For those who have played the Xbox 360 exclusive game Alan Wake should remember this scene I have chosen. It comes right at the end of the game where the title character has finally figured out the secret of what happened to his missing wife and how to save her from the game’s main antagonist.
This antagonist is not some psycho killer or monomaniacal villain. It’s a villain that’s more akin to an evil entity. In fact, we learn throughout the game that the villain, known as the Dark Presence, is like something out of a Lovecraft story. It’s an evil intelligence that has spanned eons and yearns to free itself from it’s watery prison.
Alan Wake realizes that the only way to save his wife was to take her place and fight the Dark Presence from within and this is where the brief scene begins. It’s a scene that starts creepy enough until the very end when the real payoff arrives.
One of my favorite video game titles of 2010 was the Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft Studios psychological thriller game Alan Wake. This title was a psychological thriller mashed up with survival horror that was influenced by Stephen King stories and David Lynch’s eccentric tv series, Twin Peaks. It was one of the few games which put a major scare to me whenever I played it which was usually at night. While the game didn’t sell copies in the Modern Warfare 3 level it did sell enough that it gained quite a huge fan following who clamored for more of Alan Wake and his fight against the malevolent Dark Presence. (Lisa Marie’s been trying the gaming thing lately and I must admit that Alan Wake is right up her dark sensibilities). Fans ended up getting two DLC chapters with “The Signal” and “The Writer”.
There had been rumors and talks about a proper sequel in the works within Remedy Entertainment, but such things continued to be unsubstantiated. While a rumor of sequel continued to persist the developers finally announced that there will be a new Alan Wake game, but it wasn’t going to be a sequel. It was to be a stand-alone Xbox Live Arcade title that should keep fans of the franchise happy while a sequel was being bandied about within the studio (I believe a sequel is already in development but still unconfirmed). This latest title was to be called Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.
The trailer for this title first premiered at Spike TV’s VGA 2011 and the game has tentative release date sometime around the Q1 of 2012.
Since I had already chosen the latest AMV of the Day to feature the Finnish rock band, Poets of the Fall, I thought it only appropriate that the latest Song of the Day make it a double-billing. This latest chosen song for this music feature is “War” by Poets of the Fall.
The song features heavily in the psychological-thriller game, Alan Wake, on the Xbox 360. It’s not surprising to find Poets of the Fall as part of this game’s soundtrack since the groups past relationship with Remedy who developed the game and who also happen to be Finnish themselves. “War” was used as the score for the end of Episode Five in the game. Even the official music video shot by the band used the basic plot of the game for it’s visuals.
In years past the band’s albums were typically labeled as alternative rock which is probably why I never really heard about them until I heard them on Alan Wake. This particular song is the second track on their latest album, Twilight Theater, and moves the band from their alternative roots to a more symphonic rock sound. This symphonic sound actually gives the band a much more classic hard rock vibe than their previous albums and is probably why I’ve finally gotten into their music. And I shall continue to listen to them and their future musical endeavors if they continue on this new musical style.
War
Do you remember standing on a broken field White crippled wings beating the sky The harbingers of war with their nature revealed And our chances flowing by?
If I can let the memory heal I will remember you with me on that field
When I thought that I fought this war alone You were there by my side on the frontline When I thought that I fought without a cause You gave me a reason to try
Turn the page I need to see something new For now my innocence is torn We cannot linger on this stunted view Like rabid dogs of war
I will let the memory heal I will remember you with me on that field
When I thought that I fought this war alone You were there by my side on the front line And we fought to believe the impossible When I thought that I fought this war alone We were one with our destinies entwined When I thought that I fought without a cause You gave me the reason why
With no-one wearing their real face It’s a whiteout of emotion And I’ve only got my brittle bones to break the fall
When the love in letters fade It’s like moving in slow motion And we’re already too late if we arrive at all
And then we’re caught up in the arms race An involuntary addiction And we’re shedding every value our mothers taught
So will you please show me your real face Draw the line in the horizon ‘Cause I only need your name to call the reasons why I fought
When I thought that I fought this war alone You were there by my side on the front line And we fought to believe the impossible When I thought that I fought this war alone We were one with our destinies entwined When I thought that I fought without a cause You gave me the reason why
I thought it was time for another edition of the latest AMV of the Day. As some know the term AMV means “anime music video”. It’s where people take scenes from an anime or several of them and edit them to perfectly match the music being played alongside it. The latest AMV of the Day is from AMV creator Chiikaboom and it’s called “Against All Odds”.
This particular AMV combines scenes from the mecha anime Macross Frontier with the song “Dream Wide Awake” from the Finnish band Poets of the Fall. I’ve only been recently introduced to this band from Helsinki by way of the Xbox 360 game Alan Wake where their music features prominently. I really like the melding of the scenes chosen from Macross Frontier with this Poets of the Fall song.
At first glance, the giant robots and singing girls may not be the subject and setting for such a serious and emotional song. In the way Chiikaboom edits the scenes with the song it really works. I haven’t been a big fan of the mecha genre of anime and manga, but this AMV has gotten me intrigued in checking out this particular anime of what was one of my favorite anime franchises in years past.
It helps that the creator of this particular AMV really has a handle at editing and adding in visual effects. Chiikaboom has become one of my favorite AMV creators and those wanting to see her other AMV projects can click the link to her name below.
Through the Shattered Lens 