Soundless Mountain 2 takes us back, way, way back

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.