"Long-awaited" is an easy way to describe the forthcoming 360 (sadly not PC) title Alan Wake. "Silent Hill meets Twin Peaks" would be another. But perhaps the most useful is "hugely promising". I recently spent a couple of hours playing the early levels of the game and saw enough to suggest that at least some of the hype may be lived up to. Alan Wake, as you probably already know, is a survival horror/thriller/adventure game set in the US Pacific Northwest. The action sees you controlling the novelist and reluctant hero through misty woods and desolate lakesides in the search for his missing wife

Alan Wake was first announced in 2005. Four years on and the game is finally ready for launch. The long awaited Xbox 360 exclusive mixes Silent Hill, Twin Peaks and a stack of other literary and movie influences to create something that looks hugely promising. I'll post my hands-on thoughts later in the week but first up is an interview I had with Oskari Hakkinen, head of franchise development at developer Remedy..