The Hollywood Reported chatted with Rockstar's Dan Houser at the Tribeca Film Festival (where L.A. Noire is being shown off as an "interactive screening") and he said that, despite all of the attempts at solid transmedia properties recently, "no one has done it very successfully yet." The issue, in his opinion, is that companies are all too often going for money rather than what's right for the medium. "Too often, however," he said, "the aim appears to be to cash-in on the success of a particular game, book, pop singer, website, etc., and that usually produces mediocre results."

Houser also said that Rockstar has "explored a lot of movie deals," but wants to stick with games for the moment. He's personally enamored with two genres: The Western, which was explored in Red Dead Redemption, and film noire, which developer Team Bondi plays with in this latest game.

Providing some insight into its development, Houser said that his company "employed a massive number of actors in the game –- over 400," along with "hair and make-up artists, a great television director ... and a lot of original costumes, props and other research from the studios themselves" to recreate the golden era of Hollywood. We'll see if Rockstar can make up that virtual fedora budget on May 17.