Topic: Alan Wake -> Update: AW leaving Steam + GOG w/ 90% off sale (Reply 189)

[Xessive]

I'm inclined to agree that the general masses may not see a difference between 720p and 1080p, however certain lower resolutions will be quite noticeable. My benchmark is my little brother. Just to give you an idea he's a gym jock and he's not tech-savvy. If he notices it, you can bet your Sunday pantaloons the general public will.

This would not be an issue with good ol' SD TVs. Everything looks glorious on those! Unreadable but glorious! No jaggies!

[iPPi]

In my experience, the differences between 720p, 1080i, and 1080p are not too noticeable on most screens, especially if the screen is under 65".

However, lower resolutions are quite noticeable on 50"+ screens.  That said, the game is being upscaled to 720p anyway, so it will still be hard to discern the difference.  People are just throwing a fit because it isn't natively 720p.

[Xessive]

I'm on PC, I'm happy I can set whatever resolution I desire! I can even hook it up to a classic SDTV and play on a really low resolution for shits and giggles! Muahahaha!

[MysterD]

I'm on PC, I'm happy I can set whatever resolution I desire! I can even hook it up to a classic SDTV and play on a really low resolution for shits and giggles! Muahahaha!

Woohooo!!!

Now, if we can get Alan Wake to come to the PC, I'd be VERY happy.

[MysterD]

The First DLC will be FREE with those who buy Alan Wake X360 brand new.

[Xessive]

GameTrailers reviews Alan Wake!

[PyroMenace]

Damnit... this month is going to be another big one, you got this, Red Dead Redemption, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

[wizall]

http://www.giantbomb.com/alan-wake/61-20982/reviews/

Looks damn good. And yeah, Pyro, this and Red Dead Redemption means it's going to be a spendy month.

[MysterD]

So, GTTV says there are SIX episodes and that each episode is around 1 hour to maybe 2 hours...
Good thing they are throwing in that free DLC for those buying new copies of the game...

I wonder how long/short the 1st DLC episode will be...
And of course, episodes after that, too....

[Xessive]

Alan Wake looks more like classic Alone in the Dark than the new Alone in the Dark 2008 did! It looks interesting but I'm holding out till mid-summer.

[MysterD]

IGN - 9.0 for Alan Wake (X360).
Video Review.
Written review.

[iPPi]

Looks awesome.  I will pick it up in the near future though... I've got too many games on my plate to get this one at this time.

[MysterD]

Eurogamer - 7 [out of 10]
Written review - and no, it's not pretty.

Despite all this, it's hard not to feel sorry for Alan Wake. (That is to say, Alan Wake the game - it's easy not to feel sorry for Alan Wake the character, with his melodramatic disposition, endless blathering and silly conviction that the best thing to do when your wife goes missing isn't to just call the police.)

Had Alan Wake been released three years ago, it would have been easy to recommend the game as a solid, polished action-adventure.

The genre has moved on since then. Games such as BioShock have shown how compelling and original storylines can be told in innovative ways. The likes of Uncharted 2 have offered up not just lush visuals but diverse locations and varied gameplay. With Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream broke the rules of game narrative and forced the player not only to think before pulling the trigger, but to feel.

By comparison, Alan Wake is tired and derivative. Everything about it feels dated, from the linear level design to the red-green switch nonsense to the visual stylings (surely not even J Allard has attempted the hoodie-with-jacket combo since 2005). There are plenty of fancy cut-scenes, dramatic voiceovers and cinematic camera angles, but even when Alan Wake does a good job of pretending to be a film you just feel like you're watching a really bad film.

EDIT:
1Up - B+ grade
Written review.

If anything, Alan Wake reminds me of the first Uncharted. It is a great, but flawed work (hello ugly daylight, quirky animations, and a script that mocks the viewer even more than Lost or Twin Peaks) that lays the foundation for what could be an absolutely amazing follow-up. I just hope it doesn't take another five or six years.

[MysterD]

Remedy already has plans for Alan Wake: Season Two.

EDIT - May 11, 2010:
Shacknews - Alan Wake (360) review.

[PyroMenace]

So they are doing the episode thing... good luck to them.

[Pugnate]

So I read the Eurogamer review, and I've always found their writing to be a little strange, even though I do like their work. It almost feels like their reviews were written in another language and then translated. Really, what was the point of this opening:

"It's ready when it's ready." Developers must love being able to say that. It means they're so rich and successful they don't have to worry about trivialities like release dates. The publisher will wait patiently for them to hand over the finished product, and won't dare bang on about seasonal purchasing trends in the meantime.

It suggests they've risen above the situation of most developers, who, on being asked when their game is out, must either lie or reply, "It's ready when the publisher says it's ready / when it's cost so much money we can't afford to buy toilet paper for the office / when the movie's out, even if we haven't finished the final level and none of the cars have wheels."

Remedy Entertainment doesn't fall into that category.

It is just pointless to read that when he concludes with "Remedy Entertainment doesn't fall into that category".

The rest of the review is fairly solid though.

[MysterD]

Alan Wake $DLC will NOT extend the story of the base game.
Basically, it'll be more set-up for Season Two.

[MysterD]

Designingsound.org -> Interview w/ Sound Team that worked on Alan Wake.

[gpw11]

I've been watching a Lets Play of this game on Something Awful and it seems pretty damn awesome. If I had a 360, I'd be all over this.

[PyroMenace]

This is like $20 on games on demand on Xbox Live, been very tempted to jump on it. But I'm wondering if anymore DLC is going to be pumped out or has it not been worth it for them? I think the game has sold poorly seeing how quickly it has gotten cheap.

[Quemaqua]

How much DLC has there been?  I'm guessing there won't be a GOTY package or anything like that.

[Pugnate]

I think the DLC provides are more satisfactory conclusion or something. I still haven't finished the game, but I know you guys, especially Que, would love it.

[MysterD]

The Writer DLC [DLC #2] was supposed to be Alan Wake's last DLC.
That last DLC was supposed to be a set-up for Alan Wake: Season Two - which right now is still up in the air.

I hope Remedy can convince M$ to let them do Alan Wake: Season Two.
Yeah, of course - I'd still love to see Alan Wake: Season One on the PC.

[Cobra951]

"The Signal" and "The Writer" DLCs are 200 MS points each, today on XBL--just today I think.  They're doing a different deal daily through the holidays.

The full game for download is $30, which is not a fire-sale price by any means.

[Quemaqua]

No, it's not.  It's the exact same price as buying it brand-new at retail.

[iPPi]

I picked up Alan Wake yesterday as part of the Boxing Day Sale and played a bit of it today.  You can totally tell this game was developed by the people that made Max Payne.  The way the game plays and feels is very reminiscent of Max Payne. 

Anyway, I've only put in about 1 hour into the game thus far and I'm enjoying it.  My copy of the game came with a redeemable code for the first DLC for free.  When I finish the game and move on to the DLC, I'll decide whether or not the second DLC is worth buying or not.  560 MS points is pretty steep.

[Cobra951]

Oh, man you just missed it.  That was 200 msp for a day as part of XBL's daily holiday deals.  Yeah, 560 is steep, and a weird number.

[MysterD]

Rumor -> Alan Wake PC is hiding in Steam's registry.
So, is Alan Wake coming to the PC soon? 

[idolminds]

Confirmed early 2012

Hey its only two years late, I'm sure it'll sell like crazy now. 

Interview! More like a "dodge all the questions" session. But this is the best one:

RPS: Why release it now?

Aki Järvilehto: I think it’s more related to the fact that there are many digital channels we can do use this on now. It wasn’t previously possible. Now that we have the possibility, we just had to go for it.

Yeah, that shit just sprung up in the last year.

[Pugnate]

hahahahaha idol...

[Xessive]

Is it a coincidence that games published by Microsoft Games Studio (e.g. Gears of War, Fable, etc.) take around two years before they get to the PC?

[MysterD]

Is it a coincidence that games published by Microsoft Games Studio (e.g. Gears of War, Fable, etc.) take around two years before they get to the PC?

I'm just glad it's FINALLY officially coming here...hopefully packaged w/ all the DLC w/ it.

Now, if we can get Gears 2 and 3 on the PC; Fable 2 on the PC; and of course Halo 3, ODST, and Reach on the PC - I can really jump for joy.

[idolminds]

Steamworks and other details I seem to have stop caring about.

[MysterD]

Steamworks and other details I seem to have stop caring about.

That actually ain't much on details... 

[MysterD]

Remedy Games -> Alan Wake PC Version FAQ

Alan Wake PC will include BOTH DLC's: The Signal and The Writer.
Supports Steamworks; Steam Cloud; and Steam Achievements.
Also supports NVidia 3D Stereoscopic support.
Game can be played w/ KB/mouse OR X360 gamepad.

What are the minimum specs for the game?

We are still finalising the optimisations and graphics scalability, so some details can still change.

This is our current view:

    OS: Windows Vista or Windows 7 (see below for Windows XP)
    PROCESSOR: A dual core processor is required:

        AMD: Athlon X2 2.8GHz
        Intel: Core 2 Duo 2GHz

    MEMORY: 2 GB
    HARD DRIVE: 8 GB
    VIDEO CARD: DirectX 10 compatible or later with 512MB RAM

        AMD: ATI Radeon 3650, 4450, 5550, 6450 or higher (per series)
        NVIDIA: GeForce 8600GT, 9500GT, GT120, GT430, GT520 (per series)

    SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c compatible
    INPUT: Mouse and keyboard, Xbox360 controller also supported

What do I need to run with max settings?

For a solid performance Remedy recommends a modern quad-core CPU and a graphics card with around 2000 in 3DMark Graphics Score as seen in here: http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu

For max settings and high resolutions, a top of the line graphics card and CPU is needed.

What graphical customisations will the player be able to make?

We are still finalising the options, but the players can naturally adjust resolution, run in full screen or windowed and change numerous graphics quality settings such as anti-aliasing, FXAA, shadow quality, draw distance and so on.

The players can also turn off the HUD if they wish. This was a feature many of our fans wanted for Alan Wake Xbox360.

[MysterD]

Alan Wake: Complete Edition PC will launch at Steam on Feb 16th at $30; will go to retail later.

[MysterD]

IGN [on Youtube] -> 15 min hands-on w/ Alan Wake PC w/ Charles Onyett & Anthony Gallegos.
Shows off numerous graphics settings and gameplay.

[MysterD]

PC Gamer -> 360 vs. PC Screenshots.

[Xessive]

Alan Wake on GreenManGaming: get 33% off with voucher: HALFT-ERMHO-RRORS

[MysterD]

IGN -> Alan Wake's American Nightmare [X360 from XBLA] - 8.0 (of 10) = Written Review.; Video Review.

GameSpy -> Alan Wake: Complete Edition (PC) - 3 stars [of 5].