Alan Wake Message Board older than one year ago

Retailers have started listing a Limited Collector's Edition of Alan Wake, possibly in advance of an official announcement later today at Microsoft's X10 event. Both Best Buy and Wal-Mart have listings for the item, with an $80 price tag and a May 25 release date.

Wal-Mart's listing actually includes the image seen here, and details the contents of the set: a linen case "designed to resemble a hardcover book" (is this game a book or a TV show?), a 144-page book with a story written by Alan Wake and FBI dossiers included, a soundtrack disc, a token for the first DLC pack, and a disc with an Xbox Live theme and avatar.

[Via VG247]

During an online community Q&A session held earlier this week, Remedy's Mika Reini dashed hopes for an Alan Wake demo before the game's launch. When asked whether or not the game would see a pre-release demo, Reini replied, "Demo before the launch, most likely not." Of course, that doesn't rule out the possibility of demo after the game's release, though Reini didn't imply that one was in the works. Reini also responded to a question regarding whether or not we'll see an Alan Wake collector's edition. He wouldn't confirm if a collector's edition is in the cards, and opted instead to cheekily suggest people keep an eye on the official Alan Wake forum. If Remedy isn't working on a collector's edition, allow us to make a suggestion: Just throw a high-powered flashlight in with the game. Bam, instant collector's edition -- and one that would really mess with the people who bought the Modern Warfare 2 special edition. [Via VG247]

Okay, okay -- for some of you, 2PM GMT isn't exactly "bright and early," but for us, it's 9AM, so bear with us for a moment here. As announced by Alan Wake's community manager on the game's forum, next Wednesday at 2PM GMT fans will get a chance to ask questions to their heart's desire of the team behind the game at Remedy Entertainment. As the Q&A will be taking place via IRC (no, we're not kidding), the announcement suggests heading to the web-based client for those of you not familiar with the no-we-can't-believe-people-are-still-using-it chat program. Between now and then, we suggest working on your question list, as the community man also notes the chat will be moderated and only "relevant questions (i.e. questions that haven't been answered already)" will be answered. Get crackin', gumshoes!

Additional story chapters available post-launch.

Remedy's Xbox 360-exclusive Alan Wake, described as "the TV show Lost, as written by Stephen King, and filmed by David Lynch," by Microsoft Entertainment & Devices head Robbie Bach will -- much like Fable II -- be expanded upon via additional downloadable episodes. Bach made the announcement concerning the long-in-development title during the company's CES 2010 keynote this evening, saying, "story-driven like a TV series, Alan Wake will be told in episodes with even more episodes available on Xbox Live after its launch this year." Let's just hope Remedy isn't taking cues from The Sopranos when deciding how long it will be between the release of the game's episodes.

Light is, by most accounts, a pretty good thing. It's warm, it makes plants grow and, perhaps most importantly, allows us to see. At least, that was its most important function. Now, thanks to Alan Wake, we know that light's ultimate purpose is to disintegrate monsters. In the small mountain town of Bright Falls, a simple flashbang becomes a weapon of mass destruction and an ordinary road flare is transmogrified from a beacon of hope to a harbinger of doom. If you don't believe us, check out the new teaser -- part of a week-long Alan Wake feature at 1UP -- after the break.

Alan Wake will allegedly premiere in late May of next year on Xbox 360. MCV reports that "a source close to the game" gave the new release date and suggested that the title would be promoted "in the style of a Hollywood movie."Officially, we know that Wake's drawn out development will conclude in "Spring 2010" -- around the 5-year mark. We've also previously been told that the game has been done since August and is in hibernation being polished over and over again. We've followed up with Remedy and Microsoft to see if either would like to confirm today's reported release date.

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Take your chances with the kidnapper.

Alan Wake's opening cinematic and more!

Alan begins his terrible journey in search of his wife.

Alan investigates strange happenings in the woods.

Rusty got shot; is it a trap?

Managing Director Matias Myllyrinne shows off exciting new gameplay opportunities.

Remedy scribe Sam Lake tells you about a very special friend of his.

Will Alan wake from this nightmare? Be afraid of the dark.