At E3 last month, I had the chance to talk with Quantic Dream’s Guillaume de Fondaumiere about Heavy Rain, the upcoming PS3 exclusive that was promised to be a unique, noir thriller. Fondaumiere stated that Heavy Rain would be out in early 2010, even though what I played seemed fairly close to completion. According to Eurogamer, Quantic Dream is holding the game until next year for very sensible reasons: the holiday gaming season is just too damn overcrowded.

“Most publishers today realise that it's not ideal to release a new IP or a new genre just before Christmas. It's a very crowded place to be, and certain games need more space to live their life… We've always known that we had a window to release the game, and it's important for us to finish it the right way. We've got some margin either way, to some degree, but again I think there's a responsibility, and we don't want to deceive - so it's important for the game to be polished up until the last minute.”

Even though Quantic Dream had the option to rush and get the game out this year, they’re choosing to wait until the market is less crowded, taking that extra time to make sure Heavy Rain is as polished as can possible be. I couldn’t agree more. I was very intrigued by Heavy Rain when I played it at E3, but if it came out late this year there’s no way I would have time to play it. It is much more likely that I will purchase and play through the game after the holiday season. Sure, we have to wait a few more months, but with so many awesome titles slated for holiday season 2009, we won’t even notice.