<a href="http://www.alanwake.com/">Alan Wake</a> is a <i>psychological action thriller</i> coming to the X-Box and PC in sometime in 2007. The game's namesake is a writer, living in the woods somewhere, presumably along a coastline. It takes the realism of a Grand Theft Auto world to new heights, with forested lanscapes as well as small American towns rendered with an incredible level of detail. Throw in weather effects, a day/night cycle and realistic physics and this game has real-world environments like we've never seen before. The game takes place primarily outdoors, in absolutely <i>huge</i> environments---all with real-time lighting. The composite screenshots below show two scenes from the world of Alan Wake rendered at different times of the day, with different weather. <div align="center"><img attachment="alan_wake_3.jpeg" align="left" class="frame" caption="Light and Weather"> <img attachment="alan_wake_4.jpeg" align="left" class="frame" caption="Sunrise / Sunset"></div> As with most video games engines these days, screenshots, while pretty, don't nearly do the immersive experience justice anymore. The video below shows the game engine in action, showing the world of Alan Wake, with a developer putting it through its paces on a quad-core machine. Naturally, the quad-core machine makes things move a <i>lot</i> more quickly than your older machine is likely to. Nonetheless, the attention to detail, cinematics and sheer immersiveness is impressive: even narrated by a robot and videotaped off a screen, the water, shadows, reflections and lighting are incredibly realistic. Make sure to stick around until the end, when a simulated tornado tears up several buildings and vehicles---pulling them apart piece by realistic piece. <media src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DetnKgOxrSI" align="center" class="frame"> <i>And</i> it looks like it has a <i>story</i>. No kidding. The movies available of the home page for the game are very impressive and worth watching if you're sick of all of the best-looking games involving weapon selection and exquisitely rendered crates. I saw a lot of trees, houses, roads and sunsets, but no crates in any of the movies. Looking good. This game and engine come from the makers of the excellent Max Payne series, which also set new standards for both graphics and storytelling, not to mention introducing one of the most innovative gaming techniques in the last decade: bullet-time. The character of Alan Wake is also rendered quite well and seems to integrate into the game world seamlessly---so as not to startle an immersed gamer back into reality. <div align="center"><img attachment="alan_wake_1.jpeg" align="left" class="frame" caption="Mountain Sunrise"><img attachment="alan_wake_2.jpeg" align="left" class="frame" caption="Tweed!"><img attachment="alan_wake_5.jpeg" align="left" class="frame" caption="No Lens Flare"></div> As noted in the caption, the Remedy engine has opted for a more realistic approach to lighting than one was likely to find in previous engines. The "Mountain Sunrise" shot shows just how much better this "real world" will look than GTA (which is the current record holder right now, as far as this author is concerned).