GTA 5 To Feature Revolutionary 'Speech Graphics'?

One of the standout features of Rockstar Games' best-selling detective thriller L.A. Noire was the extremely detailed and realistic facial graphics and animation thanks to Depth Analysis' MotionScan technology. Ever since, speculation has been growing as to whether this same technology will appear in Grand Theft Auto V.

The problem with MotionScan's technology, however, is the sheer amount of storage space it requires. The XBox 360 version of L.A. Noire took up 3 disks and although the game was a success, fans would prefer not to swap disks as they play through a game.

Luckily, there is a solution Rockstar could use to get around this problem while maintaining realistic graphics, but keeping storage space for more important things as our friends at RockstarSpy.com point out...


A company called Speech Graphics, who are based in Edinburgh (the same place as Rockstar North) have spent over two decades researching speech technology for facial animation. Their award winning, multi-lingual solution uses acoustic analysis and muscle dynamics to drive a character's face to accurately match the words and emotion in the audio.

This is a much quicker and less data-intensive process than MotionScan which requires the actor to sit in a chair and perform their script while recorded by 32 high definition cameras.

Here's the most interesting part... Speech Graphics' lip sync system has not yet been used in any released games, but a motion capture studio and a triple-A developer have already integrated it into their production pipeline. Could that be Rockstar Games?

Keep an eye out for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco on March 7-9 this year where they are set to make an appearance, saying they "Look forward to presenting our new service offerings and our exciting enterprise to transform the way the game industry thinks about speech."


We'll keep looking into this, so check back for news in the future to see if Speech Graphics' technology will be included in GTA V. While you're waiting, why not check out their amazing technology at speech-graphics.com!