role brilliantly towards the middle of ‘Six Feet Under’s’run. Aiden Gillen (Thomas Carcetti from ‘The Wire’) would ideally play Norman Jayden, the FBI profiler who struggles with addiction. Madison Paige, the game’s insomniac photojournalist, might be played by Elizabeth Mitchell of ‘Lost’and ‘V.’She may not have the same look as Paige, but her past roles prove she can play calm and collected as well as get her hands dirty in action scenes. Finally, Scott Shelby should be played by Brian Denehey, if not for any other reason than he looks strikingly similar to the game’s retired cop. Plus, Denehey’s acting chops speak for themselves.

Why it’s good TV: If Neilsen ratings tell us anything, it’s viewers love a good crime drama. What makes Heavy Rain good in any medium is the well-rounded cast of compelling characters. The game’s macabre subject matter make the series impossible for anything less than cable, but cable’s offerings within the past decade (The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Dexter, The Wire, etc) prove that there is an audience for something of this nature. Also, the fact that players are given multiple paths to take, creating their own experience, would give the series’producers ample source material. They could even kill a character off and it would still remain true to the game.

NEXT: Resident Evil

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3 Comments

  1. Anonymous
  2. yo!
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