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#podcast Load your pistol and make sure you pack plenty of batteries as Kotaku Talk Radio talks with two members of Alan Wake development studio Remedy Entertainment. More »

#alanwake Just a few hours after two Alan Wake creators join us on Kotaku Talk Radio we'll begin our bookclub style discussion of the game. One chapter per session, starting tomorrow at 3pm KT (2pm PT, 5pm ET). More »

#podcast Kotaku Talk Radio will be recording live on Wednesday. 11am Kotaku Time. 1pm ET. 10am PT. Host: Me. Guests: Matias Myllyrinne and Oskari Häkkinen of Alan Wake studio Remedy Entertainment. Call-in and live-streaming details will be on Kotaku at showtime. More »

Have you already managed to complete Alan Wake's narrative arc, and now you're jonesing for more episodic storytelling in the Bright Falls universe? First of all, unless you live in Europe, holy crap you're fast. The game's only been out in the U.S. for half a day! Second of all, you now can look forward to the release of the game's first DLC pack, titled "The Signal," which Microsoft recently announced will launch on July 27.

If you bought a new copy of the game -- which, again, we're assuming you did, since it's been out for a few hours -- you've already got a coupon code that will let you grab the new content for free. Of course, we have no idea what that that content will actually entail. We're assuming that signals will be involved, and will somehow be directing our attention towards things that are scary.

Remedy has released what's presumably the final Alan Wake trailer, entitled "Building the Drama." It's dramatic: knowing glances, dark proclamations, brooding environments, floating review scores -- all here. And if this final tease doesn't convince you, allow us to: The game is really good.

Alan Wake will be available from North American retailers tomorrow, May 18.

#clips As far as we're concerned, the main drama of Alan Wake is having to wait another day to play, but developer Remedy went to all the trouble of putting together this Building the Drama trailer, so here you go. More »

#alanwake Attention to those of you planning to play Alan Wake. Read this first, so that you can play — and discuss — the game with the rest of Kotaku. More »

If you're hoping to get acquainted with the world of Alan Wake before the game's extremely imminent release, you may want to watch the six-part mini-series Bright Falls, all of which is now available on Machinima's YouTube channel. Regardless of whether or not you understand a lick of what transpires during the Twin Peaks-esque series, it's still a really well-made tie-in, and gives a great sense of the unsettling environments the titular Wake will be exploring.

If you want more information about Bright Falls after viewing the series, we suggest checking out our interview with co-writer and director Phillip Van.

Watch: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5 and Episode 6

#xbox360 In advance of the Xbox 360 game's release, Alan Wake developer Remedy brings word that the first downloadable add-on episode for the suspenseful adventure will arrive in July. It'll be free, provided you have a new copy of Alan Wake. More »

Alan Wake won't be exploring the darkest corners of your Xbox until next week but developer Remedy has already announced via Twitter the release date for the game's first DLC episode: July 27.

... Or is it July 28, as seen on promotional dashboard show Sent U A Message host Daniel Maher's Twitter account? We're just as confused as you presumably are and have reached out to all parties (including Microsoft) to help us cast some light on things. Inconsistent release dates aside, users will be able to access the DLC through the included token download card packed in with all new copies of the game. No word yet on how much the DLC will cost those of you who go the used games route.

[Via XboxGaming]

#xbox360 Five lucky Australians were allowed to play Alan Wake before it went on sale. The catch? To play they had to be blind-folded, driven to one Australia's most haunted sites and strapped to heart rate monitors. More »

Lighting up the battlefield.

Though he insists that the Remedy team doesn't check the Alan Wake Metacritic score too frequently (sure guys), Mikko Rautalahti, a writer for the studio, said the team is "pretty damn far from disappointed" with the critical reception of the game, which will be released next Tuesday, May 18. Currently, the game has an average rating of 84, a score Rautalahti said Remedy would "have to be complete goddamn idiots to not be satisfied with."

Here in the future, we've already fallen in love with Alan Wake, gotten bored of it and moved on to wondering what Remedy has planned for a follow-up; a question Rautalahti addressed in another forum post: "Well, it's certainly no secret that we'd love to make a second one if the first one does well. But since the game isn't even out yet, it's really up in the air."

Wait ... up in the air? You heard it here first: Alan Wake 2: Wake's On a Plane.

[Via The Mind Channel; Videogamer.com]

#alanwake I raised this in a recent night note, but since I got so many interesting responses, I figured I'd throw it out to the masses: is there anything in real life that scares you so much it affects your gaming? More »

Zombies may have been the scariest things in (the truly excellent) Alan Wake. No, we're not talking about the shadow-infested Taken but rather the main characters themselves. While Remedy Entertainment's Markus Maki admits in a forum post that "it's a complex problem trying to dodge the Uncanny Valley," many of the characters in Alan Wake's cutscenes land squarely in the Valley, giving them that just-this-side-of-creepy zombie death mask that we all know and love.

Now for the good news: Remedy "definitely learned a lot doing Alan Wake" and is "using some of the improvements in the DLC production already." And, in case you think it's as easy as checkin off the "make less zombie-like" box in GameDeveloper 7.0, Maki says, "It's not alone a matter of the method how or where the facial capture is done, it's about the run-time animation techniques available, skeleton setup and so on."

Skeletons, too? We told you Alan Wake was creepy!

[Via G4]

#roundup Can the combined video game reviewers shed light on the quality of Xbox 360 exclusive survival game Alan Wake? Find out in the first (and only) episode of the Alan Wake Frankenreview. More »

#review Alan Wake promises to deliver a new style of storytelling to the Xbox 360: A "psychological thriller", "riveting plot", "multilayered character interactions", all bullet points that scream: This game could be really bad. More »

Schlocky horror picture show.

Alan Wake begins with a quote by Stephen King: "Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear." The line is spoken by the protagonist, novelist Alan Wake, and it's hard to imagine a more appropriate opening. It's a game spent in search of explanations, answers to the puzzling questions put forth by its narrative. It's a very simple, effective hook -- an author's horror thriller is coming to life. The twist? He doesn't remember writing it.

It's a great setup, but, as any writer well knows, it's the follow-through that's important. Without something to keep the reader engaged (or player, in this case), a story is doomed. As someone who has eagerly anticipated Alan Wake since its announcement nearly five years ago, I can say -- with some relief, if I'm being honest -- that Alan Wake will hook you to the end.

Remedy is back under the bright lights.

Lighting up has never been so good for you. A unique take on the survival horror game.

Since last week's release of the first two episodes of "Bright Falls," the six-part prequel to Alan Wake, we've been feverishly wondering how a live action video game tie-in could be so ... non-abysmal. To find the cause of this phenomenon, we went straight to the source: the series' co-writer and director, Phillip Van.

Check out our interview with Van just past the jump to learn about the thematic inspirations and environmental tribulations that went into the creation of "Bright Falls."

Since last week's release of the first two episodes of "Bright Falls," the six-part prequel to Alan Wake, we've been feverishly wondering how a live action video game tie-in could be so ... non-abysmal. To find the cause of this phenomenon, we went straight to the source: the series' co-writer and director, Phillip Van.

Check out our interview with Van just past the jump to learn about the thematic inspirations and environmental tribulations that went into the creation of "Bright Falls."

Since last week's release of the first two episodes of "Bright Falls," the six-part prequel to Alan Wake, we've been feverishly wondering how a live action video game tie-in could be so ... non-abysmal. To find the cause of this phenomenon, we went straight to the source: the series' writer and director, Phillip Van.

Check out our interview with Van just past the jump to learn about the thematic inspirations and environmental tribulations that went into the creation of "Bright Falls."

Apparently EA's Project Ten Dollar has had an influence on other publishers, as Microsoft announced that new purchases of Alan Wake will come with a "token code card" allowing for the free download of the add-on to the game (said to be coming "later this year"). The "Bright Falls Bonus Pack" was also detailed, with participating retailers divvying out "Avatar gear like the 'I Am Awake' T-shirt and an Xbox LIVE 'Bright Falls' theme based on the game" to those of you who pre-order (the Avatar shirt and Dashboard theme also come with the Limited Collector's Edition).

And yeah, in fairness, Alan Wake isn't the first MGS-published title to get an incentivized new purchase plan (Gears of War 2 says hello), but it's certainly been some time since we last saw Microsoft employ the business model. No price has been set or release date given for the first bit of content, but we'll assuredly find out soon enough, as Alan Wake is set to arrive at retail in just a few more weeks on May 18.

Remedy on building its biggest game yet.

#dlc Microsoft reveals that a free token good towards the download of the first add-on for supernatural thriller Alan Wake will come packed in every new copy of the game, which should offset the price of the official Alan Wake flashlight. More »

As promised, the first two episodes of Alan Wake's live-action prequel, titled "Bright Falls," became available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers earlier this morning. However, though Microsoft said we shouldn't expect to see the videos anywhere else for a couple of days, the New York Times managed to get its hands on the series' first two installments. They're on the newspaper's website right now, and they are weird as hell.

If you're short on time, we suggest you at least get to the "Happy Birthday" scene in the first episode. Watching it is like staring into the inky, black eye of madness.

The six-part series premieres exclusively on April 25 on Xbox Live and April 27.

#liveaction What mysteries lurk within the eerie mountain town of Alan Wake's Bright Falls? Find out this Sunday, when the first two episodes of a six-part live action prequel series show up on Xbox Live. More »