Hideo Kojima, VP of Konami Digital Entertainment, is eagerly awaiting the release for Team Bondi's detective thriller, L.A Noire. In fact, he has such high expectations for it that he's described it as the ONLY game he is looking forward to, and he's willing to wait out the extra two months after the initial May release for the Japanese translated version.
So why is the developer behind the extremely successful series of Metal Gear Solid games so eager for L.A Noire? From his tweets, he believes it may change the future of adventure gaming. From playstationlifestyle.net..
It seems that “L.A. NOIR” will be released in Japan on 7th July(the Star Festival). It is the most and the only game that I am looking forward to playing. English version will be released in May. I cannot wait, but as it is the detective game, I should wait for the Japanese version. This game may change the future of “adventure game.” I’ve got a big expectation!
Kojima's incredible anticipation for L.A Noire could be equally matched by a group of architects and historians who are thrilled by all the reports about Team Bondi putting an extraordinary amount of research into their game, creating a "time machine" for a 1940's era Los Angeles. From the Los Angeles Times...
"Everyone's talking about it. I know architects and historians dying to get their hands on it," says Kim Cooper, a student of Los Angeles history and, with her husband Richard Schave, the proprietor of Esotouric, which offers noir-themed bus tours of Los Angeles and was asked by Rockstar to conduct a special tour for people brought in to Los Angeles to try out the game before its release.
Team Bondi production designer, Simon Wood, was at hand for the L.A Times article to describe some of the research that Team Bondi conducted for the game, including sourcing detailed maps and roughly 180,000 photos from collections of that era, examining and photographing hundreds of period props, and making equally exhaustive efforts for the right clothing, hats, and suits for the characters in-game.
L.A Noire is arriving on the 17th of May for North America, and the 20th of May for Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, for Playstation3 and Xbox360.