silent-hill-origins posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Aeropause claims that Akira Yamaoka, the man responsible for Silent Hill's evocative sound, has apparently left Konami after 16 years and is currently vacationing in Europe. Fans of the survival-horror series would rightfully claim that Yamaoka, whose work has been a constant in the entire series, is inextricably linked to Silent Hill.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories producer Tomm Hulett told Joystiq in an interview back in June that Yamaoka's music "adds a special element, it's kind of the atmosphere of the town." He continued, "If Akira's music isn't there, it just doesn't sound quite right. And I'm sure that there are people out there who could emulate the sound and try to get it close, but there would be something missing." We've followed up with the publisher for confirmation and comment.

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.

It's not just Ratchet & Clank's handheld outing that is getting the PS2 port treatment, Konami have confirmed that Silent Hill Origins will also be available on the PSP's bigger, more successful, brother later this year. There's no mention yet of any added extras for the PS2 version, though the controls will be "updated". We should hope so too!

The PS2 version is still currently in development, with nary a release date in sight. Those of you who actually bothered to buy the PSP game can commence your bragging now. Imagine how your PS2 owning Silent Hill fanatic friends will feel when they excitedly rush out to buy the game, only to be told that you've completed it. Haven't played it? You're probably part of the reason it's coming to PS2 in the first place, then.

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.

Yahtzee's got a soft spot for the Silent Hill series, a soft spot that had a steel spike jammed through it during Silent Hill Origins. Believing that the game was nothing but a fan-service cash-in he declares the series dead after his experience with Origins and Silent Hill 4: The Room -- but he's leaving a spot in his blackened heart for redemption with Silent Hill 5. So prepare yourself for a four minute Zero Punctuation rant that even our resident Silent Hill fanboy declares, "Wow, that's one of [Yahtzee's] best yet!"

Find this week's NSFW trip to Silent Hill by Yahtzee after the break.

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.

The franchise of Silent Hill has generally fallen under the responsibility of Konami's Japanese development team, Team Silent. This team was actually split up between Silent Hills 1 and 3, and Silent Hills 2 and 4. If you're knowledgeable about the SH universe, the first and third titles tell an ongoing story about the town, Alessa, and the lineage of Harry Mason. The second and fourth were more abstract concepts, the second game exploring what exactly the town of Silent Hill is and the fourth was just a bit more wild in ideas, loosely connected to Silent Hill by the villain: Walter Sullivan. The fourth title wasn't originally a Silent Hill game, but that's moot. Now the US team Climax has taken the effort to bring the Silent Hill universe to the PSP with Origins, a tale preceding Harry's quest in the first game and meant to tie together the stories of the games and the story of the movie -- that is, focusing on Alessa once more.

With that giant narrative introducing you into the land of Silent Hill, how does Origins stack up in the franchise? It's regrettable, but it finds its way near the bottom of the pile. However, don't dismiss the game -- it's a really good Silent Hill game, but Climax approached it the way American film generally approaches sequels (Saw): more of the same, with little innovation or thought outside of the box. If you're a fan of SH, you'll enjoy the game for its familiarity but will sigh at the lack of much new. If you're new to the series, you'll probably really dig the game. Let's go a little further into this and help you decide.

Continued →