Heavy Rain Dev Calls L.A. Noire's MotionScan Tech a "Dead End"

[Tom Goldman]

Heavy Rain Dev Calls L.A. Noire's MotionScan Tech a "Dead End"

L.A. Noire might have the most realistic characters a videogame has ever seen, but Quantic Dream says it can do better.

Thanks to Rockstar Games' innovative Heavy Rain [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/trailers/2558-L-A-Noire-The-Technology-Behind-Performance], commends Rockstar for trying to do something different, but says MotionScan is nothing compared to the technology Quantic is currently working on for its next game.

MotionScan uses dozens of HD cameras that currently capture an actor's face from all angles, allowing L.A. Noire to display every twitch, blink, and eye movement. Speaking to CVG, Cage called MotionScan an "interesting solution to a problem for now," but added that it's also an "interesting dead end."

"Their technique is incredibly expensive and they will never be able to shoot body and face at the same time," Cage said. "We are doing that now [at Quantic], and our next games will be shot with performance capture."

Cage's opinion is that there's a "huge difference" between shooting just an actor's face, versus an actor's entire body. "You can't imagine how related what you say with your face is to what your body does," he continued. In addition, Cage said MotionScan probably wouldn't be able to incorporate real-time lighting, or allow for developers to change important aspects such as eye direction in-game if necessary.

"I think L.A Noire looks good," Cage admitted. "Honestly, it does - but I don't think they'll go much further than where they are. With the technology we use, we can improve; there is a lot of room for improvement and we hope to show very soon where we are now."

Cage says Quantic Dream has come a long way since Heavy Rain, whose characters looked good enough to freak out plenty of fans [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101000-Cliffy-B-Heavy-Rains-Children-Are-Hideous]. If it can do even better than Rockstar is doing with L.A. Noire, more power to Quantic Dream, but I hope this isn't a case of promising too much too soon.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/296388/news/david-cage-la-noire-tech-is-interesting-dead-end-quantics-new-approach-is-the-future/]

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[JokerboyJordan]

Meh, I didn't care for Heavy Rain. I played up until just after I lost the kid in the shopping mall. At least LA Noire can be counted as a game.

 

[luckycharms8282]

Hmm, seems like he's just knocking on another company's game to try to cause hype for his own.

 

[Woodsey]

You know, I really dislike this guy. Doesn't have a good word to say about anyone else, shit-talks and generalises other games, and has the audacity to attack them for their stories; this from a person whose first game went batshit insane halfway through, and whose second had a story with more holes than Tiger Woods has put his junk in to.

 

[Fuselage]

Well I'll still play and buy LA Noire, you know why?
It probably has decent gameplay instead of some glorified quick-time events.

 

[Compatriot Block]

Well he better deliver now. That's a pretty serious claim.

 

[The Wykydtron]

The pile of evidence for "Quantic are pretentious dicks" is only getting bigger...

Meh whatev's i don't have a PS3 anyway

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

He has a point, sort of. Of course unless he shows us just how much better his tech is, he's just bullshiting, so...

 

[shogunblade]

I was impressed with the facial features of Heavy Rain's characters, but I don't think the issue on this case is whether the game's graphics are going to make the game. I actually enjoy the rediculous twists and turns of Indigo Prophecy despite the graphics being less than great.

The graphics in L.A. Noire look astonishing, but the issue here in the end is, even if the end product is pretty, will the game be worth playing because it is fun?

David Cage shouldn't get uppity about graphics; It's the game and how much fun it is to play that should stand up first, the graphics can be pretty after that. That's personally, how I run.

 

[Xannidel]

Meh, the game is not out yet so I don't think anyone can really complain/praise it. I loved Heavy Rain and I will give L.A. Noire a fair shot as well.

 

[WingedFortress]

Quantic can bite the curb on this one.

Rockstar hasn't ever led me astray...too badly. LA Noire is shaping up to be something I'm genuinely interested in, and as for Quantic...well my single experience with Heavy Rain is enough for now. I'm not a fan of mouthpieces who have more bark than bite.

 

[Riobux]

You know what? I'm going to wait before I call bullshit. Quantic Dream may actually be able to one-up Rockstar Games in terms of realism. However, a fight between two developers of who can produce the most realistic looking graphics is like a fight between two developers of who can produce the best game art. Sure, it's really nice if it looks really good and competition sure breeds results in terms of things like this, but it isn't a substitute for things like gameplay and story.

 

[Seriin]

"...but says MotionScan is nothing compared to the technology Quantic is currently working on for its next game.

I think you might have made a bit of a typo, I'm pretty sure that is supposed to say 'movie', not game. At least, if it anything like Heavy Rain..

 

[Assassin Xaero]

but says MotionScan is nothing compared to the technology Quantic is currently working on for its next game.

So it will look realistic, but will they fix the horrible voice acting, bad camera angles, and overall boringness? L.A. Noire, ehh... may give it a rent sometime. Nothing any it that really makes me interested, and that combined with the dozens of games I still haven't touched yet, probably mean that I'll never play this...

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Man I love all of Heavy Rain's robot people. I thought they look awesome and not at all like ungodly abominations.

David Cage just seems like the kind of guy that gets pissed he doesn't have the technology he'd like, and so puts it down. A while ago, I remember he said that he didn't think Kinect would be able to do some of the things that Molyeneux said it would in the Milo demo. Now yeah, I'll agree that Peter does have a habit of over exaggerating, but I reckon, given Cage's desperate need for interactive drama, that he would LOVE to have something like that to work with Heavy Rain or similar. But, he's with Sony, and unfortunately, the Move doesn't do that sort of thing, so what does he do? Say the Kinect can't do those things.

I reckon it's the same deal here. He'd love to have that level of facial animation, but perhaps Rockstar have a deal, or perhaps QD can't afford it, but they can't use it. So what does Cage do? "Oh it's a dead end. Ours is better. You can't see it yet, but it is."

Maybe Cage should just take a step back and just make something before he starts calling people out on it.

 

[The Wooster]

As much as I don't like to encourage devs feuding like little boys... he does have a point. In the LA Noire trailer the hand animations are nasty.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

"David Cage reminds everyone he's an asshole" as expected...

Every time he speaks to someone, it's always to tell people something pretentious (Heavy Rain is not a game, it's a whole new experience), condescending (Nintendo make games, we make adult experiences) or just plain prickish (this).

He's making me regret loving Fahrenheit as much as I did (haven't played Heavy Rain yet. The guy's just an asshole.

You know, I really dislike this guy. Doesn't have a good word to say about anyone else, shit-talks and generalises other games, and has the audacity to attack them for their stories; this from a person whose first game went batshit insane halfway through, and whose second had a story with more holes than Tiger Woods has put his junk in to.

I think the day he said that he wasn't making games, is the day we lost him to his own ego. A shame too, if he took advice, he'd probably make something truly special.

And yes, when the first game went like that, I was kind of thinking "...The fuck?"

I don't think I've ever seen a story take that kind of turn before.

 

[DustyDrB]

You know, I really dislike this guy. Doesn't have a good word to say about anyone else, shit-talks and generalises other games, and has the audacity to attack them for their stories; this from a person whose first game went batshit insane halfway through, and whose second had a story with more holes than Tiger Woods has put his junk in to.

Agreed. His unashamed sense of self-importance really turned me off from ever giving a Quantic game another shot (this coming from a guy who thought Heavy Rain was decent).

This is the guy who said this:
"Game designers think that players can project themselves onto empty shell characters. I think this is a huge mistake."

 

[mireko]

I prefer Destructoid's take on it.