L.A. Noire Revealed
Rockstar looks to raise the bar and change the way we view open-world games.
by Hilary Goldstein

February 6, 2010 - In the March 2010 issue of Game Informer (on stands this month), the first real details of L.A. Noire are revealed. Developed by Team Bondi (The Getaway), L.A. Noire is an open-world action-adventure game set in the City of Angels in 1947. Unlike previous Rockstar efforts, L.A. Noire exists in a real city, painstakingly recreated for historical accuracy. Don't expect the "shoot everyone" mentality of a Grand Theft Auto title -- this is something completely different.

You play as Cole Phelps, a beat cop looking to clean up the streets of L.A. It won't be easy, seeing as how the L.A. police force is mired in corruption from top to bottom. Phelps has his own issues to deal with, including some very bad things he did in World War II. Though he starts low on the totem pole, over the course of L.A. Noire Phelps progresses through a series of "desks" in the department, including traffic, vice and, ultimately, homicide.

As a detective, you have to solve cases through a mixture of investigations, interviews and interrogations. According to the article in GI, when you come across a scene, you won't find highlighted items sitting in obvious places. Crime scenes are said to look natural and require a deft eye to spot important clues. See a pair of glasses on the ground of a supposed murder scene and you can pick them up, noting details such as the brand etched on the inside of the frame. These little bits of information are jotted down on your notepad, which can be brought up at any time.

Things get a little more interesting in regards to the interview system. Team Bondi is using revolutionary technology that could change the way games are made. The new facial motion capturing system sets actors alone in a giant room with cameras all around. In full make-up, the actor delivers their dialogue. Every facial moment is recorded, from the most exaggerate of motions to the slightest twitch of an eye. The dialogue is recorded at this time as well, creating a seamless scene. All of this is then translated into a 3D game landscape with no animators needed. The result? According to GI, it's a picture-perfect rendering of the actor's scene. That's important to the gameplay.

When you interview someone, you'll need to watch their face and determine if they're lying. Like Mass Effect, your dialogue choices come from a handful of general options: coax, accuse or force. The way you handle an interview or interrogation is greatly determined by the reactions you get from the suspect. You can also refute testimony by selecting clues from your notebook.

Unfortunately, GI wasn't shown any of the gunplay, so the set-up for the action sequences is still a mystery.

You can read more details on the demo in the latest issue of Game Informer.

In the world of Red Dead Redemption, there’s more to survival in the Wild West than just shooting your way out of trouble. In addition to the kinds of firearms and traditional weapons featured in last week's "Weapons & Death" gameplay video, the lasso requires skill to wield and can be used to accomplish a great many tasks, including subduing man and beast. Here are some brand new screens of Marston putting his lasso to good use on the frontier.

The crew at Dubspot were among the first to recognize the potential of Beaterator for PSP, working with us to reach out to schools using Beaterator as a music production teaching tool. They also created some great instructional videos to help the crew come to grips with some of Beaterator's more advanced features.

Just to prove just how powerful and versatile Beaterator is, Dubspot's DJ Kiva has created an entire album using Beaterator - and it's awesome. Set up like an old school mixtape, Kiva uses Beaterator's sequencer, sampler and tools to mix up live instrumentation, spoken word, vocals and samples to create a smooth collection of beats ranging from classic old school hip-hop to head-nodding reggae, deep house, subatomic dubstep basslines and more.

In the wake of our recent announcement that we’re bringing Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City to PlayStation 3 and PC, it’s time to start getting those PSN Grand Theft Auto multiplayer skills tightened up. To that end, tomorrow, we will be bringing all the mayhem of our recent Multiplayer Events series to PlayStation Network with an official Grand Theft Auto IV session with Rockstar. As with those previous events, we’ll be streaming the whole thing and hosting live chat at the event page for all Social Club members.

PC gamers, not to worry - you got next. Next week, we’ll be announcing a full events calendar for the coming months.

In the meantime, here’s all the details you should need to know for tomorrow’s PS3 event.

You will be able to find members of the Rockstar team using the in-game cellphone and selecting Games > Team Deathmatch.

SPECTATE AND CHAT
Stuck at work or can't reach a PlayStation during our play time? No worries. Come follow all the action at the Social Club Multiplayer Event page with a live streaming broadcast of the entire event. We'll also have a chatbox up and running on game day for those that want to discuss the action as it unfolds.

Look below for specific directions you can follow to get online, grab a partner, and jump into the fray!

HOW TO FIND US
Grab a multiplayer friend and start up Ranked Team Deathmatch via Party Mode using the in-game cellphone. We're playing doubles again so make sure your team size is two. By starting up Team Deathmatch from Party Mode, you will be automatically placed in special lobbies together with us and other event participants. More info on using Party Mode is listed below.

NEED A PARTNER?
Hit up the chatbox during the event or just post your PSN ID in the Comments section below.

OFFICIAL ROCKSTAR GAMERTAGS
Participating Rockstar PSN IDs for the event will be:

• RockstarMulti1
• RockstarMulti2
• RockstarMulti3
• RockstarMulti4

ABOUT PARTY MODE
Party Mode is an easy way to get your group together and find matches. Here are the 3 quick and easy steps to get you up and running:

1. Save your current game. To get started, fire up the in-game mobile phone by pressing "Up" on the D-pad. Select Multiplayer > Party Mode > Yes.
2. From here, open up your phone again and select the Friends option to invite your friends (you need at least one friend to play with Rockstar).
3. Once your team is ready to roll, open up the in-game phone again and select Games > Team Deathmatch for this event.

Again, please be sure that you enter the lobby in a group of two if you plan to get matched up against us and other players for the event.

Rockstar Games and Rockstar San Diego are very proud to present the chosen moustache from the Red Dead Redemption Movember charity event that offered fans the opportunity to be immortalized in Rockstar’s open world Western game coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 on April 27, 2010. We’d like to say a big thank you on behalf of Movember to all of you who took part this year, and in particular to the chosen moustache. Step forward Charles Leece, a young gentleman from Canada, who signed up with Movember and grew this fantastic facial topiary. Charles’ likeness will appear in Red Dead Redemption as an outlawed villain roaming the frontier. You can also find a Wanted Poster bearing his image; Wanted Posters trigger bounty hunting missions - hunt him down and bring him in dead or alive.

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer. Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partners.