Desperately Seeking Alan

Boo - probably no Alan Wake this year, apparently. Well, I say 'boo', but in all honesty we still know very, very little about this game, even though it was announced some three years ago. So I have almost no idea what it is I'm missing out on. I only know I want it.

It's a reasonably unusual situation in that unfavourable comparisons to Duke Nukem Forever could be made, and there's probably someone out there screaming 'vapourware' in the sort of tone that suggests the game's developers kidnapped their mother, but at the same time it's not like Remedy have broken any promises. Alan Wake has kept itself remarkably quiet since its announcement. A release date has never been offered, and the facts remain more or less as they did in 2005 - psychological thriller, starring a writer, bit open-worldy, and there's something important about the day-night cycle.

The linked report on the supposed delay may be only a little stronger than speculation, but two no-shows (GDC and Microsoft's Gamer's Day) this year do rather suggest it's not ready to come into the light. Which is a shame on the one hand, as we're all excited to see what the Max Payne team do next, but possibly positive on the other, in that they're clearly not wanting to rush it before it's ready. There's also a part of me that, after the announcement that Prototype's also been delayed to next year, idly wonders if every developer currently working on an open-world game has had the life scared out of them by GTA IV.