Quantic Dream, the studio behind the awesomely-excellent Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, has revealed its next-gen project through private viewings at E3. Dubbed “Heavy Rain,” the video shown was a tech demo run on the PS3 which showed off “The Casting” of a young actress for the lead role of the game. It features the virtual actor expressing emotions and crying in real-time 3D; Aurelie Brancilhon was the chosen actress.

“Our objective was to recreate not only the likeness of a living actor, but its complete acting performance, in particular in its emotional dimension” says David Cage, the founder of Quantic Dream and director of Heavy Rain. “At Quantic Dream, we believe that emotion will be a key component of Next Gen games and we are heavily investing in technologies to create Virtual Actors since several years. By expanding the range of emotions video games have to offer, they will be able to reach a far wider audience. This demo is just the beginning of what can be achieved, but I hope it already shows the fascinating new possibilities this media will offer in the coming years”.

“The Casting” featured full body and facial motion capture, including eyes, pupils, fingers and tongue; real-time tears, wrinkles on the face; advanced skin shades; and advanced rendering features.

Heavy Rain is being developed as a new franchise for the PC and next-gen consoles, and will make use of emotion and innovative gameplay mechanics.

The tech demo shown at the event was created in collaboration with AGEIA (physics engine), VICON PEAK (motion capture) and with the support of SCE. A high-resolution 720p video can be downloaded here (direct link).