Translated Memories

Annie Wu is da Bomb

2012-02-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

Not sure when I started following Annie Wu's illustration blog, but damn, is she good. Let her know how fabulous she is and buy some of her art.

Plug & Play reloaded

2012-02-20T16:35:00.001-05:00

photo shamelessly swiped from MTV Geek.

I can't believe I missed MTV Geek's coverage of Jakks Pacific's The Walking Dead Plug it in and Play TV Game. Jakks' had a fairly nice looking show display at Toy Fair 2012 promoting the game, complete with near-lifesize cardbord cut-outs of some of our favorite cast members and what look to be the actual controllers. MTV Geek also spoke with Jakks' own Jared Wolfson to get the two minute pitch.

photo shamelessly swiped from ChipChick

Tech Woman blog ChipChick got in on the action too, with some good pics like the one above showing us how big this controller actually is. Jakks often offers their gun games in 1 or 2 player sets, so I imagine the color difference is to accommodate the 2-player set, or maybe they just haven't made up their mind on the product's color yet. The size of the gun is actually pretty impressive, especially compared to how small their hunting game controllers usually are, and I feel are likely bigger to appeal to an older demographic. I love fake paper logo label on the side of the gun that is "not quite" color matched, nor well affixed along the bottom edge.

The funniest part of this item, other than the press release, is that the product does not show up on Jakks' website. Nor, are there any screenshots to be found anywhere. Like so many things, the fans are likely far more excited by this item than the company that makes it.

So far, the release is scheduled for holiday 2012. Let's hope they can bring it to us a little sooner than that.

Destructoid previews I Am Alive

2012-02-07T13:02:00.002-05:00

Image shamelessly swiped from Destructoid

Destructoid got lucky with an advanced look at Ubisoft's I Am Alive this past weekend. If you like Ubisoft's signature running and jumping games like Assassin's Creed, along with a dose of survival horror gameplay, you're gonna love this.

Having followed a long and circuitous development route, this game is now scheduled to be a downloadable title available on XBLA and PSN later this year. Click on over to read Destructoid's impressions, and then cruise the Wiki article for some history of how hey ended up as a downloadable title. It should be interesting to watch the sales numbers on this one, as it may impact what type of risks companies like Ubisoft will take with downloadable versus retail titles in the future.

Natsume's dark past

2012-02-07T11:30:00.000-05:00

Who knew? Before their company hung its hat on gentle farming games, apparently Natsume made some pretty scary looking stuff during the NES era. Hardcore Gaming 101 has brought us some selections from Natsume's darker past in their profile on this long running company.

The 3DS brings the horror, at least in Japan

2012-02-03T00:40:00.000-05:00

The 3DS is starting out with a bang when it comes to horror, already lining up its second Resident Evil game next month. And while most of us are probably waiting for Spirit Camera to make its way state side, Japan continues to one-up us, and now gets Night of the Sacrifice on the Wii--and it uses the Balance Board, believe it or not. To wrap your head around this whole Balance Board and horror thing, just click over to Nintendo World Report and get the details first hand.

16-bit Gory Glory!

2012-01-31T11:30:00.000-05:00

Bitmob posted a fun article last week about some of the more shocking horrors found in games before the advent of the ESRB. They have singled out six games that brought us pre-ratings gore the way only 16-bits can, complete with their favorite screens--just like the one above. Enjoy!

Aliens Infestation? Yeah, I jumped.

2012-01-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

Just played my first session of the new Nintendo DS game Aliens Infestation. It looks to be another 2-D masterpiece by WayForward. So far, I can tell you this game comes loaded with what you want as an Alien fan, if you are in the mood for some old school 2-D fun.

WayForward has proven themselves to be something of an expert in the modern 2-D game, and has made some interesting titles in recent years, including a little game they are bringing us in March that you may have heard about, Silent Hill: Book of Memories.

Sure, the chills in Alien films are nothing new (we've all seen the movies, right?), but with some headphones and no distractions, you'll still jump at the orchestrated time. There is definitely some classic panic gameplay here, especially if you stumble into the wrong room at the wrong time like I did. Alien Queen + Pulse Rifle = Quick End.

Its bargain priced at $29.99 MSRP, so there is really no reason not to pick it up if you have access to a Nintendo DS or 3DS. While you're at it, pick up WayForward's 2-D Thor: God of Thunder for DS as well (make sure it is the DS version)--it was the good one.

Train with the B.P.R.D.

2012-01-24T13:15:00.001-05:00

In case you missed it, you can now train to be a member of the B.P.R.D. in real life.

As a parent, I have read for years about Summer camps that served up Harry Potter and Percy Jackson themes to facilitate engagement and learning in children, but this is a whole other ball of wax. Targeted at families and groups, for collective learning, you can build your survival skills, tactical problems solving, and solve mysteries in this training camp that is actually sponsored by Dark Horse Comics.

Personally, I don't camp. Never have, never will. Except in Call of Duty (why do they have a sniper gun if they don't want you to camp?). This however, I might be able to get behind.

Plug in your dead

2012-01-23T17:14:00.001-05:00

I've been looking for a picture of this thing since the press release hit January 9. Thanks to this fine gentleman, I finally found what seems to be a package mock-up, that was likely featured at CES earlier this month.

Jakks Pacific, home of plastic Smurfs, Hello Kitty toys, Pokemon plushes, and the brilliant thing known as Plug it in & Play TV Games, announced January 9 they would bring us a Plug & Play game featuring The Walking Dead. Announced at CES 2012, Jakks is repurposing their Big Buck Hunter technology to bring us the Teen rated joy of shooting walking corpses, while tethered to your television, just like Rick Grimes does on your favorite TV show.

I have always had a soft spot for Plug & Plays, as they were a gateway device to introduce my kids to video games. I hope they can do the license justice.

EDIT Jan. 24: I Ran across this pic of Shane, actor Jon Bernthal, with what looks to be the model of the gun from the front of the mocked-up package. The "in use" picture of the teen with the plastic shotgun is likely from a Big Buck Hunter photoshoot, just with digitally recolored plastic. Its interesting to note that Jakks has moved this controller away from neon green and hunter orange to a more neutral blue, and has upgraded its form factor to a more realistic design.

I imagine they won't be using too many images of zombies on the packaging. The game's Teen rating should ensure its placement within the toy aisles of Walmart, alongside the latest SpongeBob Plug & Play.

Lego Hill

2012-01-20T15:09:00.000-05:00

GGS Gamer has always done a good job of keeping their finger on the pulse of the survival horror game genre. They are a sister site of Silent Hill Heaven after all.

One of their recent findings is a short little Silent Hill Brickfilm that plays out the opening sequence of the first Silent Hill. Its funny how chilling the first monster encounter can be in Lego, as long as it is accompanied by Yamaoka's effective audio tracks.

Fatal Frame starts taking pictures on the 3DS

2012-01-17T21:28:00.000-05:00

You never quite know what Nintendo will do, do you? Nintendo of America abandoned the well pedigreed Fatal Frame game made for the Wii, created by the illustrious Grasshopper Manufacture that debuted in Japan in 2008, leaving most fans hanging. More industrious fans jumped at the fan translation that takes advantage of the Wii's SD card slot.

Rumors still swirl around another Wii release, but I think it is safe to assume it will never hit US shores.

Then, when news broke about an upcoming 3DS Fatal Frame title, I figured this one would be a miss as well. As usual, I am wrong. Nintendo is partnering with Tecmo Koei to release the game under the title Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir in Spring of 2012 here in the States.

Now my only remaining question is, how will Nintendo market this Teen rated game in the US? Let's keep our fingers crossed that they do this right.

Nintendo finally unleashes the demos

2012-01-16T11:49:00.000-05:00

Clockwise from top left: Lit, Rage of the Gladiator,
Zombie Panic in Wonderland, World of Goo

Got a Wii? You probably do. Do you use it much? That likely depends on your age and whether or not you use Netflix or the Homebrew Channel. Well, it looks like Nintendo wants you to pick up your Wiimote again, because they finally unleashed all of their WiiWare demos... like all of them. There are some good things in there if you dig around, demos for great games like Lit and Zombie Panic in Wonderland. Even recent stalwarts like World of Goo offer a unique Wii spin by offering a co-op mode not found on other platforms. Go dig around, you might find something worth playing. We can always use fresh meat in Bomberman Blast.

Judge Dredd + Zombies = sign me up

2011-12-21T11:52:00.000-05:00

Judge Dredd? Zombies? Not a lot more needs to be said here. iPhone games make it feel like the old PS2 days, when development costs were cheaper anything was possible (yeah, I linked there).

The Wasted Land

2011-12-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

Chaosium and Red Wasp are teaming up to give us a turn-based strategy RPG in which you battle Cthulhu's cult in the midst of World War I. Coming to iPhones and mobile devices (and other platforms in the future), Call of Cthulhu The Wasted Land has you leading a band of investigators in battle against Cthulhu and his minions across Europe's battle fields. Click through to read more.

Way old school Pokémon

2011-12-17T12:18:00.001-05:00

Certainly not Silent Hill related, but mind warping nonetheless. Nintendo and the Japanese arm of The Pokémon Company have been dropping hints for a couple of weeks about an upcoming announcement in Japan. Everyone was expecting something like a Pokémon Grey game (Black + White = Grey), or another rogue-like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game. What they got instead was something I don't think anyone could have predicted: Pokémon X Nobunaga's Ambition.

Combing Tecmo Koei's old school (circa 1983) turn based strategy series Nobunaga's Ambition with Pokémon, the new game is set to release on the DS likely sometime in 2012. Click over for more images and a movie showing gameplay.

Zombie ceramics

2011-12-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

Super Punch always finds the best stuff, like the ceramic sculptures of Jessica Harrison. Jessica creates some incredible art by taking existing works and twisting them in her own special way. Check out the Super Punch post for a few links to her work, or kick straight on over to her own site for a deeper dive.

Silent Hill Revelations choose The Order this time

2011-12-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

You likely already read this somewhere else, but just in case you haven't

http://www.relyonhorror.com/latest-news/silent-hill-revelation-to-have-the-order-as-the-antagonists/

The start of The Last of Us

2011-12-14T11:39:00.000-05:00

This looks so good you could almost call it "this year's Dead Island trailer," but its from Naughty Dog, so expectations should be even higher. Take a little I Am Legend and mix with 28 Days Later, and Naughty Dog's classic narrative gameplay, and it looks like we'll get a wild ride. Click over to Giant Bomb for the trailer, or Naughty Dog's Website for the whole kahuna.

Telling time

2011-11-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

Destructoid brings another blast from the past with a look back to the SNES version of Clock Tower. Some of you may remember this series from the PS1 and PS2, but did you know it started on the SNES? Destructoid does.

Want to play the SNES ROM in English? Well someone has you covered on that too.

A real thing

2011-11-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

According to Topless Robot, this is a real thing you can buy. Should go great with your Zombie Preparedness Guide.

Recently spotted in stores

2011-11-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

WTF?

Home is where the pixel is

2011-11-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

Joystiq has a great write up on another pixelated indie nightmare reminiscent of Silent Hill, titled Home. It looks a lot like an old Lucas Arts adventure game, complete with a missing wife and a flashlight. The creator Benjamin Rivers is no stranger to indie games, and this new one looks like it will be worth your time, especially if you are a Silent Hill fan. Click over to read more.

Pick you own path through Silent Hill

2011-10-31T19:00:00.000-04:00

The Escapist has a little Halloween treat for us, a pick your own path hypertext adventure in Silent Hill. Happy Halloween!

They Live at Halloween

2011-10-30T20:23:00.001-04:00

Great find from Sucker Punch: They Live costumes.

The garden path less traveled

2011-10-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

One of the many things about Silent Hill that fascinates me to no end, is how the games use history as a tool to weave their stories together. The past deeds of the game's characters, the past that is represented by the history of the town--these things bring a more complete sense of place and horror to the player, as the town slowly reveals itself to the player.

History as a recurring theme in the game, is something which we can relate to in real life as well. And, every time a player stumbles across the history of real life horror, we have those "Silent Hill in the real world moments."

Neatorama brought us a recent link to the always fascinating Atlas Obscura, website, with a link to an article on some of the amazing gardens that can be found in the real world, including the Alnwick Poison Garden, which features plants that can kill you. That such gardens were actually more common, and were destinations to visit, I find endlessly fascinating. They reflect man's struggle with how he faces his own mortality in a world that is not necessarily interested in keeping him alive. Click on over for photos of amazing gardens around the world, and to read about the history of death by vegetation.

Agent Cooper is not happy

2011-10-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

Recently spotted this wonderful GIF at Sutured Infection. NOTE: Sutured Infection often features graphic, medical images, and is not for the faint of heart.

Abuse

2011-10-21T11:56:00.000-04:00

If there was ever a game that should not fade into obscurity, Abuse is it. Fortunately for us, Sam Hocevar has got our backs.

This little game made by Crack dot Com was published by EA, Bungie, and Red Hat. How about that for credentials? A darling of the young Linux community when it debuted, Abuse captured the imagination of everyone who saw it--a fast, 2D sidescrolling shooter, with you as a Predator fighting Aliens. Not licensed Predators and Aliens, but who needs a license when your game looks and plays this good?

The objective of the game is to run around the map and shoot anything that moves, and there are plenty of things moving. At one time this game even featured multiplayer.

Abuse's source code was released years ago, and various people and projects have tried to keep it alive since then. I haven't been successful trying to play it since Apple OS 8 when I bought my copy from Bungie. Now, Abuse has been ported to the iPhone and to the Wii, my preferred platform for retro console emulation. Regardless of which platform you play it on check it out.

It happened on the way to Thor's hammer

2011-10-18T03:15:00.000-04:00

Not Silent Hill related, but still incredibly cool. ~~See what Agent Coulson was up~~ (video taken down for copyright reasons) Buy the DVD to watch what Agent Coulson was up to on the drive to see what that "meteorite" was about. Thanks to Fanboy.com for posting this bit of awesomeness.

Lone Survivor

2011-10-13T11:43:00.000-04:00

Wow. Just wow. Jasper Byrne loves Silent Hill and it shows. Game Set Watch remind us of his passion by bringing us new details on his upcoming game Lone Survivor. Jasper is working hard to finish this game as his entry for the 14th annual Independent Games Festival in March 2012. Both the game and the festival deserve your attention.

First the game. Lone Survivor is a retro inspired Survival Horror game set in a devastated near future after civilization has collapsed. As the protagonist, you will need to survive encounters with monsters, rotting food, other humans, and drugs of various kinds. It looks all kinds of incredible.

Now, lets talk about the Independent Games Festival. If you don't pay attention to the IGF, you should. Past winners include Minecraft, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Limbo, Machinarium, World of Goo, Braid, Alien Hominid, the list goes on (and it will melt you brain with its pixelated goodness). Pay attention to the IGF every March. Its where the future comes from.

The Brain Bats of Venus

2011-10-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

In the world of vintage horror comics, you just can't beat Basil Wolverton, and The Brain Bats of Venus is one of his best.

Monsterpiece Theatre

2011-10-07T11:40:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across the Twin Beaks episode of Monsterpiece Theater the other day. Its brilliant.

The Cat Lady cometh

2011-10-04T12:00:00.002-04:00

This one is creepy. Under development for a year or so, The Cat Lady will be bring horror to the PC. Featuring a cut-paper puppet animation style, and some truly disturbing visuals, this adventure horror game deserves to be on your radar. Check out the trailer that Rely on Horror posted recently for a taste of this game.

Deadly Premonition returns?

2011-09-30T12:00:00.001-04:00

Looks like we might be seeing more Deadly Premonition in the future. If you haven't spent any time with this gem, I hear its pretty special. I confess I'm not up on the HD gaming scene, not that I don't have opinions about it, but damn do I want to play this one. Anything reminiscient of Twin Peaks is a win for me, and I still love awkward controlling, PS2 gen, survival horror more than anything (except for a good FPS).

In an interview with GameCentral at metro.co.uk, the game's creator, SWERY 65, says he has plans to both re-release the original game in a Special Edition, as well as wanting to put together sequels and prequels. Maybe this time around SCEA will consider a US release for this quirky title. Click over to read the original interview with SWERY 65.

The voices are back

2011-09-29T10:59:00.001-04:00

The always reliable Rely on Horror has reported that Guy Cihi, along with the rest of the original voice cast of Silent Hill 2 have come to a settlement for licensing their voices for future use. This ends a long running near-feud with Guy and Konami over the use of his voice for James Sunderland.

Initial fan response to the new voice work was a little cold at this years Gamescon 2011, so this is viewed by many as a good thing. I think it is more fascinating to watch how Konami continues to recognize the importance of audio work, especially voice work in its games, and is making effort to preserve the original work of its artists. I hope the new actors who intended to replace the old ones get a decent kill-fee for their work.

Click on over for more details, and to view a photo of the signing that "used to be" on Facebook (I'm sure there is a whole story to that too).

8 bit Twin Peaks

2011-09-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

No, it's not the latest Deadly Premonition game. Rather, Black Lodge 2600 is an 8 bit style Twin Peaks homebrew game put together by artist and musician Jak Locke. For both PC and Mac (thank you!). Black Lodge 2600 is reminiscent of the Atari/Intellivision era of games, complete with a faux Atari manual and label. The only thing missing is an Atari compatible ROM that I can drop into my Atari emulator of choice--but who can blame him, as programming in batari Basic is not for the feint of heart.
You can read more at WelcomeToTwinPeaks.com, or just click on over to download and play the game yourself.

Vampires, Zombies, and Plague, Oh my!

2011-09-23T11:46:00.001-04:00

Image credited to Chris Read and shamelessly swiped from Discovery.com

By now this story has circulated the internet pretty widely--if you haven't read it, some ancient gravesites in Ireland have received some attention because some of the corpses were buried with large rocks forcibly inserted into their mouths. The ritual was likely related to the fear of Revenants, vampires, and the plague.

Its worth your time to click over and read the article and ponder the fear of death, and how man has tried to make sense of the world around him for these past few centuries.

Happy Wax Monster Candy

2011-09-20T11:45:00.001-04:00

photo by earthboundtimelord

This photo makes my ridiculously happy. As an October baby growing up in the mid-70s, Halloween was always a huge deal for me. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was way cooler than Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (who didn't have a crush on Miss Jessica), especially if it aired on my birthday.

Having kids allows you to rediscover what makes holidays like Halloween fun--but, trying to explain things like cheap plastic Halloween masks and candy that just doesn't exist anymore can make you feel old. One thing I have had trouble digging up information about was Monster Wax Bottle Candy. Made just like Nik-L-Nips, these monster shaped bottles contained a sweet syrup that you could suck out of them, and then you could chew the wax like gum. I never chewed the wax myself as I liked the monsters way too much. I have looked all over the internet for any info I could find on these over the years, and the most I could find were a couple of forum postings, but no details, until I stumbled across these pictures. Aren't they beautiful?

Thing That Drifted Ashore

2011-09-16T12:01:00.002-04:00

Junji Ito always brings the scares to manga. His work is consistently unsettling. Fortunately for us, one of my favorite blogs, Monster Brains, brought us one of his creepy stand-alone stories, Thing That Drifted Ashore. Prepare to be unsettled.

Racket horror

2011-09-13T12:01:00.012-04:00

I love Racket Boy. There, I said it. If you don't know what I am talking about, click over to RacketBoy.com for one of the best sites on classic gaming.

You won't find ROMs. You won't find emulators. What you will find are piles and piles of articles on classic gaming, classic consoles, and some incredible podcasts. What brought me to Racket a couple of years back was my search for games on platforms that I never owned, but adopted later in life: specifically Gamecube and GBA games. Racket Boy's guides to gaming on the cheap, and hidden gems really helped me find the Nintendo games that I never played but should have.

Today, Racket Boy posted an excellent article on The Playstation 2 Survival Horror Library, and what an article it is. They dug through everything, absolutely everything, to remind us how much there actually is to play on the PS2. Over 70 games make the list, including PAL and Japanese games that never made it to those of us in the US of A. I don't want to claim this is the most comprehensive retrospective of Survival Horror on the PS2 ever, but I can't imagine that they missed much.

Dino bites

2011-09-09T13:59:00.000-04:00

Funny how this generation of downloadable games can bring attention to some of the forgotten gems of the past. Capcom's Dino Crisis was a venture into survival horror beyond their usual zombie fare, and an experiment for Capcom using 3D rendered environments as opposed to the pre-rendered visuals of the Resident Evil series. Debuting 12 years ago, Dino Crisis was revived this Spring as a downloadable title on PSN, giving us a chance to relive some of the scares this game has to offer. GGSGamer.com gave a nice overview of the title in its original incarnation in January, complete with PS1 era graphics which received a sight update for their most recent release.

If you never played the game, click on over to read what GGSGamer has to say about it. I was always fond of Dino Crisis, but I never finished it, abandoning it in frustration with its typical Capcom-obtuse-inventory-management-system.

Women play too

2011-09-06T11:40:00.051-04:00

The always inquisitive Destuctoid published a piece on Harry and the burden of men in Silent Hill a couple of months back, and now Rely on Horror asks us to look forward to the women in town. The author, CJ Melendez, contemplates our lack of playing in female shoes beyond Silent Hill 3. Its a short, but interesting read, so click on over.

I believe the original three Silent Hill games strongly reflected the psyche of the male dominated Team Silent, with the natural conclusion to the tale being the introduction of Heather as a protagonist, especially after exploring Silent Hill through the eyes of Maria in Born from a Wish, and the gameplay opportunities it presented with a woman caught up in the horror. One can only imagine the discussions that happened within Team Silent between the men and women who created these games as the direction beyond Silent Hill 2 was charted.

I love an abandoned amusment park

2011-09-02T12:01:00.001-04:00

Retronaut, the keeper of all things cool gives us a great photo essay of an abandoned amusement park in New Orleans. And this one comes complete with creepy clowns. What more does anyone need?

Too much Space

2011-08-30T11:33:00.000-04:00

As a Silent Hill player, you spend a lot of time wandering around abandoned buildings and neighborhoods. There are plenty of abandoned places in the real world as well, and many of these are documented on the internet.

My new favorite blog of abandoned places is not about real places at all, but rather fictional spaces. And, these fictional spaces are not even here on Earth. Space Trek documents the empty spaces in classic episodes of Star Trek. The hypercolored minimalism of a future inspired by sleek Mid-Century modern design aesthetics looks very lonely on a spaceship populate by over 400 people. No wonder Captain Kirk seems so desperate to connect with every hot alien woman who wanders by. Kirk must fill the empty void of loneliness in his heart that is a reflection of the vast emptiness of space. Poor lonely spaceman.

Empty spaces in Silent Hill: Downpour

2011-08-26T12:05:00.014-04:00

GGSGamer.com has brought together a great gallery of recent screenshots of the new places we'll be exploring in Silent Hill: Downpour. There is lots to dig through, so click on over to view the nice high-res shots on offer, and spend some time on the site.

For those who don't know, GGSGamer is run by the same folks who run the legendary Silent Hill Heaven forums, where you will find lots of discussion on our favorite vacation destination.

Book of Memories early build video

2011-08-22T11:30:00.002-04:00

Happy Cthuloid Birthday H.P.L!

2011-08-20T20:48:00.001-04:00

Image shamelessly swiped from Toren M. Atkinson via The Lovecraftsman.

Happy birthday Howard. Thank you for all you have done for all of us over the years.

A boy and his Pyramid Head

2011-08-17T12:16:00.001-04:00

Photo shamelessly swiped from Joystiq

Joystiq saw something cool at Gamescom, and it has something to do with Silent Hill. Its known that WayForward, who brought us the wonderful A Boy and His Blob on the Wii, is bringing us Silent Hill: Book of Memories. And rumors have been swirling for several months about Konami thinking about how to expand Silent Hill into the multiplayer arena.

Well, the time for rumors is over. WayForward is bringing us multiplayer Silent Hill on the Playstation Vita. I don't think this is a cause for worry though--just examine some of WayForward's history of games (partial list courtesy if Wikipedia):

Shantae (2002, Game Boy Color)
Godzilla: Domination (2002, Game Boy Advance)
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck (2007, Nintendo DS)
Contra 4 (2007, Nintendo DS)
LIT (2008, WiiWare)
A Boy and His Blob (2009, Wii)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame (2010, Wii, Nintendo DS)
Thor: God of Thunder (2011, Nintendo DS)
BloodRayne: Betrayal (2011, Xbox Live Arcade/PlayStation Network)
Aliens Infestation (2011, Nintendo DS)

There are a lot of licensed movie tie-ins in there, along with some kid games. But tie-ins like the DS version of Thor are the ones that got good reviews. Did you see LIT in there? I did, and that game has Silent Hill written all over it. The list also includes the next Aliens game, and the 2D BloodRayne game that threatens to be great according to those who have seen it at E3.

WayForward can make good (competent), even great games, and they already have a strong working relationship with Konami. ~~Hopefully~~ I'm sure we'll see something great on the Vita for Silent Hill fans.

The Silence is a delicious lie

2011-08-16T15:09:00.000-04:00

The Alice Cooper Freakshow auditions in Hyde Park, London had a scary yet delicious addition to the fun: a Silent Hill themed cake. six layers of chocolate cake covered in white chocolate and Rice Krispie Treats. Sounds great to me!

Behind the Pyramid

2011-08-12T12:01:00.000-04:00

Photographed by ~EvidencE~

Thanks to a tweet from @SilentHillWorld we can get a peek into some of the special effects done for Silent Hill 2: Revelation 3D, specifically a video about a particular, creepy costume that was posted by Bloody-Disgusting.com. Click on over for more, and be sure to check out the movie's Facebook page for more images.

Heads will roll

2011-08-09T11:30:00.003-04:00

A German Ad Agency does a nifty little viral ad campaign with custom painted bowling balls promoting a horror cable channel. Click through to read more. Great idea, creative execution, but the video they made to promote it only gets a "C" from me--it was probably hard to get some good intense reactions from people, but they did their best. Still its a lot of fun to watch. Click on through for the details.

Island of Lost Souls

2011-08-05T12:44:00.000-04:00

The classic, 1933 Universal Monsters film, Island of Lost Souls, has been languishing, out of print for the past several years. While a restored VHS was issued by Universal to accompany its Monsters line of films, this film never made the jump to DVD, and has only been available as a hard-to-find bootleg for the past few years. Well this year, Criterion is going to give it the deluxe treatment and I could not be more excited.

At 70 minutes run time, this vintage horror film is a tightly choreographed treat. The monsters look more like beasts and less like men in monster suits. The lushness of the jungle setting with its remote location has been copied by movies for decades, and should be familiar to any fan of Jonny Quest. But where this film really shines is in its implied horror, what is not seen by the viewer, and here is where it clearly differentiates itself as being head-and-shoulders above all of the remakes and retellings of this classic H. G. Wells story.

Be sure to buy it/view it/Netflix it, when it comes out this October. It is a film not to be missed.

Minecraft, Minecraft, Minecraft.

2011-08-02T12:15:00.001-04:00

Yes, this image is intentionally dark. That makes it scarier.

Its all my 10 year old talks about these days. Its funny, because some of the horror elements in it scare the crap out of him.

Well, a coming upgrade is going to ratchet up the fright even further by introducing the Endermen. These 3 meter tall creatures only come out at night, and generally won't bother you, unless you look directly at them--then things get worrisome. Click through for more detail on these initially unassuming creatures.

THE HORRORS OF IT ALL: Vampire's Daughter! / The Impatient Ghost!

2011-07-29T14:35:00.003-04:00

I can't resist these wonderful vintage comic book blogs. The Horrors Of It All is one of the first I stumbled across a couple of years back. They post frequently, so there is always a lot to see. Click through and enjoy!

THE HORRORS OF IT ALL: Vampire's Daughter! / The Impatient Ghost!: "THOIA friend Robert Susor recently reminded me that there is still one story left for me to post called 'The Impatient Ghost' by Dan Lopr..."

Zombies + Sim City = Epic Win

2011-07-28T11:45:00.000-04:00

JayIsGames.com has a great review/article on a Flash browser game named Rebuild. Take one part Zombie apocalypse and one part Sim City to get pure awesomeness. There is a lot to it (its rather deep), so make sure you set aside some time to try it out.

Akira talks

2011-07-26T09:30:00.002-04:00

Akira Yamaoka talks about his time at Konami and his present/future at Grasshopper in this podcast from the game localization company 8-4. Enjoy!

Vintage Silent Hill updated for the 21st Century

2011-07-22T13:41:00.000-04:00

RelyOnHorror.com (always on the ball) brings us a mix of the old and new from ComicCon this week. While everyone else is showing us all the great Downpour screens, Rely on Horror brings us a couple of more that confirm James still looks like James in Silent Hill 2 HD. This is relevant, because James will no longer "sound" like James in the Silent Hill HD Collection because of a legal dispute with voice actor Guy Cihi.

I'm looking forward to the inevitable fan dissection of the differences between the original games and their HD remakes.

Great Memories of Shattered Expectations

2011-07-21T11:26:00.001-04:00

GameSpite has an interesting reflection on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and its role in the survival horror genre. The article is concise and to the point, with some interesting reflections on this title's place in Silent Hill history and the tension that results from its challenges to what has come before.

Having still not yet finished this game myself (shame on me), I do think that it tries to do many interesting things, including trying to create a profitable game on an experimental platform. The HD gaming revolution is its own worst enemy, raising the costs of development sky-high, and this high cost is killing the smaller and more experimental games that were such a large part of the past two generations of console gaming. HD gaming is causing developer flight to the more profitable portable and social platforms available with the iPhone and Facebook, and ultimately limiting what is being published on consoles. Combine the gimmick of motion controls, with a huge install base, and old school non-HD development, the Wii "seems" to be a system ripe for the picking, but this is obviously not the case for a large number of its releases.

Click on over to the article, Shattered Expectations: A Lonelier Silent Hill.

Play for Japan

2011-07-19T12:15:00.000-04:00

While many of us in the West go on with our daily routines, people in the world, both here and abroad, face all types of adversity. Japan is still recovering from its disaster earlier this year, and the video game industry has been playing its part in raising funds to help with the recovery. One of these efforts has been Play for Japan, offering unique and one-of-a-kind items for auction to raise money to aid the recovery.

If you're like me (or most folks) you can't afford to buy Suda 51's own beam katana, but what you can do is spare a few bills for good music, especially when 100% of the proceeds go directly to recovery efforts funded by the Japanese Red Cross.

Akira Yamaoka has put together an album known as Play for Japan being sold on iTunes and Amazon. It features music from video game composers across the world, from games as diverse as Super Mario Brothers, Call of Duty, and Prince of Persia. The playlist features incredible tracks from these games, and allows you to participate in the fund raising efforts while receiving a small token in return. Click on over and make a purchase that means something for someone in need.

Silent past

2011-07-14T10:05:00.000-04:00

Last week Konami asked fans on their Facebook page if they would be interested in exploring the history of Silent Hill through games. It's certainly an interesting proposition, and not without merit, as the comic has been exploring the early history of our favorite town for a while now.

Every Silent Hill game has gone to great lengths to grow the history of Toluca Lake and its residents, but IDW's recent comic, Silent Hill: Past Life has been garnering more than the usual amount of attention with it's own tale of the past.

With Konami showing us it won't hide from experimenting with the series, I think we can be hopeful that interesting things might pop up in the future.

Come in and have a drink

2011-07-11T12:16:00.000-04:00

Stumbled across a great post at Retronaut that screamed a little bit of Silent Hill to me. Retronaut found this wonderful post on Cool Stuff in Paris that featured several photos of le Café de L'Enfer, The Cafe from Hell. Apparently very little information still exists on this place, and only black and white photos, leaving one to wonder what kind of garish and crazy colors this place was actually painted in. Click on over for more pics (including an interior photo from National Geographic), along with a picture of its neighboring cafe Le Ciel (Heaven).

Everyone loves the music

2011-07-08T12:41:00.002-04:00

You can't have this.

Gotta love the Twitters. @SilentHillWorld brings us a link to a post from MMOMFG on the music of Silent Hill, Beyond the MIDI: Silent Hill series.

The post calls out the quality inherent in Yamaoka's work on the series, and also notes the upcoming changes in Downpour with the debut of Daniel Licht's work on the series. Its worth a look, so click on over.

Destructoid and the emasculation of Harry Mason

2011-07-07T17:04:00.001-04:00

Wow those Destructoid folks posts some interesting things when they go beyond the usual gaming news practice of regurgitating press releases (like so many other site do). Digging around Destructoid the other day I found another in-depth article on Silent Hill, focused on Harry and the role of men in the Silent Hill games.

This specific essay addresses the recent Wii game that so many gamers seemed to either miss, dismiss, or just not play. I have it near the top of my "to play" pile once I decide I am sick of multiplayer Call of Duty.

Looking back in The Room

2011-06-05T13:00:00.001-04:00

With E3 2011 coming any day now, there has been a lot of news about the future of Silent Hill on the interwebs:

Silent Hill: Downpour to be released late Winter
Silent Hill: Book of Memories announced for the NGP/PSVita/PSP2/whatever
Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 get HD remakes

However, I find Destructoid's retrospective on Silent Hill 4: The Room to be the most interesting thing I have come across in several days. Destructoid does a nice job of sharing the background of this Survival Horror game that got shoe-horned into the Silent Hill universe by a (likely well meaning, but misguided) Konami Executive. Read on.

Principal photography is finished

2011-05-27T03:06:00.001-04:00

Director Michael Bassett posted May 14th that principal photography for Silent Hill Revelations 3D has finished.

At this point its a wait and see game for fans. Let's keep our fingers crossed that Mr. Bassett pulls this one through and gives us the film we want.

Shattered Memories character designs

2011-05-10T14:13:00.002-04:00

For the past four years, character designer Jeen Lih Lun has worked on wide range of games for Climax, including Overlord: Dark Legend, Gormiti: The Lords of Nature!, and Silent Hill : Shattered Memories.

HellDescent.com found these character renderings in the wild (they always find all the good stuff) and posted a nice feature on Jeen's work--or you can cruise by Jeen's own site to view them and see what else she has been working on. There are SPOILERS to be found for those of you who have yet to play this interesting take on Silent Hill, so reader beware.

I am far more interested to peek into the artist's process of generating creative solutions within the constraints of the Wii and last gen consoles, then I am looking at the back-end of games on HD-consoles.

I remember the days...

2011-04-15T12:23:00.003-04:00

Lakeside Amusement Park photographed by ~EvidencE~

I remember when filming started on the first Silent Hill movie, and the fan forums were awash in set photos and tales of fan pilgrimage. At that time, I daydreamed of a car trip to Canada to dig around the set after filming--ridiculous, I know.

With production of the new movie Silent Hill: Revelations 3D well underway, its that time again--more and more pics keep turning up--of particular note are the photos from Flickr user ~EvidencE~ who has managed to take some really wonderful pics during filming. These are fully lit, night photos of the set and props in the middle of production. Amazing stuff, especially the ones that reveal secrets.

Thanks to ~EvidencE~ for letting me use one of his photos, Copyright 2011.

The fear of yarn tends to create fear for the stitch

2011-04-13T11:13:00.001-04:00

As a Silent Hill fan, one thing you won't find in abundance is licensed merchandise. Sure, there are some super expensive and rare DVDs, some incredibly rare statues (and incredibly pricey), and an occasional book or two of interest, priced just out of your reach.

As a result, the fan community has to make do, or better yet, just make. Fortunately there are people like Christen of Needle Noodles stepping in to help out. I met Christen on the crafting circuit a few years back when we picked up a Cthulhu amigurumi from her. As you start to look at the rest of her products you see a definite pattern--very cool, a little scary, a lot of cute. Christen is another one of those amazing people that leave you wondering how she was able to connect the dots between crochet and Cthulhu and still stay sane. She even has a book (actually two books so far), Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! of some of her most popular projects you can build yourself. The book is an incredible production--fun projects presented in a wonderfully designed hardback.

So, what is the connection to Silent Hill? Pyramid Head and Robbie the Rabbit, that's what. Click over to Needle Noodles and you'll find free patterns to build your own Silent Hill nightmares--complete with large photos to help you all along the way.

Isn't he cute?

Soundless Mountain 2 takes us back, way, way back

2011-03-29T11:58:00.002-04:00

For those who ~~have yet to discover~~ still deny the joys of vintage gaming, there are secret delights to be uncovered in homebrews and demakes. From Halo 2600, to a 16-bit Team Fortress, there are many fascinating things to find and play.

Which of course brings us back to Silent Hill. Soundless Mountain 2 has been out for a while, but still fascinates me to no end. While the game is not complete, some interesting things have been worked out and it's fun to poke around in if you a fan. I just wish it would run on my emulator of choice for NES games.

Silent tea bagging on the Hill (not coming)

2011-03-19T13:41:00.003-04:00

Hell Descent (these guys get all the scoops) have an interesting bit of news. Seems Konami has been trying to figure out how to bring multiplayer to the Silent Hill series. According to the post, Vatra and Konami have already dismissed online multiplayer for Silent Hill: Downpour, but Konami is still trying to figure this one out.

With the multiplayer model working in Dead Space 2, and a history of what I can only think to call "asymetrical multiplayer" in past games like Aliens vs. Predator, Splinter Cell, and others, I think there is a chance for interesting things to happen. Capcom tried twice with Resident Evil: Outbreak, and is rumored to be trying again.

EDIT: 03/21/2011 According to Devin Shatsky, producer of Downpour, the answer to "are we getting multiplayer?" is a big NO.

Radha

2011-03-18T01:36:00.002-04:00

Been meaning to post this since it hit the usual news sites. Radha, Sean, and Deborah are "in." I'm still hoping they will straighten out the cult thing this go round, considering how they changed things in the last movie. And, I really hope Pyramid Head is not in this one either--as much as I like his character, he belongs in Silent Hill 2 as a part of James' story.

Silent Hill: Revelations gets its Heather

2011-03-07T17:43:00.003-05:00

Adelaide Clemens had been rumored as a potential "Heather" for a couple of weeks. Now, according to director Michael J. Bassett's twitter Adelaide is officially the face of Heather Mason on the big screen.

Kit Harrington from Game of Thrones has also been cast, and according to Bloody Disgusting, Sean Bean is still negotiating for a role. Given what happens to Heather's father in Silent Hill 3 (BIG spoiler) its likely Sean's part will be small.

Principal photography starts today.

Lego Romero's Dead

2011-03-04T12:27:00.002-05:00

MiniBigs.com Zombie Town Folk Pack

The more I think about Traveller's Tales games, Lego video games, and Romero's Zombies, the more I keep thinking what a brilliant idea a Lego Romero's Dead game would be.

Zombie Apocafest 2008 pictures from Dunechaser

They could even bundle them up like the Star Wars games. The first game could be Lego Romero's Time of the Dead, featuring adaptations of the movies Night, Dawn, and Day. The sequel could be Lego Romero's Dead Land, and would feature the movies Land, Diary, and Survival. You would have all the great elements of a TT Lego game with drop-in/drop-out gameplay, constructable and destructible items, multiple story based scenarios with level progression, lots of unlockables, like new weapons and characters... the mind reels from the possibilities.

You know they would sell like crazy, and that Media Watchdog groups would completely freak out. Though it looks like Terry Paton has beat us to it:

Play Minifig Zombie Tower Defence

Dead Island gets its day in the GDC sun

2011-03-03T16:39:00.004-05:00

Sure is pretty... but how does it play? Wired and the folks at GDC know a little more than the rest of us now, as the publisher is offering previews at GDC this week.

Wired's verdict?

"It’s a tense, often brutal game, although we saw precious little of the emotion and tone of the trailer that caused everyone to fall in love with it."

Taking a que from Traveler Tales' Lego games, it will feature drop-in drop-out multiplayer complete with vehicles and weapon construction and upgrades. I'm sure we'll see lots of other impressions flood the internet over the next few days as different media outlets report their impressions.

Silent Hill: Revelation casting reveal coming soon

2011-03-02T10:23:00.002-05:00

Film director and writer Michael J. Bassett keeps teasing us with the casting reveal for Heather in his upcoming production Silent Hill: Revelation 3D. Bassett is no stranger to creepy movies, with films like Solomon Kane and Death Watch under his belt. This upcoming Silent Hill film will focus on the story told in Silent Hill 3, and Heather's discovery of who she is and what the future holds for her.

Very little has been said about the casting of this film up until know, even with principal photography scheduled to start in March. I would love to see some continuity with Sean Bean or Radha Mitchell, but such wishes are usually only fanboy dreams. Filming will occur in England rather than Canada this time, so expect lots of that classic English weather.

Bassett's visual stylings should meld well with the previous work done by Christophe Gans in the first Silent Hill film. My biggest hope for this new movie is that Bassett drops the first's pseudo-Christian fundamentalist cult for The Order that was depicted in the games. The handling of religion and its role in the Silent Hill games has always been complex and fascinating to say the least, and one of the things that helps to raise it up to a "mature" game--not using violence and sex to tell a story, but rather "ideas." IMHO, the original film's representation of religion seemed to be a complete dumbing down of what made the games so interesting--essentially undermining the foundation of the story and its horror. I can only wonder if this direction came from Sony Pictures in an effort to broaden the film's appeal. Hopefully, Bassett and Sony Pictures will trust the sophistication and education of its audience a little more this time, and allow the underlying story to be told with all of its depth and complexity intact.

The headstones are ready

2011-03-01T17:07:00.003-05:00

I should tag this post "asleep at the wheel" for not posting this earlier. Konami's Facebook contest, Be Buried in Silent Hill (login required) is over, and the winners have been announced. Expect to see these tombstones in the graveyard in Silent Hill when Silent Hill: Downpour gets released this fall. Each image below links to its respective Facebook page, so you'll need to logged in to Facebook to view the details:

Tombstone designed by Mike H

Tombstone designed by Krum

Tombstone designed by Marcel B

The winners will also received a special acknowledgment in the game's end credits. It should be fascinating to see how these are integrated into the game, especially the one from Mike H with its "Fog" and "Other world" designs.

Dead Island... you have to see this

2011-02-16T17:37:00.005-05:00

Joystiq reposted the IGN trailer for Dead Island (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) that is tearing up the internet with buzz. Deep Silver, the publisher of the underappreciated Cursed Mountain for the Wii, is publishing this game from Techland. Some of you may be familiar with Techland's work in the second Call of Juarez game series. We can only hope this new game meets the incredibly high bar set by its trailer--if its this good, things will never be the same in the zombie game genre.

After you watch the trailer, be sure to click over and read some of the detailed info that IGN has posted about the game--we're talking scavenged weapons (not many guns), zombie destruction models that may prove stomach turning, all-melee combat, and RPG skill trees. Pretty ambitious...

EDIT: all that being said, its just a trailer--and its made by a company that specializes in trailers. I can't imagine how this will be indicative of actual gameplay.

"30 Days of Night" books on sale

2011-02-15T12:21:00.000-05:00

BTW, several collected volumes of the 30 Days of Night graphic novel/comic book series are currently on clearance at your local Barnes & Noble booksellers. This creepy book was adapted into an equally creepy (and bloody) movie in 2007. The books feature the writing of Steve Niles and (most) have the wonderful art of Ben Templesmith, who some of you may remember from the Silent Hill graphic novels. Templesmith also illustrated the Dead Space comic book which was reproduced as an animated motion comic in the highly underrated Wii game Dead Space Extraction.

I've always been interested in Templesmith's work, but never engaged with it until I played Dead Space Extraction (highly underrated IMHO), and watched the motion comic as I unlocked it during the game--the comic's animated presentation, complete with full voice cast and sound effects is amazing.

The 30 Days of Night books can be found at your local brick and mortar Barnes & Nobles--be aware that online pricing doesn't match what you may find in the stores. If you miss these books at their special price, they are still worth picking up, and I'm sure your local comic book store would be more than happy to help you amass a collection. For myself, I plan on finally picking up the Silent Hill Omnibus in the next couple of weeks, so I can finally catch up with what has been happening in the illustrated pages depicting our favorite town.

"Be Buried in Silent Hill" finalists are ready for your vote

2011-02-13T01:32:00.002-05:00

Its time to vote! Konami presents the top ten finalists for their tombstone contest promoting Silent Hill: Downpour. Click on over to Facebook (login required) and vote for your favorite in the "be Buried in Silent Hill" contest which will put the winning tombstones into the actual game.

My favorite has to be the one by Mike Hiscott, shown above.

You have until February 16th to cast your vote, so vote now!

LIT lights up the Wii with a demo

2011-02-10T00:50:00.003-05:00

In the mood for a trip to Silent Hill, but need something a little different? The WiiWare game LIT now has a free demo available for download on the Wii console as of this past Friday (February 4). For Silent Hill fans, this game delivers a nice slow burn of creepiness as you maneuver through a high school beset with shadowy horror. Sure, its another school, but at least its not the "same" school we have already visited in our many trips to Silent Hill.

LIT is a puzzle game where you activate lamp switches and break glass windows to create paths of light that will enable you to reach a room's exit. Malevolent creatures hide within the shadows and will take any opportunity they can to grab you and absorb you into the darkness should you make a mistake. Obstacles located around the room mean there is some decent problem solving on each level. And, every couple of levels presents you with a boss fight. Bosses tend to be aggressive, and can break the rule that monsters exist only in the shadows of the rooms you are traversing. While there are trial and error elements to the puzzle solving, the game really does build a nice, constant tension, and when you accidentally step into the dark and are pulled under by the the hands of unseen terrors, you can't help but jump, no matter how many times you misstep to your doom.

Grab the demo from the Wii Shop Channel while it is available, and give it a try. LIT definitely got some fun gameplay and nice polish, and it might help scratch your Silent Hill itch on the Wii for a while.

Jill's not so Final retrospective

2011-02-04T10:37:00.004-05:00

If you know Jill Sandwich, you know Final Girl. If you know Final Girl you know of Stacie. If you follow the Final Girl blog, you know you will see some crazy things. Stacie Ponder, the webmistress of both sites, has posted a retrospective on the Silent Hill series. Sure, there are lots of retrospectives on Silent Hill, but only one written by Stacie.

Stacie is one of those women, that when you learn about who she is and what she does you think, "Damn, she sounds so cool. I would love to be able to hang out with her." But then, as you read about all the things she blogs about and does, you realize that you just can't keep up with her awesomeness. Go check out her article, and then explore the rest of her sites. Keep in mind Final Girl covers some crazy stuff occasionally, but if you play Silent Hill, then you know what you will be getting into by becoming a Final Girl fan.

Happy Birthday Silent Hill!

2011-01-31T17:42:00.003-05:00

Today is the 12th anniversary of the debut of our favorite vacation spot, Silent Hill. Click over to HellDescent.com who had the sense to keep track of this, and be sure to stay and read their interview with the voice of James Sunderland, Guy Cihi, who also happens to celebrate a birthday today.

Design a tombstone for Downpour

2011-01-26T02:45:00.005-05:00

More action from Konami promoting Downpour, as fans will have a chance to get their own graveyard memorial included in Silent Hill: Downpour. Konami is sponsoring a contest via Facebook where you can submit you own design for a graveyard memorial to be included in the upcoming game. Three lucky winners will be selected, and will have their designs immortalized in the game. All the details can be found in Konami's PR release on their Silent Hill Facebook page (login required).

An audio peek at Downpour

2011-01-25T15:32:00.008-05:00

Joystiq posted an MP3 peek at Dan Licht's upcoming score for Silent Hill: Downpour. Konami has kept the news on this title coming fast and furious since the Game Informer magazine article--hopefully they can continue to generate buzz on this title until it is released. If you don't have the latest Game Informer, the site has done a really good job of tracking development as well.

I think a lot of fans are a little nervous to see what Dan comes up with. He's got the pedigree for sure. I guess the most interesting thing to keep an eye (ear?) on will be how far he is allowed to stray from the path set by Yamaoka.

Konami's in charge

2011-01-17T17:22:00.064-05:00

HellDescent.com has posted an interesting story about the modern state of Silent Hill gaming and Konami's direction of the series. According to Kenzie Lemar, an artist who worked with developer Double Helix on Silent Hill: Homecoming, Konami is definitely the driving the evolution of the series.

You have only to cruise the forums of the interwebs to see how core fans have criticized Silent Hill's changes since Team Silent was disbanded. They have been displeased with their beloved franchise, and put the blame on the developers who have shepherded Silent Hill onto the next generation of consoles.

IMHO, I think this is a misguided view by a minority of core fans (great fans who have supported Silent Hill) of how Konami is evolving the series, and not necessarily fair to the new blood. I also believe that it is likely a small minority who complain loudly. Konami knows that Silent Hill is a flagship series--after all it is the only (? or one of the few) Konami IP's that was made into a major motion picture. When you look at the history of Team Silent, from an early point, its eventual dissolution was there as Keiichirō Toyama left after the first game to work for Sony on Siren.

There are lots of other factors too. Developers and publishers of current gen consoles are still trying to balance HD budgets with non-HD processes and schedules. That's why Konami pushed SH to the PSP, added a PS2 port, and published on the Wii--its very, very expensive to make and publish games this generation. Also, with lower install base this gen, it's been challenging at best, for publishers to make a profit on titles that are not smash hits.

It's to Konami's credit that they recognized opportunities in outsourcing to US and EU development studios--Western studios bring unique perspectives, different processes, and likely cost savings. It's a move that Capcom mirrored in recent years, and was a hot topic amongst the Japanese game development community at TGS this year.

Love it or hate it, outsourcing is here to stay. Enjoy the different experiences possible with each new iteration of Silent Hill. You might not like everything Konami publishes, but at least they are trying hard to give us something unique each with each new title.

Game Informer's big reveal of Silent Hill: Downpour

2011-01-06T17:03:00.024-05:00

Game Informer Magazine scores the big reveal for Silent Hill: Downpour. The new issue features an article that describes a demo by Game Informer staff accompanied by a slew of photos from the game. If you don't get the magazine, be sure to keep an eye out at the usual venues (Destructoid, Joystiq, etc.) for upcoming coverage of the game, or just jump over to Game Informer, as they have a whole slew of material covering this upcoming chapter of our favorite vacation spot.

New Years resolutions being what they are...

2011-01-02T17:33:00.004-05:00

New Years resolutions being what they are, I am hoping I can get this blog together, to track all things that are Silent Hill. I'll try and keep chit-chat outside of the SH sphere to a minimum, or on another blog.