No Sequel for Alan Wake (Yet)

This article was also published on Gather Your Party on May 23, 2013. Read it here.

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Today brings good news and bad news for Alan Wake fans.

The good news is that, for the next week, you'll be able to get both Alan Wake games for very cheap, along with some previously unseen goodies. The bad news is that it's the last we'll be seeing of this series for a while.

After a five-week break, Humble Bundle has gone back to its weekly sales, a practice which had initially lasted for less than a month before being put on hiatus. The flavor of the week, as you might have guessed, is Remedy Entertainment's third-person, horror-themed, psychological thriller Alan Wake. The bundle includes the original game alongside its ambiguously canonical and unnumbered follow-up, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, as well as a whole bunch of bonus content, some of which has never been released.

As with most other Humble Bundle sales, you can pay whatever you want (down to one cent), but you'll need to pay at least a dollar to get Steam copies of the games. Oddly, unlike most other bundles, there doesn't seem to be any material incentive to pay higher than the average contribution. Surely, you could just do that out of the kindness of your heart... but if you're not that kind, these games will never be cheaper. The bundle is a pretty good deal no matter how you look at it, even if you prefer the Steam keys, because a similar Steam bundle (minus previously unreleased bonus content) has only gone as low as $9.99 in previous Steam sales.

With this bundle also comes an announcement video from Remedy Entertainment creative director Sam Lake, which might have Alan Wake lovers crying themselves to sleep like Half-Life enthusiasts have been doing for the past five-and-a-half years.

The video, addressed apologetically to Alan Wake fans, reveals that Remedy is working on "something new, something big" — but the key word here is "new" which means, of course, that we're not talking about the continuation of an existing franchise. There's no way around it, so Lake comes out and tells it like it is: Alan Wake 2 will not be released in the foreseeable future.

This might come as a surprise to fans who were paying attention when Remedy seemingly dropped a few clues about an upcoming sequel. Most notably, Sam Lake tweeted a cryptic quote, the same heard as a backwards message in a song performed by Poets of the Fall as the fictional heavy metal band Old Gods of Asgard. It seemed promising, but maybe we shouldn't have been so excited.

The "town called Ordinary" might have been the setting for the next game in the series, but it might also have been a simple reference to the setting of American Nightmare, the game in which the song is featured. That game, after all, does take place in an unnamed town. (The narrator calls it Night Springs, but this is the Alan Wake universe's parody of The Twilight Zone, so if any part of the game takes place outside of Alan's mind then this disembodied voice can't be trusted.)

Regardless, it looks like Alan Wake 2 is on the back burner. Remedy "worked hard to make the sequel happen," says Lake, but the project apparently suffered from a lack of sufficient funding. Although total sales of the original game have exceeded 3 million copies, he notes, it was by no means an instant success upon its release. This makes throwing money at a sequel a risky investment, especially when the success of a modern game is judged so heavily on pre-order sales. One might expect a sequel to do better in that department, given the existing fanbase, but it would seem the franchise is cursed by its initial sales performance.

Lake remarks that Remedy could have done something "less ambitious" (i.e., less expensive) with the next Alan Wake, but explains that such a compromise "wouldn't have done justice to you... to us... and certainly wouldn't have done justice to Alan Wake." Perhaps, while we lament the indefinite postponement of what might have been a great game, we should be glad that Remedy Entertainment was unwilling to spoil the franchise with a mediocre cash-grab sequel. Lake is careful not to suggest that another Alan Wake will never be made; he only makes it very clear that now is not the right time.

Fortunately for Remedy, money isn't an issue for their new project, Quantum Break. The trailer, first shown at the Xbox One reveal, has live-action footage, a creepy girl with special powers, a bridge disaster, and some poor guy dying in slow motion. Sam Lake calls it the "ultimate Remedy experience" drawing on everything the development studio learned from Max Payne and Alan Wake.

Aside from these vague hints, not much is known about the upcoming release. The game is said to be an Xbox One exclusive, but only time will tell if this is set in stone; Alan Wake was an Xbox 360 exclusive before it was released for Windows a couple of years later, so we can afford to be optimistically skeptical. Maybe the same thing will happen again.

Until then, the Alan Wake Humble Bundle sale, along with an accompanying sale on Xbox Live, is Remedy's big thank-you to all of its fans. Sadly, it seems a bit too much like a tentative funeral for the franchise. The last minute of the announcement video is a live-action clip of various Alan Wake paraphernalia being locked in a crate and wheeled off into the back of a warehouse. The crate is labeled "Do Not Open Until..." but the date, of course, is hidden and will likely remain unknown until the Quantum Break franchise has run its course.

Humble Not Bundle

When I wrote about the most recent Humble Bundle sale two weeks ago, I made a rather pessimistic prediction about future bundles and the amount of content that would be available for below-the-average contributors. While I wasn't being completely serious, I was waiting patiently to see whether the next bundle would return to the old standard of just a single locked beat-the-average game, or whether it would remain at two, or even increase to three. Of course, I was expecting the next Humble Bundle sale to be an actual bundle.

Suddenly, as of yesterday, Humble Bundle is doing a weekly thing, and this week's iteration includes only a single game. I very much doubt this is the end of the bundles we all know and love, unless they're planning on changing their name and web address, so try not to panic. Just think of it this way: Those awkward pauses in between bundles — during which the Humble Bundle site became a little more than a shrine to a sale no longer being offered — are no more. They're claiming a different game will be offered every week, starting now with Bastion, so as long as they can keep finding new games without resorting to repeats too often, the fun will never end.

Honestly, though, skepticism is in my nature and I'm not sure what I think of this. It's a neat idea, and I've already made it known that I regretted missing Bastion in Humble Indie Bundle V, but I'm not exactly pooping my pants with excitement over the whole concept. If I give in to temptation and buy Bastion tomorrow, it doesn't mean I'll be picking up indie games from Humble Bundle on a weekly basis (and with a full time job, I doubt I can even play through them at such a pace.)

As always, you can still name your own price. A penny gets you the game, a dollar gets you a Steam copy, and paying above the average gets you the soundtrack, as well as some other goodies we haven't seen before: some art, some sheet music, and some ringtones. And here's where things get interesting: A purchase of $25 or more gets you some actual (physical) merchandise: a bandana, the soundtrack on a CD, and a couple of postcards.

The highest-tier purchase, obviously, is for those who truly want to support the developers, so the monetary value of that merchandise is pretty much irrelevant. Customers who aim to buy goods, not to donate money, will at best exceed the average contribution by one cent in order to get the soundtrack and the artwork. People who just want the game are unlikely to pay more than the bare minimum unless their guilty consciences push them to open their wallets a little wider. In the best case scenario, these frugal contributors value Steam keys enough that their definition of "bare minimum" is raised from one cent to one dollar.

That is, by the way, a big improvement. And while I don't advocate paying the absolute bare minimum of a penny, I do think that paying a dollar is fine. The people running the Humble Bundle seem to think so too, since they've decided to dangle that first carrot — those Steam keys and (in some cases) soundtracks — at the one-dollar mark.

For these one-dollar contributors, the new weekly sales have no added perks, and are likely to seem underwhelming in comparison to the less frequent, full-fledged Humble Bundle events. A video game for a dollar is a great deal, but it's considerably less than what people were getting for a dollar two weeks ago. In the good old bundles like the one that ended earlier this month, a dollar can get you several games, plus their soundtracks, plus Steam keys, plus any extra games added to the bundle after your purchase. (All you miss by paying below the average, in a typical bundle, is an additional game or two, as well as any late additions if you're a slowpoke who didn't pay early enough to get them automatically.)

On the other hand, I could be completely wrong about all of this, and these weekly sales could end up being even more successful than the bundles because there's always something on sale. Some might even prefer buying their games one-at-a-time instead of grabbing entire bundles of games and only playing one of them. It's really too early to say how this will turn out in the long run, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

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Update (April 16, 2013):

Humble Bundle is already taking a break from its weekly sales, so I guess it was an incorrect to say that those awkward pauses in between events are no more. Still, I trust the weekly sales will come more often than the full-sized bundles. (Otherwise, what's the point?)

Humble Bundle's Problematic Pricing

Another Humble Bundle has arrived. More specifically, it's the fifth Android bundle, which means all of the games will work on a variety little "devices" that should never be used for "gaming" as well as the usual PC operating systems (Windows, Mac, and Linux).

Usually, I have nothing but nice things to say about the Humble Bundle. It's hard not to like a site that lets you buy packs of indie games for as little as $0.01, even if those games are mediocre in comparison to their $60 big-budget counterparts. (If a penny is too much to spend, you could even commit a heinous act of copyright infringement with relative ease, because the games are DRM-free and everyone who buys the bundle gets the same links to the same torrents. Those torrents, if shared, work just as well for people who never made a purchase at all.)

There is, however, something I don't understand. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but this doesn't make a lot of sense:

Super Hexagon and Dungeon Defenders are only included if your payment is higher than the average, but the "default split" (which gives 65% to developers, 20% to charity, and 15% to Humble Bundle, Inc.) doesn't take this into account. The developers' share of the contribution is, by default, split evenly among all the developers regardless of how many games are included in your purchase.

It's fair to evenly split the money among all six developers if all six games are being purchased, but why should these two developers be getting money from people who aren't being given access to their games? There's less money to go around, for each below-the-average purchase, so it should be divided among the developers who actually contributed something to that below-the-average bundle.

Sure, you can adjust those sliders to divide your money however you like, but I think most people don't even do this. In fact, I'd be surprised if most people even noticed that you can expand the "developers" section, which appears like this by default:

Or maybe I don't have enough faith in the average indie-game-buying internet surfer. Either way, I don't know why Humble Bundle would presume that I want a developer to receive roughly 11% of my contribution even if Humble Bundle has decided that I haven't contributed enough to receive that developer's game. And yet I can only assume that it was deliberately set up this way.

You could argue that it doesn't matter because these aren't typical purchases — they're essentially donations, and maybe the idea is that a portion of each donation should be split equally among all of the developers who made this Humble Bundle possible, and that the particular incentive for making a donation is irrelevant. But then I have to wonder about the developers whose games are added mid-way through the sale as an added bonus. Those games are added automatically to the beat-the-average list, but they're also given at no extra charge to anyone who had already purchased the bundle beforehand. So if I buy the bundle now, and more games are added next week, those developers get none of my money.

I suppose I could just make another donation if I had a serious problem with that.

In other news, I'm slightly disappointed that Dungeon Defenders has appeared as a beat-the-average game on two Humble Bundle sales in the past three months, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'd even wager that fewer repeat customers might be willing to pay above the average, if the reward is a game they already have, but I guess they've covered their bases by starting with two beat-the-average rewards instead of one. This seems to be the new norm, in fact, and it probably won't be long before all but one or two games per bundle is accompanied by that little padlock symbol.

Humble Bundle Strikes Again

As many of us already know, the sixth incarnation of the Humble Indie Bundle is on sale right now, and will be available for another six days. I didn't exactly come here to plug it — I'm not on their payroll — but it's hard not to say a few nice things about a pack of games that you can buy for almost nothing. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read this so I don't have to explain.) It's been more than two years since the very first Humble Bundle, and they've gotten a whole lot of good press since then, so there's no need for me to rave about how awesome it is. But, for the record, it's pretty neat.

Of course, despite the pay-what-you-want model, not everyone loves Humble Bundle. Some game developers have expressed doubts that being part of a Humble Bundle sale is really a profitable and worthwhile venture. (Customers can choose where their money goes, and the recommended "default split" for the current bundle is 65% to developers, 20% to charity, and 15% to Humble Bundle, Inc., but the average amount, per game sold, that a developer gets is probably rather low, since so many consumers will pay as little as possible instead of paying what they honestly believe the games are worth.)

Furthermore, a lot of people have some bad things to say about indie games in general. While many have taken the extreme view that so-called "indie" developers are the last hope for originality in a stagnating video game market saturated with too many nearly identical and equally overpriced first-person shooters, others go to the opposite extreme; they look at indie games and see cheaply made, outdated, pretentious hipster trash. In particular, any mention of "retro graphics" is sure to draw a lot of mockery and criticism, though the indie developers keep using this term in marketing their games, probably for the sake of appealing to older players and anyone else who treats "retro" as a codeword for cool.

If you like indie games and you don't have a job, the Humble Bundle is perfect for you. On the other hand, if you're not fond of indie games and other "retro" stuff, you should probably pass on this deal. The games in a Humble Bundle sale generally aren't the big-budget, high-definition, mainstream type. There's no such thing as a Humble Call of Duty Bundle as of yet, so good luck naming your own price for that.

I should also mention that "pay what you want" is slightly misleading... but only slightly. Technically, it's true, but the Humble Bundle guys aren't idiots; they do employ a few tricks to encourage customers to spend more than the bare minimum. (Otherwise, they'd probably never make any money, except from the generous and wealthy few who donate thousands of dollars.) While you can pay as little as one cent for the five core games that make up the bundle, you won't really be getting the whole bundle. There are always a few extra games, some added later in the sale, reserved for those who spend more than the average amount. (You'll also have to spend at least a dollar if you want keys to activate the games on Steam.) Since a lot of people choose to exceed the average contribution by one cent, so they can get all of the games, that average typically creeps upward slowly throughout the sale.

With the four games that were just added yesterday, Humble Indie Bundle 6 is now up to ten games: Rochard, Shatter, Space Pirates and Zombies, Torchlight, and Vessel can be stolen for a penny, but you'll have to beat the average (just above $6.00 now) to get Dustforce, Bit.Trip Runner, Gratuitous Space Battles, Jamestown, and Wizorb as well. Five games for a penny is great, but ten games for six bucks and change is pretty good too.

It's worth noting, however, that Humble Bundles often include a few repeats, and this one is no exception. Specifically, Bit.Trip Runner, Gratuitous Space Battles, and Jamestown were included in Humble Indie Bundle 4, and Humble Indie Bundle 4 included (as a bonus) the first five games from Humble Indie Bundle 3. Sometimes, if you already own a previous bundle, you might find that paying above the average for the next one isn't as great of a deal as you might have hoped. Since activating a bundle's Steam key won't give you giftable copies of any games you already own, there's no benefit to buying a game twice. You'll just have to decide whether the other games in the pack are worth your hard-earned pocket change.

When the fifth Humble Indie Bundle came out last spring, I already owned Psychonauts, and none of the other games seemed appealing at the time, so I passed. In retrospect, I'm starting to regret this decision, since I've heard such good things about Bastion and some of the other games. I can only hope they'll be repeated in future sales. This time, I'm facing a similar dilemma: I already own Torchlight — arguably the most important game on the list, considering the highly anticipated release of Torchlight II last week — and I also bought Humble Indie Bundle 4 last winter — easily the best video game purchase I've made in recent memory. So I already own four of the games in Humble Indie Bundle 6, but six bucks for the remaining six games is still a sweet deal.

To put things in the proper perspective, Dustforce alone is currently $9.99 on Steam.

All in all, you can't really go wrong with the Humble Indie Bundle, since any one game is typically worth more than what you'll pay for the whole pack. And if you're content with only getting the five base games, you could always be a cheapskate and pay only a cent. Of course, if you do this, Humble Bundle, Inc. probably suffers a net loss due to bandwidth and transaction fees. Honestly, you might as well pirate the games, and I guess that's why so many people do so despite the fact that the games are practically free. Or maybe they just can't be bothered to put in their credit card information. Or maybe they don't have credit cards. Or maybe they pirate things out of principle because they're super bad-ass renegades who break all the rules because shut up.

The games in the Humble Bundle aren't just cheap. They're also free of digital rights management, playable on every operating system that matters, and available in torrent form in addition to a direct download. In other words, they've made an effort to appease even the pickiest of players. They've eliminated every good reason to pirate their games, but it still hasn't eliminated piracy.

I'm getting a bit off-topic now, but this is something to remember next time someone tries to justify piracy by citing high prices, intrusive DRM, inconvenience, or a general desire to deliver a slap in the face to big, evil corporations like Electronic Arts. The fact is that people turn to piracy no matter how low the price of the game, or how reasonable the publisher's behavior, just to avoid paying at all. It's not my place to judge those who engage in software piracy — the extent to which it actually harms the game industry is still up for debate — but pirates should just accept that what they're doing is a selfish act and nothing more. They should be able to make their decision and live with it, without trying to rationalize it after the fact, but they still come up with all kinds of excuses and pass the blame around. Simply put, they're in denial.

For those of us who don't mind sending a few dollars to the hard-working people who make our favorite pastime possible, the Humble Bundle is a great opportunity to grab a few interesting games without breaking the bank.