Konami's upcoming Silent Hill Origins game is surrounded in mystery. Plagued with troubled development, the title has gone through a phoenix-like resurrection of sorts, quickly becoming one of the most anticipated titles on the platform yet again. A new interview with Kikizo doesn't reveal anything new, but it does reiterate the focus of the franchise. Oertel explains, "You're going to a town that has multiple shifts in reality with people that have their own kind of dementia. How do you put a realistic spin on that? By it's nature it needs to be somewhat vague." Supposedly, multiple endings will help create a sense of impenetrable mystery.
True to the franchise, Origins is all about atmosphere and tension. Although the development team is trying to explain even more of the lore, don't expect the answers to be clear: "We want to take advantage of that opportunity to explain some things - not everything."
While we love being teased, we can't wait to get some more information on Origins. Until then, don't forget to check out our updated gallery.
Once thought to be dead, Silent Hill Origins has managed a spectacular return, not unlike the villainous stars of this survival horror title. See new images of the game in our gallery below, and check out the game's incredible intro sequence, courtesy of Gamevideos.com.
In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Silent Hill: Origins producer William Oertel confirmed previous rumors that the game met serious problems during its production. The solution, it appears, was to switch development teams altogether. "Game development isn't an exact science, and sometimes you need to go back and adjust some things. In this case, it has been for the best. It was decided that moving development to Climax's Portsmouth office would be best for the game, and that introduced delays."
As evidenced by the most recent video footage, the game has certainly come a long way, and we're excited to find out more. It's clear that Origins is in good hands, with the producers understanding what makes a Silent Hill game so unique. "As I'm fond of saying, Silent Hill is an exercise in subtlety, and therefore the changes seen in this game, compared to previous games, reflect that."
PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com.
Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to the VIDEO folder. These high resolution 480x272 videos require firmware 3.30 or above. (Note: OE custom firmware will also play these videos.)
Ever since Silent Hills: Originscame back from its months-long silence, people have been talking about the game's incredible production values. IGN spoke with the game's producer, William Oertel, who spoke a little bit about creating the title: "When first conceiving the idea of Silent Hill on the PSP, the recurrent thought was to do a remake of the original Silent Hill. While some fans would have loved to have seen this, we decided it was better to take the opportunity to build on the rich story encompassed by the series. Doing a prequel (of sorts) allowed us to also touch on some of the moments in the original Silent Hill and present them in a new and different way. The story behind the town is really a story of the characters we've seen in past games. So, the game reveals part of their history, such as Alessa, Dr. Kaufmann and Dahlia, as well as adding a new character, Travis."
It's great to see Konami offer yet another high profile, original game for the platform. With Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and an upcoming Castlevania game, it seems like Konami is quickly becoming one of PSP's elite publishers.
Read more at IGN. Insiders will be able to see the game's entire intro sequence.
Hope you didn't just eat lunch. Silent Hill: Origins is back, and it looks better than ever. Turn off the lights, get your security blanket, and snuggle up to these devilishly violent videos of the game in action. The game seems to have moved away from its Resident Evil 4 inspired camera, while gaining some context sensitive action buttons. Of course, none of this analysis will really matter as you watch this bone-chilling footage.
Remember, kids. You have to be 18 or older to see footage from this obviously M-rated game.
Silent Hill: Origins had seemingly disappeared from the public eye, with many (including ourselves) fearing its cancellation. The game showed early promise, with impressive graphics and Resident Evil 4-style gameplay. However, it wasn't long until there were reports of troubled development: Climax, the game's developer, laid off numerous employees. Then, it was conspicuously absent from Konami's Gamers Day.
Well, looks our fears were unwarranted. Game Informer has a new exclusive preview up: "The kicker was that even though the game was on a much smaller screen, our hands sweated and heart pounded as if we were playing a full-on entry in the series. If you're sensitive to scary content you'll probably not be playing this with the lights out and headphones on like the game recommends. With that said, it looks like Climax is on the right track with Origins."
We're incredibly relieved that the game has taken a turn for the better. Check out Game Informer for more screenshots and videos.
Konami's Gamers' Day has come and gone. While PSP gamers are certainly happy by the surprise announcement of an exclusive Castlevania, there is one game that was suspiciously missing: Silent Hill: Origins. The game had a very impressive debut, but ever since rumors of troubled development came about, the game has mysteriously disappeared from public eye.
Hotly anticipated games like Metal Gear Solid 4 were also absent from the show. Is Silent Hill: Origins canceled? Has the release slipped out of this year? There are tons of unanswered questions right now. Konami's website notes that "major announcements" are coming tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll know for sure soon enough.
Sony requires any game ported to the PSP to have extra content not found in other versions of that same title, but that's not what this post is about. A strange thing has happened to game franchises on the PSP, sometimes their best showing is on the portable. Can a franchise that you loathe be loved on the PSP? Well it has happened to me ...twice already.
Syphon Filter is a gaming series that I just couldn't stand on the Playstation or Playstation 2. I disliked the graphics, animation and gameplay of every version I tried. Even fams of Syphon Filter seemed to hate the last one that came out on PS2. So when a Syphon Filter game was announced on PSP, I was as interested in it as I was about castration. When reviews started to pour out that stating the game was incredible I lost respect for every reviewer that enjoyed it. Then one day while adding games to my Gamefly Q I decided to put Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror on the list. I didn't do it because I expected to enjoy the game, but rather so I could validate my hatred for the franchise.
Our eagerly-anticipated Silent Hill Origins may be in a little bit of trouble. The game's developer, Climax, recently laid off 14 of its workers in order to "integrate into a single management structure." (Source: Gamespot) According to Kotaku (you should already put on your "doubt" visors), the main reasoning behind the lay-offs was to "salvage the disastrous development of Silent Hill Origins for the PSP." The article continues to state that "the game had been cut extensively... shriveled down to a handful of much smaller levels and three to four hours of gameplay... Konami was understandably disappointed... and employees were told there were "no assurances" that the Origins project would continue."
While it would be disastrous if this rumor were true, I'm going to take a leap of faith and say it's untrue. The Kotaku report states that a working engine wasn't made available until June, which sounds false considering the game's incredible graphics engine (which was playable). Secondly, I highly doubt the folks at Konami would allow for a high-caliber project like this to fall apart, especially with their other high-profile PSP titles coming down the pipeline. Lastly, a developer in supposedly as much trouble as Climax wouldn't also be working on another high-profile game: Oblivion for the PSP. Climax is a relatively prolific developer: a few layoffs most likely won't affect the future of any of the games in development.
NOTE: This editorial is the opinion of Andrew Yoon, and does not represent the opinion of PSP Fanboy, Joystiq or Weblogs, Inc.
Every video game convention, there's a "winner" of some sorts. It's pretty safe to say that the Nintendo Wii "won" the last E3, proving that waving around our hands can be fun. Not only did the Wii prove that the control scheme works, there was an amazing list of exclusives, from Nintendo's own Mario to third party efforts, like Red Steel. Nintendo wowed the crowd at E3 because of the amazing quality and potential of the games for its system.
Did Nintendo pull the big win at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany this year? No. Did Microsoft? No. Sony took the win for this year's show, but not because of a great showing of PlayStation 3 goods (there were none at the show), but because of Konami's absolutely excellent lineup of upcoming PSP games. Yes, you heard me right: PSP "won" Leipzig.
A few hours ago, we revealed the very first footage of the game in motion. Now, Konami has revealed an official trailer from the Games Convention in Germany Konami's Gamer Day, and it is absolutely mind-blowingly beautiful. Comparing the game to Resident Evil 4 seems apt, not only because of the gameplay, but because of the insane quality of the graphics. Watch and be amazed.
[Update 1: Footage actually from Konami's Gamer Day, not Games Convention. Also, Gamespot has added two excellent gameplay videos to their site. They seem to feature some awkward hit detection and camera, but hopefully that'll be worked out soon. Check out video 1 here and video 2 here.]
[Update 2:A video interview with the producer reveals that the playable build is very early, with most everything being placeholders. So, yes... the graphics and the animations are going to be much better. Players of the original Silent Hill be able to experience how the town became the way it did, but the main character of the game is not responsible for it. The town will be a mix of old and new, with two thirds of it being new. The game will be large: "a good size PSP game." The game features 4 vocal tracks, one of them being featured in the trailer.]
[Update 3: Another video of the game in motion, now featured after the cut.]
Hmm... what to wear? You could wear a t-shirt from Saved by the Bell's Screech... OR you could buy one of these totally awesome Loco Roco shirts. They proudly feature our blubbery friend against a maroon background, and is available for both men and women (but notsix year old girls). They may be a bit pricey ($22), but that's a hell of a lot cheaper than those insanely expensive (and cool) King of Games shirts.
PSP Fanboy once wrote: "So how about a port of Resident Evil 4? The new over-the-shoulder camera style would be perfect for the handheld!"
Well, we might not have Resident Evil yet, but it looks like Silent Hill Origins will fit the bill just nicely. This first gameplay video (delivered by Playstation Portable.de) leaked from the floors of the Games Convention in Germany doesn't show off any enemies, but it shows some particularly nice graphics (the fog looks great), atmosphere and familiar controls. Hopefully we'll discover more nuggets of gameplay over the course of the convention, so keep it locked in to the Fanboy.
[Update 1: According to PSP World, the game will offer "a cinematic experience comparable to the previous games, but framed within interactive moments." That sounds a lot like Resident Evil 4's button-mashing cutscenes to me.]
The exclusives keep on hitting the PSP. Konami showcased Silent Hill Origins for the PSP and GTtv caught up with Producer William Oertel to find out more about the game. You can just watch the video embedded above, but here are some of the more interesting details he points out:
It's a prequel to the original Silent Hill, not a remake.
"[The main character] is an interesting character... he's a little bit more physical... he's not too emo."
"It's going to be a much more personal experience than playing on the console."
The barricade system modifies controls so that it changes constantly, making it much more interesting and dynamic.
"It's a huge game."
It seems like Konami's placing a lot of effort into their PSP efforts, and they have to be commended for that. This game, along with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, show that the company knows what it's doing.
Konami's Gamers' Day has come and gone. While PSP gamers are certainly happy by the surprise announcement of an exclusive Castlevania, there is one game that was suspiciously missing: Silent Hill: Origins. The game had a very impressive debut, but ever since rumors of troubled development came about, the game has mysteriously disappeared from public eye.
NOTE: This editorial is the opinion of Andrew Yoon, and does not represent the opinion of PSP Fanboy, Joystiq or Weblogs, Inc.
Hmm... what to wear? You could wear a t-shirt from Saved by the Bell's Screech... OR you could buy one of these totally awesome Loco Roco shirts. They proudly feature our blubbery friend against a maroon background, and is available for both men and women (but not six year old girls). They may be a bit pricey ($22), but that's a hell of a lot cheaper than those insanely expensive (and cool) King of Games shirts.
