While it has been a slow few days in the world of Rockstar, that is sure to change in the coming weeks with the actual release of Rockstar/Team Bondi’s innovative crime thriller, L.A. Noire.

The Los Angeles Times (in conjunction with San Antonio Express-News) published an article detailing some of the behind the scenes work that has helped turn L.A. Noire into something more than just your everyday run-of-the-mill crime game.

LOS ANGELES – Aaron Staton is used to being in front of cameras. But it wasn’t until the actor best known as ad account executive Ken Cosgrove on Mad Men starred in the video game L.A. Noire that he acted in front of 32 of them.

 

On a winter morning in a warehouse in Culver City that has been turned into a makeshift acting and game development studio, Staton was wrapping up his last day on the job. Sitting alone in a small room surrounded by the dozens of cameras and pupil-shrinking lights that eliminate any hint of a shadow, he worked his way through one gritty line after another – the type most people haven’t heard since the days of, well, noir.

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GameTrailers TV Episode 408 with alot of tasty information and new footage from L.A Noire is now up on GameTrailers.com to watch.

Check it out right now!

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The OPM team have recently paid a visit to Rockstar to see  L.A Noire in action and interview the developers

all up close and personal with info direct from the horse’s mouth

So be sure to pick up the latest issue of OPM on newsstands soon if you live in the UK.

Until then below is the cover for OPM’s April issue.

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A private demonstration (by Rockstar) given to various gaming websites at PAX East has revealed several interesting pieces of information.

The recreation of  1947 Los Angeles, spans over 8 square miles. Driving from one open end of the city to another will take over 30 minutes. Furthermore historical landmarks like Union Station and Downtown LA will accurately represent the era.

Also unlike GTA and RDR, the game will feature a much more “mature” theme. While main protagonist, Cole Phelps (voiced/played by Mad Men star, Aaron Staton) can draw his gun for an over-the-shoulder view shootout, using your gun should be only a “last resort”. The combat doesn’t end there, either — in an interrogation scene, the detectives prodded a man whose wife had just been murdered. The man grew angry after being called out on a lie and engaged the detectives with fisticuffs.

More interestingly, 400 actors have been scanned using “MotionScan”, thereby ensuring a level of realism seen not only on the main characters but on random NPC’s roaming the streets of Los Angeles.

Lastly while it has been established Team Bondi and Rockstar opted not to include a multiplayer mode for quality assurance purposes, such decision sounds to have paid off.

The main story itself takes place over a one-year time period and 23 cases. The case we witnessed was roughly an hour long. A rep for Rockstar told us that the main storyline would take anywhere between 25-30 hours to complete. There’s also optional “unassigned cases” that help build the backstory of secondary characters and retailer-exclusive pre-order DLC that will eventually be released to everyone.

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L.A Noire is featured in the February issue of Official Playstation monthly with an in depth 10 page feature. It is avaliable now!

Most surprisingly is the slip of THE release date of L.A Noire:

Is March 2011, the month L.A Noire is in fact released? I sure as hell hope so!

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Wired.com recently posted a preview of L.A Noire with a hands off look.

NEW YORK — World War II just ended. Hollywood is booming. Life seems to be good in downtown Los Angeles, except for all those pesky murders.

Rockstar Games is known for publishing open-world games in a variety of settings and time periods, from the totally ’80s Vice City to Red Dead Redemption’s Old West. So it makes sense that L.A. Noire, the company’s next title, is set in 1947 Los Angeles.

Still, the game, coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this spring (and “hopefully” to PC in the future, according to a Rockstar rep), stands apart from the rest of the developer’s action-oriented lineup.

Check out the rest of the preview here

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