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Atari to soften hardcore-only focus; Alone in the Dark details revealed

Posted May 23, 2008 at 4:59PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PC Gaming Tags: Atari, Infogrames, Phil Harrison

In an interview, Infogrames' Phil Harrison clarified that Atari will still be developing mainstream games, but there will be a focus on social and casual games for the new broader market.

Alone in the Dark (PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox 360) is being polished by the capable hands of Eden, but it is not to be the last mainstream videogame that the recently reinforced Atari will be serving.

Harrison was quoted to have said, "I don't see that we're going to be making huge-budget, single-player games in the future," but he also meant that there would still be that drive for ambitious, high quality games.

It's just that they won't be single player, full story (full in the sense that there was a beginning, middle, and closure) driven games. Or in Kevin Bruner's words, they won't be big budget, over the top titles. Guess on their battle to rise up again, Atari decided to start out small.

Alone in the Dark was supposed to be an example of Atari's new plans - however partially. You see, the game is a full narrative-driven title that was supposed to be split into episodes.

These episodes were instead compounded into a full title by various reasons that cropped up within the company. But the idea was there, and they almost nailed it squarely if not for additional troubles.

Has the horror-survival game been compromised by the change of plans? Apparently not. "Alone in the Dark, as a game, is brilliantly executed and all on one disc. Nothing wrong with that. It's perfect for 2008," concluded Harrison. The CEO praised the developers at Eden for their skill and fervor to create a memorable big bang from Atari.

It would appear the game's primary inspiration was from another form of entertainment - the non-interactive kind, according to Harrison. "What I can say is that the team was clearly inspired by what was happening around them in contemporary television," he added.

He pointed out that narratives in series such as the X-Files and Lost kept viewers coming back for more because of how each show had a "cliffhanger at the end." The larger story was never completed at the end of 30 minutes; instead, it was split into episodic narratives.

With this idea came the chapter selection feature in Alone in the Dark, though one may argue that this was the by-product of mashing all the episodes together into the full game. Harrison explained:

This is a game that requires a good level of skill to play. This is not a simple game by any means.

But because it's challenging, that's where the chapter select mechanism comes into its own, because you can pause. Now whether that means pause for half an hour or a week, it doesn't matter. You can still come back to it, and it will remind you of where you were and re-engage you with the story. I think that's why that plays so strongly to this structure. It keeps you going through the game.

Alone in the Dark is an important game for Atari, says Harrison, but the company already has several other games lined up as well. We'll keep you updated as soon as we hear from them.

Buy: [ Alone in the Dark (Windows), (Wii), (Xbox 360) ]

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Phil Harrison left Sony becuse they would not focus on social and casual games. Now he is the head of Atari, and will do thing but the type of games that the Wii is know for. I do not see every developer doing this, but I do see alot of old game genres being cast aside just so most can get the fly by night mainstream.

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Atari to soften hardcore-only focus; Alone in the Dark details revealed

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