LA Noir

[KallDrexx]

Mouth movement is auto-generated these days (since the source engine at least), but I honestly haven't noticed that much lack of bad facial animation.  Any facial animation lazyness can be hidden with decent camera tricks and staging your scenes well, and those things will give you a better sense of immersion anyways (imho)

[Mrbloodworth]

Yeah, the output of audio to motion is not even on the same level.

[KallDrexx]

I never said it was on the same level.  My point is if going to the same level is worth it due to opportunity costs, when there are other tricks that games (and movies) have used for ages to make it not matter.   For some specific games (LA Noire, Heavy Rain, etc..) having detailed and realistic facial animations will enhance the gameplay a lot, but for a lot of games (uncharted, elder scrolls series, etc..) having ultra-realistic facial animations don't add enough for it to be worth it if it's going to degrade the game and cutscenes in other areas.

[Mrbloodworth]

Its a given it won't be for every project.

[Amarr HM]

Ok I just completed the main story, this game has the best plot in a game yet, The Getaway was pretty damn good too. It also has a ton of major flaws, but at least the main story is kickass unlike a lot of other titles with Rockstar attached. Seems to be at a cost though, I wish the mission endings threw you straight into free roam like GTA games, it would give you an incentive to explore and do the collectibles which I won't be arsed to do now. You're not going to do this during missions cause it negatively effects your final score. The driving is similar to that seen in The Getaway (I thought this had the best car chase sequences of any game) which I would have classed as a step above GTA, but it isn't utilized enough throughout.

The layout of the city is awesome with trams and vintage cars and some slick background music, but things like not being able to crash through wooden fences ruin immersion. Also the oblique things random NPCs blurt out is a bit jarring at times, though some are quite humorous. All the characters are brilliantly played and the facial-tech really brings things to life, although you never really fall in love with the main character Phelps.  Basically a really great game marred by a litany of misdemeanours.

I don't see it as a revolutionary title but definitely a step in the right direction.

[Azazel]

When I'll be impressed is when they can do it effectively with stylized characters rather than just the modern version of FMV.

The facial animation tech will fully come into it's own next generation. In the meantime I'm sure a lot of it will now be rolled across the R* studios (f it hasn't already) and incorporated into their other titles. Maybe the GTA series characters will look a bit less assy in GTA V?

[Mrbloodworth]

I'm not really sure what the detractors to the face tech are comparing it to. I found really well done, while there may have been times of breaking the illusion ( Necks and some movement mismatch ), thats dwarfed by the presentation and integration. Its really incredible stuff to look at, and more times than not its seamless to everything else, we have never seen this level of reality or expression in games before.

Basically, those saying its one of the worst things they have seen, I think you are a bit crazy.

[UnSub]

You could contrast it to Deadly Premonition:

[Mrbloodworth]

Not even close. Only similarity I see is the shader/lighting. The facial animations was not even close.

[Amarr HM]

Whoa you can't contrast it using still images, it isn't the high graphical detail that we're talking here. It's the human-like fluidity of the expressions and realism of various nervous ticks that haven't been seen before.

[MuffinMan]

I hope this isn't a BW.

Funny or Die does real life LA Noir

[Amarr HM]

Funny or Die does real life LA Noir

That's epic.

[Sky]

Haven't played the game but that was great. They should do more like that.

[UnSub]

Haven't played LA Noir either, but they've got the head turning from RDR down perfectly.

[UnSub]

After selling over 4 million units of LA Noire on consoles, Team Bondi is shut down. It has administrators basically selling off its assets now.

Brendan McNamara seems to have disappeared.

Some may think, "Well, Team Bondi treated its people badly, it deserved to close," but there are some other issues to consider:

1) In the last two years or so, Australia's lost a ton from its console games development industry. Krome, Pandemic, THQ Australia / Blue Tongue and now Team Bondi have all shut their doors. And LA Noire was one of the top selling games of the year.

2) Good luck for all those Team Bondi devs chasing credit on LA Noire. Now they need to deal directly with Rockstar and prove their case if they want that credit.

LA Noire is owned by Rockstar afaik, so that particular property isn't in danger.

[luckton]

Having seen and read the good news about this game, I would assume the sale price of $25 is well worth it for the PC version on Steam?

[tgr]

Having seen and read the good news about this game, I would assume the sale price of $25 is well worth it for the PC version on Steam?

Depends whether or not you care that it's using gameshield, and requires activation.

[luckton]

Having seen and read the good news about this game, I would assume the sale price of $25 is well worth it for the PC version on Steam?

Depends whether or not you care that it's using gameshield, and requires activation.

You must be great at friend/family get togethers.

"Hey Tgr, I got you this awesome new PC game!"

"GET THAT SHIT AWAY FROM ME!  NO ONE MUST KNOW MY SECRET IDENTITY!" 

[tgr]

Yeah, that's not even remotely close to what I was getting at, and that's an asshat response.

[trias_e]

Having seen and read the good news about this game, I would assume the sale price of $25 is well worth it for the PC version on Steam?

I'm not sure the game is worth 25 dollars.  It was worth a rental, and is easily beatable over a weekend, containing basically no replay value.  25 is pushing it.

[Phred]

Yeah, that's not even remotely close to what I was getting at, and that's an asshat response.

Also, appearantly the copy protection used causes performance  issues with the game. Easily fixed with the crack though.

 

[tgr]

Yeah, it's all that secret identity stealing code they stick in there.

[UnSub]

Team Bondi rides again. With Brendan McNamara back in charge.

The next game is currently called "Whore of the Orient".

[Miasma]

When are "next generation" consoles supposed to be coming out?  I haven't heard a whole lot about them yet and they usually try to get the hype train going years ahead of time.

[HaemishM]

Team Bondi rides again. With Brendan McNamara back in charge.

The next game is currently called "Whore of the Orient".

Fuck him in his earhole. That cocksucker got parachuted out of a bad situation and left behind a game with shitloads of promise and shittons of bad execution.

[Kail]

When are "next generation" consoles supposed to be coming out?  I haven't heard a whole lot about them yet and they usually try to get the hype train going years ahead of time.

Wii U is supposed to launch by the end of this year, I don't think the next Playstation and XBox consoles have been officially announced, but EA seems to think they'll be dropping in 2013.

[Rendakor]

My money is on an E3 2013 announcement, with a holiday 2014 release for the new Playstation and Xbox.

[Yegolev]

I can see a new Xbox increment, given the hardware and general profitability.  Sony, on the other hand, has a fuckton of work to do before they will get people to adopt a new console.

Fake-edit to say that Sony was singled out in a webinar I attended today regarding IBM's upcoming security thingy, PowerSC.  Specifically how they lost a ton of money due to being lazy with their security patches.