L.A. Noire

[GamerMan316]

Edge feature on LA Noire

[GamerMan316]

L.A. Noire officially delayed

1940s detective game L.A. Noir has been delayed to "the first half of calendar 2011", Take-Two has announced.

Publisher Rockstar Games previously said it was due out this autumn. L.A. Noir was originally announced in 2005.

The confirmation comes as no surprise: rumour of the game's delay hit the internet in July.

In L.A. Noir players rise through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department as they interrogate criminals and other shadey characters.

Team Bondi founder Brendan McNamara reckons the development team's "defeated the uncanny valley", so good are the character's faces.

During a question and answer session following Take-Two's Q3 earnings call this evening, chairman Strauss Zelnick explained the delay.

"Obviously when we schedule a title, we're trying to be mindful of at least two issues. First, how long does it take to put out an a plus title? When you're trying to do something ground breaking, it can take a while.

"We have tried very hard to balance appropriately a desire to have a rational release schedule with a desire to put out triple-A titles.

"Every time we push the envelope creatively, it takes a while. In this particular instance, I'm not going to disclose all the advancements, they're pretty extraordinary, they are complex and worth waiting for.

"Equally, we do try to pick the right marketing window. That is important. One of the things we're proud of around here is we've extended the marketing window. We've shown the market if you put something fantastic out people will come out for it. That's for pretty much year round.

"That said we do want to be mindful of what the competition is doing and we don't want to stack up a release unnecessarily. These are expensive products. One of the things we found with Red Dead to our happiness is we were able to crowd out some of the competition because the best title in the market won the day."

Feder added: "We get criticised often for title movement and not being on time and on budget. I've pointed out in the past that Red Dead Redemption took down any number of titles and was both on budget and on time.

"If a title needs more time it needs more time and we're willing to give it. I will say about L.A. Noir that as I look around competitively at the marketplace, there is nothing else quite like it in terms of the gameplay and the technology behind it. We want to make sure we get it absolutely right."

[GamerMan316]

L.A Noire tech 'isn't available anywhere else'
Take-Two CEO talks up 2011's big titles

Take-Two CEO Ben Feder has been talking up the company's big titles for 2011 giving L.A Noire the hard sell with the good old "unique" label.

Except Feder didn't just spout the usual vague hyperbole with phrases like "one of a kind" and "never before".

No, Feder went one better by saying that L.A Noire has got "technology and gameplay that isn't available anywhere else."

OK so it's not much more specific but at least it's something tangible.

The tech Feder's talking about is probably the stunning L.A Noire face tech, which blew OPM ed-in-chief away at E3 earlier this year.

It's a good job as well because Feder also said that good games aren't good enough these days.

"In fact, good is the new bad," he said.

"Games have to be great, and there's no company like Take-Two to make the best games in the industry."

With titles like GTA and Red Dead under your belt, you can make those kinds of claims.

L.A Noire will arrive in 2011 after being officially delayed at the beginning of the month.

[GamerMan316]

First proper LA Noire video this week

Rockstar's new open world detective game LA Noire will be shown this week.

"The first trailer", as it's billed, will arrive at noon on Thursday, 11th November. That's noon Eastern Time, which means five hours later here: 5pm UK time.

LA Noire was delayed recently to "the first half of calendar 2011". The game was announced years ago in 2005.

It's a 1940s crime thriller based around you rising through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department. Central to everything is a magnificent-sounding motion-capture system, which records the look, voice and actions of real-life actors and then processes them into the game.

Such a level of detail enables a sophisticated interrogation mechanic, whereby players can judge facial expressions and behavioural quirks to determine whether a suspect is holding anything back. Team Bondi is also said to have written an unprecedented 300 pages of script for the game.

[nCogNeato]

I hope this game is 1/2 as good as I imagine it will be.

[GamerMan316]

It's like a James Ellroy novel, should be great

[GamerMan316]

Rockstar: 'Big update' for L.A. Noire on the way
Ready for a "special look behind the technology"?

Rockstar is set to give fans a "big update" on upcoming crime thriller L.A Noire in the coming days.

The developer has teased that the news will offer a "special look behind the technology of the game". Our money's on a trailer showcasing Noire's astounding facial scanning tech.

If that's the case, it will be well worth a watch. We came away a little shaken by just how lifelike the game's protagonists appeared following a special preview last month.

L.A Noire has been co-developed by Australian studio Team Bondi and Rockstar.

Set in Hollywood, 1947, it tells the tale of Cole Phelps - a WW2 War vet who returns home and joins the LAPD.

[DFUSIONITE]

after reading the edge feature and viewing the trailer this game has officially moved to the very top of my most wanted list

[nCogNeato]

I was never really a fan of Rockstar until Red Dead Redemption.

From what I've seen of LA Noire so far, Rockstar may be on their way to 'BioWare Status' in my heart.

[sambo]

LA Noire is definitely looking like a must have for next year.

[GamerMan316]

New screens

[dfusioness]

still lookin good, whens this one out- hopefully for my birthday 

[GamerMan316]

still lookin good, whens this one out- hopefully for my birthday 

Spring so there's a good chance.   

[Lukehi]

IGN has an article where users questions are answered by the Rockstar team.  I've copied a couple of interesting ones below or read the full article here...

Link_Is_My_Homie asks... I've heard you have multiple ways of uncovering secrets in the game. Will more skilled detectives be rewarded for their ability to uncover clues quickly?
Jeronimo Barrera: The goal of the game is to be the best detective you can possibly be, so each case eventually ends with you solving the case correctly and rising through the ranks of the LAPD. How you get there is determined by the choices you make through the case, leading you down separate paths on your way to each break in the case. Your effectiveness at solving cases will be determined by how quickly you can use what you find to solve a case. Scouring a crime scene for clues is just one part of solving a case quickly.
Discovering different clues may open up different leads to new locations or suspects, which in turn open up new options for a player to decide how to go about solving a case. But that's only part of the challenge: during interrogations, players must correctly analyze a suspect in order to get the most information from them, and know which evidence to present and when to present it to get the answers they need.

KYGkillingyouguy asks... Will this technology became standard for future Rockstar games?
Jeronimo Barrera: We would love to see it implemented as widely as possible, whether it is appropriate will depend on the project. MotionScan is more than just the end result; it's an entire approach to game development, so it will not work for every game. It's a huge part of L.A. Noire because it's tied to the core mechanics of analyzing a suspect's behavior during interrogations and reading their emotional cues. It's a pioneering form of technology that breaks new ground for gameplay.

Ridabelaco asks...Can you mess up an investigation like send to jail the wrong guy? And how will that affect the main character or the history of the game?
Brendan McNamara: There is an overarching plot that governs the story of the game, but how you get there is up to you. There are definitely situations in the game where you can arrest the wrong suspect. It's a player choice and adds an interesting challenge, especially if the evidence is compelling for both suspects.

AndrewW91 asks... Could you give us a sense of how open the world is? And what kind of activities we can take part in while not on a mission (if any)?
Jeronimo Barrera: The world is completely open for you to travel through at all times, but the focus of the game is not the same as a Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption. This time, the city is a backdrop for the incredibly accurate real-world locations and crime scenes that Cole Phelps explores on his way to solving each case. The game has been crafted to seamlessly blend classic cops-and-robbers style action with dynamic interrogations and searching for suspects in a way that one doesn't distract from the other.

There are ambient events within the game world that you will hear more about in the weeks ahead, like unassigned cases or robberies in progress that you can take on outside of the main story, but the focus is on Cole's progression through the ranks of the LAPD and the events that unfold as a result.

It's a very intense game because we ask you to listen very carefully to what has been said and to remember names, places and clues, as well as decide whether you can believe what someone is saying. It's going to be a very new experience for our audience but one we think they are very ready for.


Sounds like its shping up nicely...cant wait

[Dankinia]

This does sound pretty good.