Developers "all pay the price" for some games' content - Cage

Heavy Rain creator David Cage has expressed his frustration at the reputation of videogames perpetrated by a few titles which have been "over the top in a very and vulgar way" - titles which have since made it hard for developers to deal with adult content in games, even when its in context.

While Cage didn't mention specific titles, he did stress that he didn't believe sex and violence in games for its own sake was a good thing.

"As a game creator I have one very simple rule: Everything is allowed, no limits, as long as it makes sense in the story and is not gratuitous," he explained during a developer session at this year's Eurogamer Expo.

"So Heavy Rain is so much not about sex and violence, it's about characters and emotions... Even if Fox News comes and plays the game and says it's about sex, the whole community of gamers, I'm sure, will stand up and throw stones at them. That's what I hope. I count on you guys.

"This is a ridiculous situation. I'm working on an 18-plus title. When you are 18... You won't be shocked for the rest of your life because you saw nipples. If I was a movie director I could do pretty much anything, but being a game creator I got so many limits... Society in general thinks games are for kids... They don't get it.

"Then you start to discuss about parents don't know the ratings system, but there are porn movies on cable - if you don't pay attention to your kids, they may end up in front of a porn movie.

"Some games went way over the top in a very vulgar and stupid way and we all pay the price for that. Each time a developer wants to do something... He will be confronted by people thinking videogames are about getting prostitutes and getting a blowjob and putting a bullet in her head afterwards."

But while the title will be 18-rated in the UK, he wasn't yet completely sure if the title would make it to Australia in its current form, where the strictest content rating available for general release is a 15-rating.

"We haven't had this discussion yet," he said. "We have to make some cuts for certain territories - honestly they've been quite minor cuts so far. For Australia, at the moment as far as I know, they take the game as it is. So I don't know, but I think we need to fight a little bit for that and evangelise."

"It's really about story and emotion, not sex and violence," he added.

The full text from Cage's appearance at the London Expo, which has taken place yesterday and today at Old Billingsgate, is available now.