Alan Wake: several DLC episodes this year, second 'season' dependent on audience

Isn't that basically what he said they're doing? That they're going to see how the game is received and then decide how far to go with the DLC?

Why Would it put you off? They're letting us know their future plans. I'll probably consider buying the game instead of renting off gamefly. All this assuming the game isn't a pile of shit.

He's off buying armor.

You know, PC games had 1024x768 forever now it seems like. They've always had higher specs than consoles too. Why don't we hear more PC devs complaining about the price of making games?

I always hear people saying that this generation is so much more expensive, and I'll certainly accept that for consoles. Following the logic that 720p with higher poly counts and better textures and all that glorious jazz inflates the cost of a game, then haven't PC games been extremely expensive since before this new generation of consoles?

But yeah, I agree with you on that I'd rather have a one time fee for a full game instead of several smaller fees for bite sized chunks. I know it's not the same, but it reminds me of those silly commercials that say stuff like:

"How much would you pay for a video game? $180? $150? $120? For only 3 easy payments of $29.00 you two can be given the right to play this game under certain conditions! That's less than $100! But wait, call now and we'll even throw in a copy of the demo for the game you just bought, that way you can convince a friend to buy one too! Act now, supplies limited!"

"I think it'll depend a lot on the audience, but certainly we want to -- if we're successful -- we want to do a large "Season 2," if you will, at some point,"

How the heck does that sound like they're stripping something out of the game? He's talking about stuff that hasn't even begun being worked on yet.

at sonicspike,

the computer resolution you listed doesn't really affect the game as much as you'd think, at least for the years you were referencing. it'd just be like stretching PS2/xbox games to that resolution. once you start increasing processing power for polygon models and making more to fit on the screen, that increases the job of the artists department, who usually have to make all of those things from scratch. HD characters need HD backgrounds, and those backgrounds have to be built by a team that handles manmade objects, natural objects, small items, weather, lighting, someone for textures, etc.

this is why FFVII might not ever get an HD makeover, just because translating everything to HD/3D would take a lot of artists a lot of time to make it.

please point out to me in this article where it says that they're "fracturing" this game to sell it off as DLC.

Aex,

How did you reach that conclusion?

It wasn't really a conclusion, but more of a question...

Here are the things in the article that lead me to that question:

"After the internally episodic thriller hits shelves on May 18, Remedy Entertainment will extend it with at least two episodes in 2010."

"Once the full game is complete and the team has a chance to gauge acceptance and feedback, Remedy Entertainment will shed some more light on its plans [Season 2]."

Which led me to believe that the "Initial release of the game + DLC episodes = The First Season".

Which in turn brought me to the question "You buy the full $60, then you need to buy more DLC just to finish the first "Season"?"

Well, then I'd say no. The game is being extended because there will be more content available for it -- that doesn't necessarily pertain to the central story, and if it did, there's no way of telling how it fits in at this point. You're assuming that the story will be linearly expanded (and it might be!), but that doesn't signal that you need to complete a "season." In this case, "season" refers to a new batch of episodic, related content that Remedy might prepare if people want more.

P.S. This isn't aimed at you but, based on some of the other comments, it seems nobody can with with DLC. The developer either takes too long to release it (when nobody still plays the game), or they have the nerve of planning more content before the game is out.

I see, if a Season refers to the DLC, then that makes a little more sense. You buy the full game, then they are releaseing Season One of DLC, and they may do a Season Two of DLC if demand is there. The article made it seem like you had to buy the game and dlc to complete a first season. Sorta like you went to the store and bought a season of 24, but it only had episodes 1 - 22 and you had to buy episode 23 and 24 separately.

As long as whats on the Disk is a complete package, I'm all good. I don't mind if they want to expand on that, I just don't like the idea of buying something incomplete then having to pay more to complete it.

"The article made it seem like you had to buy the game and dlc to complete a first season. Sorta like you went to the store and bought a season of 24, but it only had episodes 1 - 22 and you had to buy episode 23 and 24 separately."

I agree. The wording was not very clear on that.

"The developer either takes too long to release it (when nobody still plays the game), or they have the nerve of planning more content before the game is out."

People can't help but worry when devs talk so much about their planned DLC compared to the efforts they put in to make sure the core game is a complete and satisfying experience. It seems like a balance thing really; if you don't want people ignoring the game long after its release but before DLC is ready, then include that content in the main game if you have it planned anyways or are planning such additions.

i hope they squeeze those teets and squirt us out a PC version

ugh, where the hell do people keep getting this idea from??

that's not what they said!!

@David

Don't act as if what they're saying isn't a little confusing or even slightly contradictory. Basically, they are saying that season 1 is the DLC planned post launch of the game (I'm assuming) and if it's purchased enough they'll do a season 2. So, that logical progression would be that the game is part of the season 1 and the DLC is supplementary. Think if it was a movie. Alan Wake is the movie, before its released they say that two television episodes will be released to supplement the story of the movie (who knows if it's like Heavy Rain chronicles which explores the characters and isn't linear to the story or the assassins creed 2 dlc that is directly related to the linearty of the game itself) and if the movie and episodes are successful enough they will bring the show back for a second season. You are making just as many assumptions as Making11s in this instance because we simply don't know what the content is and if it's linear or not. Season 2 typically comes after season 1 from a chronological point of view so it's logical to assume that season 1 happens directly after the events of the game and season 2 does the same thing after season 1.

It's all very confusing. I'm not even sure if they are selling the full game at retail or if it will be sold in chapters like fable 2.

@David: People are getting this idea from the definition of "Season" as it relates to television and episodic games like Tales from Monkey Island.

@Tigre: Thanks. I hope your explaination is the right one. I'd hate to think that developers had gone that far with ripping people off with DLC. I have been replaying my old games to save money, and when I look at the DLC I have purchased, I find that in almost every instance, it either adds features that the game should have shipped with or adds nothing to the experience except an extra few hours of using the same control scheme.

@Making11s

No problem man and at the end of the day I agree with you that there is not clarity in this situation. The wording of the article paints the picture that the entirety of season 1 is the game and the first batch of DLC. You certainly are in the right for posing the question. Hopefully my extrapolation is the correct one because if not this is the biggest slap in the face in the history of gaming . . . since Prince of Persia charged for a proper ending and explanation anyway.

You only need to wait for the complete or GOTY edition in that case with all the extra content bundled into the regular retail price.