Oh hey, Alan Wake is finished. Remedy has confirmed that, after all these years, the intriguing horror game is done and ready. Brilliant. Even better, it’s going to be ditching the usual, cookie-cutter, run-of-the-mill marketing crap that most big name titles stick to religiously. Remedy was on hand at GDC Europe, where they leveled heavy criticism against the marketing of typical AAA titles.
“It starts with the naming of the game and a lack of focus on the design. We have generic words in the title, such as ‘war’, ‘race’, ‘star’, usually followed by ‘of’, ‘to’ or ‘from’, and then war, race or star again, followed by a sequel number or an unpronounceable word,” said managing director Matia Myllyrinne. “So, Race Of War II: The Wrath Of Cthulu. Apologies if you’re working on that.
“Cutting me-too features is important. One of them is the resurrection of a multiplayer that offers nothing new. In too many games to mention, they slap a rehash of Counter-Strike onto the FPS as a me-too, gravy feature. I don’t understand this, because people aren’t going to play it; they’ll be playing Halo‘s multiplayer, or Gears Of War, or Call Of Duty — something that’s compelling, and good, and offers something unique.
“We want to focus on the essence: doing few things, but doing those few things really, really well, and hopefully doing one or two things that nobody else is doing and innovating through that. There are a lot of developers and marketers who believe that the core tenet of marketing is to blend in, to be unnoticed.”
I love the way this man thinks, especially when it comes to the multiplayer stuff, since that’s something I’ve believed for years. I’m glad someone has sense enough to see that trying to copy everything doesn’t work, since people tend to stay loyal to the original game. Hopefully this means Alan Wake will be a trendsetter in its own right, although they really should of called it Alan of War.
