Stolen Pixels #212:
BUY THIS NOW!

By Shamus Posted Friday Jul 16, 2010

Filed under: Column 22 comments

Just a bit of silliness.

No, this isn’t the comic I was trying to make on Monday. I’d wanted to do a Breen thing, where he ends up trying to make fun of Blizzard’s Real ID only to have Metro tell him the joke was now irrelevant. Eh. I kind of feel like the moment has passed on that one by now. So instead we’re talking about Alan Wake for some reason?

 


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22 thoughts on “Stolen Pixels #212:
BUY THIS NOW!

  1. Andy_Panthro says:

    Perhaps if Alan Wake was out for the PC, I’d get it (on sale).

    But I’m not sure I could be bothered really.

    I had hoped for it to be a bit like Alone in the Dark (the 1992 DOS version!), but with the benefits of modern technology etc..

    The reviews were not great though, and as you say the hype evaporated as the game was released…

    1. Meredith says:

      I’d probably pick up a PC version of this on sale someday too, if such a thing existed. It sounds like a story I could enjoy, despite the tepid reviews. Product placement in games, however, should never be a thing.

      1. Garden Ninja says:

        I agree it shouldn’t be a thing. Some games already do in-game advertising. Not sure if product placement is less or more bad than that.

        Regarding a PC version, your and the parent comment made me think of a completely absurd situation, that will probably happen eventually (even if not with Alan Wake).

        * Take a PC game with in-game advertising.
        * Release on Steam.
        * Have one of the advertisers be Steam
        * Person buys game
        * Person plays game, and sees Steam-page ad for that game (for $25% off!)

        Simultaneously hilarious and depressing, and it’s only a matter of time.

    2. LintMan says:

      The PC platform is apparently too intimate for the macho Alan Wake game.

  2. Alan De Smet says:

    Alan Wake is the best horror game I’ve ever played. It’s what I wish survival horror games were. The game is willing to spend lots of time and art budget establishing normalcy and safety at the start of the game and at intervals throughout. On the whole, it’s slow paced, letting you enjoy long periods of dread mixed with brief moments of terror. The NPCs act surprisingly rationally in the cut scenes and are largely helpful in live play. The premise felt fresh; it’s not Yet Another Zombie Attack, there isn’t a Big Evil Corporate Conspiracy. And, of course, it looks really good, which helped me suspend disbelief.

    This is a damn fine game. I highly recommend playing it.

    1. Nyaz says:

      …except when the comic relief suggests the main character and he get drunk off their asses by chugging moonshine while the possessed people may or may not be defeated outside. That is not very rational thinking, in my opinion…

      1. Alan De Smet says:

        I’d forgotten that one. That was utterly insane. I understand the “We’ve just been through hell, let’s get drunk!” but “Let’s get drunk out in the middle of nowhere, late at night, potentially surrounded by monsters that are most dangerous in the dark, with no watch?” No, that’s a less good idea. My wife and spent that cutscene yelling at Alan to be less stupid. It didn’t help.

  3. Nick Bell says:

    I think the hyped was swallowed by Red Dead Redemption, which dominated both critically and commercially. Same thing happened to Blur, Split Second, and everything else in May not named Mario Galaxy 2. Nothing else did well because of it.

    All that said, Alan Wake is one of my favorite games of the year. Only Mass Effect 2 comes close to my enjoyment of it. It is a great story, combined with cool environments and neat environmental effects. Pretty intense experience all the way around. Highly recommended.

    Especially because its on sale at Kmart for only $35 this week. Go buy it.

  4. SteveDJ says:

    I read your comment here first (about this not being what you wanted from Monday) and, seeing the previous blog entry below, my mind took me to expecting to see a comic based on that over-crowded WoW UI screen… :-)

  5. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Sooo,blizzard hacked steam in order to prevent you from making fun of them?And now that you can do it,theyve called you to present you with an offer you cant refuse.

    Also,Im all for reading the breen comic about real id,even if you were to make it just as a bonus one.

  6. Pickly says:

    So, I’m guessing you managed to shake down gobs of money from whichever company makes corn flakes, plus extra money from several beef lobbying and trade groups, and can now afford ot quit your job and work full time on this blog. :)

  7. acronix says:

    This one falls into the Uncanny Valley of “two gamers in a couch”. Still hilarious, and since you haven´t done one of those in a while, you are forgiven.

  8. Markus says:

    I would’ve thought you’d be all over Alan Wake, never mind the reviews. It’s not like there are too many games coming out in the survival horror genre. And the writing’s supposed to be good too…

    1. Shamus says:

      I know, right?

      This should have been a launch-day title for me.

      1. evileeyore says:

        I don’t know, maybe you saw the gameplay trailers like I did.

        They turned me off.

  9. Nyaz says:

    It’s kind of weird that they choose to release Alan Wake in the summer, it clearly is one of those games you want to play when it’s pitch black outside and all your lights turned off. Would make more sense to release it in October or something when it gets seriously dark.

  10. Cody says:

    Man, screw in game ads, but more importantly, screw developers who are trying to make money off their games. WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE! these developers need to realize that they make games solely so that I can enjoy them, and if an in game ad hurts my enjoyment of it then they should be hung publicly. I play S.K.A.T.E. 3 a lot and there is a ton of product placement in that game, these developers seem to be forgetting that they owe me something personally and that these ads are an affront to my eyes.

    But seriously, this is an exaggeration of how some people seem to be reacting to product placement, is it really that big of a deal? I say anything that helps developers make a game better or make more money off a game is a good thing especially if it in NO WAY directly affects the game play. I get that maybe some of these ads take you out of the moment but you know what would really take you out of the moment? not having any moment to be taken out of because the game wasn’t financially successful enough to warrant a sequel or even enough to keep the people working on it employed.

    1. Zukhramm says:

      Games seems to cost more these days, and now we’re not only supposed to pay that but watch in-game advertisements? If the problem is money, then waste less on making the game. Use simpler graphics or don’t do all that voice acting.

      1. Cody says:

        No, games don’t cost more these day, I paid one hundred freaking dollars for golden eye for the Nintendo 64. Games cost roughly the same as they always have, the only thing that has changed is that they cost a lot more to make now and if in game ads mitigate that cost then I’m all for it. I ask again, really, what is the big deal? why is it such an insult to you to have to look at a Verison ad at some point during the game? I dare you to find one person that had their gaming experience ruined by an in game ad. At the most they are annoying and there are a lot more annoying things games do now that are much more of a big deal than advertising.

        And as much as you may or may not care about graphics, a lot of other people do care a lot about graphics and if a developer wants to make a successful title they need to cater to that demographic because it tends to be the majority. If games took a step backwards in their evolution and started applying worse graphics and hiring worse voice actors the game would be less appealing to the public and they would need in game ads more than ever to make up for the lack of sales it would receive.

        1. Zukhramm says:

          It’s not an insult, it’s just not something I don’t want to do. Why should I watch advertisements in something I already paid for? If the price was lower for the games that had it, sure, but otherwise? No.

          But you said it, I guess I’m not the demographic they’re trying to sell to anymore.

  11. Jokerman89 says:

    I found Alan Wake really boring….the story was good. I felt like i was rushing through the gamepley to see a next story bit then sighed when i was forced into darkness again.

  12. X2-Eliah says:

    No offence, Shamus, but this, the champions online re-posts and a whole article on Wow, from this viewpoint it looks like your affection/dabbling with Wow is severely hurting your article quality & variety – as if you had spent on the last ones 33% of your time rather than the full 100 as before.

    Maybe this is not so, and your work is still very enjoyable for the reader in me, but comparing your work before and after your tweets on Wow account renewal (give or take a day), it really does look like Wow is messing with your creative side.

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