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Formerly-Exclusive L.A. Noire, The Grinder Go Multiplatform
by Chris Remo [PC, Console/PC]
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February 5, 2010
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Two games announced as platform exclusives have been expanded to multiple target systems, with Team Bondi's long-in-development L.A. Noire now coming to Xbox 360 as well as PlayStation 3, and High Voltage Software's co-op shooter The Grinder adding Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC to its original Wii target, along with a delay.
Confirmation of L.A. Noire's long-rumored multiplatform status was provided by staffers of Game Informer magazine who posted comments to a cover story reveal of the magazine's March issue.
The Grinder was revealed to be shedding its Wii exclusivity in an IGN interview. High Voltage chief creative officer Eric Nofsinger said the decision "allows us to show off what our company can really do and get it into the hands of the most gamers."
L.A. Noire has been in development for approximately six years by Sydney-based Team Bondi, founded by The Getaway director Brendan McNamara. It was originally to be published by Sony Computer Entertainment America, but was soon transferred to Rockstar Games, while keeping its PS3 exclusivity.
Since that point, the game has been delayed nearly every year, and leadership at Rockstar owner Take-Two has made repeated allusions that the game is coming to multiple "next-generation systems," but the change was never definitively confirmed, and company balance sheets still showed only PS3 on the game's platform list.
The Grinder was one of three original properties announced for Wii by High Voltage Software, the first of which was last year's The Conduit. Originally set for a late 2010 release, The Grinder's quadrupling of target platforms has resulted in a delay to "Halloween 2011."
The Conduit was published by Sega, and according to Nofsinger has sold 350,000 units; The Grinder has yet to publicly secure a publisher.
Third-party platform-exclusives are becoming all but extinct in the current generation, with many former exclusive or partially exclusive franchise moving to timed exclusivity or simultaneous release.
Rockstar Games' own Grand Theft Auto series moved to simultaneous Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 release, and a later PC version, with Grand Theft Auto IV.
However, that game's developer, Rockstar North, is also known to be working on Agent, a thriller set during the Cold War -- and announced by Sony as being exclusive to the PlayStation 3.
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The less than ideal "success" of The Conduit would definitely have had some relevance in the decision, of course, and I suppose that has to do with the extreme delay of at least a year. But then I have to wonder; what will the Wii version look like compared to the other versions?