With Remedy working on Alan Wake, Rockstar Vancouver has just announced that they’re busy creating the third installment of “that other game featuring a guy with a cool name”; Max Payne 3. Since Max Payne is one of the most beloved and discussed third-person shooters out there, Rockstar has sure loaded themselves with a heavy burden on their shoulders.

Being one of those games that make you drop your jaw because of the brilliant story and presentation, but also one that frequently sends disturbing shrills down your spine, it won’t be an easy task to continue Max’s painful story. And painful it will be.

“We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game,” said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. “This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.”

Apparently our stiff upper lip-antihero has gone even deeper down the noir scale. If we’re to look back on what happened between the first two games, we can also expect Max to be far older than his last visit, but also more crazy and delusional. Killing a few hundred bad guys is probably not the best solution if your wife and kids were brutally slaughtered, so make sure you gear up for some psychadelic chapters this time as well.

Max Payne 3 will Bullet time your ass in winter 2009 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.