Many L.A. Noire buyers probably made up their mind to purchase one or the other based on the game’s disc count – three DVDs on the Xbox 360, one Blu-ray on the PS3 – but if performance is a bigger issue than getting off the couch for two disc-swaps, Digital Foundry dived more deeply into things like framerate, shadowing and lightning.
The result? The PlayStation 3 version appears to come out on top on just about every account, with the Xbox 360 seemingly getting the shorter end of the stick on things like frame rate and streaming performance.
Digital Foundry offers copious comparison video and screen shots, should you be still on the fence about which version to purchase.
Face-Off: L.A. Noire [Eurogamer]
nathaniel
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:01 AMi believe that the game was originally advertised as a PS3 exclusive when it was first announced so it would make sense that it would be optimized for that machine…
Ad
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:20 AMI think that was Agent…
Mark Serrels
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:23 AMAgent is LA Noire. Apparently.
James Mac
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:35 AMReally?
I thought Agent was going to be shown at the Sony press conference… I’m pretty sure it was said recently that it hadn’t been cancelled.
SupremeBeans
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 2:08 PMReally? That seems weird, since LA Noire was being talked about as early as, what, 2006? Then there was reference to Agent in 2009 or so, and there’s been nothing since. Seeing as Rockstar (and Take-Two for that matter) probably have a full plate for the next two years, it seems unlikely Agent will be a part of this generation.
Anyway, LA Noire was definitely labeled a PS3 exclusive, but that idea was ditched a couple of years ago it seems.
oggob
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 3:27 PMAgent is LA Noire? WTF? If that were the case, then Sony would be royally pissed!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_(video_game)
LA Noire did start as a Sony funded game, but somewhere along the line Rockstar acquired the rights to the game and turned it into a multiplatform title.
My hunch is that April/May 2012 will see another GTA game, and October that same year will be Agent, or vice versa.
SupremeBeans
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 3:56 PMYou really think so? Given that both are likely to have Rockstar North as their lead developers, that seems unlikely. I’d say Agent in late 2012 is a possibility, with a new GTA coming out in the following 24 months.
Jim Smith
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:30 PMAgent is not LA Noire.
Agent is a PS3 exclusive that Sony negotiated with Rockstar as a payoff for formerly exclusive LA Noire going multiplatform.
I cbf finding a source for you but I specifically remember reading this on a site like IGN or something in an interview after Agent’s E3 reveal a couple years ago.
Also, LA Noire has been around a lot longer than Agent, it was first revealed around about the time PS3 launched.
Mark Serrels
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:00 AMActually I may be wrong on this one. I think maybe Agent is something seperate.
I was sure I heard someone from Rockstar confirming Agent was LA Noire. Must have been mistaken. My bad!
Emma
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:41 PMLA Noire was initially prototyped for PS3 as confirmed by my teacher who worked for team bondi for 3 years as an environment artist and generalist for LA Noire
Steve0410
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 4:58 PMAfter Sony dropped LA Noire, it was picked up by Rockstar. Sony made Rockstar either reimburse them for the money already spent on LA Noire, or give them another PS3 exclusive in return for making LA Noire multi-platform. Rockstar chose to give them Agent.
TLDR: Agent is the PS3-exclusive Rockstar game, and is definitely NOT LA Noire.
Cymelion
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:12 AMAnd what of the PC version?
Dylan
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:32 AMThere isn’t one.
DG
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:17 AMThe game was also made on the PS3 because its the harder one to port to after the game has been built. Rockstar had a lot of trouble with red dead for ps3 as they made it on xbox. Sadly the porting always looses quality :’(
Dissection
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:21 AMNot really surprising, the PS3 did come out a year after the 360.
happycow
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:44 AMWhat the hell is he holding in that image? A rock with dreadlocks?
The Insufferable Señor Steengo
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:51 AMShruken head prop.
Steve
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:45 AMOf course it was going to be better on the PS3, it was always originally intended to be a PS3 exclusive.
The Insufferable Señor Steengo
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:54 AMBoth versions are fairly graphically identical with the only significant difference being that the PS3 version features SSAO and vsync throughout.
Wobwob
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:06 AMSeems you didn’t read the DF article properly.
Both versions have SSAO, the PS3′s is just more intense. It makes night scenes look a lot better, but makes day time scenes look a little “muddy” and unrealistic.
Shadows are also a fairly major difference too. 360 has softer, more realistic look shadows but they look like ass up close, where the PS3′ shadows look more defined, but less realistic in terms of how lighting works.
Michael
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:02 AMThe article is incorrect when it says that LA Noire uses the RAGE engine. It doesn’t, it’s been stated multiple times that it uses Team Bondi’s own proprietary engine (here’s one example: http://www.rockstarbase.com/2010/02/15/new-and-exclusive-new-l-a-noire-screens-emerge-game-does-not-use-rage/).
moloko
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:21 AMBoth versions are shit, they are on consoles. Your not a real game developer if you don’t make games for PC aswell. But the PS3 version would be better since it was the lead platform for design.
crotchdot
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:35 AMIt’s winter, the drought’s over, no-one needs the river you’re crying.
James Mac
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:34 AMSorry Moloko… I couldn’t hear you.
I was too busy playing the game.
WiseHacker
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 12:42 PM“Your not a real game developer if you don’t make games for PC aswell”
You had better let Nintendo known then.
Benjamin Swinbanks
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 1:17 PMYour not a real gamer until you realise its about the games not the platform.
we have 2 copies in my house on both consoles, and my brother is enjoying his 360 version as much as ive been loving my ps3 copy.
Jacen
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:25 AMI love LA noire, best thing about it is seeing the actors that I know in video game form.
Mark Serrels
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:28 AMThe best part is counting just how many mad men actors they’ve got in there.
josh
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 12:46 PMHahaha, truer words never said. I counted 4.
Braaains
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:30 AMI never understand the point of those digital foundry comparisons. As far as I’m concerned, if you have to go into the kind of depth they go to in order to identify the difference then there IS no difference.
If you can’t tell the difference by playing one version then the other and just looking at them with the naked eye then who gives a toss? I certainly don’t keep my consoles hooked up to frame rate counters. I can tell for myself if the frame rate drops noticeably during play. And if it isn’t noticeable anyway then I don’t really care if it dropped a frame or two at some point.
jt
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:32 AMAlso to note, the 360 version runs at 1080p while the PS3 only runs at 720.
McNulty
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 10:34 AMI really wished they had decreased the visuals for an actual decent framerate. Does anyone else find massive amounts of aliasing or is it just my tv (32inch 1080p)?
Rohan
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:21 AMI was looking forward to this Face-Off. I was just curious to see how a game that used the PS3 as lead then ported to the 360 would go. It seems to be the opposite so often.
But as others have said, the issues in this game are largely moot. Yes, you do notice them, but L.A. Noire is not a actionn-intensive shooter.
I’m not sure you’re going to notice all the difference between 24, 28 or 30 FPS when your investigating a pipe. Or having a conversation. Or staring at your notebook.
The few action sequences and chases work just fine and even if performance was a real issue during them, they don’t really require the precision a ‘Proper’ shooter or action game would.
DENAz
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:38 AMWell wasn’t it originally a PS3 exclusive? I’m not too suprised, but it honestly doesn’t bother me. Its a bit annoying having it on 3 discs, but thankfully your not continually going back and forth, the only thing that kind of bothers me is the HD space it takes up to install all three discs
James Mac
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:38 AMJust to check… this game is set in the 40′s?
And Phelps was previously a Marine officer?
Why, the hell, doesn’t he take his hat off when he goes inside a damn building?
That’s just bad manners, and something the corps would have beat out of him.
Vencha
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:54 AMPhelps is pretty much an unlikeable psychotic bi-polar cop who yells at 15 year old rape victims. I think the corps might have been working on larger issues.
James Mac
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 12:22 PMWell what about his partners… it’s just bad mannerly.
Benjamin Swinbanks
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 1:02 PMalso, lens of truth dropped an analysis last week ;)
Chevz
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 12:03 AMBetween Lens of Truth and DF you should certainly take everything that is written with a big grain of salt. Go more on the pictures and direct comparisons provided because in the past both have displayed massive biases even when the differences were light and day and not to mention LoT’s terrible inconsistent rating system.