It looks like Microsoft and Remedy Entertainment are finally getting ready to spill more details about their upcoming psychological action thriller, Alan Wake (Xbox 360, PC). The game will apparently be present at this year's Tokyo Game Show according to a Vista gaming contest. More in the full article.

As a moderator over at the Alan Wake (Xbox 360, PC) forum hints, we might be seeing more info regarding this new suspense title crop up soon. Wondering what exactly the mod had to say? Find out by visiting the full article!

A rumor has been circulating the threads of the World Wide Web that a highly anticipated first-party Microsoft title will be canceled; a concerned gamer asked if it was Alan Wake in the forums of the game's site. A moderator quickly assured him that it's definitely not Alan Wake (for the simple fact that Alan Wake isn't a Microsoft first-party title).

And that's it folks: if the rumor of a first party title being canceled indeed proves true, be assured that it's not Alan Wake (Xbox 360, PC).

Going over WorthPlaying, we have uncovered seven new screens of Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake (for the Xbox 360 and PC). Checking out the picturesque screens of the small town called Bright Falls, it's a bit hard to imagine how this small town becomes the world of Alan Wake's nightmares, but then again, sleep deprivation could of course make you a madman.

Although the game wouldn't be blessed with a multiplayer mode and its release date is still unclear, the anticipation for this psychological action thriller is far from dying down. So with that, here are some of the game's screens. Expect more from us about Alan Wake in the coming weeks or months.

More screens after the jump!

Meet Alan Wake. The first thing you must know about Mr. A. Wake is he's been too awake. He suffers from insomnia... and you know that sleep deprivation is a step away from descending into the mouth of madness.

In Alan Wake, the unsettling psychological action thriller from Remedy Entertainment published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360 and for PC, the town of Bright Falls is slowly transforming into the world of Alan Wake's nightmares.

Creatures of the night hate the light. And in this game, the days grow shorter, and shorter, and shorter. And as the light changes, the characters change - and Alan's enemies become stronger in the darkness.

  

Now do you understand why the screenshots show Alan rushing about during the day and walking around in twilight and darkness with a lamp or flashlight or whatever?

Also, changes in the weather affect the light, and the game renders these lighting effects very well. Alan Wake is a game of stunning environments and haunting visual effects.

It's really a big interactive suspense thriller. There's no multiplayer mode. It's just you losing sleep as you go through episode after episode in this story as it builds up to what we all know will be a shocking ending.

Remedy Entertainment's visually stunning psychological thriller game Alan Wake is without a doubt one of the most hushed-up games ever announced. Why hushed-up? Well, Remedy remains tight-lipped about their brainchild, and the details that they release come just oh-so-sporadically.

Though we've given you the preview months ago, apparently there's been some changes (and not just with the release date, I tell ya) with how the game will play out on your consoles and PCs.

Now with the sporadic updates in mind, we're happy to inform you that our resident internet hounders were able to come across the following info about Alan Wake via Helsingin Sanomat:

• Alan Wake will be one of the games to be demonstrated on Windows Vista, and thus enabling Microsoft to put a firm hold on Remedy and the game production. Remedy's lead game designer, Petri Järvilehto, says, "Microsoft has huge machinery for games production. If a team of 80 voice actors are needed from the States, they can provide it. Their test laboratory is also fantastic."
• All the game characters have been modelled after actors, some of which will also be lending their voice talents in the game. All these actors are American, except for main character Alan Wake who's modelled after the Finnish actor Ilkka Villi.
• And to answer PC gamers' question, yes, the game will indeed be heading to PCs, although it will be Vista-exclusive.
• "Alan Wake will require either the Windows Vista operating system or Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console as its platform. The game will not be translated for other consoles."

However, this newfound deal with Microsoft is in no way seen by Remedy as a hindrance (what with the game being 360-exclusive and all), according to the developers, this exclusivity will even simplify and speed up their work on the game. Well, that's it for now folks. As for when we'll be getting the next update...let's just say don't hold your breaths, but rest assured we will keep you posted.

 

The GDC 2007 is proving to be a veritable gaming who's-who, with Miyamoto recently announced to hold the keynotes speech. And if that isn't enough, the GDC has just announced another line-up of high-profile developers making their presence known for this March 5 event.

• First up is Warren Spector, who will be delivering his lecture "The Future of Storytelling In Next-Generation Game Development." The lecture will be tackling the implications that next-gen technology have for interactive storytelling.
• For the PC and Xbox 360 scene, Remedy Entertainment's Lasse Seppänen will be presenting  "The Future of Innovative Studios: Team and Tools Behind Alan Wake." Insomniacs may want to look at this one.
• For PS3 fans, we have Evolution Studios' Scott Kirkland with "Programming Applied Physics: MotorStorm." The lecture is aimed to explain physics effects in their title, such as deformable terrain and destruction effects - they're noted to be especially good with the latter.
• Electronic Arts' Robin Hunicke will also be joining the lectures, with a segment titled "Big Results: Redefining a PC franchise for Nintendo Wii," which will be examining The Sims franchise's past incarnations, as compared to its transition to the Nintendo Wii.
• Also to be expected to be there are Mark Healey and Alex Evans, with the lecture "The First Year Of Media Molecule," and former Microsoft Microsoft and Infinium exec Kevin Bachus with "Adventures in Fundraising: Lessons Learned on the Cutting Edge of Capital."

Make sure to catch up on the other developers offering their two-cents in this major event going down in San Francisco.

Details on this upcoming psychological thriller game have been very scarce. I mean, I personally can't believe that it's been two months since we last updated you guys on Alan Wake! Well, Microsoft has been pretty tight-lipped about the game so can't really blame us there.

Seriously though, Alan Wake would have to be one of the most stunning games the Xbox360 is yet to encounter. The extremely detailed graphics definitely add to the eeriness of the game's storyline. How, you ask? Well, as we said in our game preview, most of the scenes in Alan Wake will be set in dark places: cabins, garages, etc. And, the flashlight will have a very significant role in gameplay. Now imagine dark places, a flashlight, extremely detailed graphics -- all set in a psychological thriller. If that's not enough to get you all psyched for the game then I dunno what will.

Now here's the bad news: originally scheduled for release January 2007, it seems that Remedy Entertainment is not quite ready to bring out Alan Wake. Xbox360Only reports that Remedy has allegedly decided to push back the game's release date to 2008. Drat. But so far, neither Remedy nor Microsoft has confirmed this so let's just keep our fingers crossed 'til then. We'll keep you posted for more.

Finland-based developer Remedy Entertainment has been extremely quiet about their upcoming psycho-thriller 360 game, Alan Wake. So quiet that updates have been really scarce and some are starting to wonder whether the game will indeed make its way to the 360. Well, fret no more 'coz GameSpy was able to play with Alan (wait, that didn't sound right. But you guys know what we mean), and shares with us the experience.

Environments/Visuals:  the game employs a third-person perspective and the expansive environments are unbelievably detailed! The 100 square kilometers of the Pacific Northwest, including forested valleys, windswept mountain peaks and flat plains, are explorable in the game. With the game's environments, you'll see that it's really the small things that count as GameSpy was left in awe of the little details and touches in houses, garages, etc. that make the town realistic.

Alan Wake also features a dynamic volumetric lighting engine, which GameSpy was impressed with when darkness enveloped Alan's character who responded by turning on his flashlight, and ohsweetlord, even the dust particles floating in the light was finely captured. The shadows also looked great and were of top-notch quality, which will only make us look forward to exploring dark cabins with the trusty flashlight.

Read the rest of the preview in the full article.

Some say that the psycho-thriller game Alan Wake is more Silent Hill than Resident Evil, while some say that this is one game that'll  be more like the Grand Theft Auto series because the game will feature a free-roam 3-dimensional city. No matter which games you compare it to, you've gotta admit that this is one that's definitely worth looking out for.

Remedy Entertainment has just released new screenshots for Alan Wake via Jeux France and based on what we're seeing so far (with the screenshots and trailers, etc), it's looking gooood. For those who don't know, Alan Wake is an insomniac writer who is soon haunted by his nightmares after his fiancé vanishes, and begins to see shadowy figures and creepy creatures. In movie terms, perhaps you could think of it as a Sixth-Sense-meets-Secret-Window type.

The game is slated for release January of next year, but until then, all we have (and all that developer Remedy Entertainment is revealing) are even more screenshots to give you a fix. Enjoy!