LA Noire

[the midnight watch baboon]

I don't mean this game- although maybe it is one of the offenders, I dunno, don't play them- why do all these HD games with stunning graphics(apparently) not use any in play game footage in the tv ads, why whwy why wy?

[Default to the negative]

How is mentioning a character from a different thing a breach of copyright? Every bloody film and TV show has sly references to different pieces of culture.

It's not just a reference though, not like "Hey Cole, that guy looks a bit like Mickey Mouse." It's different because they have someone talking about Thad Green as though he's a person in their world, thus making it explicit that the game takes place in James Ellroy's book setting, which I don't think they had the rights to.

But yeah I'm probably talking crap. I don't know exactly how copyright works when it comes to things like that.

Heavy Rain was better.

If I was going to compare 'LA Noire' unfavourably to another game, then it would be Westwood's 'Blade Runner', which - dodgy voxel graphics aside - is still the best noir/detective game, in my opinion.

[Ignatius_S]

I know this is a boring and pointless thing to wonder about, but... didn't the writers break copyright rules when they had one of Cole's partners mention Thad Green, who is a fictional character from the LA Quartet?

I suspect that there wasn't much of a case on the grounds of just that and they might have got away with fair use argument. The use of Thad Green is so insubstantial to the overall product and it could be argued that it was a tip of the hat to Elroy, rather than something trying to cash in on his work. However....

Actually, I think a children's show used Thad Green as a police detective in an educational parody of Dragnet before Elroy used the name. In any case, Dragnet is where Elroy got the name from.

Elroy's Thad Green is an obvious nod to Thad Brown in Dragnet, the show which he modelled Badge of Honor on. Played by Raymond Burr, he was Chief of Detectives and Deputy Chief – which, IIRC, which Green was. (Slight tangent, but Burr was one of the actors to play Hellman, a very dubious detective in another brilliant Webb show, Pat Novak For Hire). Incidentally, Brown was based on a real police officer.

Not only was Dragnet a hugely successful and influential drama about police procedure, its star and creator Jack Webb wrote a non-fiction book, The Badge. A few years ago, Elroy penned an introduction to it – he mentioned received the book as a gift when quite young (I think around 12-13) and he said it was hugely influential on him. This, I don't think, comes as a surprise – there are clear similarities to the writing styles and additionally to this, Webb's clipped narration as Joe Friday in Dragnet is an obvious influence on the young Elroy (as was the world being created).

If Elroy cried foul on the game using Thad Green, it would have been a little rich.

[Bhazor]

I had to pirate it because Rockstar Social Club broke the damn game.

Having played it honestly I'm mostly just reminded of Discworld Noir. Very similar notebook investigation mechanics.

[Rolf Lundgren]

What amazes me about this game is how lovely the world is and how little you actually do in it. Which is great for immersion but probably very expensive. One day all games will be like this!

The detail on it is fantastic. Stuff like the Intolerance set are very well done. I started doing the find 50 movie reels task once I'd exhausted the game after playing it a couple of times. Unfortuantely I soon got bored of that because although the world is great there isn't enough to do in between cases like you can in GTA. I can change Cole's suit but if I want a haircut or moustache then forget it.

It's a shame that haven't done a sequel so quickly. I would have been very happy with the same map, more cases and a few tweaks to the interrogation system (the aforementioned original buttons would have worked fine) because a lot of what was there as a base model was good.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

It wasn't to happen, as the original studio burnt too many bridges. Many developers weren't credited, the employees were grossly mismanaged (much more than on similar projects) and it was delayed several times.

Technically, Rockstar owns the franchise after severing its ties with Team Bondi. But they'd have to develop tools from scratch if they want to reproduce the motion capture system.

Rockstar is also a specialist for taking long intervals before completion, or between episodes from a franchise. It took years for Red Dead Redemption to be released. Bully was also rumored to get a sequel, and it hasn't materialized yet. And I'm still waiting for the completion (or at least the acknowledgment of cancellation) of Agent, which was supposed to be a spying game set in the seventies, and a PS3 exclusive. It was first announced in 2010.

[Bhazor]

It's pretty well known LA Noire was a complete disaster behind the scenes. The less involvement the original makers have in any followup the better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Bondi#Controversy