Datahopa

Computer Related => Video Games => Topic started by: Data on April 02, 2011, 20:30:42 PM

Title: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on April 02, 2011, 20:30:42 PM
Heres one to keep an eye on, made by Rockstar games, the game is one of the first to use motion scan for the actors movements including facial expressions, does look pretty impressive, and I like the idea of the gameplay too.

Released on the PS3 and XBOX on 20 May 2011, but unfortunately its probably going to be a year before its available on the PC.


                          L.A. Noire DVD on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004MPR5NE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=datahopacom-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B004MPR5NE)
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on April 02, 2011, 22:06:52 PM
It's rock star so it'll be buggy as hell but it looks real cool.

Love the new motion capture CG looking almost real.

Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on May 19, 2011, 19:57:14 PM
Even with the bugs, I still want this game, the release date is on us.

Snowcrash maybe get this as one of your free games from Sony, saying that how you would play it using a PS3 controller is beyond me. :confused:

My most optimistic thought on its release date for the PC is another 3 months at best. :(
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on May 19, 2011, 21:54:43 PM
Just noticed my work mate is playing it on PS3. Must ask him what he thinks of it tomorrow.

I don't like FPS games on PS3 being a keyboard/mouse person but GTA is fine on PS3.
Not sure about this.

Even with my PC, I think it would look better. Depends how good rockstar are at optimising their code. If GTA is anything to go by... not very good.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on May 19, 2011, 22:29:49 PM
Found this video about the technology behind the motion and facial capture.

Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on May 20, 2011, 17:50:12 PM
Been chatting with my work mate today and he rates the game.

It is both first person and third person depending on where you are in the game with cut scenes. Not too complicated with the buttons. This can happen esp with PC games poorly ported to a consol having too many combinations of buttons. (Mass Effect 2 had this critisism)

And no way would Sony give this away for free. There is a 5 game list of which I can have 2. That's it. I also get PSN+ for a month but have no idea what that entails.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on May 21, 2011, 11:28:23 AM
Thanks for the extra info Snowcrash.

It's a shame Sony wont give this game away, their offer of 5 free games sounds good but in reality.

Hurry up and make this available for the PC please Rock Star, well I say hurry up but at the same time we want a bug free game.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on May 23, 2011, 23:24:16 PM
I've got it. Only played it for 10 mins as I'm tired. Will give my verdict later.

Looks like we need a new section here or call this just games 'cos it doesn't look like rock star have any plans to release this game on PC.

No listing in shops, no pre-release listing on Amazon. Not looking good.

Will you bite the bullet and buy a PS3/360 Data?
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on May 23, 2011, 23:46:07 PM
Congrats! Looking forward to your in-depth review ;D

From what I can tell, it might be released on PC or it might not, great  :confused: did think it was strange that Amazon didn't have it.

The first post on this page is about the most positive thing I can find so far. 
http://uk.gamespot.com/forums/topic/27530407

There is still hope.

No PS3 yet ;)   
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on May 24, 2011, 19:36:35 PM
I'm finding the game a little clunky and very difficult to tell when people are lying which is an important part of the game.
Controls are weird but I suppose I'll get used to them. They just don't feel natural. (R2 for forward when driving)
Took me ages to work out to open a door you just walk at it. If it can open it will. Dark stairs in hall that are trial and error to go up. And I'm only on 4th mission.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on May 24, 2011, 21:12:19 PM
Reading between the lines it sounds ok but hasn’t blown you away… yet,  is the motion scan as good as it looks in the videos?
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on May 24, 2011, 21:29:29 PM
Not the best bodies I've seen in games but faces etc are as you see them in the youtube vids.

Cars drive like GTA and streets/ maps very GTA. Except older 'cos it's 1940s.

Everytime you finish a mission you get a cut scene giving you details of his life as a army/navy (not sure which yet) officer. All play is 3rd person so far.

Trying to work out what to do before time runs out is a little frustrating too.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on October 23, 2011, 11:12:03 AM
This game has finally made it to the PC and is available to pre order from Amazon.

The PC version of the game includes all the downloadable content that was sold as add-ons to the Xbox and PS3 and as usual is better value for money.

I am going to be getting it  ;D

Released on the 11th of November 2011

L.A. Noire PC DVD (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004MPR5NE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=datahopacom-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B004MPR5NE)
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on October 27, 2011, 17:31:46 PM
Found this video of L. A. Noire, shows off some more of the facial expressions in the game, I know Snowy says this is the hardest part of the gameplay, which might be a bit of a pain but isn't it is impressive.

Well I think it is ;D

LA Noire Gameplay Series - Investigation and Interrogation [HD] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQbi08xSkW4#ws)
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on October 27, 2011, 17:41:48 PM
That does look good actually.  Any specs ? As in; not the specs that Rockstar make up to sell the game and then we find it runs like treacle...
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on October 27, 2011, 17:59:26 PM
Quote from: Freddy on October 27, 2011, 17:41:48 PM
That does look good actually.  Any specs ? As in; not the specs that Rockstar make up to sell the game and then we find it runs like treacle...

It's a good point Freddy, as with other Rockstar games I would tend to look at the recommended specs rather than the minimum, so with a bit of reading up on the specs and a bit of judgment I would say you would be looking at:

A Quad Core CPU

4 GIG RAM

Half descent graphics card ( I know that's doesn't mean much but if you are a gamer you will know if your GX card is any good or not  ;) )   with at least 512 MB or 1 GIG to be sure or getting a good view distance.

When I get this game I will put a vid up on Youtube, hopefully in maximum quality, then we can see how much better it looks on the PC than the game boxes.     
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on October 31, 2011, 11:48:57 AM
I have pre ordered L.A. Noire for the PC, 11 days and counting  ;)
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 14:33:01 PM
I've noticed that on the OnLive (cloud gaming) service this costs pretty much the same as a regular PC version.  Still undecided about cloud gaming. You have to fork out £70 or so for the unit.  Then you pay for games.  I'm wondering how much bandwidth these games use, I wonder if it's going to be like streaming a standard definition film... I suppose that would be okay if you had a good allowance from your ISP.

One thing that is nice is that I could get games onto my big telly with ease.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on November 03, 2011, 15:10:39 PM
Lets imagine that cloud gaming takes off in a big way, isn't that really going to choke up the web with huge amounts of data and that makes me think of lag, nothing much more annoying than a laggy game.

Personally I think it's a bad idea, can't mod the games, they don't seem any cheaper, huge amounts of bandwidth.

I guess it will enable people with less powerful machines to game, but gamers wont even entertain such slow machines in the first place.

It's games for numpties at the end of the day. IMHO  :LOL:
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 15:40:39 PM
Well they stream video all the time, so if they can do that I can't see why it would be any worse really, especially as they continually upgrade the equipment and exchanges.  Usually lag is caused by the server I thnk.  ISPs will have to keep up with things if they want to survive.  You only need a 3 gig line to play these games they say...

I don't think it's necessarily for numpties.  Things change and get updated, it's just a new way of doing things.  That's how we got from Pong to World of Warcraft.

Have you seen something somewhere that says these machines are slow ?  Please share :)

But yes I too still have my reservations, I think I will wait and see how it pans out.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on November 03, 2011, 18:13:05 PM
The gamers community is massive though, millions and millions of players, now what if all those people now started playing online and were downloading at 3Mb, that on top of everything else that's already going across the web, there is going to be lag problems, just like in second life.

How many times have you not been able to watch videos on Youtube or the Iplayer because the servers are lagged out? It happens doesn't it? If it happened in game play it would be awful, gamers want good, constant FPS and no lag.    

I call them numpties, maybe a little hash I admit, I guess part time gamers would be a closer description. The game forums I frequent are full of Hardcore Gamers with top end PC's made for gaming, you do get the odd people on them that don't have a good enough PC's to play the games, you know, the numpties, sorry part time gamers.  :D

Cloud gaming will suit them just fine but I really don't think it will attract many hardcore gamers.

Quote from: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 15:40:39 PM

Have you seen something somewhere that says these machines are slow ?  Please share :)


I think you misunderstood what I was saying Freddy, I'm wasn't saying the machines that the cloud games are running on are slow but the machines that are playing the games can be slower none gaming machines like cheap laptops, and I think that's going to be the clouds market, not the true gamers.  
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 19:24:38 PM
I don't expect hard core gamers will go for it either. I think this will mostly appeal to people who buy consoles.

The net has to expand to cover demand and that's the only direction it can go in.  No arguments from me, I am sure there will be lag sometimes, just as with anything on the net.  I do occasionally get lag on YouTube, not very often.  For a while I was streaming SD to my telly and that worked always without lag. But yep I agree, the more there is on the net the more likely it is there will be some problems with speed in the end.

And yep the gamers community is probably one of the largest.  I don't use iPlayer much, some times it can lag though. I don't know if it is network congestion or simply demand on the server.  Maybe a bit of both, but I lean to the server not being able to cope.

I think Second Life lag is due to them not having good enough servers to cope with demand.  My angle is this - say you go to one site and it is slow....then you go to another site and it is fast.  That shows that it is a server overload and not network congestion.  I think that's a good rule of thumb.  For them to make OnLive work they need decent servers - like we said before, something like supercomputers, if they want to avoid lag.

I'm not sure about the numpties lol, but I see titles that may normally only attract hard-core gamers being offered by OnLive.  So maybe that will turn the numpties into hardcore players ;)

For some people the maths will certainly add up.  Do I spend £600 on a top of the range gaming PC or is it more these days ?  Or do I fork out a £70 one off payment and then just pay for games...
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 19:32:41 PM
P.S. I think my rule of thumb is fatally flawed.... a slow site could be network congestion... routes etc, so ignore me  :LOL:
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on November 03, 2011, 19:50:27 PM
No I can't ignore you Freddy  :'(  tell you what, lets just take it that somewhere along the line one of the servers will lag  :thumbsup:   :)  :LOL:
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 20:01:33 PM
Haha okay that's scientific enough for me  ;D

How much does a top of the range gaming PC cost these days though ?
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on November 03, 2011, 20:11:27 PM
You could build a gaming PC for about £500 to £600, without screen or something like that, wouldn't be the best out there but it would play all the games better than a console.



I've found a couple of vids about Onlive, one shows the image quality, you can see its below PC quality, but to be fair some people would be happy with it.

The other is a lag test, the guy in the video says that there is hardly any lag, but that there is lag  :scratch-head:, he also admits to not being a gamer and thinks that the Hardcore gamer probably wouldn't like it much.  

OnLive Test : Image Quality 1080P (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqsd4dG5-A0#ws)


OnLive Test : Input lag 1080P (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edf5xsqST90#ws)
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 20:26:46 PM
Neat, thanks for digging those up.  I had read some comments that the OnLive graphics are not quite as good as a PC.  It is noticeable - the PC has better definition.  The OnLive is pretty good though.  SO this thing is 720p only ?  That would mean it would look blocky on my telly then.  And  I play my games at 1920 x 1200, so I may not be satisfied.

About the lag...well that's barely testing it really is it ?  You need to be in the middle of some mayhem to truly test that - I think if it is noticeable when there is no action, then it will be noticeable in testing conditions.

QuoteYou could build a gaming PC for about £500 to £600,
Oh cool, I am not too out of touch then.  :P
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Freddy on November 03, 2011, 20:29:45 PM
I'm a bit confused actually.  I saw on their site (OnLive) that you buy a sort of console thing - I guess that's for people without a computer/laptop ?  So it seems you don't need to buy that to play games on a bog standard PC then - you just have to pay a sub for the games or something.

Hmmm.  I think I will pass for now, but will keep an eye on it.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Snowcrash on November 05, 2011, 11:27:12 AM
A top notch gaming rig is, as it's always been, about £1000 plus. Box only. And I could easily spec it up to £2000.

But it's horses for courses. £600 would build a fair machine.

My mate just did an upgrade of over £1000 but he's mad and as always with life, you get diminishing returns. (upgrade was 2 X £350 GeForce graphics cards and water cooling mod 'cos it gets too hot otherwise).
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on November 13, 2011, 16:57:42 PM
Been playing this game for a couple of days now, but is it any good?

You bet it is,  :)

Absolutely the best character faces I've ever seen in a game, so close to real that at times it's quite scary.

Driving round L. A. in old cars that can't accelerate or brake is fun, no really it is fun, the area is pretty huge too, I wouldn't say its massive but its going to take a long time to learn it. 

But for me the best of all is the gameplay, its like nothing I've played before, a hybrid of GTA, Sherlock Holmes and Fallout 3. Rockstar games have made a game that you actually need to think about, yes you need a bit of driving and shooting skill but the main challenge is solving the cases and getting promoted.

The graphics engine is typical of GTA (look and feel), it looks like it's a little bit better than GTA4 graphics outside and there is a noticeable improvement in quality indoors, I guess that is because you spend much of your time in buildings looking for clues, and interviewing people.

There is a strong adult theme to this game, I'm not going to go into to detail but you can really see why it's an 18. 

One other thing is that you can't just jump into any car and drive crazily round the town knocking over pedestrians and causing chaos, like you can in GTA, oh no, everything has consequences in L.A. Noire.

And lastly, this game needs a pretty good gaming PC to play it in max quality, it pushes my quad core CPU to 100% at times, eats up all 4 GIG of RAM and also asks a lot of the graphics card.   

Rockstar are already working on a patch, which will more than likely have some type of optimisation added.
Title: Re: L.A. Noire
Post by: Data on December 11, 2013, 12:28:07 PM
I see this game is 75% off on Steam.

If you want to see the best facial movements and expressions on any game ever (so far), then this is the one.

I've done it twice now, good game.

7 Things You Should Know About L.A. Noire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zhtGEA9TyA#ws)