Earlier today we got confirmation that the next Alan Wake will indeed be downloadable, and that more details will be revealed at the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards.
Back in May, Kotaku ran a rumor from the site XBLA Fans that the next Wake game would be called "Alan Wake's Night Springs," and that it would be downloadable. Today, the site posted (and sent in) the above off-screen image of the game's title screen. If the image is accurate (and nothing about the game has changed since May), it looks like the game will indeed be called Night Springs and will be episodic.
The "Arcade Action" option sticks out most to me, and makes me think of either some sort of scored "arcade" method of playing the campaign (similar to Gears of War 3) or a series of ranked standalone challenges. The "Unlock Full Game" option is consistent with the rumor that the game will be episodic. That format makes sense with the title, too, since by making it "Alan Wake's" seems designed to communicate that the game is not Alan Wake 2. Basing it around Night Springs, the Twilight Zone-style television program of the Alan Wake universe, would open things up to an episodic format quite nicely.
We'll know more soon, as Microsoft sounds just about ready to spill the beans on the next Alan Wake.
Alan Wake XBLA title to be shown at the Spike Video Game Awards [XBLA Fans]
You can contact Kirk Hamilton, the author of this post, at kirk@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.