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#alanwake This is Alan Wake: American Nightmare, the downloadable sequel to Remedy's 2010 narrative game for the Xbox 360. In it, the protagonist author Alan Wake fights against his murderous doppleganger. More »

According to a story posted by IndustryGamers, Remedy's 2010 Xbox 360 exclusive Alan Wake sold much better than originally thought. While NPD sales figures currently peg the game at 330K units sold in the US to date (with the number closer to 500K worldwide), those numbers apparently do not factor in digital download sales...

#videogameart Darwin Yamamoto's not that different than other gamers. He spends a lot of time looking at the faces—or, more accurately, the backs—of the medium's heroes and heroines as they open up new worlds on his TV screen. But Yamamoto's also an artist and user experience designer who's done work on the look of Valve's Steam platform and for various Microsoft products like Bing. After hundreds of hours of gaming, the New York City resident decided to render the faces of some of gaming's biggest franchises in a series of minimalist portraits. After stumbling across a link on Twitter (thanks, @tiffchow), I got in touch with Yamamoto and emailed him a few questions about his oddly evocative headshots. Here's what he had to say: More »

There's been a not-insubstantial outcry of concern from fans of the Alan Wake franchise following the announcement that the series' next installment, Night Springs, would be an XBLA exclusive. Worried parties shouldn't fear a sea change in the original game's setup -- on the game's forums, Remedy community manager Peter Papadopoulos explained it will be "structured like a full release," asking posters to "wait for the official announcement before making up your mind." But ... but we've already rolled out our Jump to Conclusions mat!

Remedy CEO Markus Mäki also chimed in on the forums, adding, "If you're thinking about this in terms of some kind of a, I don't know, super simplified 'we still use the name but changed everything about it' version of Alan Wake, let me just say that this is not the case. That's all I'm gonna say."

Other than these defensive statements, all we have to go on is the meager announcement from yesterday, as well as the supposedly leaked title screen acquired by XBLAFans this past May, posted above. We'll have to wait until the VGAs to see the game in action -- or, as the title screen would seem to hint at, in "Arcade Action."

There's been a not-insubstantial outcry of concern from fans of the Alan Wake franchise following the announcement that the series' next installment, Night Springs, would be an XBLA exclusive. Worried parties shouldn't fear a sea change in the original game's setup -- on the game's forums, Remedy community manager Peter Papadopoulos explained it will be "structured like a full release," asking posters to "wait for the official announcement before making up your mind." But ... but we've already rolled out our Jump to Conclusions mat!

Remedy CEO Markus Mäki also chimed in on the forums, adding, "If you're thinking about this in terms of some kind of a, I don't know, super simplified 'we still use the name but changed everything about it' version of Alan Wake, let me just say that this is not the case. That's all I'm gonna say."

Other than these defensive statements, all we have to go on is the meager announcement from yesterday, as well as the supposedly leaked title screen acquired by XBLAFans this past May, posted above. We'll have to wait until the VGAs to see the game in action -- or, as the title screen would seem to hint at, in "Arcade Action."

#rumor Earlier today we got confirmation that the next Alan Wake will indeed be downloadable, and that more details will be revealed at the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards. More »

Mr. Xbox, Major Nelson, confirmed some rumor and speculation today, saying that the Alan Wake game that will be shown at this year's Spike Video Game Awards will be a downloadable game. We'll know more in the coming weeks. More »

Alan Wake's Night Springs is the alleged name of an upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, reports XBLAFans. The site also obtained some screenshots, though their source asked for them not to be shared. This same informant outed Gotham City Impostors several months back.

Night Springs is the name of the Twilight Zone-esque television show in the world of Wake. Though Remedy had no comment on this recent development, the studio did previously confirm to Joystiq that a new Wake was in the works, but that it would be neither Alan Wake 2 nor more DLC for the first game.

Yesterday, a number of sites (including us) reported on a resume listing that seemingly heralded the existence of Alan Wake 2, an as-of-then unannounced sequel to last year's psychological action horror game from Remedy Entertainment. This morning, Remedy responded to several of those reports (not ours...*sniff*...) with a confirmation of the game's existence... of sorts.

So reads Remedy's Statement:

Fans of the franchise will be excited to learn that yes, more Wake is coming! But to be absolutely certain to avoid confusion, this next Wake installment will not be Alan Wake 2. But neither will it be DLC. The rest we're saving for our official announcement when we'll actually SHOW YOU.

We are really excited about this project which a slice of our team has been working on for the last months. It's something that'll definitely give more to the Wake fans out there, but just as importantly, this installment will also give an opportunity for players who aren't familiar with the franchise to finally jump on board.

Yes, confusion has most certainly been avoided here.

Don't ask us, Alan. We're just as confused as you are.

So, to recap: It is not an Alan Wake sequel, nor is it a DLC offering for the first game. Rather, it is something new for fans of the property, but also something that new players can "jump on board" with. Is it a prequel? A Dark Athena-esque updated repackaging of the first game? The Alan Wake/Max Payne crossover we've always dreamed about? Does it have four legs, yet only one foot? If I figure this out, will The Riddler spare Commissioner Gordon's life?

Cryptic language aside, Remedy seems supremely excited about what they're working on, and promises we won't have to wait too terribly long to find out more.

We can't wait to show you more, bear with us. Release dates, platforms and pricing are unconfirmed as of yet, but Fall 2011 is probably a good guess. More coming soon!

I hereby decree a bounty upon this puzzlement! I want someone to slice this Gordian knot before Remedy makes its (seemingly) inevitable E3 announcement. First person in the comments of this story to guess correctly gets some profile points, a Whiskey t-shirt of their choosing (based on whatever we have lying around), and I promise to finally talk to someone about getting rid of that damnedable "first comment" quest.

Shocking! But the new Alan Wake isn't a sequel. "Fans of the franchise will be excited to learn that, yes, more Wake is coming!" the game's developer told website Joystiq. "But to be absolutely certain to avoid confusion, this next Wake installment will not be Alan Wake 2. But neither will it be DLC." [Joystiq] More »

Earlier today it was discovered on a LinkedIn profile that Alan Wake 2 might be in production...

CG character animator Althea Suarez Gata spent exactly one month at Halon Entertainment, a "previsualization and technology company" whose credits include the Halo: Reach "Deliver Hope" live-action short and a bunch of big-budget Hollywood stuff. In April 2011, just last month, she worked on "Untitled Alien Project" and ... what's this? A video game project titled "Alan Wake 2." Gata's duties are listed simply as "In-Game Cinematic" so it's hard to glean much beyond the whole it's Alan Wake 2 part.

The first and last time we caught wind of a sequel to our number three game of 2010 was when Remedy's head of franchise development Oskari Häkkinen said, "We definitely want to do it. We have great ideas for it. I can see [writer Mikko Rautalahti] here twiddling his thumbs with his ideas for Alan Wake 2." For awhile, that faint glimmer of sequel light in the poor sales darkness was enough to sustain us but only now, with the taste of this latest morsel, do we realize how starved we've been. We've reached out to Remedy for a comment on the listing and also just to check in on how Alan's been doing.

Speaking at a GDC panel earlier this year, Remedy's Markus Maki discussed the development of Alan Wake, namely that the game was originally planned as a multiplatform release, PC and PS3 included. As reported by CVG, Maki noted that Remedy had to maintain a narrow "focus" to get the project done, which meant staying light on features -- no multiplayer, etc. -- and eventually agreeing to become a Microsoft exclusive.

Regarding the planned multiplatform release, Maki stated that Microsoft's offer to publish the game pulled "one big technological effort, the PS3, out of the equation," thus allowing Remedy to focus on a single platform. That said, Maki added that moving to a single platform "changed the technology risk to a business risk - but that's a subject for a different talk altogether." Ouch.

Meanwhile, the PC version of Alan Wake, for reasons we may never fully comprehend, remains (appropriately) shrouded in darkness.

#alanwake Big-budget thriller Alan Wake (above) was years in development. It was eagerly anticipated. Then the game's studio, Remedy, released it. And now? Why not put out an iPhone game. More »

Turns out we'd been thinking of "episodic" gaming the wrong way. Episodic pioneers like Telltale long-since realized that consumers won't stick around episode to episode unless they buy the season upfront; so, episodic gaming isn't so much about a new business model as it is about a new (well, for gaming at least) method of storytelling. And that's where Alan Wake comes in.

When Finnish game developer Remedy Entertainment announced it was turning in wronged NYPD cop Max Payne's badge and gun, only to pick up mystery writer Alan Wake's uh, pen ... and hoodie ... it was clear something was different. Over the game's prolonged five-year development cycle, Alan Wake morphed from an open-world, sandbox-style game set in the Pacific Northwest's fictional town of Bright Falls to a carefully scripted, episodic creation that had more in common with Twin Peaks than Grand Theft Auto.

As part of its ongoing "Countdown to New Year's" promotion, Xbox Live has reduced the prices of both Alan Wake DLC episodes -- The Signal and The Writer -- by more than fifty percent. You can grab the two-part epilogue now at 200 MS Points ($2.50) apiece. If you're going to spend as much as $5 watching a nocturnal, has-been writer trying to escape his own plot twists, you're better off with Alan Wake than M. Night Shyamalan.

The tenuously Alan Wake-branded "Rain Coat and Pants" avatar clothing set has also been reduced to 120 MS Points ($1.50), but we'd suggest saving that change for a rainy day instead. Like, when there's actual rain outside.

A Wacom tablet, Photoshop, and a burning love for Alan Wake's live-action prequel Bright Falls are all that YouTube user J3sseM needed to create this time-lapse video of Mr. Wake's portrait (real-life Finnish actor Ilkka Villi). Oh, right, and lots of artistic talent. That probably helped too.

In a recent interview with Designing Sound, the audio team behind Alan Wake revealed much about their process creating the game's creepy soundscape. One of the more interesting bits in the interview involves the field recording that was done to capture some of the nature sounds of the forest. Pete Comley, a freelance sound designer hired for the project, actually lives in Washington and recorded sounds in many of the forests on which Alan Wake's environments are based.

"Some of the recording was done very late at night in environments very similar to the ones Alan Wake tromps through, far in the woodsy backcountry," said Comley. "I had to keep reminding myself that there were no such things as "the Taken" when I heard the sound of elk crackling through the underbrush in the moonlit darkness (or even worse, total darkness)," he said, adding, "Making this game scared the daylights out of me more than once since I feel like I live where it takes place."

Check out the full, exhaustive interview for more on Alan Wake's audio design process, including how the team approached creating the sound of light, the Dark Presence and the Taken.

Amazon has been dropping deals this week like it's trying to single-handedly stimulate the games industry. Today's "Prelude to Black Friday" offering from the online retailer features several special edition games at deep discounts, including Alan Wake: Limited Edition for a mere $30 (down from $80). That's the same price (a.k.a. 2400 Microsoft Points) the standard game will cost as a download when it arrives on Xbox Live's Games on Demand next Tuesday, November 23 (sans access to "The Signal" DLC, which is included in the LE).

Halo: Reach - Legendary Edition is also on sale, for a reasonable $75 (50-percent off), as the day's lightning deal, which expires at 5PM ET. Other all-day discounts on Amazon include the special edition bundles for Dead Rising 2, Modern Warfare 2 and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Head past the break to peruse our galleries of some of these limited editions ... if you haven't already clicked over to Amazon!

#xbox360 Alan Wake, which released May 18, arrives on the Xbox Live Marketplace's Games on Demand service six months later. More »

We've said it many times and in many ways: Alan Wake is pretty great. For a mere $20, Buy.com is offering new copies of the game, a positively wonderful deal. Since they're new, they should have a free code for the first DLC 'The Signal.' We'd kinda like a sequel, so go buy a copy.

IGN recently visited Remedy's headquarters in Finland to discuss the successes and failures of Alan Wake. According to Remedy's Matias Myllyrine, the team is very happy with the "mood and the story and the setting" of the game. While the project underwent significant changes during development -- it was originally an open world game, for example -- Myllyrine believes it remains "very close" to the original vision "in terms of feel, mood and atmosphere."

As for failure, Myllyrine wished that Alan Wake's marketing would have had "an even crisper communication of what the game does," adding that it could have used "stronger advertising about what's unique about this game." We'd certainly agree that a sequel -- should it see the light of day -- needs stronger marketing, but we have another piece of advice as well: Don't release your game on the same day as Red Dead Redemption.

Remedy on the successes and failures of its horror spectacular.

#xbox360 Alan Wake is not a shoe-in for Game of the Year 2010, but these ads for the exclusive Xbox 360 thriller are so lovely they deserve some sort of high-caliber 2010 praise. More »

#videogames Back when I played through Alan Wake I heaped on the accolades. It redefined interactive storytelling, I wrote. I said it likely won't be topped in 2010. More »

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." This advice from Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes, would prove useful to anyone in the business of storytelling -- anyone but Alan Wake. A sip of reality would do the ill-tempered writer some good, now that he finds himself in a drunk stumble towards the end of a story that began in May.

In "The Writer," the final downloadable episode for Alan Wake, developer Remedy faces a problem that creeps in at the climax of any thriller. With the air cleared of mystery, there's much less impetus to march through the forests of Bright Falls in search of obscured answers. Remedy reaches for the carpet now, taking hold of its reality-with-a-twist setting before twisting it some more, until the world hangs upside-down.

We've known since May that Alan Wake's second downloadable content extension would be titled "The Writer." Last night, Gametrailers told us it'll get here Oct. 12. The pack costs 560 Microsoft Points. More »

Courtesy of the below-embedded trailer for "The Writer" - the purported final piece of Alan Wake DLC - comes the release date and, with it, the end of Alan's journey, both narratively and (for now?) commercially. Come October 12, you'll once again rejoin Alan Wake in his nightmare world, a strange place populated by photosensitive murderers and floating words, and "end the nightmare" as the trailer proclaims. Like "The Signal," the game's first DLC episode, "The Writer" will cost a reasonable 560 Microsoft bucks ($7 Earth bucks) and feature "intense action." After watching the Bright Falls lighthouse explode a bunch of dudes in the trailer, we're going to agree with that assessment.

Alan Wake's "The Writer" DLC may be the last we see of Mr. Wake in downloadable form, according to Evil Avatar. Remedy head Matias Myllyrinne apparently told the site that The Writer would "conclude things" (Evil Av's words) and, like the last DLC episode, will feature "intense action" (Myllyrinne's words). Remedy has yet to confirm the report as of publishing.

Even if The Writer is to be the last DLC for Alan Wake, Remedy has certainly expressed interest in an episodic, digitally distributed release of the full game at some point. Additionally, a recent interview with Remedy resulted in a fuzzy answer to the question of additional Alan Wake DLC beyond the upcoming episode. With any luck, Remedy will paint a clearer explanation soon.

#clips I have no information that anyone is actually building this for PC, but it's amusing to consider. By YouTube user AnttiApinaPro, seen by reader Morris. More »