Alan Wake PC Rests on MicroSoft’s Shoulders

A few months ago it was announced that the long delayed Alan Wake would only be coming to consoles. Fans of Remedy, whose games like Max Payne had always started on the PC were pretty annoyed and forums started heating up.

In a recent statement though the developer said that they would “love to see a PC version” and that “plans are open” but it apparently falls to MicroSoft to make the decision. Which mean it may not be coming for a little while since MS likes to give it’s 360 some time to grab a few dollars before releasing games in the piracy-prone PC.

In any case we’ll see how it develops and how the console version feels when it finally comes out.

Here’s the full statement:

“It is accurate that we are currently working exclusively on the Xbox 360 version of Alan Wake,” the statement reads. “PC plans are currently open, and therefore it’s safe to say that at least a simultaneous launch with the Xbox version will not happen at this late stage. Remedy has a deep heritage in PC gaming and would love to see a PC version available to its PC followers, ultimately however this decision lies with our publisher.”

E3 2009: Microsoft Press Conference

Today at 10:30am PST E3 officially launched with the Microsoft press conference. It feature several announcements, some big and some small, some exciting, some yawn-inducing. But overall I think it was a good conference.

Mantra: Showing Not Telling.

NB: Keep in my mind that I will add/update links as HD videos pop up on the web.

The big announcement of the conference was Project Natal. The long speculated camera with movement recognition. It turns out it will also feature facial and voice recognition.
They really pushed it with appearances from Steven Spielberg and Peter Molyneux but it was a mixed bag.

The lame painting demo, though somewhat fun gave me the same feeling as Wii Music last year. Completely gimmicky and useless. Not precise enough to be used in games. The Ricochet demo, likewise, was fun in the sense that the girl who did the demo after 5 minutes seemed ready to jump into the shower. So what of hour long sessions…..

The whole Lionhead demo is also bittersweet. On the one hand the demo itself is sad! Following on the whole new stuff for Live, now you don’t need to press a button with Natal voice recognition, you don’t need to see your friends because you have Facebook and Twitter everywhere and with Milo you don’t even need a friend! Sad really.
But on the other hand if you look past the presentation itself. What it offers in terms of new technology, when harnessed, could be amazing in games. Imaging being in Resident Evil 5 and instead of having to go through ammo inventory management hell, you would just say “give my shotgun ammo” and ..voila! Truly an amazing potential that has yet to be developed.
It is after all still a ‘project’ so let us give them the benefit of the doubt.

In other none-straight-game-related stuff, Microsoft announced new partnerships:

• Last.fm which will allow access to the famous music site. In addition people with gold subscriptions will have access to it all for free. This feels like this year’s Netflix deal.
• Facebook. This a a pretty big thing if it’s exclusive but all in all it allows you to do what you already do on your PC and Blackberry from your 360. YAY lazy.
• Twitter. Same as Facebook, nothing to add.
• Sky TV in the UK which will allow you to watch live TV.
• All videos will now be available instantly in 1080p. Nice but I’ll believe it when I see it.

The announcements most of the people who may read my blog (however few) are interested in are the games. On that front I thought Microsoft did pretty well so let’s dive in.

• The Beatles Rock Band. Paul, Ringo and Yoko! Pretty big PR. Check out the amazing game intro. All You Need Is Love is a 360 exclusive and I am so getting this game! I don’t own it yet and the Beatles guitars look awesome. Out 09-09-09!
• Modern Warfare 2. They showed the long trailer that came out last week but they also had a gameplay demo in the snow with blizzard weather and snowmobile that was awesome!
• Final Fantasy XIII. It was basically the Japanese demo of the English version with English voices. I’m still praying for VO in the game though. They unveiled Odin which was cool. It’s set to release in Spring 2010.
• Splinter Cell: Conviction. They showed a very nice demo and trailer. The game looks darker and features some new stuff like an EMP grenade and ‘Mark and Execute’ which allows you to sort of set a sequence and get it going for a fast kill.
• Left 4 Dead 2. Featured a great trailer and a release date for October of this year.
• Halo 3: ODST. Another sweet trailer, Bukcle up and prepare to drop! Some gameplay footage in New Mombasa as the Rookie. The game will have a flashback systema nd you will play several ODSTs to build up the plot.
• Halo: Reach. Unveiling of the game. Set around the time of the novel ‘Fall of Reach’ which was a prequel to the game. No surprise another nice trailer. Set to release in 2010 and there will be a beta access with ODST.
• Alan Wake. At last!!!! A very nice footage of the game. Walking around at night with a tryst flashlight. It reminded my a lot of Alone in the Dark on the DC. You seem to be facing ghost which are neutralized with a sort of EMP weapon. The game is coming out Spring 2010.
• Forza Motorsport 3. A short trailer and a live demo showing the different views with the head vision going left and right. A new very deep costumization and video editing system for Live. Release date set for October.
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising. and HERE. WE. GO. After Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy Sony lost the Metal Gear exclusive. Aside from this the whole thign was fairly poor. Same trailer we’ve been teased with for weeks (and the countdown hadn’t even reached zero!). Even though it’s called Metal Gear SOLID it Kojima made a point to say it doesn’t feature Solid Snake but Raiden as we knew.
• Shadow Complex. New Epic Game for XBLA. was unveiled through massive sound problem so we didn’t hear a bunch of stuff. The animation looks a lot like Bionic Commando Rearmed and the map is reminiscent of Metroid/Castlevania.
• Crackdown 2. Featured a nice trailer but that’s about it.
• Brutal Legend. Tim Schaeffer detailed some of the voice work and characters in the game with a  fun trailer. Included are Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead’s Lemmy Killmeister, Lita Ford and more. Still coming out Rocktober!
• Tony Hawk Ride. unveiled the final design for the skate peripheral as well as a basic trailer. nothing thrilling.
• Joy Ride. A sort of Mario Kart with your Avatars in the cars. But it’s free so there’s really nothing to complain about. Could be fun.

Tuesday October 21, 2008

RetroBeats Session 14 is Out!

This week I select my favorite songs taken from video game intros.
Be sure to check it out if you enjoy games.

E3 May Be Back

After the controversial 2007 and 2008 versions of what used to be the biggest show for the video game industry, it was clear that the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) had to figure something out.
Today we have two somewhat different reports.
On the one hand is G4’s X-Play which has said that the show will be from Tuesday June 2 to Thursday June 4 and that while it will have a much wider range of guests it still won’t be open to the public.
On the other hand N’Gai Croal (from Newsweek) got from an ‘inside source‘ that the show will be limited to the press from Tuesday through Thursday but will be open to the public on Friday and Saturday. Although the ESA plans to cap the limit to 40,000 persons.
The ESA is supposed to make a formal announcement tomorrow.
What is clear is that whether or not E3 is coming back in full swing, it is clearly on the move.

Syndicate Lives!!

Rumors are afloat on the web that Electronic Arts and Starbreeze (Escape from Butcher Bay, The Darkness…) are currently working on a new game for the great Syndicate series (made by Bullfrog in 1993 and 1996). Even if it is still just word of mouth so far, considering the success of the first two games and how long it has been, we can be excited about this.

New Alan Wake Trailer!!

Big news today. Check it out here.
The project from Remedy has a lot of potential but we can see the game is starting to show its age a little so they better either release it fast or rework it a bit…. Mostly release it fast.

Xbox Live Insult Censorship?

Microsoft is trying to implement a system that will censor words in real time on Live. Live has long been known for its slew of stupid teenagers who curse left and right and sometimes harass players, you can report them and have them banned but there is little anyone can do to really stop them from ever coming back.
In any case Microsoft is trying to become more family-friendly but aside from the technical difficulty of this endeavor I doubt a system will be able to differentiate between tens of different languages.
for example I am French. What would the system do if I said “Il faut que je retourne a la base” (I have to return to base)?? “faut que” can sound a lot like “f*ck” so then what?
I will leave you to ponder this.

KotOR MMORPG Confirmed!!!

Everyone had suspicions it was coming but it was confirmed today by LucasArts and BioWare during a special interview with Gamespot.
The game will be called Star Wars: The Old Republic and have two factions, the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Within each faction you can verge between the Light and Dark side. The game will take place 300 years after the KotOR games which is 3600 years before the movies.
Not much info has filtered yet but BioWare is saying they want to make the most story/character driven MMO out there and we certainly hope they hold true to this.
In any case I suggest you head over to Gamespot to check out the lengthy article and the 10 minute video that goes with it.

Thursday August 28, 2008

Screens for Raven Squad

Atomic Motion released 6 new screens today for their new game that will combine FPS and RTS. the game will let you manage two groups of four soldiers to reach your goals. The strategy part will be there to help you move your your squads, choose abilities and such, you will be able to switch to first person view when combats engage to be more immersed.
The game is set to come out this Fall on PC and Xbox 360.

Max Payne 3 at Rockstar

We all know that Remedy has been busy for a while on Alan Wake so Rockstar apparently decided to take over the development of the third game in the franchise and gave the project to Rockstar Toronto.
Added to this is a rumor that Max Payne 3 might be a PS3 exclusive which all in all seems highly unlikely.

So Blonde on Wii and DS

As some of you may know I reviewed the PC version of the game here.
The point & click game will be similar with adapted gameplay depending on the console. Also the graphics look fairly identical to the PC version but for some reason, even though the locations look the same, the angles and pans are different. The minigames also looks different, less Game & Watch and more cell shaded. Either way it’s a great game so try it out.

Tuesday August 19, 2008

Two Very Nice Articles

Rather than make a sub-par summary I’ll just link them so you can enjoy them.
The first one, by Ars Technica talks about how the PS3 is gaining steam and what the 360’s issues are currently. The guy has some very interesting and valid points. Check it out here.
The second one is a new research by the American Psychology Association which points out that games can be very educational in both good and bad ways and it all depends on several factors such as content, amount of time played… check it out here.

Sequel for the PSN Version of Ratchet & Clank

People who finish the PSN game Quest for Booty are greeted by this nice little screen which needs no comments. Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for More Booty in 2009?

Remedy Still at Work on Alan Wake

After being disappointed by its absence at E3, many started thinking that Alan Wake might never come out at all, or at least go the sad way of Duke Nukem Forever. Not so, on the official forums the developers announced yesterday that they were still working hard on the game but they had face some difficulties and that “sometimes you need to take a detour to find the best route forward“.
Nos we just need to follow the light and hopefully a trailer will pop up at GC 2008 because the last video is already 2 years old!

Duke Nukem 3D on XBLA

3D Realms just confirmed they have finished the special edition of the game for XBLA. The game was approved by Microsoft an should be released soon.
In the words of the Duke himself: “What are you waiting for?… Christmas?!”

Friday July 18, 2008

In gaming news today and as the E3 is drawing to a close we can finally start to sit back and relax (a little).

Guitar Hero: World Tour to Feature 3 Jimi Hendrix Songs

Activision stroke back with a vengeance today when they announced that the new Guitar Hero would feature not one, not two but three! songs from Jimi Hendrix. And not the least known ones either: Purple Haze, Foxy Lady and Little Wings. During the Microsoft conference at E3 2008 Harmonix announced that they would finally feature AC/DC in Rock Band 2, but they are only featuring one single song, Let There Be Rock, which gives Guitar Hero a sudden edge. The music game battle rages on!

Knights of the Old Republic Online is finally confirmed!

Portfolio.com got the story today form the horse’s mouth, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello, that EA is indeed working on the next KotOR project and that “yes”” it is an MMO. No release date or any other details have been announced yet but it seems the name might be “The Old Republic”.

Alan Wake to Be Shown at TGS

A Vista promotional page hints at the fact that the game will finally be shown at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. The game was strongly missing for E3 2008 and one can wonder about the validity of showing a PC game in Japan which is a very console oriented market.

Wii Sales Above 360 in the U.S. for the First Time

As of June, according to numbers released by the NDP, the Wii has sold 10.9 million units whereas the 360 has sold 10.4 million, officially beating the Microsoft console for the first time in the U.S. It is worth noting that worldwide the Wii has been above the 360 for some time selling close to 25 million units as opposed to 19 million for the latter.