Alone in the Dark bags <i>Sleepers</i> writer

Detective Edward Carnby is about to face his most hair-raising adventure yet, as penned by blockbuster novelist Lorenzo Carcaterra.

Carcaterra was born and raised in New York's Hell's Kitchen and has worked as a journalist, TV consultant, and author. His novels include Apaches, Gangster, and Sleepers. Sleepers was made into a film in 1996, starring Hollywood legends Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, and Brad Pitt.

The Eden Games-developed Alone in the Dark remake was originally unveiled by Atari at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The new version of the game will feature the original hero, Edward Carnby, but will take place in modern-day New York--whereas the original was set in the 1920s. However, the game was delayed to fiscal 2008, and coming out on "formats we haven't even announced yet." The latest update adds a Windows PC game version to the roster.

According to the company line, the latest Alone in the Dark will feature a "dramatic and fast-paced storyline," advanced artificial intelligence, gorgeous visuals, and a "wide-open" (presumably sandbox style) environment to explore.

"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," commented Lorenzo Carcaterra. "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 first Alone in the Dark game was developed by Infogrames and released in 1993 on the PC, and it's believed to be the very first survival horror game, which set the benchmark for the huge amount of games in the genre that followed, including Resident Evil. Gamers chose to play as either Edward Carnby, a private detective, or Emily Hartwood, the niece of Jeremy Hartwood, an artist whose suicide is surrounded by suspicious circumstances.

A number of sequels followed the original, including Alone in the Dark 2, and Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. A Uwe Boll directed movie adaptation, also titled Alone in the Dark, featuring Christian Slater as Edward Carnby, was released in 2005.

Atari confirmed that Alone in the Dark would be coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, but no estimated release date was given.