• By Rockstar Games Image from L.A. Noire  Rockstar Games last
week released L.A. Noire, a hypnotic detective thriller
developed by Australian studio Team Bondi. The videogame has
been called groundbreaking for the facial-recognition technology
used to create its characters, and the resulting psychological
dimensions of gameplay. In witness questioning and interrogation
sequences, the player, as young detective Cole Phelps, tries to
ascertain the truths and lies in what he’s told. Because L.A.
Noire’s cast of characters feature the recorded facial
performances of its actors, rather than hand-animated
abstractions of feeling, the gameplay carries the emotional
ambiguity and weight of a cop show or film noir. We spoke via
email with Jeronimo Barrera, VP of product development at
Rockstar, about the process of building the game.  Speakeasy:
The team used maps from the Works Progress Administration,
archival photographs from newspapers, and aerial photos as
reference material for the environment. Can the eight-sq