In an interview with CVG, David Cage discussed the progress of Quantic Dream’s own engine, and commented on what Team Bondi are attempting with L.A. Noire and their motion scan technology.
“I think it’s an interesting solution to a problem for now,” he claimed. “But it’s also an interesting dead end.”
His main issues with the process seems to be, firstly, the expense but, secondly, the fact that the facial and physical animations have to be recorded seperately.
“We see a huge difference between shooting the face and body separately and shooting everything at the same time,” he continued. “Suddenly you’ve got a real sense of acting that is consistent. You can’t imagine how related what you say with your face is to what your body does.”
As much as we’re impressed by the performances in L.A. Noire, which are truly leagues ahead of the competition (although Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain are in the same ballpark), we found ourselves in agreement. Whilst L.A. Noire looks incredible, there is a disjoint between the physical reaction and the facial reactions. The performance capture in the game is stellar, which negates that disjoint, but it still exists.
Cage claimed that the technology being used at Quantic Dream would find the solution, and claimed he expected to be able to create images on par with Avatar within five years.
“I think L.A Noire looks good – honestly, it does,” Cage continued, “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. We’ve made significant progress since Heavy Rain and will continue to make progress until we reach the stage of Avatar. That is probably three, four five years from now.”
David Cage: L.A Noire tech is ‘interesting dead end’, Quantic’s new approach is the future [CVG]
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