L.A. Noire Message Board older than one year ago

Being a cop doesn't keep you from shooting people in the head.

#culturesmash Crime game L.A. Noire is Rockstar's take on 1940s-era Los Angeles, complete with guys in hats, guns and big, fancy cars. But what is noir? More »

Update 12:02pm - We've got the trailer embedded just past the break. Does it look like the original 2006 trailer below it? Not really. The most notable addition: color. The slick black-and-white aesthetic has been replaced with bright colors, not unlike other LA-based noir tales, like Chinatown and LA Confidential. And while you're watching it, get a load of those facial animations. Kind of freaky, right? We can't tell if they're perfect or terrifying, but we're leaning towards the former for now.

And perhaps the most notable addition to this "first trailer" is the release window: Spring 2011. That's just a few short months away, folks. Expect to be hearing a lot more about LA Noire soon ... or not. This is Rockstar we're talking about.

Original post - Heads up: The "first trailer" for Rockstar's open-world crime caper, LA Noire, is scheduled to appear in just about an hour from now. While Rockstar calls this its "first trailer," some of you may think back to the CGI trailer released back in October 2006, almost exactly four years ago.

Watch that old one after the break and check back shortly for the new stuff.

#clips It's here, the first real trailer for gritty 40s detective game L.A. Noire and it's going to blow you away. More »

Heads up: The "first trailer" for Rockstar's open-world crime caper, LA Noire, is scheduled to appear in just about an hour from now. While Rockstar calls this its "first trailer," some of you may think back to the CGI trailer released back in October 2006, almost exactly four years ago.

Watch that old one after the break and check back shortly for the new stuff.

[Update 12:02pm - We've got the trailer embedded just past the break.]

We give you a voice in deciding if Rockstar's latest will end up a winner.

Heads up: The "first trailer" for Rockstar's open-world crime caper, LA Noire, is scheduled to appear in just about an hour from now. While Rockstar calls this its "first trailer," some of you may think back to the CGI trailer released back in October 2006, almost exactly four years ago.

Watch that old one after the break and check back shortly for the new stuff.

#lanoire As seen on Rockstar Games. More »

#delays Confirming speculation about the next big game from the makers of Grand Theft Auto, publisher Take Two publicly delayed L.A. Noire to the first half of 2011. More »

We all saw it coming from down Wiltshire and up the PCH: L.A. Noire has been officially delayed until "the first half of calendar 2011." The announcement was made in Take-Two Interactive's Q3 earnings release. Noire now joins Max Payne 3 as another major delayed game warming the 2011 bench, while Red Dead Redemption, Mafia 2 and Civilization 5 bring in the bucks.

L.A. Noire's delay became apparent after the title made it into some magazine pieces earlier this year with a pre-October release, and then failed to show up at any of the major video game conventions this year.

Rockstar's next big game not coming this year.

#rumor LA Noire, a crime thriller to be published by Rockstar, was first revealed in 2005. It's now 2010, and despite an early glimmer of hope, it's still not out. More »

At this moment, in this wibbly-wobbly dimension we know as time, LA Noire is still officially expected to launch sometime in the next two months. Given that we haven't seen the game beyond some magazine mentions earlier this year, the release can be considered in doubt -- or the game's stewards are preparing to pull off the greatest blindside launch in this industry's history. Checking in with Rockstar, a representative told us, "We have not updated anything since the last [Take-Two] investor's call."

Amazon and GameStop currently list the game with a February 1, 2011 release date. Rockstar parent company Take-Two is scheduled to report its quarterly financial results next Thursday and will likely update its release schedule then with the anticipated LA Noire delay -- you know, barring that whole blindside possibility.

We don't yet know precisely what to make of Rockstar's upcoming L.A. Noire (not that that's necessarily a bad thing), but after poring over a new Edge piece on the game, we think we may be getting a clearer picture.

"With traditional adventure games, everything is based on what the designer wants you to figure out," Jeronimo Barrera, VP of product development at Rockstar, told the publication. "We've kind of gone for a different approach, which is more like real-world detective work."

Developer Team Bondi isn't coming right out and putting it this way, but L.A. Noire sounds like a new genre, caught halfway between the open-world action of a Grand Theft Auto and the brainteaser pacing of an adventure game. Could we be witnessing the birth of the true "detective" game? Figure that one out.

"Traditional motion capture could never bring to life the subtle nuances of the chaotic criminal underworld of L.A. Noire in the same way as MotionScan," claims Team Bondi's Brendan McNamara, commenting on MotionScan. It's the new motion capture technology being employed first by his studio's moody crime game, L.A. Noire. In a press release yesterday, Depth Analysis announced the new tech and touted its many applications in the forthcoming Rockstar title.

Allegedly, MotionScan uses "32 high-definition cameras to capture true-to-life three-dimensional performances at up to 30 frames per second," thus allowing for the supposedly "emotional performances" that McNamara says make L.A. Noire "a truly unique and revolutionary game." Aside from the claims of higher quality, the mocap system supposedly has lower operation costs due to a streamlined post-production processing time. With any luck, we'll finally see all this big talk in action -- and compare ir with other performance-capture scenes in games like Uncharted 2, Alan Wake and Heavy Rain -- this September when the game arrives on store shelves.

#voiceacting The voice actor for the lead character in L.A. Noire is "Mad Men's" Aaron Staton, while Staton says he enjoys games, particularly Grand Theft Auto IV, he usually skips over the cutscenes. More »

Premiere look at Rockstar's detective thriller.

"Somebody seems to be covering Bloodco's pipes in strawberry jam," thought Russel. The first batch of screens from Rockstar's long-awaited L.A. Noire have finally surfaced over at Game Informer, likely having enjoyed a lengthy three martini lunch in some dark, smokey bar in Uptown for the past ever. The screens depict things very appropriate to the period -- white wall tires and smart business suits; long shadows and plenty of pistols. As for other details, we won't know until the latest issue hits newsstands.

Team Bondi's long-awaited title will be coming this year.

We always assumed that Geoff Keighley's ability to secrete world exclusives only applied video games, but his power/curse seems to extend even to magazines about video games. Keighley says he got an early look at Game Informer's recently teased piece on Rockstar's L.A. Noire and let slip via his Twitter feed that the game is apparently slated to arrive in September.

According to legend, Keighley is often able to see pieces like this even before the electrical impulse makes its way from the "typing synapse" of the brain to the writer's fingers. That's our accurate, scientific way of saying we haven't seen the piece for ourselves yet, so we're going on Keighley's word at the moment. We know, we know, we dislike trusting a guy who misspells "Jeff" too.

Rockstar looks to raise the bar and change the way we view open-world games.

Team Bondi's gangster title heads to Xbox 360.

At long last, the never-ending mystery of whether Rockstar's "gritty detective tale," L.A. Noire, will be a multiplatform release has ... well, ended. And in a pretty unspectacular way, to boot -- in the comments section of a Game Informer post teasing the magazine's in-depth print preview of L.A. Noire, editor Matthew Kato explained, "It's not a PS3-exclusive," later adding, "it was at one point, but it's coming out for the PS3 and 360." (We've contacted Rockstar to verify this apparent reveal.)

Now, we won't know whether this news is worth getting excited about until Game Informer's preview hits newsstands. We're getting tentatively pumped, though -- but that's only because of our pure, unswerving love of fedoras. Seriously, we can't get enough of 'em.

As promised, Rockstar's shadowy L.A. Noire has stepped out of the shadows and into the flashbulbs of a Game Informer cover. The magazine has a 10-page feature on the game, highlighting its facial animation and, oh yeah, the recreation of 1947 Los Angeles. Pick up a copy of the magazine for the details or we're sure you can get the information from the dark alleyways of the internet.

As for the ongoing saga about what platforms the game is being developed for, neither Game Informer nor Rockstar will comment until the magazine is on shelves.

Company "saddened" over claims of unhealthy work environment.

In the very same official Q&A where it finally responded to the complaints of the Rockstar Spouses, Rockstar brings up an old friend we haven't heard from in a while: L.A. Noire, the "innovative," possibly console-based, "Ellroy-esque" game that's been in development almost since its noir inspired Los Angeles setting was current. It says that we'll finally get a good look at the game and why it's supposed to be so great as soon as "next month" courtesy of "a big cover story." What magazine? That's still a hush hush, on-the-QT and off the record secret. But said cover story (Time? Popular Science? Dog Fancy?) will reportedly contain information about why both the look and "the amazing new technology" of the game are worth the wait. We would say not to hold your breath, but everyone still holding their breath for LA Noire turned blue and passed out about a year ago. Still, we're interested, so we'll keep eyes peeled on the magazine stands next month. [via G4TV]

Rockstar's LA Noire has been shrouded in so much mystery that its very existence has been called into question. A recent casting call for actors not only confirms the game's continued development, but also reveals the many (if not all) characters to be featured in the game. The call asks for "STRONG ACTORS, able to handle LOTS OF dialog" for a cast of supporting characters, comprised mostly of detectives, police officers and the occasional crook.The casting call is looking for a face similar to actors Gary Cooper or Gregory Peck (pictured above) for the protagonist -- Cole Phelps. Co-stars and supporting roles, such as jazz singer Elsa Lichtmann, will only be required to perform for 10 days or less. However, the actor chosen to play Cole Phelps will work for three months, from November to January, to record his performance for the game.It's evident from the large roster of characters and the use of Hollywood actors that LA Noire is intended to be quite the cinematic game. However, with only three months of mocap, it still pales in comparison to the upcoming Heavy Rain -- which demanded nine months of motion capture work. [Via Superannuation; Image Source]