gamesindustry.biz is pretty confident that this game will be coming to the Xbox 360:

The spokesperson suggested that both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 releases are likely, stating, “LA Noire is being developed for next-generation systems.”

Other sites, such as www.lanoire.net, are picking up on this:

So once again it now looks like it may well be coming out for the 360 after all.

On Wikipedia you can see an ongoing edit struggle regarding the 360 version, NeoGAF and other gaming forums have very animated debates about this.

I don’t think this issue is up for debate, this game will simply not come to the 360 or any non-Sony system ever: not a simultaneous launch, not a timed exclusive, never. Why? Read this quote from a Eurogamer interview with Team Bondi studio lead, Brendan McNamara:

Kristan Reed: How are you funding the project? Has SCEA given you an advance or is this self-funded and totally independent?

Brendan McNamara: The project is wholly funded by Sony Computer Entertainment America. We have a long-term exclusive arrangement with SCEA.

The two pieces that tipped me off are the “wholly funded by Sony” part and the “long-term exclusive agreement” part. There’s not exactly a lot of wiggle room for interpretation here. That is a pretty blunt and conclusive statement directly from the horse’s mouth.

Now, this exclusivity quote is widely posted on the Internet in many discussion boards and even on the Wikipedia page. Why are people so stubbornly persistent in believing that a 360 version will exist despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

UPDATE Thanks Jonathan Abbey: “L.A. Noire was previously to be published by Sony, but Sony dropped that deal, so it would seem very possible that it will go multiplatform.” OK, so PS3 exclusivity isn’t guaranteed. The exclusivity terms may or may not have been renegotiated and we simply don’t know.

gamesindustry.biz : 360 release likely
Other Sites Following the Lead
Team Bondi Interview With Exclusivity Statements
Wikipedia article on L.A. Noire

Way back at E3 2006, Microsoft’s Peter Moore famously made two big GTA 4 announcements (along with the GTA tattoo). The first was that the usual PlayStation exclusivity period would be gone and that both platforms would get the title on the same date. The second announcement was that the 360 version would get exclusive episodic content. For those not in the know, “exclusive” means that it won’t appear on any other platforms such as the PS3.

Since that announcement, nothing has changed. The 360 will still be getting 360 exclusive episodic content. gamesindustry.biz and several other sites are re-reporting this as if something has changed, but it has not. The 360 exclusive content was never under question and remains that way.

On the other hand, there is an unconfirmed rumor that the PS3 will also get its own exclusive content. The 360 exclusive content has been announced, confirmed, and reconfirmed several times. The PS3 exclusive content has been rumored and Take Two officials deny to confirm or deny. This is pure speculation, but this may be a PR issue. Microsoft likely paid a lot of money for this deal. This was Microsoft’s biggest announcement at E3 2006. It is possible that Rockstar and Take Two have contractual restrictions that prevent them from discussing PS3 exclusive content which would ruin the impact of Microsoft’s announcements.

One other point worth mentioning, is Dan Houser’s (Rockstar creative VP and senior role in pretty much every GTA game, Manhunt, and Bully) strong comments from a 2004 interview (San Andreas) where he wishes for more storage space than dual layer DVD. I won’t repost the quotes again, see interview link below if you haven’t already.

Now that the PS3 fulfills his storage wish with Blu-Ray and the 360 doesn’t, will PS3 users see a benefit?

To summarize:

• 360 Getting Exclusive GTA 4 Content: Yes. Widely announced. Public knowledge. Confirmed and reconfirmed.
• PS3 Getting Exclusive GTA 4 Content: Eurogamer cites Rockstar insider as yes. Officially uncofirmed, but not denied. Definitely at the rumor stage.

(thanks to fleakitten for the link)

gamesindustry.biz reconfirming 360 Exclusive Content
Exclusive GTA IV content for PS3, too - source
2004 Interview: GTA Creative VP Wishes for More Storage Space

N’Gai Croal reports on this and suggests this is a bad omen for Sony’s failure to be able to attract and keep such innovative content.

I disagree. The Katamari brand and franchise is simply worth much more to Xbox than to PlayStation at this point. In hindsight, it makes sense that in a bidding battle, Microsoft would stake more effort on this one.

Microsoft needs titles like this. Xbox is known for big its mega-hits: Halo 1/2, Call of Duty, and Gears Of War. Those titles have been developing a negative reputation as big, dumb, predictable blockbusters. They need to expand their image. Buying big-name quirky franchises like Katamari and trying to build their own similar franchises like Viva Pinata is exactly what they should be doing. The unit sales and revenue generated by Katamari is much less relevant than it’s effects on image and branding.

Why does Sony need Katamari? Well, they definitely need to avoid the image of being the sinking ship and being the console of last generation. They are losing many of their big name franchises and that looks pretty bad. But a single title wouldn’t change this perception too much.

Also, from a gamer’s perspective, Sony fans have played Katamari. They’ve had two PS2 exclusives ans a PSP exclusive. Microsoft fans haven’t played Katamari and are a fresh audience to tap.

And Katamari isn’t the kind of game that needs sequels or remakes. I’m sure they will sell, and from a finance perspective, it makes sense to keep making sequels and grow the franchise and brand while it’s still a hot name. But as a game, it really doesn’t need any sequels. The original developer was actually opinionated about this point. The PS2 sequel was basically the same as the first, and while I’m sure the 360 will have HD, Achievements, etc, the core Katamari experience will probably be similar to the original, and more interesting to new players than existing fans.

How Microsoft Secured Yet Another Exclusive–Beautiful Katamari–From Namco Bandai

Finally some new content!! You can download the MotorStorm Time Attack Mode (Free!), Joust for £1.99, Rampart for £1.99, trailers for Haze, The Darkness, Super Stardust HD and Lair. There’s also a video interview with MotorStorm’s Paul Hollywood (I have no idea what it’s about as I haven’t downloaded it yet).

Thanks to Paranoimia for the info.

EDIT: Some people have experienced problems when they’ve downloaded the Time Trial mode for MotorStorm, with the game even failing to work. You may need to delete the 1.1 update (via the game data utility in the XMB) and go back onto MotorStorm and download the update to get things back to normal.

InnerBits claim that they confirmed with “two independent sources at Sony that they have been working on prototypes for several months.” We all knew it was coming of course, ever since we heard of Sony’s deal with Immersion. Of course, we all have this small little fear that Sony won’t be issuing rumble controllers, but then common sense takes over and we realize that of course, they must be making them, right?

Which leaves just two real questions for us to ponder:

1. When is this thing finally coming out?
   Obviously, we want as many games as possible to support rumble, so the sooner the controllers are released, the better. Ideally the PS3 would have shipped with rumble. (I have to admit that I miss rumble more than I thought I would.) But since we can’t go back into the past to change that, at least Sony could try to release the SIXAXIS Rumbler ASAP.
2. Are there any cool new features?
   I hope that we don’t just get a plain old re-invention of the old rumble technology. I want something new and interesting! This is next gen, dag nabbit! So let’s see some better directionality, some more interesting rumbles, and well, new stuff. There’s got to be lots of things I can’t think of right now off the top of my head.

Oh, and by the way. InnerBits is reporting that one of the biggest problems they’re having is mainting a good battery life. The controllers will have to support Bluetooh, motion sensing, and rumble, in addition to all the regular stuff. Get on it quick, boys!

PS3 Controller with Rumble in Development

Anyone else a fan of light gun games?

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/796/796208p1.html

About this year ago, Sony was notorious for extremely sparse and cryptic PR. The media gradually developed an animosity towards them. It took them a while, but now it seems that they have finally got with the program. Three Speech was a great first step, but hopefully this will be more authoritative and informative.

Welcome to the party Sony!

Official PlayStation Blog

We’ve previously heard of these as “Untitled Whimsical MMO” and “Untitled Mercenary/Espionage MMO”. Now they both have actual titles and details.

Free Realms (aka the Whimsical MMO)

“Our big goals with the game are whimsy and accessibility. User-generated content: I want to get it out of the space of buzzwords and into the game. Everybody talks about it, but it’s hard to pin down,” asserted Smedley. “I’d rather give people some lines, and say ‘color inside these any way you want.’ Then you can’t just generate whatever you want, but you have users creating content themed towards our goals.”

The Agency (aka the Mercenary/Espionage MMO)

When starting the game players will pick between Unite, a traditional James Bond type of spy outfit, and Paragon, a brasher, up-front type of organization. Through them you’ll get early missions for rewards and rise in rank, but eventually the goal is to break out and start your own organization.

Both game concepts sound both original and effective. So far, almost all the titles that we’ve seen on the PS3/360/Wii have been highly derivative. There has been some excellent content, and some definite innovation, but almost everything has fallen into very well established game types. It’s nice to see some developers aiming for genuinely new game concepts.

Some people complain about lack of innovation in games and I think they are way off. I bet we will look back upon this time period in history as a rapid evolution in games.

SOE President Talks Free Realms
First Look: The Agency