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Finnish magazine Pelaaja just uploaded an exclusive interview with Alan Wake lead writer Sami Järven (recapped on the Alan Wake forums due to it being in Finnish) and informed us that a new Alan Wake cinematic trailer would debut during the Max Payne movie premier at the Finnkino movie theaters on October 15th. The trailer will only feature in-game cinematics and no actual gameplay, because Remedy is still holding their cards close to their chest. But, to hold you over for the next few weeks, Remedy released a screen-grab teaser from the upcoming Alan Wake cinematic trailer. Anyone excited to see what Remedy has been up to for the past 12 years?

Update: From the moderator: "I do not know when the blackout will end ... When we hear anything from Remedy or Microsoft regarding any kind of new information, we will post it loud and clear. There are no tricks up our sleeves at the moment." Original post is still below.

When was the last time you heard anything concrete about Alan Wake? (Aside from when it announced that it wasn't canceled, of course.) Other than a confirmed 2008 release window, the last details we got from the game look to be from September 2006.

That's what makes this posting from the official Alan Wake forums, from "Super Moderator" Morry, so tantalizing. Responding to a thread aptly titled "Still no updates, its 2008 for crying out loud" (sic), Morry said, "Patience. The media 'blackout' won't continue for too much longer."

We're hoping that's not a relative phrasing of "too much longer," as it's been almost 19 months since the last scrap of information.

[Via X3F]

Something we forgot to mention that was included in Dan Mattrick's ever enjoyable memo was the fact that, for the first time ever, a few Xbox 360 games have been confirmed for a 2008 release.

Nestled towards the bottom of Mattrick's memo he lists a few games that'll release in 2008 including the not so canceled Alan Wake and Fable 2 as well as Too Human, Halo Wars, Splinter Cell: Conviction and "several exciting yet-to-be-announced titles". Wait, did you get that? Alan Wake is no longer rumored, but is now confirmed for release this year! Double w00t, w00t to that! But don't get us wrong. We're totally happy to hear Fable 2, Too Human and the others are also confirmed for release this year, it's just that we've been in an Alan Wake drought as of late and hearing that it hasn't turned into vaporware makes us giddy. Anyhoo, it's nice to see some of the our 2008 game release predictions coming true and know that we won't be in a gaming slump after last year's amazing lineup. It's time to get your pre-orders lined up fanboys, because this year is going to be grreat!

[Via Joystiq]

Microsoft Games chief Don Mattrick has confirmed (or, in some cases, reaffirmed) via a memo a handful of exclusive titles to arrive on Xbox 360 in 2008. The list of assuredly not canceled titles include Halo Wars, Too Human, Fable 2, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Conviction and "several exciting yet-to-be-announced titles."

Following the list of 2008 exclusives, Mattrick continues to say that "Xbox 360 will be home to the next versions of great franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil ... Madden and FIFA." We're not sure if he meant to imply Resident Evil 5 is due out this year, but it's certainly a suspicious line. Other than this year, no schedule was given as to the release of these titles, although we now get a sense of what Microsoft feels will keep gamers happy in this post-Halo 3 world.

EGM's Shane Bettenhausen has caused quite a ruckus as of late by suggesting in the latest 1UP Yours podcast that a high-profile first-party Microsoft game has been canceled. The first game confirmed to be alive was Banjo-Kazooie 3. Now, the developers of Fable 2 and Alan Wake have both chimed in to say their games are also still breathing. We wonder if all Microsoft developers wouldn't benefit from a role call meeting, where attendees are told to simply raise their hands if their project was canned.

Of course, that's assuming any project was canceled at all. Bettenhausen originally said, "a big Microsoft first-party title that has been in the works for a very long time, that people are very excited for, sounds like it's being canceled." That's far from a confirmation, although there may be some merit to a project being in trouble. Bettenhausen responded to the proliferation of his statement in the comments to one of his blog posts (search for "egmshane"), but only to confirm the game in question was neither Alan Wake nor Banjo-Kazooie.

IGN's Matt Casamassina silenced (most) of his critics by providing video footage to prove he did, in fact, play a DS version of Halo. C'mon Bettenhausen, at least give us a riddle or some enigmatic limerick to analyze.

Update: As noted by GameSpot, the developers of Too Human and Halo Wars have also chimed in to say, "It's not our game!"

Read - Is Alan Wake canceled?
Read - Is Fable 2 canceled?

Speaking to Game Informer, head of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, has a lot to say about the current state of the Xbox. The main focuses of the interview are Microsoft's 2008 lineup, the 360's performance in Japan, and the Games for Windows brand. Of particular interest is the discussion on games likely to be released in 2008. Microsoft's E3 keynote focused only on 2007. Addressing the question of 2008 and games like Alan Wake, Too Human, and Fable 2, Kim notes that these titles are not "way out in the future" and that Microsoft would not be talking about them if they were. Kim also tantalizingly applied this reasoning to Peter Jackson's Halo project.

Another of the more bizarre moments of the interview occurred during the discussion on Microsoft's performance in Japan. According to Kim, Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 was supposed to be "the big announcement." We're a little puzzled by this -- as was Game Informer -- considering the game was announced for PS3 and 360 just over two years ago. Read the full interview after the jump.

Samuli Syvahuoko, the former co-founder of Remedy Entertainment -- the studio behind Max Payne and the upcoming Alan Wake -- has formed a new game company by the name of Recoil Games in Helsinki, Finland. With veterans from companies like Ubisoft, Guerilla Games, Electronic Arts and Codemasters, Recoil Games hopes to create hit games that will reach worldwide recognition, no small task. The company is currently working on an original IP inspired by classic disaster movies. The game uses a combination of in-house technology and 3rd party tools. The first Recoil Games project, still untitled at this point, should hit the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC sometime in the near future.

There were a couple new screenshots of Remedy's Alan Wake released, along with some new info. The psychological thriller's gameplay is going to be dependent on the weather and time of day, as the nightmarish creatures you face off against grow more powerful in the shadows. Coupled with the fact that the hours of daylight per day diminishes over time, so you're going to have to make use of your own light sources to help fend off baddies. The game is touted as being hyper-realistic, but so far the latest screenshots don't exactly hold up to that statement. You can be the judge after the break.

The gaming blogosphere has been absolutely abuzz over the past few days over reports that Remedy's psychological thriller Alan Wake has been picked up by Microsoft and will be published exclusively on the Xbox 360 and PC. This story isn't odd because it's untrue, it's odd because we've known about it for months.

While Microsoft announced a publishing deal with Finland's Remedy Entertainment back at E3 2006, the relationship is getting a new focus now thanks to an article in Finland's Helsingin Sanomat. While there's nothing really newsworthy in the article, it does take an interesting look at the challenges of an American company working with a Finnish developer. But that headline doesn't really pop, so we'll follow the lead of our blogging brethren and hype up some news that was already old six months ago. Hooray!

It looks like the long awaited Remedy title, Alan Wake, is about to become even longer awaited. TVG is reporting that the latest issue of OXM declares that Alan Wake won't hit retail shelves until 2008. The news is sure to upset all the fans who have received only occasional scraps about the game since it was first announced. It's really a shame, too, because the 360 is extremely short on survival horror titles. Here's hoping we see Silent Hill 5 before 2008.

Are you looking forward to Alan Wake even though we know next to nothing about it?

[Via Joystiq]

TVG reports that US Official Xbox Magazine has published news of further Alan Wake delays. According to the publication, Remedy's psychological thriller has been pushed back to 2008.

The first details about Alan Wake surfaced back in April 2005 when Remedy revealed it was working on a new title for PC and "next generation" consoles. Since that time, Microsoft has secured exclusive-console rights to the game.

Admittedly, we know very little about Remedy's Alan Wake. Officially, all we have to go on is the trailer that was released at E3, some screenshots, and its designation as a "psychological action thriller." Do we have new information today? No, but we do have three more screenshots. In fact, if you look closely at the screenshot above, we can actually confirm one new feature in Alan Wake: driving! Yup, the above screen shows all the right signs that the main character is, in fact, driving a car. Oh the possibilities! Sarcasm aside, we're really curious about Alan Wake, so we'll take what we can get. See the new shots (and the old shots) at the official site.

[Via TeamXbox]

Udpate: Oops, changed crappy placeholder headline.

With the recent release of Gears of War you may be asking yourself, "man this game roxorz, but what other games can I look forward to in 2007?" It's okay my friend we're here to enlighten you, because About.com compiled a nice list of the most anticipated Xbox 360 games dropping in 2007. I'm already saving up for games like BioShock, Lost Planet, Halo 3 (duh), Alan Wake, Too Human, Assassin's Creed, and Guitar Hero II. I'm going to shed a tear ... just look at what we'll be playing in 2007.

[Via, Digg]

Some of the most anticipated upcoming games for the Xbox 360 and PC weren't playable on the X06 show floor but were shown off by the developers in behind-closed-doors demos. Here's some quickie descriptions of the demos and some thoughts on what was shown:

• Alan Wake: Developer Remedy shared lots of new information about this "psychological action thriller" (a term used by the developers to describe the game multiple times). The story, told rather clunkily through some Max Payne-style exposition, revolves around Wake, a writer who finds his life begins to mimic his best-selling novel. Grappling with insomnia in a rest clinic in the Pacific Northwest, he finds the line between his waking life and his nightmares begins to blur. The most striking feature graphically is the dynamic lighting, which casts soft shadows and glistens beautifully off everything from the trees to the water. The demo also showed off environmental effects with a quickly gathering storm that cast everything in eerie, somber tones. The demo ended with a thrilling chase by a glowing entity that took out all the electrical lights as it approached. Definitely one to watch for.
  
• BioShock - Following up on the demo shown at E3, Irrational showed off a new area which again showed off the game's beautifully dark underwater environments. The developers emphasized the importance of using improvised attacks and abilities like teleportation against the lumbering, suited "Big Daddy" and the "Little Sister" he jealously protects. They also stressed the importance of moral choices in shaping the game experience -- as the demo fades out, our protagonist is busy deciding whether or not to beat a little girl with a wrench. Best moment: using telekenesis to throw a teddy bear into a fire and then using the flaming bear to set an enemy on fire. The demonstrator said they hope to "redefine the first-person shooter" and it looks like they just might.
  
• Mass Effect - The game looks as pretty as ever, with convincing character animation and facial expressions, especially during the branching conversations. The developers showed off how the game map spans from a galaxy-sized Milky Way view down to individual planets, and mentioned that two separate players will likely take completely different paths through the game. A quick boss battle showed how squad placement commands can be used to set up a cross fire that emphasizes each character's particular abilities. Shows promise but the full scope was hard to gauge from the demo.
  

While we were unfortunately unable to fly you all to Barcelona to attend Micosoft's X06 conference, we would like to share our X06-related bounty with one lucky Joystiq reader. The person who sends in the most amusing .jpg format edit of the above picture to joyswag [dot] submissions [at] gmail [dot] com will take home the following goodies given out at the conference:

• An Alan Wake flashlight
• An Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures comic book from Dark Horse
• Three limited edition pieces of art from Mass Effect

All entries are due by midnight Eastern time on Sunday, Oct. 1, so put down those outstretched arms and get cracking.