L.A Noire (Team Bondi)

L.A Noire is a 2011 Action-Adventure Crime video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games (Also known for the Grand Theft Auto Series, Max Payne series and Red Dead Redemption). Set in Los Angeles, 1947, the game centers around LAPD officer, Cole Phelps who progresses through the ranks and through different departments (Patrol, Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson), solving various (Super fantabulous extra spectacular) cases as he does.

Team Bondi was an Australian independent third-party game developer founded in 2003,   founder and former director Brendan McNamara also founded the sister company Depth Analysis, the company that would be responsible for the development of the award winning 3D motion capture technology known as MotionScan (More on that later). 

L.A Noire is considerably well known for the interrogation scenes, where the player gets to interrogate suspects and witnesses through the course of each case. The player will have to listen to his or her story while at the same time study their face and body language before deciding on whether they are telling the truth or not (Just be warned, Cole goes a little overboard should you choose "Doubt" or "Lie", so be extra sure in your choice)… this is also where MotionScan comes in…

Unlike other motion capture technologies, MotionScan relies on 32 high definition cameras, capturing the actor's facial expressions from every angle at 3o frames per second. As the interrogation mechanics in the game requires realistic and readable facial expressions and body language to allow proper judgement during gameplay, this new technology quickly became highly valued during the game's development.

 

More on MotionScan can also be read here:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/motionscan-technology.htm

With amazing mo-cap technology such as MotionScan, video games are practically one step closer to becoming live-action movies:

Despite the success of L.A Noire, the controversies of staff mistreatment surrounding the company prevented it from securing another game project from then on, Team Bondi was unfortunately placed into administration and was liquidated. In August 2011 however, the company was bought over by Kennedy Miller Mitchell, a Film, TV and Games production House famous for films such as Mad Max, Babe and Happy Feet. Team Bondi's present game project is titled Whore of the Orient, due for a 2015 release.

Up to this day, this still remains one of my most favorite video games, aside from the amazing graphics, it has an engaging story, enjoyable characters (I even loved the ones that I was meant to hate), great music and pretty fun gameplay. I can also appreciate the huge amount of effort that went into recreating the entirety of Los Angeles in 1947!

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