Whore of the Orient

One of the things I believe is a luxury in my life is that I have many friends with a rich and knowledgeable taste in film. I don't view myself as a movie guru in any means, but I enjoy an expansive range of film genres, and have the pleasure of talking about them on a daily basis. Noir is a style of film I deeply admire for it's dark, sinister, and tragic atmosphere and often it's true to life even today. So to no surprise I particularly enjoyed LA Noire for it's take on the genre, and the craft of storytelling that showcases a golden era of American history, and the desperate seedy underground of Los Angeles.

Developer Team Bondi introduced gamers to motion scan technology in order to deliver some of the best facial recognition graphics ever produced. They also painstakingly researched and recreated 1940's Los Angeles alongside Rockstar using old newspapers and other archived photographs to achieve a realistic representation of a pre-freeway southern California. Unfortunately, Team Bondi became a focus of controversy in the gaming industry due to founder Brendan McNamara and management creating a stressful work environment, and overworking employees. Relations between them and Rockstar became hostile, and it's likely the two won't collaborate again.

Although Team Bondi's studio was liquidated, they've been working on their next game that could see the light of day, Whore of the Orient. Not much is known except that it's gameplay and atmosphere will be similar to LA Noire, and McNamara says that it's set in a 1936 version of Shanghai, "the most corrupt and decadent city on the planet". There has been plenty of backlash from the Chinese in regard to the game's title and former nickname. Surprisingly it's not the word "Whore" but the outrage is against the word "Orient".  Though the game's future has been in limbo, an interested party has invested $200,000 in support of it's development, so there's a chance we may see this game released next year.

I hope this is the case, because I'd love to play another game designed in the classic film noir fashion. If you never played LA Noire, it's definitely worth the time if you enjoy either the film style or police investigation drama.