Gaming in Finland. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Returnal and Nex Machina game director Harry Krueger is departing Housemarque after 14 years.

Harry Krueger, the director of Housemarque’s acclaimed PS5 exclusive Returnal, has announced he’s leaving the Helsinki-based developer after 14 years.

Returnal and Nex Machina director Harry Krueger will leave Housemarque after 14 years, the studio announced.

Oura Ring, known for its innovative smart ring tracking sleep quality and vital health metrics, has elevated its commitment to health care with the appointment of former Apple executive Jason Oberfest. Formerly a pivotal figure in Apple's health team since his transition from startup Mango Health in 2018, Oberfest now assumes the role of Head of Clinical Strategy at Oura, and his expertise is expected to bolster Oura's health-care strategy.

PlayStation users can grab Returnal for $30 at Amazon for Black Friday 2023.

In an interview with Game Developer, Remedy’s Sam Lake and Kyle Rowley spoke at length about Saga Anderson, her importance in the story, and how the team went about creating this intriguing character.

Remedy is rebooting its upcoming free-to-play multiplayer title, previously codenamed "Vanguard," as a premium release.

Remedy plans to reboot its free-to-play co-op multiplayer game, codenamed Vanguard, as a premium release.

After Alan Wake 2, all eyes are on Remedy, and the studio has plenty in store. It announced today that its previously announced project with Tencent will be rebooted with a few significant changes.

There’s plenty to appreciate in Alan Wake 2 including the clever use of music and lyrics. One catchy song in particular has been popular enough to inspire a fan-made music video for it. Some mild spoilers are ahead.

One of Alan Wake 2's standout moments sounds like it had some trouble getting off the ground. At least according to the game's director, Sam Lake.

Alan Wake 2's most memorable – and surprising – chapter was almost cut.

If you've played the game, you know the one.

Remedy saw a slight decrease in its overall revenue during the third quarter of 2023 (July to September 2023), its latest financial results showed.

Alan Wake Remastered has recouped its development and marketing costs around two years after it launched.

Alan Wake 2 is out now, and though it’s a bit early in its life to see how well it’s doing where sales are concerned, it seems the series as a whole is bringing in the money for developer Remedy Entertainment nonetheless.

The long-awaited Alan Wake 2 is out now, and based on the consensus, is very much worth the long wait. Developer Remedy Entertainment, however, has plenty more in the pipeline. In addition to two expansions for the survival horror title that are due out next year, the developer has plenty of other projects in the pipeline as well, and one among them that may be the most prominent among them is continuing to make steady progress behind the scenes.

If there’s a perfect new game to play this Halloween, it’s Alan Wake 2.

A few months ago, Samsung announced its Android 14-Based One UI 6 Update, and now it has finally started rolling it out for Samsung Galaxy S23 users. Until now, these updates were available in the Beta version. Some users in Europe have reported that they can see this rollout on their Samsung Galaxy S23 phones. Know all about this latest update :

This morning, Remedy Entertainment shared its half-year report with investors. The Finnish studio proudly noted the excellent reception to Alan Wake 2's release, though it also said it's too early to discuss sales.

Remedy has provided an update on its several upcoming titles, including Control 2 and the Max Payne remake.

To say that Alan Wake 2 hooked me at the outset would be an understatement. The survival-horror masterpiece was gripping, surreal, and creepy from the second Remedy Entertainment gave me control of a naked man who had just crawled out of a supernatural lake and found himself lost in the woods and hunted by a maniacal cult. But one sequence, a little more than halfway through the story, convinced me that I was truly playing a game for the ages.

Remedy creative director Sam Lake has said that he’d like to make a “crazy, huge-budget, dark gothic fantasy” game.

A good game over screen doesn’t just serve as a notice that you need to start over. In the survival horror genre, a well-crafted, properly terrifying game over screen should serve as a deterrent, ensuring you stay alive the next time to avoid seeing the bloody words ‘Game Over’ appear on your screen. And sometimes, like in Alan Wake 2, they could be so terrifying you never want to die again.

Finnish clothing company Makia has teamed with Remedy to release a line of high-end unisex streetwear inspired by Alan Wake 2.

Remedy made sure to remember two dearly departed collaborators in the credits of Alan Wake 2.

Finnish fashion brand Makia has launched a line of high-end Alan Wake 2 merchandise to celebrate the game’s release.

Remedy Entertainment has responded to the worries regarding the demanding PC system requirements of Alan Wake 2, saying it «played real safe» with the settings.

The full reveal of the Alan Wake 2 system requirements last week left a lot of fans unhappy. They're steep: The minimum spec for 1080p, 30 fps gameplay at the low graphics preset is an Intel i5-7600K CPU, RTX 2060 GPU, and 16GB RAM, and a sharp ramp up from there into recommended, ultra, and ray tracing requirements. But some optimistic gamers expressed hope that Remedy was inflating the PC system requirements for Alan Wake 2 in order to ensure that it runs well on all specs, even at the low end, and that's apparently the case.

This isn't a Mega-Scoop for the Ages, but it's a fun little story. Tucked away in one dark corner of Remedy's latest horror extravaganza Alan Wake 2 you'll find an arcade cabinet machine dedicated to the very first game the Finnish developer ever made.

Supercell, the Tencent-owned Finnish game studio known for mobile hits like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, announced the Open Beta launch for their new monster hunting game mo.co.

Grab Housemarque's stellar roguelike shooter on PlayStation 5 for a low price.

With Remedy's long-awaited sequel now just two days away from release, the launch trailer for Alan Wake 2 has been published. You can check it out below (or will you be stronger and avoid any spoilers?).

is here, bringing many updates and changes to the original, beloved, city-planning simulator game, ​​​​​, which has been around since 2015. The series remains true to its roots with several familiar elements and then adds in new quality-of-life features such as better tools, and entertaining AI enhancements in addition to the stunning new graphics and soundtracks available. It is a truly massive game, five times larger than the original, and yet many of the new changes are seen in the intricate details.

Supercell’s globally popular mobile games Clash of Clansand Clash Royaleare now playable on the Windows PC for the first time via a beta on Google Play Games. 

Remedy finally released the PC system requirements for Alan Wake 2 last Friday and they are pretty high. This is not much of a surprise, considering that the Finnish studio always pushed technologies further with each new game.

I’m ready to see a lot of gaming people again and so GamesBeat Next is coming just in time for me. Things are different this time so I thought I’d fill you in.

Telecom gear maker Nokia said Thursday that it is planning to cut up to 14,000 jobs worldwide, or 16% of its workforce, as part of a push to reduce costs following a plunge in third-quarter sales and profit.

By Nathan Edwards, a senior reviews editor who's been testing tech since 2007. Previously at Wirecutter and MaximumPC. Current fixations: keyboards, DIY tech, and the smart home.

Netflix is beginning to test its cloud gaming servicein the U.S. after initially launching limited trials in Canada and the U.K. The service, an expansion on the company’s mobile gaming efforts which began in 2021, has seen the streamer picking up gaming studios and licensing titles from individual developers with the intention to make gaming another major arm of its business. With its cloud gaming service, Netflix now allows members to play its games on smart TV and TV-connected devices, like Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, and others, by using their mobile phone as the gaming controller.

Sony has announced that PS5 cloud streaming for PlayStation Plus Premium goes live on October 17th in Japan, October 23rd in Europe and October 30th in North America. There will be several titles from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog to stream, with “hundreds” of PS5 titles to support the same later.

Two months after PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers began receiving invites to a PlayStation 5 cloud streaming beta, Sony has announced the feature will be getting its full launch on on 23rd October in Europe and 30th October in the US.

PlayStation 5 cloud streaming for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers will launch on October 17 in Japan, October 23 in Europe, and October 30 in North America, allowing users to play PlayStation 5 games without having to download them, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced.

Since launching the all-new PlayStation Plus more than a year ago, we’ve seen such high engagement from our fans on our offerings – from the quality titles offered in the Game Catalog like Horizon Forbidden West and Sea of Stars, to new trophy features we’ve added to classic games like Legend of Dragoon and Syphon Filter. 

Ravensburger has announced it’ll be rolling out Disney Lorcana to ten more regions later this year, ahead a third set confirmed for early 2024.

Tencent, Apple, Nintendo, and Ubisoft reduced their carbon emissions from 2021 to 2022, while companies including Sega, NetEase, and Unity saw increases year-on-year.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

I’m delighted to reveal the agenda for our GamesBeat Next 2023, which takes place in San Francisco on October 23-24.

Returnal developer Housemarque has announced plans to relocate to a new studio by the end of 2024.

Housemarque, the developer of Returnal, has announced plans to move into a new studio.

One of the biggest releases this month is Alan Wake 2, and it’s a title that fans have been waiting for years since the 2010 game garnered itself a cult following. As its launch draws nearer, Remedy has been cranking up the marketing and slowly revealing more of what we can expect from Wake’s next horror adventure.

Games London is bringing its Game Changer group of business founders to the GI Investment Summit next week.

13 years after the launch of its predecessor, Alan Wake 2 finally continues the story of gaming’s favourite haunted novelist. But the sequel is expanding more than just Alan’s tale. This game is the third entry in the Remedy Connected Universe, an idea that will see the Finnish studio’s works overlap, connect, and influence each other.

Roblox has acquired Speechly, a Finnish AI start-up specialising in voice moderation technology, for an undisclosed amount.

Remedy Entertainment has released a few behind-the-scenes videos in the lead-up to Alan Wake 2’s launch, highlighting different aspects of the game and its development process. In a new behind-the-scenes video, the developer has turned its attention to the music and audio design of the highly anticipated survival horror sequel.

Finnish studio Spectarium has secured €5 million ($5.3 million) to create an AI-powered cross-platform action RPG called Myths, which it claims will use a TikTok-esque algorithm to serve tailor-made content to players.

Games like Gran Turismo and Forza and Assetto Corza are partially fantasy games at heart. They are built for you to be able to get off on cars and car culture and shiny paints and lifestyle that you are likely never going to have. My Summer Car is not like those games. This game is about realism. You don’t get off to this car because that’s sick.

Two years after announcing voice chat was coming to Roblox, the gaming company has acquired a voice tech startup, Speechly, offering voice chat moderation, real-time transcription and Voice API that lets companies add AI voice technology and voice interfaces to their products and experiences.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

Finnish team Remedy has revealed its upcoming PS5 survival horror game Alan Wake 2 will be its longest yet, clocking in at more than 20 hours. Creative director Sam Lake shared the respective playtime in the latest episode of the Kinda Funny Games Daily show, revealing the studio has wanted to makes its games longer for some time. «So Control was our longest game to date, and Alan Wake 2 is going to be longer than that — 20 hours plus,» he said.

Starfield was comfortably No.1 across Europe during its launch week, GSD data shows.

AI Roundup: Tencent has obtained regulatory approval to launch its AI model, Hunyuan, in China. This tool already powers over 50 of Tencent's products and services. A study by Finnish and Norwegian researchers found that AI chatbots like ChatGPT-3 and ChatGPT-4 generate more creative ideas for unconventional everyday items than average humans. In a separate development, MIT researchers developed Style2Fab, a generative AI tool allowing users to customize 3D-printable models using natural language prompts while preserving functionality.

After a couple of days of furious game developer reactions, game engine company Unity have backtracked a teensy bit on their plan to charge developers who meet certain revenue and copies-sold thresholds a "runtime fee" for every installation of their game.

Yesterday (Tuesday, September 12), it was announced that the game engine Unity will soon begin charging developers a monthly fee based on the number of installs their games have, in a move that has left many indie studios upset and frustrated.

Deliciously pulpy horror storytelling was at the heart of the original Alan Wake. It returns for the sequel, too, but the Stephen King-isms look to be confined to The Dark Place; the New York-styled nightmare cage the titular writer is trapped in. Out in the real world (or at least what seems like the real world) – the domain of our second protagonist, FBI agent Saga Anderson – developer Remedy Entertainment has crafted a new collage from pieces of its favourite detective stories. The eerie shadows of True Detective, Seven, and The Silence of the Lambs creep through Alan Wake 2’s gorgeous digital depiction of the Pacific Northwest.

Take a moment to imagine where you might have a better quality of life. Did France spring to mind? It does have universal healthcare, affordable childcare, a high level of civic and social engagement, good work-life balance, and of course it’s home to beautiful countryside and arguably the most desirable city on earth, so that would be a natural place to think of.

A new Alan Wake 2 gameplay trailer is here with 11 minutes of footage, and although I'm sure it's crammed with references and callbacks to older Remedy games, what I'm most hyped about is that it confirms Ahti from Control is back and still singing his lovely Finnish music.

IGN First for September is Remedy’s long-awaited Alan Wake 2. To kick things off we’ve got 11 minutes of brand new gameplay from an early mission played from the perspective of FBI Agent Saga Anderson.

I don't have any firsthand insight to share on Void Stranger, which surprise-released on Friday, but when I read words like "forgotten labyrinth" and "traps that defy reason", I find myself reaching for my pen and inkwell, and when I encounter visuals that remind of the nastier Zelda dungeons on Game Boy, I start vibrating gently in my chair, and when I see monochrome anime story scenes set to howling guitar and fuzzy chip tunes - well, here we are.

Remedy took the somewhat unexpected decision earlier this year to delay Alan Wake 2 – but not into 2024 like is so common sometimes, but just for a week. Speaking with IGN about the Finnish developer’s decision, gaffer Sam Lake said that it was to space out the release schedule a little so all of the upcoming PS5 titles had an opportunity to shine.

NVIDIA has teamed up with Remedy Entertainment to give away a unique and rare Alan Wake II-inspired GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card.

11.6 million console and PC games were sold in July across Europe, up 34% over the same period in 2022.

The Sun has been displaying its might over the last few months, and its activity is expected to increase as we move towards the peak of Solar Cycle 25, which is likely to be in 2025. During its 11-year cycle, the Sun unleashes CMEs, solar flares, solar storms, and other high energy particles which can damage electric infra on Earth. Although scientists now have the technology to predict most of these events, this cycle's activity has already exceeded the maximum threshold which was predicted earlier.

It's official: Rovio is now a part of Sega. The Japanese developer fully completed its €706 million (or $775 million) acquisition of the Angry Birds studio. 

We’re spreading the joy (and chaotically good fun) to more countries as Warcraft Rumble™ enters soft launch. Along with players in the Philippines—players in Canada, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway can now experience this triumph of gnomish engineering.

After more than a decade in the development wilderness, Alan Wake 2 is finally (almost) ready for its closeup. So it’s fitting when we visit Helsinki to talk to the team making it that we start in a performance-capture studio. Here, we get to see Ilkka Villi (the face and body of the game’s protagonist) at work, as he makes an appearance on a late-night chat show. Meanwhile, we talk to Matthew Porretta, who supplies Wake’s voice. “This would never be done this way now, right?” Porretta says. “The person who mocaps it would voice it.”

Shareholders of Finland's Rovio, creator of the Angry Birds franchise, have overwhelmingly accepted Japanese Sega's offer to buy the company, allowing the deal to go through, the Finnish company said Thursday.

Russia's plan to launch its lunar lander on Friday is the latest in an international push to return to the Moon that includes the world's top powers but also new players.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Summit Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak  here  and learn more about sponsorship opportunities  here . 

Blizzard's upcoming free-to-play mobile game, Warcraft Rumble, is expanding to new regional testing locations on iOS and Android devices! With new quest systems, increased unit variety, and a Heroic Campaign mode, focus is being put on adding long term challenge and interest for months and years to come! The game has undergone a few changes since its formal announcement last year and closed beta this past June, notably dropping «Arclight» from its name to be simply known as Warcraft Rumble. In an interview with Gamespot, Game Director Tom Chilton and Executive Producer Vik Saraf discussed what they'd learned, from improving rudimentary quest systems to the introduction of new Arclight Surge mechanics with rotating modifiers.