For the best, most immersive experience in Silent Hill: Downpour, you may need to expand your set of home entertainment accoutrements. You'll need a pair of 3D glasses to take advantage of the game's newly announced stereoscopic 3D support, as well as impenetrable ear plugs to withstand the game's exclusive theme song -- provided by nu-metal band Korn.
Tentatively titled "Silent Hill," the song is pitched as "a perfect complement" to game's soundtrack, which is the first to be created by Dexter-ous composer Dan Licht. If the departure of former franchise composer Akira Yamaoka drove you into a murderous rage, a Korn-fed substitution might just compel you to sign a petition. (Oh yes, that's already happening.)
Konami's pre-E3 show pulls back the curtain on three different Silent Hill releases coming down the pipeline.
For the nostalgic, Konami has bundled Silent Hill 2 and 3 into an HD package called Silent Hill Collection. These two titles are getting the high-definition upgrade, so a whole new audience can enjoy these horror classics. No release date has been announced...
Silent Hill has seen its share of interesting weapons over the years. Katanas, giant drills and even lasers have all been featured. After today, however, they must bow to the ultimate weapon of Silent Hill: Downpour, the mighty chair. See it in action in the footage after the break.
Konami released some Silent Hill: Downpour screenshots last week with a heavy Alan Wake vibe. Defending them, producer Devin Shatsky told HellsDescent, "It could easily be said that Alan Wake ripped off [Silent Hill] in a number of ways with the look and feel of their entire game."
"I would like to point out we have way more variety of environments in Downpour than Alan Wake does," Shatsky continued. "I feel very comfortable that the comparisons will end at these forest shots. There are a multitude of other environments in Downpour that people will be hard-pressed to compare to any other game. We have a very unique variety of landscapes and interiors."
Alan Wake doesn't have a trademark on spooky Pacific Northwest forests, this is true. However, for fun: Guess which game the slightly altered picture above originates from? (Find the answer after the break.)
#screens
The first set of screenshots released for Konami's Silent Hill: Downpour only featured two shots of a gondola creeping across a chasm. That's nowhere near enough gondola. Thankfully this next set gives us a couple more. More »
It might seem strange to pair Silent Hill and Dragon Age fan film trailers in one post, but they just happen to share the same director, Leo Kei Angelos. Both projects are planned for release as complete short films later this year, and they already look impressive.
In fact, if the super, super creepy trailer is any indication, the Silent Hill inspired film, The Confined, just might turn out better than its full-length cinematic counterpart. Check out both trailers after the break.
The producer of Silent Hill: Downpour shot down a rumor that a separate multiplayer version for the game would be published over Xbox Live. The rumor appeared in an Italian-language magazine's interview with the game's art director. Devin Shatsky told Hell Descent the remarks were either out of context or lost in translation. [Hell Descent] More »
In an interview with Xbox 360 Magazine Italy (fan translated by Hell Descent and verified by Joystiq), when asked if the upcoming Silent Hill: Downpour will have a multiplayer mode, Vatra Games' Radek Marek surprisingly didn't get up and walk out, laughing. Instead, the art director replied, "At the moment there will be no multiplayer modes in Silent Hill: Downpour, but Konami are investigating a separate chapter devoted entirely to the Multiplayer." A separate chapter? Could you tell us more, Mr. Marek? "We do not know the details but it should be an XBLA title that most players have to survive in the town of Silent Hill."
So, to recap: This year's retail-bound Silent Hill: Downpour won't have a multiplayer mode but publisher Konami is "investigating" an XBLA experiment, if you will. Konami's last XBLA multiplayer experiment was last summer's unremarkable Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Let's hope the moody isolation of Silent Hill better lends itself to a multiplayer installment.
Finally, your chance to break into the burgeoning field of virtual grave design! Konami announced a Facebook-based contest in which aspiring monumentalists will be able to have their "spine-chilling burial sculpture" reproduced in Silent Hill: Downpour. Konami will pick its six favorite sculptures on February 10 and then open it up to public voting.
"Since this is a new chapter in the Silent Hill saga," the announcement notes, "sculptures must be original works and not based off of existing characters or creature designs." So, Pyramid Head is out ... but if you want to make an actual pyramid, that's probably fine. It's actually kind of a classic in the tomb business.
#clips
The next Silent Hill won't feature the musical stylings of series mainstay Akira Yamaoka. Dexter composer Daniel Licht is filling the void in Silent Hill: Downpour... and doing a pretty good job of delivering the same musical vibe. More »
Konami gave us our first look at Silent Hill: Downpour yesterday -- now here's our first listen. A minute and a half of Dexter composer Dan Licht's score is available for your listening pleasure terror, after the break.
#konami
The eight major entry in the Silent Hill series will be called Silent Hill: Downpour, a game that looks as dark and dreary as its ever been. This time, however, prepare to be constantly on edge and endlessly moist. More »
Konami officially unveiled Silent Hill: Downpour this morning (leaving, of course, the veil of fog around the town), announcing a fall European release for Vatra Games' exploration of our favorite psychological punishment destination, and sending out a bunch of new screenshots. We're no longer limited to looking at a guy looking at a truck!
In addition to giving us a good look at Murphy Pendleton, the poor sucker doomed to guide us around the new version of Silent Hill, these screenshots offer a glimpse at a few in-game locations: the diner, always a staple of Silent Hill, and the "Devil's Pit," some kind of mountainous area with a rickety-looking ropeway train between peaks. There's also some unidentifiable subterranean area that appears to be covered in rusty grates, in case you were concerned this wasn't actually a Silent Hill game.
This morning, we learned of Silent Hill: Downpour, Vatra Games' take on Konami's iconic horror series. Now comes word that there's a large piece on the game in the February issue of Game Informer, which MTV Multiplayer has culled some details from (damn our lazy mailman!).
According to the site, lead character Murphy Pendleton will have more to do than the protagonists who came before him -- specifically, he'll be able to pursue side-quests in the game world. (No other details were offered, sadly.) The article does mention, however, that a new hybrid camera system will combine the fixed viewpoint style of the original games with the newer behind-the-character camera introduced in Homecoming. Let's just hope Downpour's designers remember that some gamers prefer their controls inverted.
Expect some heavy rain in the next Silent Hill, now officially known as Silent Hill: Downpour. There will be plenty H2O in your horror, which you might have surmised from the game's first, rain-soaked trailer. More »
