14 DAY TRIAL // L.A. Noire is due out next week on the PlayStation 3 and on the Xbox 360 and, after a long time in development, the game promises to deliver more complex character interactions that any other titles before it, allowing the player to truly see and understand the emotions of those he meets in the game.
Speaking about the future of video games based on drama, Jeronimo Barrera, who is the vice president of development at Rockstar, stated, “It is still unproven. We’ve yet to see if people are going to attach themselves to it. At Rockstar, we’re always trying to push the medium. If games are only going to be about shooting things, dying and starting over, that’s a pretty boring future for us.”
He added, “It’s been sort of the holy grail for a long time and the technology wasn’t there to approach it in this manner. [...[ We wanted to take it a step further and actually have that human element that can be missing from those games; the ability to see a performance rather than a puppet on screen.”
Video games have not traditionally had human drama at the core of their experience and the move towards more human interaction requires a number of extra resources, including good writers and a capable director, in addition to the technical capabilities for advanced motion capping.
Barrera also talked about a progression that is taking place at Rockstar, with each video game launched bringing in the need to push the limits a little more in the next release, GTA IV leading to more interaction in Red Dead Redemption and that launch informing the expectations for L.A. Noire.
L.A. Noire will put the player in the role of a detective that works on a variety of cases, all in a reconstruction of the Los Angeles of the '40's.