Hey, remember that supposed PS3 exclusive from Rockstar, L.A. Noire? The 1940s crime thriller that was set to blend cinema and gameplay like never before, but has nearly achieved the dreaded “vaporware” tag? Well, we’ve finally got some news on it — and there are some very interesting tidbits to be had.
IGN AU has an update from Games Convention Asia 2008, and it contains some notes from a talk on the Australian game development industry given by Tom Crago, the CEO of Tantalus and the president of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia. Crago happened to mention L.A. Noire; the game is being published by Rockstar but is under development by Sydney-based Team Bondi. Regarding the game’s release, Crago said, “It’s got, I’d suggest, another year or so to go,” and as for its development costs, he had this to say:
[L.A. Noire] could be the biggest budget videogame in development anywhere in the world. It would certainly… in terms of console titles, be in the top ten… L.A. Noire is a massive, massive project.
But here’s a little nugget Crago threw in that might be the most newsworthy piece of information: apparently, L.A. Noire will be coming to the Xbox 360 as well as the PlayStation 3. So far, we’ve always heard that the noir title has only been in development for the noir console. This may just have been a mix-up on Crago’s part; there’s no official confirmation of this yet from either Rockstar or Team Bondi, so we’ll slap it with the trusty Rumortoid tag for now.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true, though. As far as I’m concerned, the days of third-party console exclusives are over (as well they should be). In this age of high development costs (see above), it simply doesn’t make sense for a publisher to deny themselves millions of potential sales by sticking to a single console. If you want to watch the game’s old debut trailer, go to its Web site.
[Via IGN AU — thanks, Jonathan!]
