Continuing a bit of a love-in with the PC community (in that L.A. Noire The Complete Edition came packaged with all the game's DLC, free of charge), Rockstar has revealed that a title update for the game on the desktop platform now includes DX11 support for "improved performance on many Windows Vista and Windows 7 setups using DX11 graphics cards".

Moreover, the title update also includes an option added to the game launcher to switch between DX9 and DX11, as well as "additional checks added that make sure a selected video resolution is fully compatible with L.A. Noire". A link on Rockstargames.com will take you to a tech support page for any problems with the update or getting DX11 under the hood of the game, but all signs point to something damn pretty with this latest update.

As usual, we encourage you to drop us a line if you've grabbed this update and are playing with its new graphical features in the Comments section.

Rockstar have let us know Aussies will be able to pick up the "Complete Edition" release of L.A. Noire for PC this Friday.

Alongside the main game, the Complete Edition also comes packaged with all the DLC released for L.A. Noire thus far via a "multi-use code". Controls have been tweaked to work better with a mouse and keyboard (though you can still use a gamepad if you like), and also supports NVIDIA 3D Vision.

L.A. Noire, though troubled with studio problems through its long development cycle, performed respectably upon release, scoring a 9.5 in the AusGamers review.

Watch the Complete Edition launch trailer embedded below, or click here for the HD option.

Looks like more bad new for the Australian game development industry with word from SmartCompany.com.au that Team Bondi is now in administration:

The appointment comes after a tumultuous few months for the studio. It has been battered by reports of poor working conditions, along with criticism from former employees who were not credited on the company’s blockbuster title LA Noire.

According to documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Riad Tayeh and David Solomons of de Vries Tayeh were appointed as joint administrators of the company on August 30.

It is still unknown whether the appointment of an administrator is related to the rumoured transaction, or whether it will be going ahead at all.

A company search on the ASIC website confirms the details. While it is unexpected that it happened so soon after LA Noire, I can't say anyone should be greatly surprised. promoted/edited forum item

The gaming world might be up in arms over the debacle that was Team Bondi's production of L.A. Noire, but that hasn't stopped the studio from focusing on their critically acclaimed title, with Rockstar today reminding us another DLC chapter is available for download.

In "Reefer Madness", Detective Cole Phelps and his Vice desk partner Roy Earle find themselves in the throes of one of the city's biggest narcotics rings after a deadly shootout with a local drug dealer. This new downloadable case for L.A. Noire is now available for download via PlayStation Network (AU$6.95/NZ$7.90) and Xbox LIVE (320 MS Points). Anyone that purchased the L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass can also download this case, at no additional cost.

The Xbox Live version is available now for download, while the PSN will need to update first, so PS3 owners will have to wait until tomorrow.

Team Bondi's much touted, and critically successful L.A. Noire for publisher Rockstar Games is finally headed to the PC platform.

It's not being handled by the Aussie dev though, rather Rockstar Leeds have taken the reins, and according to a report on Eurogamer, plan on giving it a graphical make-over that also supports 3D. It will also be fully playable with a game-pad; something many a PC player admits to being the best option when tackling a Rockstar game on the desktop machine.

According to the report, we should see the PC version arriving this Spring sometime.

The critically received L.A. Noire is about to begin its sidewalk beat with the title's first batch of DLC since release.

The "Nicholson Electroplating" content is available for both PS3 and Xbox 360 for AU $6.95 and 320 MS Points respectively. You can also download the "Rockstar Pass" on both consoles (PSN: AU $14.45, Xbox Live Marketplace: 800 MS Points) to not only get this latest DLC, but to also grab all the pre-order bonuses from each different retailer, including "A Slip of the Tongue", "Naked City", the Badge Pursuit Challenge plus the forthcoming DLC release of "Reefer Madness".

"Nicholson Electroplating" is available for download on both platforms from today.

A group of ex-Team Bondi developers have sent through a statement indicating that not everyone is fully happy about the game's great success - there's a number of people who worked on the game who apparently have not been included in the final credits:

However, many developers have not been credited for their contribution to its production. The game's credits roll is missing over 100 names, many of whom we personally worked with during our time there. Others have been credited under ‘Special Thanks’, where they would be eligible to be credited under their relevant discipline.

These people devoted their talent, creativity and passion towards the project and, as is common in the games industry, have not been credited because they were not there during the final month or two of production, or for some other subjective criteria. A significant portion of these people did not leave Team Bondi by choice: they were made redundant as the art production wound down, and as Quality Assurance was shifted off-shore to Rockstar's studios.

The aggrieved developers have created a dedicated site - http://www.lanoirecredits.com - which they believe contains the names of everyone involved in the development of the game.

We've contacted Rockstar for a comment a few moments ago and will update this post if we hear back. In the meantime, we encourage anyone interested in supporting the Australian game industry to take a look at that site!

During the same earnings call that reported on the delay of Spec Ops: The Line, Take-Two Interactive's Chief Operating Officer, Strauss Zelnick, said that the recently released, and Australian-developed, L.A. Noire, was "another strong franchise for this company," making early comparisons to the success of Red Dead Redemption in terms of it being a new IP (which incidentally it was revealed has sold through more than 8.5 million units worldwide).

"No matter how you slice it, it's a very successful release and to be able to say that again is extraordinary," he said. "And if it needs to be said, this management team is just immensely grateful to Rockstar for delivering another superb title, one can never take that for granted. The hit ratio for this group is nothing short of extraordinary."

This statement followed details of a renewed employment contract with Rockstar Games for an undisclosed amount of time, but given the heritage of the two, we can assume it's long.

The big question now comes in the form of what happens with Team Bondi and the L.A. Noire IP. Will Rockstar let the Sydney-based studio handle the series moving forward, or could we even see them becoming Rockstar Sydney down the track? Whatever the case, it's great to see Aussie development riding such a solid high after the local industry has suffered so many blows.

L.A. Noire is now available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (AusGamers Review 9.5/10)

Yesterday an entry on the official Rockstar Support forums hastily reassured players that the console freezes and overheating that some PlayStation 3 gamers were experiencing in L.A. Noire was not an issue with the game itself but rather attributed it to Sony's recent 3.61 firmware upgrade.

However, the support post in question has since been retracted and Rockstar and Sony have now issued the following joint statement, explaining that neither the game nor firmware update is actually responsible for the overheating, but stopping short of concluding what is:

We have received a very small number of customer support questions about PS3’s overheating or shutting down while playing L.A. Noire. At this time, Rockstar Games and Sony can confirm that neither L.A. Noire or firmware update 3.61 are causing the PS3 hardware to overheat. We are both committed to working hard to find solutions to this and any issues that may arise. If you are experiencing any issues with L.A. Noire or your PS3 hardware, please contact technical support using any of the means provided below:

Rockstar Support: www.rockstargames.com/support
Rockstar Support on Twitter: twitter.com/RockstarSupport

PlayStation 3 Support: http://us.playstation.com/support/
Playstation 3 Support EU: www.eu.playstation.com

L.A. Noire is now available for both PS3 and Xbox 360 and is awesome (AusGamers 9.5/10).

While the restoration of the PlayStation Network continues, there have been reports of some players experiencing console overheating and freezes while playing the freshly released L.A. Noire.

However, the game's publisher Rockstar Games have posted a statement claiming that the fault lies not with their game but with Sony's new 3.61 firmware update.

“We have received some reports of PS3s overheating while playing L.A. Noire or beeping three times before shutting down/turning themselves off, mostly on older 60GB and 80GB fat models.

Primary reports seem to be that updating to firmware 3.61 will cause PlayStations to overheat. There have been various reports of this on a few different games now, all reporting their PS3s turning off or 'Red Lighting' after having installed 3.61.

This can range from games randomly freezing to PS3s turning off anywhere between 30 mins use to 2 hours. We have confirmed locally that multiple games (Rockstar and non-Rockstar) overheat or freeze only when 3.61 is installed.

At this time we are recommending contacting Sony directly to report the overheating issue. However, this is not the end of our support; we are continuing to test L.A. Noire on all firmware versions and hardware models to isolate the issues and see what can be done. As always, we will update this article as soon as we have updates.

Poor old Sony can't seem to catch a break.

Update: While the support page entry we originally linked to up there appears to have since been taken down, Rockstar have now released a new official statement with more carefully chosen words proclaiming that neither the game nor the new PS3 firmware are the culprits of the overheating issue:

We have received a very small number of customer support questions about PS3’s overheating or shutting down while playing L.A. Noire. At this time, Rockstar Games and Sony can confirm that neither L.A. Noire or firmware update 3.61 are causing the PS3 hardware to overheat. We are both committed to working hard to find solutions to this and any issues that may arise. If you are experiencing any issues with L.A. Noire or your PS3 hardware, please contact technical support using any of the means provided below:

Rockstar Support: www.rockstargames.com/support
Rockstar Support on Twitter: twitter.com/RockstarSupport

PlayStation 3 Support: http://us.playstation.com/support/
Playstation 3 Support EU: www.eu.playstation.com

It's been a long road filled with a lot of uncertainty, but Rockstar's Sydney-based Team Bondi have done it. The long-awaited open-world crime-thriller L.A. Noire hits Australian shelves this week on May 20th 2011 and looks to be the most significant Australian developed game we've seen in many years.

Our good friend Grizz has been fortunate enough to play this one from start to finish already and has a lot of good things to say in today's review:

Shrewd detective types will have already spotted that L.A. Noire lacks the words "Grand", "Theft" or "Auto" in its title, thereby making any comparison between the two a futile line of investigation. But grill L.A. Noire for an hour and this canary will sing a different song, revealing a modus operandi that shares traits with PC adventure titles like Police Quest.

Read on for the complete verdict.

Although the game doesn't hit shelves until next week, Rockstar have released the launch trailer for L.A. Noire, their long-awaited open-world detective game -- developed at Sydney-based Team Bondi -- that hopes to do some serious boundary pushing in terms of interactive story-telling.

The Official Launch Trailer for L.A. Noire reveals evidence uncovered on the Vice desk, and hints of a trail of corruption leading from drug dealers on the streets of Los Angeles to the highest offices of the LAPD.

The most impressive thing in every new video they've released for this is still the lip-sync animations and voice acting. It's odd being able to recognise so many familiar faces from popular TV shows, testement to how well their likenesses have been recreated in game. Watch the launch trailer below or click here for the HD option.

L.A. Noire is due in Australia on May 20th 2011 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. There's still no official word on a possible PC version of the game.

In a move likely to disorient seasoned gamers, Team Bondi and Rockstar have set in motion an ability for players of L.A. Noire to skip action sequences upon a two-or-three failure credential, to continue to drive the narrative.

Most gamers know the annoyance of unskippable cut-scenes, but skippable action sequences seems almost like a backward step. Though in saying that, all of the media we've seen for L.A. Noire so far points to a massively cinematic experience, and this was demoed recently at the Tribeca Film Festival where the skippable action sequences nugget was revealed by art director, Rob Nelson. The game has already marked a difference in interactive story-telling as the first game ever shown at the festival, which is obviously heavily film-oriented.

Is this a prestigious move for games, or a backward step in gameplay? Supply thoughts in our Comments section

Check out the latest L.A. Noire gameplay trailer below as well, or click here for the HD streaming option.

People might be concerned about the story or drive behind Team Bondi's L.A. Noire, but today's trailer shows there's going to be plenty of emoting through it's narrative with equally brilliant animation technology to bring serious drama to the videogame space.

L.A. Noire lets players fill the beat shoes of a cop in Los Angeles in the 40s, and guide him to rise through the police force as a gumshoe detective, all the while building a large, game-changing case around the very police force for which you work.

Watch the new trailer embedded below, or click here to stream in HD.

Not everyone cares about Achievements or Trophies, but for those who do Rockstar have sent through the full list of what you'll be hunting in-game when L.A. Noire ships (barring nine Secret Achievements).

Obviously there are too many to list here in this news post, so we've set them up right here for you to look at, and they were also nice enough to send across a few new screens as well, which you can check out by clicking the thumbnails below.

L.A. Noire is due to land on Xbox 360 and PS3 May 19.

It might be time to dust off the likes of Chinatown or L.A. Confidential to brush up on your noire knowledge, because Australia's own Team Bondi are poised to leave something of an impact on local development with their high-profile Rockstar-produced release, L.A. Noire, arriving in just over a month's time.

In typical Rockstar fashion, they're ever-so-slowly leaking bits and pieces of information about the game to the press in the form of informative videos or new screenshots, the latter of which we have for you today.

The post-war economic boom and full-fledged glory of Hollywood’s golden era brought a new, revitalized air of glamour and prestige to the world of Los Angeles in 1947. In L.A. Noire, this is exemplified by high-end mansions flanked by luxury vehicles, exclusive restaurants and top class shops... all catering to the idle class.

Their words, not ours. However, we will agree that there's definitely something eye-catching here, and when we get a better chance to really bite into it, we'll let you know if it has the chops. Click the thumbnails below to check out the new screens.

Similarly to the Red Dead Redemption videos Rockstar were releasing prior to the game's launch that told, in great detail, specifics about much of the game's gameplay and mechanics, L.A. Noire is also getting the same treatment.

Today we have a video that explains the game's orientation system because the era that it's set in had no freeways, however, it also goes into great detail regarding other gameplay components and explains how the 'level' system works in the game as well as showing off just how far its come in terms of in-game visuals. And really, it's beginning to look very nice.

Watch the video embedded below or click here for the HD option.

While this trailer doesn't necessarily have the most imaginative name, it still does a pretty good job relaying how much of the crime noire feel Team Bondi have captured in their forthcoming Rockstar-published debut, L.A. Noire.

There's been a fair bit of buzz around this game and its new technology that allows for full realised facial animations beyond anything we've seen in games before, and how this will be used in the process of playing as a detective and reading through people's lies and truths. But the proof is in the pudding, they say, so with an official release date across PS3 and Xbox 360 of May 20 (no word on PC yet), we'll be able to find out if L.A. Noire was worth the wait and if it has the chops.

Watch the trailer embedded below, or click here for the HD option.

I was privileged enough to get a hands-off demo of L.A. Noire running yesterday, ahead of today's trailer release (we've run a preview for said demo before, which you can find here), having missed the demo a few weeks ago, and I can say that this is truly a game to be excited for in 2011.

The Motionscan technology being used to capture - at 360 degrees - actor performances is game-changing. And with a gameplay mechanic that explores ideas of facial expressions to catch out lies, or believe the innocent, it's utterly necessary. Today's trailer gives a very good indication of the lengths gone to, to ensure L.A. Noire, first and foremost, is a compelling and engaging experience.

Watch it embedded below, or click here to download or stream it in HD.

We've snared one of Australia's top games writers to join the growing ranks of the AusGamers writing team, and he debuts on the site today with a full preview of Team Bondi and Rockstar's L.A. Noire.

Adam "Grizz" Mathew runs us through a hands-off demo he sat through late last week that showed off just what all the time in development has done for this game which, believe it or not, relays a sense of 'this is not the next Duke Nukem Forever', but rather a gritty, mature crime thriller with some tantalising new tech and a lot of attention to detail. We also have a host of new screens for the game you can check out below, or directly right here.

Hit this link for the full preview.