Alone in the Dark 5: Introducing scriptwriter Lorenzo Carcaterra

Posted May 10, 2007 at 7:16PM by QJ Staff Listed in: Xbox 360, PS3, PC Gaming Tags: Atari, Eden Games, Lorenzo Carcaterra
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Lorenzo - Image 1We're not too sure just how far along Atari is in developing Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation, but perhaps this new press wire will shed light on the matter. The publisher has just announced that in order to enhance the authenticity of the game's New York setting, they have picked author Lorenzo Carcaterra to write the game script - that's him on the right.

Born and raised in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, Mr. Carcaterra has had extensive experience in writing graphic depictions of the harsh realities of New York's darker side.

Most readers and moviegoers will probably best remember his writing style from the Sleepers (1995) novel, which was later adapted into a 1996 movie of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson. Mr. Carcaterra's recent literary works include Street Boys (2002), Paradise City (2004), Chasers (2005).

Outside of his novels, Lorenzo was also a reporter for the  NY Daily News in 1976, and eventually became a TV consultant and writer for shows like Law and Order. As the author's remark on this ongoing project:

Alone in the Dark was a challenge which allowed me to bring a realistic feel to an apocalyptic situation facing New York City and really dig into the Central Park conspiracy idea. It also allowed me to write for hard-edged characters, some good, some bad, all forced to confront a force whose power they could never imagine. The story never stalls, always moves in overdrive and the characters zoom right along at warp speed, stopping long enough along the way to say a few lines that keep driving the plot forward. The end result is, I hope, a roller-coaster of a thrill ride that should be tons of fun to play.


Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation is rumored to be launching for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and  Windows PC this Q4 2007. Also included in this post are two more game screenshots. Enjoy!

Alone in the Dark's Carnby - Image 1 Alone in the Dark's Carnby - Image 2



 
 
 

Comments [refresh]

by Killzone 2 = The Best Game Ever? Maybe? With Factu - 2007-05-10 16:00
» Killzone 2 = The Best Game Ever? Maybe? With Factual Reasons

- Guerrilla Games was just a 3rd party company when they released Killzone 1 in Nov. 2004. That’s why Guerrilla made KZ1 all by itself (Guerrilla didn’t access to all those super-amazing Sony’s 1st party PS2 library and data).

- KZ1’s release date was originally early 2005. Since Bungie (a subsidiary of MS) decided to release Halo 2 in Nov. 2004, Guerrilla had to release KZ1 in Nov. too (because KZ1 was originally made to counter Halo 2’s release). That’s why KZ1 was a rushed (by about 5 months), unfinished, unoptimized, and unpolished game.

- Halo 2’s release date: Nov. 9. 2004; got 9.4 average review score from 185 different publications

- KZ1’s release date: Nov. 2. 2004; got 7.9 average review score from 112 different publications; therefore, KZ1 was not a bad game; it was just a decent game but miserably failed to be as good as Halo 2. Actually, for an unfinished game, KZ1 was quite good (7.9/10).



- Killzone 2 and Halo 3 both are expected to be out in Sep. 2007; again, KZ2’s biggest purpose is to counter Halo 3’s launch.

- Guerrilla Games (a subsidiary of Sony) has 130 employees (programmers and graphic designers only). Sony has spent $40 million so far (until Mar. of this year) on KZ2. Sony confirmed that the total budget for KZ2 will surpass $50 million (this is totally crazy, spending 5 to 10 times more budget to make only one game?).

- Epic has only 90 developers. Gears of War needed only $9 million to make (just for your reference, usually one good game only needs less than $5 million to make).

- Phil Harrison (the CEO of worldwide studio) said that KZ2’s final (retail) version will surpass both people’s expectations and the famous and infamous CG trailer. A person in his position can’t lie, so let’s just believe what this guy says, huh?

- In 2004, Guerrilla hired about 50 programmers and designers only from AAA-level companies around the world; these new employees are the brains behind KZ2 now.

- All Sony’s internal developers and Sony’s very close AAA-3rd party companies share all kinds of technologies which are used for making PS3 games (OpenGL 2 based). These world class developers are those companies which make games like: MotorStorm, MotorStorm 2 (confirmed), Metal Gear Solid 4, Warhawk, Ratchet & Clank, Virtua Fighter 5, Resistance 2 (tentatively confirmed), Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Jak and Daxter, White Knight Story, Monster Kingdom (Folks Soul), Tekken 6, Afrika, PS3 Home, Heavenly Sword, Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy versus XIII, Lair, Heavy Rain, Uncharted-Drake's Fortune, Killzone 2, God of War 3 (confirmed), Getaway, Eight Days, and Dead or Alive 5.



- Dead or Alive 5 is PS3 exclusive; confirmed by CVG.com on Apr. 30 (go and read the article unless you are blind; just for your reference, DoA 5 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma are made by the same Japanese company).

- Based on the above facts, KZ2 can’t be anything but the best shooter ever.



* Killzone 2’s actual gameplay footage (pre-alpha build) was shown to journalists at this year’s GDC expo behind closed doors. These journalists who watched the actual footage said...

- KZ2 is graphically and technologically extremely advanced.

- It was like watching Next-gen Black and Half Life 3 combined together. Everything which was hit by bullets and missiles were realistically destroyed and penetrated.

- KZ2 has extremely impressive lighting and shadow effects including the mind-blowing sky and river water.

- The environments (both indoor and outdoor) are extremely detailed.

- The characters were meticulously detailed.

- The sound effects were blowing away the audience.

- The short KZ2 footage was started in an outdoor environment. There were vehicular units like futuristic choppers and tanks. The soldiers moved into some cathedral-like building soon after. Helghast soldiers encountered with our army in a room. Some even said that it was like watching Hollywood blockbuster action movies.

by getzmahshah - 2007-05-10 21:42
» Wow, Phil Harrison, incapable of lying?

That right there just shows how stupid you are. Phil Harrison does nothing BUT lie.



Look, I like Killzone and I want to see Killzone 2 succeed, but I just know it will not live up to its hype, just like Killzone 1.



BTW both Halo 1 and 2 were also rushed, in the case of Halo 1 extremely. But both got at least 9s from everyone, and both have an average of 9.5 from all the publications and websites that matter. Killzone will NEVER be a Halo-killer, plain and simple

by hush404 - 2007-05-11 07:38
» heh

That guy looks like my boss Oh also, the posters above me are retards.

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