There's Probably More Drama Surrounding The Development Of L.A. Noire Than In The Actual Game.

An unusual Twitter account under the pseudonym Veracious_Shift has popped up this morning, claiming to know the secrets of upcoming PS3 title Agent’s exclusivity, and the fiasco regarding the oft-lofted, rarely shown L.A. Noire.

Veracious Shift [thanks Kotaku] writes:

To McNamara [dude what did The Getaway - Ed], The Getaway was a tainted brand by Sony’s doing, and he cannot create a masterpiece with a tainted brand…The pressure led McNamara to eventually sign a deal with Sony for his new development studio, but he wouldn’t have to deal with SCEE…McNamara had an idea that would fucking blow Rockstar out of the water; an interactive 3D noir. Stuff that actually isn’t like other stuff…And McNamara would get a chance to create the launch title that completely defined a platform for its entire lifespan.

Work on this launch title began in 2003, and a lengthy three-year development plan would allow the game to be complete by his standards…By the next year, the game was well into development; the team grew into the dozens. Things were seemingly well…Then McNamara saw GTA: San Andreas; it was absolutely epic and went beyond the action basis. The present game plan would no longer suffice.

It became obvious that year that McNamara had little clue what he was doing and was just following his arbitrary whims…He had no clue how to manage a work environment—creating a horrible standard for quality of life with an ineffective human resources team…SCE’s development structure changed that year, and McNamara found himself again under the more keen eye of his old SCEE superiors….The new bosses found that Team Bondi had little to show 2+ years of development, except an unplayable game filled with superfluous content…However, the project had already cost Sony USD 20 million+; a cost high enough that they attempted to spend the few months salvaging LAN.

The game was now titled L.A. Noire—the “e” came from a programmers typo of “noir.”

After those few months, Sony dropped the game—a situation that threw the studio into disarray…Strangely, McNamara quickly found hospice in his former rivals—the Houser brothers—and L.A. Noire was picked up by Rockstar in spring 2006…Sony and Take-Two came to agreement that the former wouldn’t pursue the costs incurred for development in exchange for a franchise exclusive [assumed to be Agent - Ed]…Obviously, Sony wrote off the costs associated with the development of L.A. Noire.

The 2006 LAN teaser was a target render done by an art outsourcing firm in Sydney…Since then, the game has been revamped, ported, and delayed four times. Rockstar spent more Sony in their efforts to make it not suck…Also, if you want to go to that Rockstar SD Spouse post and replace studio names and games, you have a good idea of Team Bondi as of present.

Gossip! Of course we have to say, while the above events all seem totally feasible, yo, they’re not concrete and so we suggest taking this with a pinch of salt. This is probably as close as you’ll ever get to the truth though.

Rockstar Has Pledged A Great Year For Playstation 3 Support.

During the “Asked & Answered” aspect of Rockstar’s website, the company have pledged a “very good” year for Playstation 3 users.

When prompted about the exclusivity of the Grand Theft Auto IV DLC, Rockstar responded with positivity for Playstation 3 users, stating, “We know that it continues to be an often-asked question – and believe us, we understand the frustration of PS3 owners like yourself who haven’t been able to play any of our most recent releases. All we can say is that we at Rockstar promise to be very good to you with our releases in 2010. Please stay with us and stay tuned!”

We bet you the first thing to pop up will be those GTA IV episodes. Followed by Agent.

We Might Not Know Much About Agent, But At Least We Have A Logo.

According to information dug up by Shogun Gamer, Rockstar Games’ upcoming Playstation 3 exclusive, Agent, was originally in development for the first XBOX and Playstation 2. The resume of a 3D modeller features work on the game Agent way back in 2003. Interestingly, it seems the game was in development at Rockstar San Diego at the time. Agent is currently being developed by Rockstar North.

Lastly, the resume of an environment artist lists the work of 10,000 photographs in Cairo, Egypt for the title.

We presume we won’t hear more about Agent until Sony’s E3 press conference next year. We’re totally imagining James Bond though.

This Image Is About Everything We Know About Agent.

A slight, off-the-cuff comment on Rockstar North’s forums seems to be hinting towards a 2010 release for upcoming Playstation 3 exclusive Agent. When asked about Rockstar’s commitment to the PS3, a response from a Rockstar staffer claimed the team are “working hard on a lineup of PlayStation 3 releases for 2010 … including Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3, and the PlayStation 3 exclusive AGENT”.

The very same post also hinted at “yet to be announced titles”, perhaps hinting at the end of Microsoft’s GTA IV DLC exclusivity. Thank goodness.

Agent Will Be An Espionage Title Set In The 1970s.

Rockstar’s exclusive Playstation 3 may have only been given a title at E3, but since then details have slowly trickled out about the game. Try this quote from Take Two’s Ben Feder, whereby he claims Agent will be “a game about espionage, set in the 1970s” and will be “very, very different” from the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Speaking of GTA, when prompted as to whether the XBOX 360’s exclusive DLC would make it to PS3 he said, “We don’t talk about that, unfortunately.”

Alas, much as we like the look of that GTA content, we’d much rather have an entirely new game thank you Rockstar. We have high hopes for Agent.

Rockstar Hope To Create An Entirely New Franchise With Agent.

One of the bigger surprises at this year’s E3 was the announcement of the Rockstar game Agent being developed exclusively for the Playstation 3. But many people are miffed as to why Rockstar are launching the game exclusive; especially when third-party exclusivity is essentially considered dead.

“At this phase in the cycle, when you’re trying to launch a new franchise, exclusivity can really help you launch the franchise. It can give you the kind of platform that you need to start exclusive, start in the right kind of way with the right kind of partner. Exclusivity does work,” said president of Take-Two, Ben Feder.

“I have a lot of confidence in Sony. I have a lot of confidence in their ability to lead the market, as they always have. Their console is a terrific platform to be developing for, and Agent is a great testament as to our belief in what that platform can do, and what they can do with us as part of a partnership.”

So there you have it. A combination of confidence, but also the marketing advantages the term “exclusivity” generates. We can’t wait to hear more about the game.

Rockstar's Houser Reckons Agent Will Be The "Ultimate Action Game".

Rockstar’s Sam Houser reckons the companies upcoming Playstation 3 exclusive – Agent -  is going to be the “ultimate action game”.

“We have always enjoyed making action games, and with Agent we are making what we believe will be the ultimate action game,” he said in a statement.

“Agent is a game we have wanted to make for a long time. The team in Edinburgh is doing an amazing job combining intense action, atmosphere and story in a great period setting to create something that feels quite unique.”

“We cannot wait for people to experience this game,” added Houser.

We absolutely can’t wait for more details on the game.