Whoa, Remedy is remaking Max Payne 1 and 2

pcgamer.com:

Here's some news that genuinely caught us off guard today: Remedy is remaking third-person shooter masterpieces Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.

The remade Paynes will be distributed as one package, and aren't likely to be released anytime very soon. Remedy says that the project is in «the concept development stage.» 

For now, it's just cool that Remedy was able to get the go ahead on the project, which wasn't a given. Remedy created both of the original Max Payne games, but Rockstar published them, and still controls the Max Payne copyright. (Rockstar developed Max Payne 3 itself.)

According to Remedy's announcement, it approached Rockstar with the idea of remaking the games, and Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser was «thrilled» by the idea. Rockstar is funding development of the remakes, whose budget will be «in line with a typical Remedy AAA-game production,» says Remedy. No surprise: Remedy plans to use its Northlight game engine, which was most recently seen in Control.

The first Max Payne game released a couple years after The Matrix hit theaters, and was the first game to really nail the slo-mo gunplay popularized by the movie; that influence can also be seen in Max Payne's grimy New York levels, especially the subway station where it begins. 

The similarities to The Matrix mostly end there. Max Payne is an ultra-melodramatic noir thriller about an ex-cop out for revenge. Its story was delivered with comic book-style interludes and what remains some of the best VO work in all of videogames. Think True Detective, but less subtle. I don't know about angels, but it's fear that gives men wings.

Max Payne 2 was also notable for its Havok physics, which were pretty groundbreaking at the time—I spent hours