Alan Wake

[DaveKOTW]

Hey, so I was wondering how much knows about Alan Wake. I've been waiting for this game to come out for almost a year now and it's something that even after all this time has still been grabbing my attention. I dont know how much you guys know about it so I will share what I know.

The Story:

Alan Wake is a bestselling horror writer. Early on in his career, his fiancée Alice was his muse. Just prior to meeting her, he had started to have strange dreams which he used as material for his first book. The book was a big success, a dream come true. But then Wake’s fiancée vanished without a trace. Wake was devastated. He couldn't write anymore, his dreams stopped and he began to suffer from insomnia. At the beginning of the game, Wake travels to a sleep clinic to seek treatment for his condition. The secluded clinic is located near the small town of Bright Falls, Washington, far away from the stressful urban lifestyle. Receiving treatment at the clinic, Wake is able to sleep again. At the clinic, he meets a mysterious woman who is the very image of his missing fiancée, uncannily so. At once, his dreams return, this time as terrible nightmares. Wake begins to write again: a new book based on those nightmares. But something is horribly, horribly wrong. Impossibly, the town of Bright Falls starts to change to something awful that bears a close resemblance to Wake’s new book. Wake ends up fighting for his life with a gun and a flashlight in his hands, trying to understand what’s happening.

Its supposed to be a free roam city that is similar in essence to that of GTA

Trailer:

I know it's due for release on Due for release on 28/11/2008 on X-Box 360 and I presume that this is the same release date as PC. As far as I know, it's not available on PS3 as it's made by Microsoft.

From all the trailers i've seen it looks great and resembles something of a Stephen King book which I am a huge fan. I really can't wait for this game to come out but with all the delays, im still sceptical of it's release.

Anywho if you know anything about the game, would be awesome to share it.

[zero]

Last I heard, it got bumped back to February 09 at the earliest. IGN has its released date listed as "TBA 2009," there's no way it's seeing the light of day this year.

[LL!]

Actually, it doesn't seem to have a concrete release date yet. I read somewhere that it's probably coming out in 09.

[DaveKOTW]

Last I heard, it got bumped back to February 09 at the earliest. IGN has its released date listed as "TBA 2009," there's no way it's seeing the light of day this year.

FFS I was considering pre-ordering it on some of the game websites over here in the UK. Play.com announce it for November Still. I remember back in March I think when it was like being advertised as two weeks after the release of Lost the video game and I waited until the week before to pre-order but as soon as that week hit, boom it was october, then november.....now February. Hasn't it been in expected for like 2 years now?

[Boogey131]

Hey, so I was wondering how much knows about Alan Wake. I've been waiting for this game to come out for almost a year now and it's something that even after all this time has still been grabbing my attention. I dont know how much you guys know about it so I will share what I know.

The Story:

Alan Wake is a bestselling horror writer. Early on in his career, his fiancée Alice was his muse. Just prior to meeting her, he had started to have strange dreams which he used as material for his first book. The book was a big success, a dream come true. But then Wake’s fiancée vanished without a trace. Wake was devastated. He couldn't write anymore, his dreams stopped and he began to suffer from insomnia. At the beginning of the game, Wake travels to a sleep clinic to seek treatment for his condition. The secluded clinic is located near the small town of Bright Falls, Washington, far away from the stressful urban lifestyle. Receiving treatment at the clinic, Wake is able to sleep again. At the clinic, he meets a mysterious woman who is the very image of his missing fiancée, uncannily so. At once, his dreams return, this time as terrible nightmares. Wake begins to write again: a new book based on those nightmares. But something is horribly, horribly wrong. Impossibly, the town of Bright Falls starts to change to something awful that bears a close resemblance to Wake’s new book. Wake ends up fighting for his life with a gun and a flashlight in his hands, trying to understand what’s happening.

Its supposed to be a free roam city that is similar in essence to that of GTA

Trailer:

I know it's due for release on Due for release on 28/11/2008 on X-Box 360 and I presume that this is the same release date as PC. As far as I know, it's not available on PS3 as it's made by Microsoft.

From all the trailers i've seen it looks great and resembles something of a Stephen King book which I am a huge fan. I really can't wait for this game to come out but with all the delays, im still sceptical of it's release.

Anywho if you know anything about the game, would be awesome to share it.

The developers recently posted a message on the forum saying the game is still in development, they are taking their time with it and will only show it off when they are ready to. I'm not entirely sure but from what I've heard they did something similar with the Max Payne games. I have no idea why this game has so much hype. I like the concept and all but there isn't anything from a gameplay standpoint(That I've seen) and yet, people have been acting like this is the best thing since Pong.

I'll be looking out for it but, I'm not getting my hopes up based on a trailer.

PS:And, as far as I know any release date seems to be rampant speculation. 2009 seems likely, but which quarter? Who knows.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Boogey131

[zero]

Hasn't it been in expected for like 2 years now?

It was announced ages ago, 1UP's first preview of it was from May of 2005, before the 360 even came out.

[DaveKOTW]

Regarding the gameplay

The dark-forces (enemies) coming to 'take care of' Alan Wake are vulnerable to light. So the most useful weapon of all is actually the flashlight. You will be able to place booby traps which will illuminate when executed, etc. Light will weaken or hurt Wake's enemies, and creatively taking advantage of any and all light sources within Alan Wake's grim world ought to be one of the interesting aspects of play.

Like Max Payne before it, the title Alan Wake has a double meaning. Combining the main character's first initial with his last name forms "A.Wake," or "Awake".

Remedy Entertainment also promised a free-roam 3-dimensional city, similar to the Grand Theft Auto series.

"The basic idea with the free-roaming world is that we give the player goals, and then the player can go about achieving those goals in the way he chooses. Alan Wake is more tightly character-driven and story-oriented. Meaning that the player’s goals and missions are closely focused around Alan Wake and his story. Also, the setting, the tone and the game being an action thriller all set it clearly apart from the GTA games." – Sam Lake

"Intense cinematic action is something that we love to do, and Alan Wake features tense combat gameplay as well, but all things considered the game has a lot more emphasis on adventure and exploration than what Max Payne did. Driving is an integral part of the game" - Petri Järvilehto.

There will be no multiplayer in this game. "We'd much rather give the players a great single-player game, than a mediocre single and multiplayer game." -Petri Järvilehto.

As I really enjoyed both Max Payne and Love GTA, im all for the whole free roaming thing. Im hoping that the game will be a decent length but because its a thriller with a single angle, it obviously wont be to the same length of something like GTA but as they're focusing a lot of their energy on the story as opposed to multiplayer aspects too, then id hope that it would be a decent length and lacking in glitches, especially the amount of time on it.

Plus, generally, im a fan of atmospheric games - The condemned had an awesome atmosphere to it for example.

Edited September 15, 2008 by DaveKOTW

[RoyWill Rumble]

If this EVER comes out it could be great, but I think the team is really shooting itself in the foot by pushing it back so much. I know when I first found out about the game I was stoked, but now I really don't care because it's been pushed back too much, and now other games are on my mind.

[DaveKOTW]

If this EVER comes out it could be great, but I think the team is really shooting itself in the foot by pushing it back so much. I know when I first found out about the game I was stoked, but now I really don't care because it's been pushed back too much, and now other games are on my mind.

Exactly and with things like The Ghostbusters game coming next year as well as the X-Box 360 version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein PLUS things like Gears of War 2 on it's way and Fifa 09, its going to have to be pretty impressive.

Then there are things like Asassain's creed 2 coming out which i personally am really excited about

[-A-]

Yeah, but the pre-Christmas line-up is amazing, perhaps even better than it normally is. Might be better for them to delay until next year, especially if the game actually needs the time. Ghostbusters is still in limbo, remember, and there are plenty of release dates they can choose without competing with big games.

I'm really excited for this. It's strange, I love games like System Shock 2 and Condemned yet I really dislike horror films.

[DaveKOTW]

Yeah, but the pre-Christmas line-up is amazing, perhaps even better than it normally is. Might be better for them to delay until next year, especially if the game actually needs the time. Ghostbusters is still in limbo, remember, and there are plenty of release dates they can choose without competing with big games.

I'm really excited for this. It's strange, I love games like System Shock 2 and Condemned yet I really dislike horror films.

i have to say, im not really unnerved by games and such but the condemned is one of the few games that really messed with my head. it didnt help that i had the lights off and it was dark though.

the main freak out points where towards the end in the run down house and then outside afterwards. that was pretty freaky.

The only other game that's atmosphere freaked me out was the baby crying part in Max Payne. Sent chills down my spine man

[Boogey131]

If this EVER comes out it could be great, but I think the team is really shooting itself in the foot by pushing it back so much. I know when I first found out about the game I was stoked, but now I really don't care because it's been pushed back too much, and now other games are on my mind.

Exactly and with things like The Ghostbusters game coming next year as well as the X-Box 360 version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein PLUS things like Gears of War 2 on it's way and Fifa 09, its going to have to be pretty impressive.

Then there are things like Asassain's creed 2 coming out which i personally am really excited about

Is that still coming out? My memory is hazy but I seem to remember Activision(?) or whoever dropping the publishing rights for it, leaving the game in limbo until they can find another publisher.

As far as Alan Wake, yeah, I'm going to have to see some of that gameplay before I get excited. The whole Light vs. Dark thing seems to be a new trend in video games, they aren't all handled in the same way but I'm just kinda over seeing dark enemies that come out of dark portals, for me to get interested in this game I'd have to see how the enemies move and how you kill them.

[zero]

Ghostbusters is still coming out, but they need a new publisher - Sony Pictures is looking to release the game to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the franchise, which would put it at a Summer 09 release date.