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

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  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Spoit wrote: »
    Fiziks wrote: »
    Man, what? Not on the PC? Does Microsoft hate money?

    No, but they do hate the PCs. Seriously, what was the last MGS developed game that got ported, the multiple-year delayed and vista-only Halo 2? It crap like that why the 360 is the only current gen system I don't own/

    Does not compute...

    'If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college.'

    Brain assplode!

    Somebody get that man to IHOP, STAT!

    Skull2185 on
    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Pretty good preview from Eurogamer here

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/alan-wake-preview
    For all its cinematic and televisual influences - Hitchcock, Lost, Twin Peaks, The X-Files - Alan Wake isn't just another action game that wishes it were on the big screen. Light, its thematic motif, is woven inextricably into the gameplay itself; as well as a stylistic visual technique, it's a combat device, your means of progression, your guide through wide-open environments. Alan Wake tells its story like only a videogame can, deftly fashioning its narrative themes of light and darkness and subjective and objective reality into essential gameplay elements. Instead of feeling like the actual game is just getting in the way of the story, as is so often the case with such plot- and character-orientated videogames, Alan Wake's integration of an emotionally-engaging thriller narrative into a third-person action template feels entirely natural.

    It's clearly not a happy accident that Alan Wake looks and feels so polished. It's been in development a long time now, and finding the correct balance of explorative gameplay and the linear structure necessary for effective storytelling has been a matter of trial and error. "The game is still built on openworld technology, but we consider ourselves storytellers, and in order to deliver that well it has to be a more linear experience," explains Remedy's ever-charismatic MD, Matias Myllyrinne. "We don't want the player to feel like they're being pulled by a string all the time - we want them to feel like he's making his own decisions and choices, even though we're delivering the story in a certain way."

    In short, then, Alan Wake drops you into tightly-scripted cinematic set-pieces, but it lets you determine your own way of making your way through them. You can see a lone, abandoned farmhouse in the distance with the light left on, and figure out how to get there yourself - it doesn't force you along an arbitrary path between lovingly-rendered cut-scenes. The game's environments are miles wide, encouraging you to dig further into the fiction and really explore Pride Falls rather than follow a set path.

    Your guide in Wake's world is light, whether from a distant building or handheld flashlight. At E3 we saw Wake using generators, flares and his trusty torch to forge a safe path through the darkness and attack possessed villagers in the mountainside town of Pride Falls, and saw how the mysterious dark presence that's overtaken the town's inhabitants is also capable of possessing a digger truck and cutting swathes through the forest like a hellish tornado for cinematic effect. In a state of panic or fear, Wake can will his torch to burn brighter, which ties into the game's underlying theme of subjective reality - pulling the left trigger intensifies the light, which drains the battery but keeps you safe until you can make it to a generator or the sun begins to creep over the horizon. The flashlight is more important than a gun in Alan Wake, more effective protection from the powers of darkness.

    Behind closed doors at TGS, Remedy unveils a scenario that completely turns the tables on Alan Wake, robbing him of his torch and sending him fleeing through the woods from searchlights. Convinced that Wake is behind all of the ugliness and sudden deaths in Pride Falls, police suddenly turn up in search of him - information that you glean from snatches of speech from police radios and overturned cars, running from the beams of light that pierce the morning fog. As Wake flees through the woods, diving between trees to hide from the light, things start to get distinctly supernatural again - crouching behind a rock on a clifftop, we see a police helicopter taken down by a swarm of blackbirds, and the trees below bend out of the path something vast and horrible that starts extinguishing police flashlights.

    "For this scene in particular, our director took the photo from X-Files where you have the flashlights in the woods and used that iconic image as inspiration - that and the Harrison Ford in The Fugitive," says Myllyrinne. "Visually and emotionally, that's where we want to go with this sequence... We're all film buffs, we were brought up on that stuff, so for us it's really easy to communicate that way. We take inspiration more from other forms of entertainment than games, really - we try to take things that are familiar to a wider audience, but that haven't yet been done in games."

    We've fled from police before in games, obviously, rather more than we care to remember, but the way that Alan Wake works its scripted thrills and scares into the gameplay is genuinely new, and impressive. Admittedly, what we've seen so far have been prepared presentations, but if Wake guides you cleverly and intuitively enough through its scenarios it will all flow just as smoothly in the final release.

    Remedy is committed to building its game's fiction. Adrenaline and fear, as both Myllyrinne and David Cage pointed out at their GDCE keynotes this year, are easy emotions to play with, but if you want to go deeper than that, there have to be peaks and troughs, time for character development and opportunities for players to ground themselves in the game's world, not just an endless sequence of explosions and fights. In Alan Wake, the daytime gives you the opportunity to get to know the locals of Pride Falls and develop more of an attachment to the setting. Remedy has already shown its prowess with pacing in the Max Payne games, and it looks like Alan Wake will be even more accomplished.

    On the surface, it might not seem that Alan Wake and Heavy Rain have all that much in common, but though they differ wildly as actual games, there are concurrences in their respective creators' vision that makes them exciting for the same reasons. Both draw their influences from outside the gaming sphere, both are committed to the creation of a whole and believable fiction, and both value the characterisation of strong leads above all else. Everything that we've seen so far suggests Alan Wake is going to be a great videogame thriller - but there's a chance it could stand shoulder to shoulder with classics of the genre in other media, too.

    darleysam on
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    G-gee Eurogamer, you hype up much?

    DarkPrimus on
  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Spoit wrote: »
    Fiziks wrote: »
    Man, what? Not on the PC? Does Microsoft hate money?

    No, but they do hate the PCs. Seriously, what was the last MGS developed game that got ported, the multiple-year delayed and vista-only Halo 2? It crap like that why the 360 is the only current gen system I don't own/

    You'd think, since you can't play any Xbox games on your PC, you'd HAVE to buy an Xbox.

    cooljammer00 on
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  • GrudgeGrudge blessed is the mind too small for doubtRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    It sounds absolutely fantastic.

    If they manage to deliver what is implied by the article.

    Grudge on
  • SceptreSceptre Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So is this not dead? What the hell.

    Sceptre on
  • MifioMifio MrrlendRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Nope, not dead.

    And yes, this article just piqued my interest for this game. A lot. I was always interested in it ever since I saw the E3 gameplay. But this article just knocked my over.
    If the game delivers what is said in this article, were looking at a mix between Bioshock and what Alone in the Dark 5 should have been. And it will be epic.

    Mifio on
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  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Spoit wrote: »
    Fiziks wrote: »
    Man, what? Not on the PC? Does Microsoft hate money?

    No, but they do hate the PCs. Seriously, what was the last MGS developed game that got ported, the multiple-year delayed and vista-only Halo 2? It crap like that why the 360 is the only current gen system I don't own/

    You'd think, since you can't play any Xbox games on your PC, you'd HAVE to buy an Xbox.

    Nah, while there are a few games (like this and fable 2) that I do kind of want to play, the vast majority of games are multiplatform. And the remainder are mostly console shooters like halo and gears, which I really don't care for anyway.

    Spoit on
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  • B:LB:L I've done worse. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Mifio wrote: »
    Nope, not dead.

    And yes, this article just piqued my interest for this game. A lot. I was always interested in it ever since I saw the E3 gameplay. But this article just knocked my over.
    If the game delivers what is said in this article, were looking at a mix between Bioshock and what Alone in the Dark 5 should have been. And it will be epic.

    Oh, it uses light just like that other horror game, Obscure.

    Also, what a horrible night to have a curse.


    They can take their sweet time.

    B:L on
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  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Eurogamer can be pretty cynical and it's quite easy to tell when reading a preview if the compliments are genuine or backhanded, and whether it's actually going to be good or if they're just being nice about a guaranteed bomb. This really does look like it's going to be something special.

    darleysam on
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  • GrimthwackerGrimthwacker Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Sam Lake is the lead writer on this, right? That should be enough reason for anyone to anticipate this game. I can only cringe thinking about how Rockstar will handle Max Payne 3's story without him. Seriously, that guy has some class.

    Grimthwacker on
  • StollyStolly Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    There is a fairly long video of the section described in the Eurogamer article up on Gametrailers, Here.

    It looks fucking spectacular. I really look forward to this. I loved both Max Payne games and this looks just as promising.

    Stolly on
  • StollyStolly Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Sorry, but I really have to give this a bump, because it is too spectacular to ignore. Watch that video and wep with joy.

    Stolly on
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Stolly wrote: »
    Sorry, but I really have to give this a bump, because it is too spectacular to ignore. Watch that video and wep with joy.

    I'm not, because I know that I'd weep. But not for joy.

    Spoit on
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  • PolloDiabloPolloDiablo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    They're still making this game? I wish they would cancel it and make something that would come out some day.

    PolloDiablo on
  • ScottyScotty Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    They're still making this game? I wish they would cancel it and make something that would come out some day.

    They did cancel it, they're working on Duke Nukem Forever now.:P

    Scotty on
  • PolloDiabloPolloDiablo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    darleysam wrote: »
    I know this isn't the most full OP, but I'm expecting to get some new stuff to put in here very soon.

    Oh, the naive us' of a year ago. I wish I could find quotes of optimism from the half-decade ago when it was announced.

    PolloDiablo on
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    darleysam wrote: »
    I know this isn't the most full OP, but I'm expecting to get some new stuff to put in here very soon.

    Oh, the naive us' of a year ago. I wish I could find quotes of optimism from the half-decade ago when it was announced.

    Well, if it takes long enough, we'll be in the next gen. With the quad core CPUs and special DX10 effects they advertised in the earliest demos of it
    Not that I'm bitter or anything.
    At least about this. Fable 2 is a different matter

    Spoit on
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  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    i just watched that video and i'm not sure what everyone is excited about

    the player walked through a bunch of scripted sequences, one of which was pretty cool and atmospheric, and all of which were marred by shockingly bad voice acting. he didn't even do anything.

    the other video from giantbomb was a little more interesting, but i didn't see anything really intriguing, especially with the reveal of possessed locals as antagonists. in an over-the-shoulder survival horror shooter.

    hmm.

    Evil Multifarious on
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    darleysam wrote: »
    I know this isn't the most full OP, but I'm expecting to get some new stuff to put in here very soon.

    Oh, the naive us' of a year ago. I wish I could find quotes of optimism from the half-decade ago when it was announced.

    You're adorable.

    darleysam on
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  • MarikirMarikir Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    RISE THREAD.

    Apparently...Waka Laka has need of you.

    Waka Laka wrote: »

    Marikir on
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  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I am saddened that this comes out the same day as Red Dead Redemption. I'm fully planning on buying both games, but I hope that Microsoft is going to bring the marketing dollars to compete. Considering the lower profile of this game...I'm not super optimistic about that.

    brynstar on
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  • corin7corin7 San Diego, CARegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    brynstar wrote: »
    I am saddened that this comes out the same day as Red Dead Redemption. I'm fully planning on buying both games, but I hope that Microsoft is going to bring the marketing dollars to compete. Considering the lower profile of this game...I'm not super optimistic about that.

    I pre ordered both this morning. What to play first? I will probably get home from work and just stare at both of them unable to decide.

    corin7 on
  • Johnny ChopsockyJohnny Chopsocky Scootaloo! We have to cook! Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Marikir wrote: »
    RISE THREAD.

    Apparently...Waka Laka has need of you.

    Waka Laka wrote: »

    I think I heard some Poets of the Fall in the soundtrack portion of that clip. This makes me happy, because what they did for Max Payne 2's ending took that game to a whole other level.

    Johnny Chopsocky on
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  • MarikirMarikir Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Oddly enough, something in that trailer reminded me of the Max Payne 2 ending as well. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Poets of the Fall.

    Marikir on
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  • PolloDiabloPolloDiablo Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Incidentally, they just had a new album come out.

    PolloDiablo on
  • CherrnCherrn Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    So are there no open world elements to this anymore?

    Cherrn on
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  • KorlashKorlash Québécois TorontoRegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    That's the kind of trailer that gives me hope that games can become a higher form of entertainment.

    Typically, trailers are 1-2 minutes long, usually showing meaningless action sequences while some over-enthusiastic narrator tells you to "Get ready... to kick some serious alien ass!"

    This is a 4 minutes, professional sounding trailer that tries to sell you the game based on its merits. I'm seriously impressed. It sure puts the game in a great light.

    Korlash on
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  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Cherrn wrote: »
    So are there no open world elements to this anymore?

    It may just be the fact that it was taken away by Microsoft, but I'm really not finding it all that interesting any more. Especially now that heavy rain came out. (and yes, I know they really don't have anything to do with each other)

    Spoit on
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  • DarkWarriorDarkWarrior __BANNED USERS regular
    edited April 2010
    Whos volunteering to do a LP since theres no PC version? I must see how it ends after all this time.
    Spoit wrote: »
    Cherrn wrote: »
    So are there no open world elements to this anymore?

    It may just be the fact that it was taken away by Microsoft, but I'm really not finding it all that interesting any more. Especially now that heavy rain came out. (and yes, I know they really don't have anything to do with each other)

    Its console exclusive now, different vastly from what was oriignally shown and is seemingly going heavy on the episodic DLC. Not good things.

    DarkWarrior on
  • Wet BanditWet Bandit Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Spoit wrote: »
    Cherrn wrote: »
    So are there no open world elements to this anymore?

    It may just be the fact that it was taken away by Microsoft, but I'm really not finding it all that interesting any more. Especially now that heavy rain came out. (and yes, I know they really don't have anything to do with each other)

    If anything, Heavy Rain has made me more eager for Alan Wake. Heavy Rain overall was fine, but the story was pretty bad, and all it's really done is increase my appetite for a competent thriller.

    Wet Bandit on
  • DasUberEdwardDasUberEdward Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    wait wait wait

    360 exclusive?

    DasUberEdward on
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  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    wait wait wait

    360 exclusive?

    Yep. It's published by Microsoft.

    Zxerol on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Watching that video, I couldn't help but think "Oh, so like Alone in the Dark!" multiple times.

    DarkPrimus on
  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Watching that video, I couldn't help but think "Oh, so like Alone in the Dark!" multiple times.

    Me too. You have to keep in mind, I enjoyed the recent Alone in the Dark, and I love Remedy games, so I'm not super bummed out by this, but it seems a fair bit different from the tech demo stuff they showed early on. I also loved all of the random bullet time in that trailer.

    brynstar on
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  • SnowblindvictimSnowblindvictim Flying casual Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I still can't believe that the reasoning behind the cancellation of the PC version was so "You could get the theatrical experience by sitting on your couch."

    Still gonna get it, but I wish PC was still an option.

    Also Sam Lake FTW

    Snowblindvictim on
  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    No, the reasoning behind canceling the PC version is that Microsoft doesn't give a shit about PC gaming, especially in consideration to the 360. They make the decision, and then the PR guys get to think of a crazy spin to justify it.

    I wish I creative enough to make big bucks spewing bullshit in marketing.

    Zxerol on
  • DarkWarriorDarkWarrior __BANNED USERS regular
    edited April 2010
    Zxerol wrote: »
    No, the reasoning behind canceling the PC version is that Microsoft doesn't give a shit about PC gaming, especially in consideration to the 360. They make the decision, and then the PR guys get to think of a crazy spin to justify it.

    I wish I creative enough to make big bucks spewing bullshit in marketing.

    "Its not on PC because you dont want it on PC. We're doing this for you!"

    MONIES PLEASE

    DarkWarrior on
  • SithDrummerSithDrummer Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Whos volunteering to do a LP since theres no PC version? I must see how it ends after all this time.
    Spoit wrote: »
    Cherrn wrote: »
    So are there no open world elements to this anymore?

    It may just be the fact that it was taken away by Microsoft, but I'm really not finding it all that interesting any more. Especially now that heavy rain came out. (and yes, I know they really don't have anything to do with each other)

    Its console exclusive now, different vastly from what was oriignally shown and is seemingly going heavy on the episodic DLC. Not good things.
    Jesus fuck

    SithDrummer on
  • RenzoRenzo Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I dunno about "going heavy on the episodic DLC". They've talked about doing one DLC episode set after the game.

    I don't like selling games piecemeal either, but one piece of DLC does not "going heavy" make.

    Renzo on
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