- Sam Lake
Infobox Writer
name = Sami Järvi (Sam Lake)
imagesize =
caption = Sam Lake attending E3 Expo - Los Angeles Convention Center - 05-18-2005Photo by Glenn Francis of www.PacificProDigital.com
birthplace =Finland
birthname = Sami Jarvi
birthdate = birth date and age|1970|6|30
deathdate =
deathplace =
othername = Sam Lake
occupation =Writer ,Actor
spouse =
homepage = Sami Järvi, also known (mostly abroad) by his artist name Sam Lake ("Järvi is Finnish for Lake") (born 1970), is a Finnishwriter who is mostly known for his work on the popular "Max Payne "video game series. Järvi is good friends with Petri Järvilehto, a founding member ofRemedy Entertainment , the company behind "Max Payne". Järvilehto needed help with script writing in one of Remedy's early games, "Death Rally ", and invited Lake to write. Since then, Järvi has helped write and design Remedy's most successful game: "Max Payne".He attended the
University of Helsinki , where he studied theEnglish language and literature.Max Payne
Järvi played several roles in the development of "Max Payne". He not only wrote the game's story and script, but also helped design levels, and was the face model for the character of Max Payne. He posed as Max Payne in the game's graphic novels as well. Because of the game's budget, Remedy could not hire actors. As a result, Järvi, along with other Remedy programmers played the roles.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
In this sequel, "", Järvi stuck to writing. The game's script ended up being about four times as long as some movie scripts. For the sequel, Remedy's budget was increased, allowing the ability to hire professional actors to model for the graphic novel cutscenes, Järvi was replaced by actor
Timothy Gibbs . However, if the player should watch any of the TV set shows during the game, they will see that Järvi models for John Mirra in the fake television show "Address Unknown" as well as "Lord Valentine" and "Mama" in "Lords and Ladies". [cite news
last = Buffington
first = Wade
coauthors =
title = Meet Sam Lake, the Real Max Payne
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = ECorsair
date = 2004-03-03
url = http://media.www.ecorsair.com/media/storage/paper692/news/2004/03/03/Features/Meet-Sam.Lake.The.Real.Max.Payne-630705.shtml
accessdate = 2007-10-21] There is also an unofficial mod to give the character his old face back. [ [http://www.gamespot.com/search.html?qs=Max+Payne+2&sub=d&stype=11&type=11&page=3&q=Max+Payne+2&q=Max%20Payne%202 GameSpot:Video Games PC Xbox 360 PS3 Wii PSP DS PS2 PlayStation 2 GameCube GBA PlayStation 3 ] ]The ending theme song, "
Late Goodbye " is based on apoem by Järvi. The song was written by the Finnish groupPoets of the Fall .Mob boss Vinnie Gognitti remarks that the creator of Max Payne's in-game cartoon series, Captain Baseball Bat Boy, is a man named Sammy Waters, which is a play on Järvi's alternative name (Sam) Lake.
Future projects
Järvi is currently involved with writing Remedy's next game "
Alan Wake ", a "psychological action thriller". An upcoming "Max Payne" film is slated for release in 2008 (with actor Mark Wahlberg as Max Payne), though it is unknown to what capacity Järvi will be involved with the project, Järvi is said to be the character writer for the movie according to IMDB.References
External links
*imdb name|id=1053843|name=Sam Lake
* [http://www.jivemagazine.com/article.php?pid=1881 JIVE Magazine Interview Feature: Sam Lake: On Video-Game Storytelling]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
