All Articles: L.A. Noire

Rockstar Games formally announced their plans for L.A. Noire‘s DLC today, detailing information on new cases, collectibles, and challenges. All of the content will be available on both the PlayStation Network (whenever the Store returns) and Xbox LIVE. The cases are priced at $4.00 (PlayStation Network)/320 Microsoft Points (Xbox LIVE).

The four new standalone cases are:

• The Naked City (Vice) – available today
• A Slip of the Tongue (Traffic) – available today
• Nicholson Electroplating (Arson) – coming 6/21/11
• Reefer Madness (Vice) – coming 7/12/11

There’s also The Badge Pursuit Challenge for $2.00/160 Microsoft Points and the Sharpshooter/ Broderick detective suits for $1.00/80 Microsoft Points.

A unique way to pay for all of this is to purchase the L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass, which costs $10.00/800 Microsoft Points and gives you access to all the DLC as it comes out. So the total without the pass is $16, saving you a big $6 – but the discount is only for a limited time, after which the pass will go up to $12.

Well, that’s not confusing at all. In addition to all of the paid items, Rockstar Social Club members will be getting a freebie – the Chicago Lightning Detective Suit – and everyone will have access to the Chicago Piano machine gun for free. Hit the jump for the full release schedule. (more…)

We all knew L.A. Noire was going to be gritty, but I didn’t realize just how gritty Rockstar was going to get. Cole Phelps, the detective searching for a serial killer, is going to have a lot to deal with as he goes up through the ranks at the police station. According to the ESRB rating information, this is what you have to look forward to:

• Realistic shootouts, which are “highlighted by gunfire, cries of pain, and blood spirts that stain injured characters and the surrounding environments”
• Violent cutscenes, including one with “a character being beaten with a crowbar (off screen)—large spurts of blood are depicted in the foreground”
• Some crime scenes in which you investigate “badly beaten or mutilated corpses” and you have the ability to “examine victims’ bodies close-up, surveying various bruises and bloody cuts for evidence—a few female corpses are depicted fully nude with fleeting images of pubic hair”
• Investigations involving sexual assaults, in which “details are often conveyed in clinical terms through dialogue or on-screen text (e.g., ‘He’s some kind of sex fiend,’ ‘Woman’s briefs torn at seams, forcibly removed,’ and ‘Head trauma . . . external bruising to genitals.’)”
• And, perhaps the strangest of the lot: “In one cutscene, there is an implication that a character is engaged in a sexual relationship with a teenager (e.g., ‘You take love where you can find it as you get older, Jack’/That has nothing to do with love . . .’)”

Damn. This is going to make Heavy Rain look like Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Oh, there are also scenes with drugs, and, um, “Language such as ‘f**k,’ ‘sh*t,’ ‘c*nt,’ ‘n**ger,’ and ‘sp*c’ can be heard in the dialogue.” If your stomach is strong enough for you to listen to the Warp Zoned podcast, then you should be safe.

L.A. Noire hits stores on May 17th for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Get your sleuthing skills ready.

L.A. Noire, Team Bondi’s upcoming take on the hardboiled detective story, has become the first video game ever to be honored as an Official Selection at the Tribeca Film Festival.

“We’re thrilled that L.A. Noire is being recognized by the Tribeca Film Festival in this way,” said Sam Houser, Founder of the game’s publisher Rockstar Games. “It’s a real honor, and another step forward for interactive entertainment.”

Publisher Rockstar Games will present an exclusive preview of L.A. Noire as part of the Tribeca Talks series. The presentation will take place on April 25 and feature a live interactive screening of a case from L.A. Noire, followed by a Q&A exploring the crossover between filmmaking and “interactive entertainment.”

Geoff Gilmore, Tribeca Enterprises’ Chief Creative Officer was extremely impressed with how L.A. Noire has been coming together: “What Rockstar and Team Bondi have accomplished with L.A. Noire is nothing less than groundbreaking. It’s an invention of a new realm of storytelling that is part cinema, part gaming, and a whole new realm of narrative expression, interactivity, and immersion. We are poised on the edge of a new frontier.”

L.A. Noire will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 17.

After years in development, L.A. Noire will finally arrive on the PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 17th. To gear up for the final pre-release push, Rockstar has released the game’s official boxart (which you can see to your left) and the game’s retailer-specific pre-order bonuses (which you can find below).

While most retailers plan to include in-game bonuses as part of their pre-order ploys, a few retailers plan to offer something a bit more tangible. The publisher’s own Rockstar Warehouse will include an official L.A. Noire t-shirt with every pre-order while Target is bundling a $5 gift card and a Rockstar Games t-shirt with every copy of L.A. Noire sold during the game’s launch week.

After the break you’ll find just the facts on the in-game bonuses being offered at GameStop, Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy. (more…)

In case you missed the leaked trailer this weekend, Rockstar Games has officially released the second trailer for L.A. Noire and you can check it out above.

As expected, the PS3 and Xbox 360 game has been tagged with a May 17 release date, so we won’t have to wait much longer to start chasing a serial killer in the noirish 1940s.