Scott Miller's paraphrased account of the making of Max Payne follows:

"After Remedy completed Death Rally, both companies felt very positive about
a continuing relationship, so we started talking about new game ideas.
Remedy came to use with three ideas, a racing game, a Freespace-like space
game, and a 3D game much like Loaded, by Interplay.  They called this game
Dark Justice, and it was a third-person game but had a top-down angle
with the camera a little behind the player.

"We talked to Remedy about focusing on one game, which they eventually did.
We selected the Dark Justice concept as the one we were most interested in
funding, but we wanted it changed to a true third-person game like Tomb Raider
(but not with Tomb Raider's horrid camera system), and we wanted to develop
another strong character that would be the foundation for a new gaming
franchise, much like we'd done with Duke Nukem.

"So we needed the name of the game to be the name of the character, and
we needed a great, memorable character name that conveyed the essence of
the character.

"I came up with Max, but I couldn't think of a good last name.  At one point,
the best name we could think of was Max Heat, and we spent over $20,000
trademarking this name worldwide.  Then someone from Remedy proposed Payne
as the last name, and immediately we ditched Heat and spent another load of
money trademarking Max Payne.  Truly a perfect name.

"Remedy worked out all the details of the story, and both Remedy and 3D Realms
have worked together on the higher concepts of the game -- but Remedy deserves
all the credit for putting it all together.  Remedy is truly a developer on
the rise and will soon be recognized as among the world's best."

}Upon its release, Max Payne quickly became a bestselling game.  Remedy went
}straight to work on a sequel, called "Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne,"
}which was released two years later, in October 2003.  PS2 and XBox versions
}of both games were also released.
}
}As part of the sale of the franchise rights to Take 2, 3D Realms no longer had
}the rights to sell the game directly and ceased doing so on November 8, 2002.
}Any sales of the game from that point onward was through a third party,
}or through Take 2.