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Death Rally gets big multiplayer update
Death Rally is a great iOS title from Remedy Entertainment, the makers of the Alan Wake game for the Xbox 360 a little while back. (Quick disclaimer: I, Mike Schramm, actually have a cameo in the game, for turning in a solid time at a press event. But I wasn't paid at all for my appearance, and I don't make anything from sales of the game. I legitimately think it's a great title, though.) The game has just gotten a big update that adds something players might be surprised by: multiplayer. Up to four people can now load up the game, and race against each other using the Shrieker car, on up to six different maps, including Eureka, which was previously only available via in-app purchase. The update also adds a new weapon, the flamethrower, available from an in-app purchase reward pack, as well as a new paint job for one of the cars, and some enhanced graphics on the iPad 2. I have to say, iOS 5 support would have been nice (it's kind of a pain to have to re-do the game on the iPad if you've already played on the iPhone), but considering the update is completely free, I can't complain too much. If you haven't picked up the game yet, it's available for just 99 cents as a universal version right now. Good luck trying to blow me up in the game -- you'll get an achievement for it if you do.
Rumor: Alan Wake 2 in production (for the next Xbox)
Rumors of an Alan Wake sequel have been circling about since ... well, since Alan Wake and its DLC expansions left the door wide open for one. But also since the phrase "Alan Wake 2" first appeared on an artist's resume back in May. Developer Remedy confirmed with Joystiq that it was working on more Wake, though "this next Wake installment will not be Alan Wake 2," it said. "But neither will it be DLC." How appropriately mysterious! And now a rumor from Xbox World magazine says that Remedy is indeed working on Alan Wake 2, for the next-gen Xbox. "We hear a number of Microsoft-friendly developers are hard at work on prepping next gen games as we speak. Could this be the reason why Remedy are so quiet about Alan Wake 2? (Yes)," the magazine responded to itself. "Rare, Lionhead and Turn 10 all have teams in place too. Rare, we hear, are even prototyping ideas for a new 'mature title,'" the mag adds. We spoke with Microsoft Studios chief Phil Spencer at E3 this year, who said he read about the project on Joystiq and had no involvement with it at that time. "I think the stuff they're doing now they wanted to incubate, Mattias and the team," Spencer said. "They wanted to incubate internally. Like I said, I don't think they've signed it with anybody." Spencer also insisted that Microsoft Studios had no next-gen games in development and was instead completely focused on Xbox 360 and Kinect software. I think we speak for everyone (in the world) when we say that we don't care which platform Alan Wake 2 comes out on, just so long as it has a killer multiplayer deathmatch mode. We're kidding.
Microsoft Studios hasn't signed next Alan Wake project, would 'love to work with Remedy again'
Oskari Häkkinen, head of franchise development for Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment, told Joystiq last month that, in fact, a new Alan Wake project was under development. Admittedly, we were getting a little ahead of ourselves when we arrived at E3 this year in full Alan Wake cosplay so the absence of the latest A. Wake project – rumored to be an XBLA title called Alan Wake's Night Springs – hit us pretty hard. So we tracked down Microsoft Studios chief Phil Spencer to grill him about Remedy's reveal and the dearth of Alan Wake games in Microsoft's E3 lineup. "I read that," Spencer said, laughing about the news. "I don't know that they've signed it with anybody." While Spencer told us that Wake "didn't sell as well as we would have liked," he was clear that it wouldn't affect their working relationship. "I'd love to work with Remedy again," he told us. "We have ongoing conversations with them." So if Microsoft isn't privy to what Remedy's working on, who is? "I think the stuff they're doing now they wanted to incubate, Mattias and the team," Spencer said. "They wanted to incubate internally. Like I said, I don't think they've signed it with anybody." Well, as long as that's the case, we'll have our Joystiq Publishing representatives get in touch with Remedy and work something out. Our backrub-heavy royalty system is an industry first.
Death Rally recouped Remedy's dev costs in three days
Remedy is known for Alan Wake and Max Payne, but the studio also recently helped produce Death Rally for iOS, a game that has been very successful for the studio. Remedy Managing Director Matias Myllyrinne told us during E3 that the game recouped its development costs in three days on the App Store and took a mere eight months to develop. "A lot of the credit goes to Mountain Sheep for developing a great fun game. We produced it, took it forward and helped - but the heavy lifting is with the dev team as always," Myllyrinne said. We asked if the success of Death Rally has shifted the studio's priorities. "I think in terms of priorities, Remedy will continue to do what we do best. We love our big movie-like story driven action games - but it is also about applying these strengths in new ways too. There are awesome things happening with digital stuff like XBLA, Steam, iPhones etc. Where you can build a killer value and fun at a low price point and still make money." No comment on Alan Wake's Night Springs.
Rumor: Alan Wake's Night Springs coming to XBLA
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.
New Alan Wake confirmed, but it's not 'Alan Wake 2'
Remedy has confirmed that it's working on the next Alan Wake game -- but the "next" game is not the "Alan Wake 2" that was outed from an artist's resume. Oskari Häkkinen, head of franchise development for the Finnish developer, confirmed to Joystiq that a slice of the team is crafting "this next Wake installment," which is neither sequel nor downloadable content. "Fans of the franchise will be excited to learn that, yes, more Wake is coming!" he said. "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 full explanation, "when we'll actually SHOW YOU," is being saved for the official announcement later. If it's not a sequel, then what is it? (What is it with you and confounding nebulousness, Alan?) "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." Could it be an updated version of the original scary-forest sim, or an episodic continuation? Remedy is not announcing platforms or release dates yet, but told us that "Fall 2011 is probably a good guess." Also a good guess? Nowhere near a Rockstar game.
'Alan Wake 2' appears in artist's resume (and in our hearts)
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.
Remedy working on new facial animation tech, aiming to overtake LA Noire [update]
Edge recently visited the offices of Alan Wake developer Remedy Entertainment, where the studio is hard at work implementing brand new facial animation technology. Created by lead animator John Root, the system uses motion capture to generate scans of actors (accurate to within 0.02 inches) and encapsulates 64 different facial poses. Root claims those are a basis for every possible human expression. Animators can manipulate faces in real-time rather than rely on canned recordings, and future improvements to the technology may allow them to adjust coloring based on simulated blood flow beneath the skin. The first showcase for Root's kit is a new model of Alan Wake -- a fitting subject, considering he had some trouble with lip syncing in his debut game. Remedy CEO Matias Myllyrinne says Rockstar and Team Bondi has "set a bar" for facial animation, but that the studio wants to push it higher. Further clarifying via Twitter, Myllyrinne complimented LA Noire, saying it remains "the benchmark for emotional characters today." It looks like Remedy doesn't have any hard feelings toward Rockstar for that whole, you know, May 2010 thing.
Remedy: Signing with MGS for Alan Wake was 'a business risk'
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.
GDC 2011: Remedy brings Death Rally to iOS
Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment is known for making full-fledged console titles like Max Payne and Alan Wake, but it's stepping into the iOS arena with a touch-based remake of its old racing combat game Death Rally, originally released back in 1996. I got to see the game in action at GDC in San Francisco last week, and I liked it a lot. While it does make use of a virtual joystick (something that Graeme Devine had railed at in his panel earlier in the day), this one's done very well, providing both direction and acceleration to your little car as you race around the game's various tracks. Remedy worked with developer Mountain Sheep (makers of Minigore) on this one, and the polish and experience on the platform shows. The textures are clear and bright, and the gameplay is very solid. There are five cars to start (with possibly more coming later), and each of them handles differently, from a huge van down to a muscle car. The weapons are also very different, and all of them are upgradeable. Spending money earned after every race can be used to improve your car's stats or push your weapons up to the next level. As you race, you also unlock various challenges, like racing against just one opponent or going around a reversed track, that mix up the gameplay. %Gallery-118560%
Remedy co-founder joins Rovio to bring Angry Birds to consoles
Petri Järvilehto, one of the founders of Remedy Entertainment, has joined fellow Finnish developer Rovio Mobile as senior vice president of console development. Serving in this new role, Järvi– er, let's just go with Petri ... will spearhead Rovio's efforts to "take the Angry Birds success story to current and emerging console platforms." Currently, a port of the original Angry Birds smartphone game is available for PS3 as a PSN Mini, but Rovio looks to be aiming for new heights as it prepares to launch its flightless birds into future console games. "We want to make Angry Birds a long-lasting global gaming franchise, and we see the console platforms as a way of delivering an even more entertaining, powerful and involving experience," Rovio CEO Mikael Hed said in a press release, perhaps hinting at the dark, psychological turn the bird-launching series could take on consoles. "I think we're only in the beginning, and with consoles we have the opportunity to create a new kind of gaming experience," Petri added, ending on a cliffhanger. To get a sense of where he's coming from -- and just how completely different it is from Angry Birds -- Petri personally led the development of Max Payne 1 & 2 and headed up the initial game design of last year's standout Xbox 360 exclusive Alan Wake. He will remain on Remedy's board of directors.
Remedy brings Death Rally out of the garage for iPhone port
How will Remedy follow up last year's exceptional, psychological thriller Alan Wake? With a game about cars blowing each other up, of course. Death Rally was Remedy's first game, published for PC by Apogee in 1996 and cleaned up to run on modern rigs in 2009. Now, with the help of Minigore dev Mountain Sheep, Remedy is porting the combat racing title to iOS devices, including iPhone and iPad, for a violent history lesson on the go. You can acquaint yourself with the world of Death Rally (hint: it's mostly rallies and dying) by watching the trailer after the break -- or, even better, by playing the '96 freeware release! [File download, PC only]
Joystiq Top 10 of 2010: Alan Wake
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.
Alan Wake DLC discounted on Xbox Live Marketplace
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.
Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2 and Limbo among Time's best games of 2010
In collating the top ten of everything in 2010 (excluding the top ten recursive jokes about top ten lists), Time has picked some of its favorite video games from the last twelve months. Among the top ten are science fiction stalwarts Halo: Reach and Mass Effect 2, the elegant and creepy Limbo, and iPhone finch fling-em-up, Angry Birds (which just makes it in, having launched at the very end of 2009). Time's top choice is Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake, which is praised by writer Evan Narcisse for its mature craft and metaphoric gameplay. "Its mix of meta-awareness and Hitchcockian suspense make Alan Wake a unique and fun experiment and one of the best games of the year." Alan Wake's devoted fans are likely to agree: Time couldn't have picked a better game, and the game couldn't have picked a worse time.
Alan Wake speed painting animates the actor behind the pixels
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.
Max Payne 2 for a buck on GFW Marketplace today
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is available today on the Games for Windows Marketplace for just $0.99. A great deal on a noir love story with a high body count. Speaking of Max, dearest of all our MIA protagonists, there's still nothing new to report on Max Payne 3. Having already had nearly two years worth of release windows close, the game's latest official delay was this past June. We'd guess that the triple Payne would have a launch window sometime in 2011, but trusting any release estimate is like a noir character trusting a dame with silk stockings. Also, World of Goo is on sale this week through the Marketplace for $4.99. [Thanks, Josh]
Alan Wake dev seeking programmer, motion control know-how a plus
Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Max Payne and, most recently, Alan Wake, is on the hunt for some new talent to add to its ranks -- including a programmer that will preferably have "experience on motion-control technology (e.g. Kinect)." While it's entirely possible that the developer simply wants someone on staff who has mad Dance Central skills, the more likely motivation would be that it's looking to be prepared for when (or if) it decides to develop a game that incorporates motion controls. We're going to suggest that Remedy give this guy a ring. That is, if the company gets tapped to make a Star Wars title that will let players project holograms of themselves into it and bark orders at Lord Vader, Emperor style.
Alan Wake: The Writer review: Scary scribblenaut
"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. %Gallery-104826%
Alan Wake 'The Writer' dated October 12th, promises to 'end the nightmare'
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.
