The LA Noire developer says that MotionScan would lend GTA’s character more humanity.
Team Bondi boss Brendan McNamara says that he would be very happy to see Rockstar use MotionScan, the technology that made LA Noire’s facial animation so impressive, for the next Grand Theft Auto game. He thinks that technology would help players better relate to the game’s many colorful characters.
McNamara said that he thought that Rockstar was considering the technology for all of its franchises, but he acknowledged that the size of the games meant that it wasn’t a sure thing. “Grand Theft Auto is incredibly huge,” he said. “So you’ve got all the problems of how big the cast would be and how many lines would you have to record and all that kind of stuff.” He said that Rockstar was welcome to use the technology, but magnanimously said that it was ok if Rockstar decided not to use the technology.
As for why Rockstar might want to use MotionScan, McNamara said that it would add a level of humanity to the GTA experience and players would be able to get a sense of who a given character was and want he or she wanted more easily. “They don’t have to make that decision about ‘whether I like this guy’ or ‘do I actually believe them?'” He said. “They can make all the like or dislike decisions based on the actor’s performance.”
Of course, there are rumors that Rockstar relationship with Team Bondi is less friendly than McNamara seems to be implying. If supposed insiders are to be believed, Rockstar’s experience with Team Bondi was so bad, that it doesn’t want anything more to do with the studios. If this is true, it’s almost certainly going to influence Rockstar’s decision.
Source: CVG
