Did L.A.Noire make the right choice by using PlayStation 3 as their lead platform?
Team Bondi, the developers behind the highly anticipated L.A.Noire used the PlayStation 3 as their lead platform during development of the game, before being ported to its rival console the Xbox 360.
The competition between video game consoles in the market is highly competitive and fierce to say the least and the console with the better exclusives is often the one with greater market share. Sony seems in a stronger position at this point in time, with
franchises such as MLB The Show, Gran Turismo, Killzone and the financially and critically successful Uncharted series.
Yet, Xbox 360 has plenty of heavy-weight titles of its own with Halo, Gears of War and Left4Dead able to pull in sales for the console.
So one can imagine Sony’s disappointment when Rockstar, the game’s publisher, opted to make a version of L.A.Noire for the Xbox 360 as well. It was a huge blow as series such as Devil May Cry, Tekken and even Metal Gear Solid have already made the transition
to becoming multiplatform games.
However, the fact that it was developed using the PlayStation 3 means that although it will run similarly on both platforms, the PlayStation version will be marginally smoother and better, and suffer from fewer frame-rate issues and other technical glitches.
When asked why Team Bondi opted to go multi-platform with their title, McNamara explained, “I think it was an obvious decision. We knew the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 stuff pretty well, and for us it was a change. But for Rockstar they'd done a lot
of that.”
Apparently, third party developers are moving away from console exclusive titles as they go in search of the increased revenue that comes with being able to sell on more than one platform.
It is here one has to question whether or not Team Bondi and indeed Rockstar made the correct decision. Would the players on the Xbox 360 notice that they had a ported version? Did the move to go multiplatform pay off?
While the game has not been released to the general gaming public as yet, it has done the rounds in the hands of various video game critics and the overall verdict is a positive one to say the least.
In fact, L.A.Noire has earned nothing but rave reviews, something Rockstar seemed to have a talent for providing with their titles ranging from Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.
According to the newspaper ‘The Guardian’, L.A.Noire may even be a contender for the Game of the Year award. The game was marketed as 1940’s detective game with special emphasis on facial animation and expressions.
The Guardian had nothing but praise for the ‘MotionScan Technology’ used to make ultra-realistic character models that acted as well as they looked, surpassing the current animation benchmark set by the award winning “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”.
However, The Guardian's review was taken down, as it was a breach of the embargo that disallows reviewers or critics from revealing facts about the game at this point in time.
Gamers will have a chance to judge and rate the game for themselves when it releases in the United States on the 17th of May and Europe on the 20th. Till then however, it seems that leading from the PS3 and porting to the Xbox 360 both
seemed to be shrewd moves on the part of Rockstar games.
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