Crawling the Hill

Bitmob posted some quick impressions of WayForward's Silent Hill: Book of Memories for the PS Vita. In particular they point out the game's dungeon crawling style, and the series' history of trying to break gaming conventions. Its an interesting take on how Konami is trying to figure out what is next for Silent Hill without the work of Team Silent. Click over to read more...

A taste of Memories comes lumbering to Europe

Silent Hill: Book of Memories has a demo coming to the PS Vita tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 26), if you live in Europe, according to Rely on Horror.

Book of Memories is WayForward's stab at multiplayer that Konami is hoping can freshen up their aging franchise and bring Silent Hill to a wider audience. I know that within the community this game is causing a lot of friction, but I applaud Konami for taking a chance, and I trust WayForward to give us something great--given their track record I don't think this will be a problem for them.

How Book of Memories came about

One of my favorite video games journalists, from one of my favorite blogs, has written an article on Joystiq (a damn fine website), sharing details of the development of Konami's partnership with WayForward to create Silent Hill: Book of Memories.

In the article, JC Fletcher shares with us a history of the game's creation, from concept to current state for this controversial entry in Silent Hill series. Click over the Joystiq to read the report, and to see a selection of pre-production artwork created for the game.

Aliens Infestation? Yeah, I jumped.

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.

A boy and his Pyramid Head

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.