Konami's Silent Hillfranchise has forgotten more about keeping us hiding beneath our covers than most games will ever know. Even EA's own Glen Schofield tips his hat to the series, telling us earlier this week that he considers the 1999 PlayStation original to be among his favorite survival horror games ever. But after nearly a decade of stumbling through the fog, it's easy to feel that the dilapidated burg of Silent Hill has gotten a bit too long in the tooth.
For the series' sixth installment, Konami has handed the blood-soaked baton over to external developer Double Helix Games, a recent mash-up of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment. The result is this fall's upcoming release, Silent Hill: Homecoming, and we recently puzzled our way out of mist long enough to ask the game's lead designer, Jason Allen, just why we should care about this latest return trip to Silent Hill.
Though the characters in Wes Craven's magnum opus would be an obvious exception, we're pretty sure that protagonists in horror movies have never seen horror movies -- looking at the Silent Hill series, it's clear this rule applies to video games as well. Not that we're complaining, as if the characters in Konami's beloved horror series would collectively realize that abandoned, fog-filled towns are abandoned and fog-filled for a reason, they would probably stop going to them in search of deceased or missing wives/offspring/brothers -- and we wouldn't have these gorgeous screenshots from the upcoming Silent Hill: Homecoming to drool over.
So thanks, horror genre characters. Your obvious ineptitude for danger avoidance may deliver you into the jaws of certain doom, but it provides us with near-limitless entertainment -- and really, isn't that more important in the long run?
Of course, the world's just being polite. Though Konami's official announcement of a PlayStation 2 version of Silent Hill Origins is welcomed, it arrives about as unexpectedly as that surprise birthday party you planned for yourself once. That might have been more enjoyable if you had any friends, but then you're far too busy clobbering jittery, faceless nurses in your free time.
Incidentally, that's exactly what you do in this game. Casting some light on the spooky town's black history, Silent Hill Origins for PS2 aims to impart the "chilling, suspenseful and fear-filled experience that handheld gamers encountered" to those who prefer considerably larger screens. "This is their chance to learn more of the mystery and mythos surrounding Silent Hill that's been hinted at in earlier games and made the series such a success," said Anthony Crouts, VP of marketing and ineffective secret keeping at Konami Digital Entertainment.
We'll share further details as soon as they come shambling out of the foreboding mist.
We told you last month that we thought you'd soon hear more about a PS2 version of the PSP's Silent Hill Origins. Though we still haven't gotten official word from Konami, the rumor has now been corroborated by a few retailers, making a port seem all the more likely.
GameFly and Amazon both have listings for the game, although they've currently got it set at opposite ends of March. Heck, the two sites even have box art (seen at right). Now, Konami, would you please just announce the thing so we can start stocking up on Depends? ... Wait. No. We mean Game Fuel. Yeah. Game Fuel. You know, so we can play all night because we're not scared at all. Yeah, that's the ticket.
So get this: Konami made a (by most accounts) pretty good game called Silent Hill Origins for the PSP, and according to a Kotaku tipster, the company will be moving the game to the PS2 in March 2008! Making a port of a decent game from a well-regarded franchise for a system with 120 million units sold worldwide, can you believe it? ... Yes, so can we.
As we said, this hasn't been confirmed by Konami, but it seems like one of two things would be happening right now. Either they are porting SHO to the PS2, or they've seen this story on the internet, fired the guy in charge of thinking of things like this and are in the preliminary stages of porting SHO to the PS2. Either way, we'd bet that you'll hear more about it soon.
It's been a while since Konami first announced Silent Hill V, and details revealed since have been few and far between.A new issue of Official Playstation Magazine, however, has revealed some new tidbits of information about the latest in the survival horror series.
The radio and the flashlight -- which were abandoned in the previous Silent Hillgame -- return in the fifth console installment of the series. Unlike previous games, the camera will feature full 3D movement, and the article hints at some possible Sixaxis functionality in the PS3 version. The rest of the article features some new, "exclusive" images and character renderings, and recaps story and gameplay elements that were already known, but it could be a nice refresher for anyone who's forgotten exactly what to look forward to.
Not quite as terrifying as the titles he's been working on, Akira Yamaoka sat down with us during E For All to give us a teensy bit of information about the upcoming Silent Hill: Origins, and what it took to bring the game to the PlayStation Portable. While he didn't tell us the secret to being scary on a much smaller screen, we imagine it'll mean a lot of OMG IN YOUR FACE moments and spooky noises. Perhaps they'll even tell people this is a game better enjoyed with headphones.
The death spiral of the arcade in America is a vicious cycle. If more people were populating arcades, we'd probably get more games like Silent Hill: The Arcade, released in Japan last month. Of course, if our arcades included more games like Silent Hill and fewer sweaty meat sacks trying to lose that last 230 pounds on a DDR machine electronically beeping out a prayer for a quick death, we'd probably be more apt to go there.
Luckily for us, we have footage like the above clip. Just make your fingers into a gun shape and go to town. You don't have to pay any money and (best of all) you don't have to keep yourself from staring at Chunky Brewster performing his Slurpee rehydration.
Much like a Tootsie Roll-brand Tootsie Pop, deep below our hardened, candy exterior of cynicism is a center of gooey, chocolatey cowardice. As you might have guessed with that information nestled inside your breast (you won't tell anyone, right?) we don't typically get anywhere near Silent Hill games. That being said: This new 1UP preview of Silent Hill V has us intrigued.
It's in the hands of an American team, and we're interested in the way they're going with it. We do wonder if it will be possible to still enjoy the real-time disintegration effects and more responsive combat if we watch the game through a slit between our index and middle finger with wads of cotton in our ears. Here's hoping.
Silent Hill V developer The Collective is borrowing a few Christopher Gans film devices for its upcoming game sequel, according to an article in the latest EGM. Inspired by the Silent Hill movie, SHV will feature real-time shifts between reality and the 'Otherworld,' forcing helpless players to suffer through the ghastly transformations of their immediate environments. Enhancing this horror, The Collective will use motion-capture techniques to model the game's monsters, just as the film crew did, creating vivid movement, like the sexually charged lure of the Siam, a perverse fusion of genders.
Silent Hill Origins is supernaturally beautiful. Simply analyze the picture above and note its fantastic lighting and shadows. Note the reflection in the mirror, and then be awed that this happening in real-time ... on the PSP. Silent Hill Origins is shaping up to be the best looking PSP title to date, with its great character designs, atmospheric special effects, and (as noted) the impeccable lighting.
Although the Silent Hill franchise has never really strayed far from the consoles, this handheld version is shaping up to be just as good as any other iteration of the series. Travis must navigate some beautifully creepy worlds, and fight some truly terrifying creatures. He can pick up weapons and items in the environment and use them against the ghastly denizens of Silent Hill. Controls in the game were intuitive and solid. Travis moved easily through the environment, although we found ourselves having a bit of trouble exploring the level as thoroughly as possible, trying to find all the clues.
Battle is a relatively simple affair, as Travis can easily target enemies with R. His attacks, and most importantly, finishing moves, vary greatly, depending on the weapon he's holding. Players must be resilient, though: if enemies get too close, Travis will have to do a series of button presses to escape close quarters combat. Also, Travis will want to keep a close eye on his weapons, as they degrade (quite quickly) over time. All weapons will break eventually, and Travis will want to make sure that his weapon doesn't break in the middle of a fierce battle.
Konami puzzled us earlier today by sending out a cryptic poem hinting that a major unexpected announcement would be coming from its press conference. Knowing that Pac-Man CE had already been announced, we were perplexed as to what Konami's announcement could possibly be. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're sitting at said press conferencce right now, and the announcement is ... Silent Hill V (at least that's what we think it is). The game features a soldier home from a war who is searching for his missing son. As often seems to be the case, this missing person decides to the best place to run to is Silent Hill. Akira Yamaoka will return to provide a brand new mind-bending soundtrack. Konami promises more news to come.
A vampire, gunner, dancer and water drop go fishing by a playground and they spot a vengeful apparition. That just about sums up Konami's announced E3 2007 lineup:
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP; Fall 2007)
Contra 4 (DS; 2007)
Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (Wii; Fall 2007)
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 (PS2; Fall 2007)
As they do just before every new Electronic Gaming Monthly issue hits newsstands, 1UP is teasing us with a few tidbits from their Quartermann rumor section. Most prominent is that PaRappa the Rapper 3 is coming to PlayStation 3, and "none of the that ported PSP nonsense."
Another eye-catcher is that Silent Hill 5 is being developed "by a US team" for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The PSP Silent Hill Origins is currently in development by US-based Climax Group. The third teaser from 1UP is more of a no-brainer: "Electronic Arts isn't happy just controlling the NFL -- they want the MLB and NBA, too." We never really thought EA would stop until they had every sport from Football to Segway polo under their belt.
Joystiq's Kyle Orland calculated that Quartermann's rumors "are just as likely to be true as they are false," so flip a coin for Silent Hill 5 and PaRappa 3. Ya gotta believe!
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Hands-on with the New Xbox Experience, launching November 19!
We're live at the Tokyo Game Show 2008, yatta!
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Posts with tag silenthill
Though the characters in Wes Craven's magnum opus would be an obvious exception, we're pretty sure that protagonists in horror movies have never seen horror movies -- looking at the Silent Hill series, it's clear this rule applies to video games as well. Not that we're complaining, as if the characters in Konami's beloved horror series would collectively realize that abandoned, fog-filled towns are abandoned and fog-filled for a reason, they would probably stop going to them in search of deceased or missing wives/offspring/brothers -- and we wouldn't have these gorgeous screenshots from the upcoming Silent Hill: Homecoming to drool over.
Of course, the world's just being polite. Though Konami's official announcement of a PlayStation 2 version of Silent Hill Origins is welcomed, it arrives about as unexpectedly as that surprise birthday party you planned for yourself once. That might have been more enjoyable if you had any friends, but then you're far too busy clobbering jittery, faceless nurses in your free time.
As they do just before every new Electronic Gaming Monthly issue hits newsstands, 1UP is teasing us with a few tidbits from their Quartermann rumor section. Most prominent is that PaRappa the Rapper 3 is coming to PlayStation 3, and "none of the that ported PSP nonsense."
