Alan Wake: There may be something at Gamescom, there may not.. (see p.47)

Two Headed Boy

Awesome, it's coming out next month. Also, horde-style survival mode confirmed.

-Loki-

Renzo wrote:

Alan Wake on PC Q1 2012

http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/14/alan-wake-pc-confirmed-by-remedy-for-q1-2012/

http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=7525

All DLC included.

Ha!

I knew it would come with time. My fiancee would probably get into it too.

Uselesswarrior

mxmarks wrote:

Another great article about it, from people whove played it:
http://www.next-gen.biz/features/remedy-alan-wakes-american-nightmare

Highlights:
They say it starts from where the last DLC left off.
They call it a spin-off and side thing a couple times. This is NOT Alan Wake 2.
They say Alan Wake is Twin Peaks, Stephen King. American Nightmare is Tarintino, Grindhouse. The acting is intentionally "hammy" at times, they say they're working within that Grindhousey theme and feel. They call it an episode of the Twilight Zone with Alan Wake's rules.
They discuss a "hub world". Since this is a sample from a full article, I bet they go into more detail before asking that question because it just is out there like we should know what they're talking about. They say its a little more open world.
They call the place Night Springs in the interview.
They say it includes enemies and weapons that wouldn't make sense/fit (not fit like they didnt have time, fit like themeatically fit) in Alan Wake.

Oh boy another game attempting to do "grindhouse".

How about we trying and get video game acting and writing to a higher level before deconstruction it.

Mike Danger

mxmarks wrote:

They say Alan Wake is Twin Peaks, Stephen King. American Nightmare is Tarintino, Grindhouse. The acting is intentionally "hammy" at times, they say they're working within that Grindhousey theme and feel. They call it an episode of the Twilight Zone with Alan Wake's rules.

Local H Jay

well, playing through alan wake right now, and those 'night springs' things play on the TV all the time. they definitely are mocking twilight zone, and i could get down with playing an episode of twilight zone.
i wonder if the ones playing in this game have to do with the american nightmare

Two Headed Boy

They do, in a way. You're playing through several episodes of Night Springs that were written by Alan Wake, an early career job of Wake's alluded to in the original game.

Kitsuna

There's some American Nightmare footage fresh out from CES.

It's looking good.

The Mantiz

Spoiler:

D: D: D:

pablo_price

re: that spoiler:
god dammit

those gameplay videos are awesome though

hottoq

Just finished the main game, really enjoyed it. It sounds like people actually liked the DLC and it's worth a purchase? I wonder if the DLC will go on sale when American Nightmare gets posted...

Igpx407

hottoq wrote:

Just finished the main game, really enjoyed it. It sounds like people actually liked the DLC and it's worth a purchase? I wonder if the DLC will go on sale when American Nightmare gets posted...

I enjoyed the dlc. The first one is mostly combat and the second is mostly story stuff, which tends to make people like the second more. I would say if you want more Alan Wake get them.

Renzo

The DLC, especially The Writer, is worth it. It's the epilogue to the main game. Even though The Writer is better, I would play both to get the full story.

Rent

The Writer is what Alan Wake should have been

so much missed potential

darleysam

We have a release date, February 22nd at 1200 points
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-01-23-xbox-live-arcade-house-party-schedule-confirmed

mxmarks

Yesssss.

And I love the promo that if you buy all 4 you get 800 points back.

I wanted Alan Wake and I am Alive, thought that Quake-esque shooter looked fun, and Warp was interesting.

So now I get all 4, and it's like I bought what I liked and got Warp free.

Too bad the other 3 wont be played forever as I play Alan Wake over and over and over.

Two Headed Boy

Alan Wake PC is coming along nicely.

Local H Jay

ah wow that is cool playing that way with the lights off would be intense

Two Headed Boy

Also regarding Alan Wake on PC, Remedy posted a fantastic FAQ:

Spoiler:

What is the release date?

Alan Wake will be released on Steam during February 2012.

How much will Alan Wake on PC cost?

Pricing will be announced soon, a bit closer to release.

What bundle deals will be available?

Specifics about the bundle deals are still being worked out and will be announced closer to release.

What are the minimum specs for the game?

We are still finalising the optimisations and graphics scalability, so some details can still change.

This is our current view:
OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
PROCESSOR: A dual core processor is required:
AMD: Athlon X2 2.8GHz
Intel: Core 2 Duo 2GHz
MEMORY: 2 GB
HARD DRIVE: 8 GB
VIDEO CARD: DirectX 10 compatible or later with 512MB RAM
AMD: ATI Radeon 3650, 4450, 5550, 6450 or higher (per series)
NVIDIA: GeForce 8600GT, 9500GT, GT120, GT430, GT520 (per series)
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Mouse and keyboard, Xbox360 controller also supported
What do I need to run with max settings?

For a solid performance Remedy recommends a modern quad-core CPU and a graphics card with around 2000 in 3DMark Graphics Score as seen in here: http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu

For max settings and high resolutions, a top of the line graphics card and CPU is needed.

Will the game be released on the Mac?

Unfortunately, the game will not be available for Mac users.

Will it support Windows XP?

Yes. We have finished our testing and are satisfied the game works well, assuming the users' systems are configured correctly (we detected some audio configuration problems during testing but nothing that can't be worked around easily).

Is Alan Wake going to use Games for Windows Live?

Games for Windows Live will not be used; we will be fully supporting the Steam platform.

Who is the publisher?

Alan Wake PC is a Remedy self-published title.

Is Remedy developing the PC game?

The PC version is being developed together with a small team from Remedy as well as a talented team at Finnish independent developer, Nitro Games, who have previous and recent experience of releasing games on Steam.

Will there be a demo version?

Unfortunately, there won’t be a demo version of Alan Wake PC.

What control options will there be?

The PC version will support keyboard and mouse (fully configurable) and the Xbox 360 controller.

What features will be available on Steam?

The game will run using Steamworks, allowing for syncing of settings and save games to the Steam Cloud platform. Steam achievements will also be featured in the game.

Will the DLC Episodes be included in the game?

Both The Signal and The Writer DLCs will be available on Steam and are included in all copies of the game.

Is this release developed from the former PC version that was showcased a few years ago?

No. Any early material evolved into what ended up shipping on the 360. This PC release will be derived from what was released on the 360.

How large is the Steam download for the game?

Around 7.5GB.

What graphical customisations will the player be able to make?

We are still finalising the options, but the players can naturally adjust resolution, run in full screen or windowed and change numerous graphics quality settings such as anti-aliasing, FXAA, shadow quality, draw distance and so on.

The players can also turn off the HUD if they wish. This was a feature many of our fans wanted for Alan Wake Xbox360.

How will the save game system work?

The save games will work as they did on Xbox360, with automatic checkpoints. We know some of our PC fans would love a “save anywhere” system, but unfortunately we can't easily change how the saves work as there are certain restrictions where you can save in the tech so adding a free save anywhere would likely expose a lot of new bugs.

What languages is the game localised to?

It is localised to same languages as Alan Wake Xbox360 with full voiceover and text localisations for English, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. Text localisation (Subtitle support and menu translations) will be provided in Traditional Chinese, Korean, Polish and Russian.

Are you going to release the mod tools for Alan Wake PC?

Unfortunately Remedy is not planning to release the mod tools. The tools are a lot more complex than they were with the Max Payne games, and are based on many 3rd party commercial tools like Autodesk 3d studio max. Additionally they have been integrated to work with our Perforce asset repository and other internal services, and removing and re-implementing these features would be a lot of work.

Will Alan Wake PC support Stereoscopic 3D?

We have internally tested that the game works with NVISION 3D very nicely. It is fairly performance heavy though so a high end GPU such as the GeForce 580GTX and moderate graphics settings are recommended.

Remedy has not been able to test AMD HD3D (we spent some time trying), but AMD has access to the build and we are hoping they can confirm whether it works or not.

Important information in bold. Also, the FAQ describes the game as self-published, but (as of today) Remedy announced a boxed, retail version of the game being published by Nordic Games.

CaptainNemo

The Washington night was cold outside of Nemo's windor, but it's dark embrace could not penetrate the warm lights of his humble home. He had excitedly rushed to the forum to post the information he had just learned. He copied, he pasted, and he edited, until he produced a list of achievments for Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

Spoiler:

Escape! 10
Escape the Taken to the motel.

Rewrite 10
Rewrite reality for the first time.

Cool It 20
Make sure Dr. Meadows can take another look at the skies.

Happy Ending 25
Rewrite reality for the last time.

Glorious Dawn 10
Survive until dawn in any Arcade Mode level.

Poetry in Motion 20
Get a six-minute survivor streak and over 100,000 points in an Arcade level.

Enter the Nightmare 10
Unlock all of the Nightmare Arcade Mode levels.

Skill Beats Gun 10
Survive an Arcade level using nothing but the flashlight and handheld flares.

Survivor 30
Get 70,000 points in any Nightmare Arcade level.

Split Splat! 15
Take out two Splitter spawns with a single shot.

One Day I’ll Buy a Stapler 20
Find all of the manuscript pages.

Pile 'Em High 20
Defeat 2,000 Taken.

Lanrutcon

Wait...is this DX10 only?

Aegeri

I am really happy to see enemy variety finally coming into Alan Wake. They completely missed the boat in the original by not having darkness infused wolves and deer*. Alan Wake I found had a hard time keeping me interested when the enemy variety wasn't really that great and you'd seen them all by barely 1/3 through the game.

*If you watched the live action thing they did for AW, you will see why Deer would have been a creepy addition.

CaptainNemo

Agree with you there, Aegeri. I was expecting a fight against a Taken Mammoth for a boss fight, got a forest ranger intsead.

Aegeri

It's odd, because I totally had the same idea there as well. I have to wonder if they are going all Twilight Zone if they will have strange aliens and stuff as well.

mxmarks

Im just hoping the end will advance something - even if it is just Mr. Scratch.

With the way The Writer ended, I want to see a little bit of Alan working towards his idea. I'm not expecting any huge revelations in this, but it'd be nice to see Alan make a little more progress towards his goal.

CaptainNemo

Scratch seems like the main antagonist in this. I'm guessing will be snuffing him out in this one, and then going back after the Dark Presence itself in Alan Wake 2: The Wrath of Payne.

Rent

God i hope Alan Wake 2 is The Writer: The Videogame, as opposed to...what Alan Wake 1 was

CaptainNemo

Well, Alan Wake had to set stuff up. It was the foreplay to the sweet love making that was the Writer.

darleysam

CaptainNemo wrote:

Well, Alan Wake had to set stuff up. It was the foreplay to the sweet love making that was the Writer.

You're trying for a thread-title change but it's not going to happen.

Casually Hardcore

So is this a game I should be wanting to play? I remember, like freaking 8 years ago, getting excited for Alan Wake on the 360. We know how badly that turned out.

Renzo

Casually Hardcore wrote:

So is this a game I should be wanting to play? I remember, like freaking 8 years ago, getting excited for Alan Wake on the 360. We know how badly that turned out.

Pretty well? Almost as good as Max Payne 2, one of the best games ever?

CaptainNemo

There was some wasted potential in Alan Wake, sure, but it's one of the most uniqure experiances in video gaming, and one of the few to handle cosmic horror well.

Rent

It's...worth playing. It's not really a...unique experience, in any way, since it's literally aping Steven King and Twin Peaks at any and all times and SH2 the other 10% of the time it's not aping the aforementioned two things. It's just well executed. It doesn't start being Its Own Thing until The Writer and OH LOOK REMEDY CAN ACTUALLY WRITE GOOD ORIGINAL STUFF AND MAKE UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTS WHEN IT'S NOT MAKING "Silent Twin Peaks Hill: by Steven King: The Videogame"

oh also this game has super unique product placement maybe thats what captainnemo was talking about

CaptainNemo

It references them, to be sure, but I don't think it's aping them. Inspired by, to be sure, but not a rip off. I mean, no one will mistake the Dark Presence for the Crimson King, you know what I mean?

Rent

the first two words in the game
are

"stephen king"

Two Headed Boy

Using that logic, any psychological thriller is a ripoff of Steven King. Or Alfred Hitchcock, depending on how old you are. There is nothing quite like Alan Wake in video games, and it's much more unique than most high-profile games.

Rent

the

first

two

words

in

the

game

are

"stephen"

"king"

Rent

Two Headed Boy wrote:

There is nothing quite like Alan Wake in video games, and it's much more unique than most high-profile games.

Two Headed Boy

You're so cute.

interrobang

someone go read Duma Key and then tell me alan wake is a completely original work with absolutely no elements lifted directly from stephen king stories

Rent

interrobang wrote:

someone go read Duma Key and then tell me alan wake is a completely original work with absolutely no elements lifted directly from stephen king stories

no but see it's totally original despite the developers even saying that they were directly inspired by stephen king novels when writing the story to alan wake