According to this week's issue
of Famitsu magazine after his
unexpected departure from Konami
Akira Yamaoka, Silent Hill
series composer and producer,
has signed on with Grasshopper
Manufacture game studio.
"I really love Yamaoka,"
Grasshopper head Goichi Suda
said in an interview. "Ever
since I saw a video of Silent
Hill 2 at the Tokyo Game Show
nine years ago, I've always
dreamed of working alongside
him. That's why I thought I'd
invite him over when I started
hearing rumors that he left
Konami."
"It was a case of really good
timing," Yamaoka told Famitsu.
"I knew about Suda long before I
met him; I saw Grasshopper as
one of those few Japanese
outfits whose games can appeal
to an overseas audience. I had a
chance to meet him in Los
Angeles and we talked about this
and that, and once we started
discussing how we wanted to do
something creative for a world
audience, I was hooked on the
company."
Grasshopper Manufacture was
founded in 1998 by the famous game
designer Goichi Suda (also known
as Suda51) and is notorious for
such titles as No More Heroes
and Killer 7. Yamaoka has
already contributed tracks to
studio's latest game No More
Heroes 2 (listen to one of the
tracks on
YouTube) and according to
the source he will be put to
work on an untitled action
horror game for Electronic Arts
codeveloped with Q Entertainment
and produced by Resident Evil
creator Shinji Mikami. The
project is expected to be
announced at E3 trade show later
this year. Although his current
tasks involve only composing
music for Grasshopper's games,
Yamaoka indicates that he would
like to use his "total sum of
experience" to create games in
the future.
2010.02.02|
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories:
G4's interview with Tomm Hulett
First Silent
Hill: Shattered Memories post
release interview with Tomm
Hulett which you can read
here. In the interview Tomm
talks about game's development
stages, how they came up with
the idea of the reimagining and
how they implemented it, the
twisted ending, the canonicity
of the game and many more.
2010.01.24|
The EGTV Show: Silent Hill Shattered
Memories
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
review and interview of the
game's developers by Eurogamer
TV:
2010.01.23|
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Japanese
release
Game Watch revealed the
information on the upcoming
release of Silent Hill:
Shattered Memories in Japan. The
game has received C (age 15 and
over) CERO rating and will hit
the stores on March 25. Wii
version is priced 6,090 yen,
while PSP version is 5,250 yen /
4,200 yen (UMD version /
download). No information if
Japanese will get the PS2
edition of the game as well.
Also there are some new Wii and
PSP screenshots - look at them
in the
game's gallery.
2010.01.05|
Making of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
soundtrack
Joe Romersa
wrote 3
songs for Silent Hill: Shattered
Memories
with Mary Elisabeth McGlynn on
vocals as usual.
This time he decided to bring a
camera to the studio and shoot
some footage of their recording
sessions. Have a peek at the
process in this two part
documentary:
2009.12.26|
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories in
February for Europe
According to
various sources the final
release date for Silent Hill:
Shattered Memories in Europe is
set for February 5, 2010. Konami
confirms that title will be
released on Wii, PS2 and PSP on
the appointed date.
2009.12.20|
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
- IGN's preview of
PSP version
IGN previewed
a PSP version of Silent Hill:
Shattered Memories in their
hands-on and released some
new screens from it. Screenshots
are available in the
game's gallery.
You can read all the reviews in
the newly created
Reviews section.
2009.12.08|
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is
officially out!
Today
is finally the day of Silent
Hill: Shattered Memories release
in North America. Unfortunately
for now it's only for Nintendo
Wii - Sony PS2 and PSP owners
will have to wait a bit more:
the game should be out for these
platforms during next year's
January or February (Gamestop
put date as January 12).
Europeans as well won't get
their hands on the fresh Silent
Hill till February. By the way,
the official release date didn't
prevent some Gamestop retail
stores from selling copies of
Shattered Memories before the
date specified due to some
failure in the system
(apparently the game copies
didn't have a street date), so
quite a bunch of players could
already enjoy the game.
Everybody who still don't, can
watch two new gameplay clips
from Gametrailers in the
meantime:
Exploration Gameplay
Freak Beasts Gameplay
IGN's
review of Silent Hill: Shattered
Memories is up with a favorable
overall mark of 8.6/10. The game
has also got Editor's Choice
Award.
Presentation 9.0
An altogether slick experience
from beginning to end. The
original license reborn into
something new. Seems tailor made
for Wii, from the superb
flashlight to audio cues out of
the Wii remote. Graphics 9.0
The claustrophobic world comes
to life in great detail. Huge,
seamless world. Realistic
characters with fluid animation.
Amazing lighting and particle
systems. Some occasional
framerate hiccups. Sound 8.5
A moody, dynamic soundtrack by
composer Akira Yamaoka
complements strong voice acting,
spooky sound effects and audio
cues tied to the Wii remote's
speaker. Gameplay 8.5
Tight controls and clever
puzzles are separated by truly
terrifying chase sequences and
lots of different gameplay
variations, some of which
involve fun gestures. The
flashlight alone is
entertaining. Lasting Appeal 6.5
Really fun while it lasts, but
the experience is short -- about
five or six hours. You can come
back and play again with very
different results (and even a
new ending), though. Overall 8.6 (Great)
This is
the video shown in the main menu
of the game after being idle for
some time. The song is "When
You're Gone" from the original
soundtrack.
2009.12.03|
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories official
site launched
Konami have launched a
promotional Silent Hill:
Shattered Memories website.
The site incorporates the psyche
profile from the game asking you
to answer some questions at the
beginning which affects some
elements of the site, mainly the
look of Cybil character. For
example, after ticking answers 1
and 2 you'll get a sexy Cybil,
while choosing answer 3 or 1+3
will leave you with a stern
Cybil. Other combinations will
get you a nice version of Cybil.
The website also features some
media (old trailer, various
gameplay clips and screenshots),
character information, community
forums and blog (currently not
accessible).
According to Vixx from our
fellow site
Silent Hill Heaven Akira
Yamaoka has left Konami after
working at the company for
sixteen years. Though it's not
officially confirmed by Konami
yet, it's as official as it can
be. Yamaoka has been Silent Hill
series composer since its start
as well as producer since Silent
Hill 3. Beside this lately Akira
has been working on an announced
project for Konami which future
is now unknown. No news yet as
to what Yamaoka plans to do next
and if he will create music for
possible next Silent Hill
installments.