Kojima voiced his opinion on the MotionScan performance capture used to create the facial expressions in LA Noire, and said that single feature will have a very strong impact on adventure games. An interview with Kojima that took place in Barcelona brought his views to the public.
He stated that the technology used was amazing, but that he would not be using it in his next project strictly because it’s not what he needs, and wouldn’t go with the game he wants to create. The reason this is surprising is because Kojima’s games are known for their incredibly deep storylines of international politics, warfare, and conspiracy. He tells the elaborate stories of his games through masterfully choreographed FMVs that are rarely parralelled in the industry.
Kojima stated “This technology, regarding facial expressions that affect the outcome of the game. I think that’s a huge element that from now on will change the direction of adventure games.”, I feel that even though LA Noire used it largely as a gameplay element, the possibilities of it being a story element could be amazing.
Think about it, someone makes a tiny glance to the left when telling you about a very nice job, you’ll know to go there packing heat. Someone with dodgy body language can result in clues to what’s really going on behind the scenes, and it can also cause a nice sharp increase in detective-based games. LA Noire took a simple real-life thing most of us don’t even think about and impressed a lot of people.
