Following on from our earlier story about PS3 hardware failures and the game LA Noire, Rockstar Games has just sent over the following joint statement issued by the publisher and Sony.

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

We bet there's been a lot of lawyers arguing with each other this afternoon before this statement was agreed. It smells of corporate expediency and marketing rather than getting to the bottom of what the problem might be. If only LA Noire's Cole Phelps could investigate the story.

LA Noire is a game that does a heck of a lot of streaming. On Xbox 360 you can install the whole thing (but still get disk swaps), but PS3 owners can only make use of a small part install. By the way, tune in for our review of the game tomorrow morning, just in time for your lunchtime amble to the videogames store.

Here's a short preview: the game is great. Like you didn't know that.