Media Consumption: Remedy Entertainment's Petri Järvilehto (Alan Wake)

For this week’s Media Consumption, a column that looks at the media and art diets of our favourite industry personalities, we spoke to Petri Järvilehto, Creative Director on Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming psychological action thriller, Alan Wake. The game is set for release on PC and Xbox 360, though is currently without a date. Järvilehto notes that the game is “coming together well”, adding that he feels Alan Wake is “an exciting project to work with, both technology as well as concept and story-wise”. The game was demonstrated at the Intel Development Forum at X06 in Barcelona back in September. “Everyone seemed to like the direction where we are heading, and even though we're not really talking about the game right now, I'm starting to get anxious to show all of the new stuff that we have up and running,” Järvilehto comments. We took some time to ask Helsinki, Finland-headquartered Järvilehto about the ill culinary behaviour going on in his media diet right now. Sounds: "When it comes to music, I go for older stuff, rather than the newest and latest. I often find myself playing different soundtracks for movies and TV series and that's also a great way of setting up the mood while working. I really dig the latest Poets of the Fall album as well. These are the same guys who did the 'Late Goodbye' song for Max Payne 2, and they just seem to be getting better with the newer releases." Moving Pictures: "Lately I've actually enjoyed TV series more than films. It seems like the last couple of years have seen a strong influx of high-quality series that are extremely entertaining, and since we're using TV series structure for the storytelling in Alan Wake, watching loads of TV series has been a great way of combining research and fun. Lost has been one of the most entertaining things recently and Twin Peaks is still one of the best tv-series ever. It's been a bit more quiet on the movie front lately. My all time favorites list would probably include movies like The Usual Suspects, 12 Monkeys, Leon and similar, as well as older John Woo Hong Kong flicks and Tarantino's work." Words: "I read a lot, usually combining a mix of non-fiction and fiction. Right now I'm re-reading The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's an incredible book, and I'm enjoying it just as much on the second time. Unconventional, adventurous, spooky and manages to really push the story within a story within a story angle. I would highly recommend it to everyone. As to non-fiction (business and entertainment related), and lately I've been reading through a lot of books on the psychology and theory of poker." Games: "Most recent favourites would be Gears of War, Guitar Hero II and Wii Sports. For the holidays, the Wii definitely dominated our household. I have two daughters aged 4 and 6 so Wii Sports quickly became a family event. Gears is just outstanding. I love the clarity of design and how everything that's in there is executed to near perfection. It's about time that we finally see a "real" next-generation game. Guitar Hero is incredibly addictive once you get into the groove and start five starring Expert songs. I also have a soft spot for games that dare to venture a bit further from the traditional path, so games like Shadow of the Colossus or Okami rank highly in my list of favourites. I'm also looking forward to spending some time with Viva Piñata in the near future."