Topic: Silent Hill: Homecoming - Update: Euro version delayed until Feb 2009

[MysterD]

Silent Hill 5 is said to be more like SH2 than any other SH.

As SH1 and 2 being my fav. SH, all I can say is this....
"Oh hell yesssssssssssss!!!!!"

Silent Hill 5 Like Silent Hill 2, Just Newer 894 Views

Speaking with German GamePro magazine, Silent Hill composer (and SH4 director) Akira Yamaoka has said the latest installment in the series will be a lot more like Silent Hill 2 than 3 or 4. Good news? No idea. I like 3 best myself, but hey, you might not.

The "characters' behaviour" and "ways the player is directed" are cited as the two biggest reasons it feels so comfy and familiar. Also mentioned, rather importantly, I guess, is that the game's in development for 360 and PS3 and will be out...sometime in the future. Luke Plunkett

Silent Hill 5: It Lives! [Games Radar]

[Quemaqua]

Yay!  I'd say that's a good sign.  3 was fine, but 4 was kinda' meh.  I mean, the game was cool, but it just didn't feel enough like an SH game.

[TheOtherBelmont]

That sounds cool, I was beginning to wonder if this game was even being made.

[scottws]

Sweet!  SH2 was easily my favorite.

[MysterD]

Yay!  I'd say that's a good sign.  3 was fine, but 4 was kinda' meh.  I mean, the game was cool, but it just didn't feel enough like an SH game.

I liked SH4, but man -- we need some better controls for the KB/mouse than *that*.
Gamepad was fine, though.

[Quemaqua]

You do realize you're one of like two people that played SH games on the PC.  Give up and buy a fucking console, dude.  Console ports will ALWAYS BE BAD.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Give up and buy a fucking console, dude.

Quoted for truth.  D you have missed out on so many awesome games because of this.  PS2s are only $129 and you can get a used one cheaper and have TONS of games to play.

[Quemaqua]

It should be noted that I own SH3 and SH4 on PC and have played through most of them there.  However, even *I'm* not going to waste my time complaining about something that will never change.

[Xessive]

I don't really mind the controls when it comes to SH games. I just use my PC gamepad if I can't hack the keyboard config.

Now for a game like say Resident Evil 4, they damn need to implement proper mouse controls for aiming. If they made the controls like Cold Fear that would have been great (the controls in CF wre pretty good especially since the game was basically a knock-off of RE).

[MysterD]

You do realize you're one of like two people that played SH games on the PC.  Give up and buy a fucking console, dude.

Even though I was not too happy w/ the KB/Mouse controls w/ SH games since they didn't really evolve them for that kind of set-up, I said....

Gamepad was fine, though.

I don't know, SH's were never ported bad, honestly. I have never had problems running the SH games on my systems, on the technical aspects. Just, I was never thrilled w/ the lack of mouselook on a KB/mouse. Though, their targeting system works fine on a gamepad, like I said.

Console ports will ALWAYS BE BAD.

Eh, I tend to disagree.....
It's just some companies, I think, have a better grip on doing ports from console-to-PC, especially when it comes to making a game work right on KB/mouse.
Some just are lazy and probably figure the PC gamers will have a gamepad for the PC and/or buy one anyways.

I mean, hell -- even The Suffering got the controls right on the KB/mouse. That was a console game brought to the PC.

Now, onto great ports....

Jade Empire was a great port.
So was SW: KOTOR.
Fable was another.
Riddick: Butcher Bay comes to mind.

And that's just for starters....

[Quemaqua]

I couldn't run Riddick due to an error they never fixed.  The game was completely unplayable for me no matter how good the port was otherwise (and keep in mind they were also a PC developer, which is totally different than a console-only company going PC).  The Suffering was fugly and awkward even on console, so the fact that they "got it right" on PC didn't make a whole lot of difference anyway.  Don't get me wrong, I liked the game, but Surreal was also a PC/console developer, not strictly console.  Same with Jade Empire.  Same with KOTOR.  Same with Fable.  None of those count as console ports because they really aren't.  They just came out on consoles first due to business stuff.  So... yeah.  You're basically wrong, no offense.  Console ports just suck.  The SH games were playable, but they weren't as solid as their console counterparts, particularly SH2 which was a really bad port.  Actually, SH4 was also a really bad port.  You just don't know how bad given the fact that you didn't play it on PS2 or Xbox.  In comparison, it was pretty awful.  I couldn't finish it on PC for that very reason.  SH3 was the only decent one, and it wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  Some of the effects that were awesome on PS2 (like the crazy weird fuzz effect in the nightmare hospital) didn't translate to the PC well *at all*.

[MysterD]

SH5 preview picture and teaser video here from E3

[Quemaqua]

Hooray.  Too bad that teaser is worthless.  Still, anything SH gets me excited.  And I also found a nice little SH: Origins trailer on there which was pretty cool.  I can't wait for that one, personally.  I love it when I actually get a PSP game I'm excited about.  Then I don't have to take time off work to play!  I just take lots of bathroom breaks.   

[MysterD]

Hooray.  Too bad that teaser is worthless.

The audio sounded interesting -- like the SH5 story might be about a soldier that has returned from war, mentally unstable and all.

[Quemaqua]

Except that anything one might surmise would be purely conjecture and hence basically... worthless.  I wish they could have given us a little more than that.

[MysterD]

Except that anything one might surmise would be purely conjecture and hence basically... worthless.  I wish they could have given us a little more than that.

I wish there was more to it, too....

Regardless, more SH sounds good to me.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Cool, I can't wait to start seeing gameplay footage.

[iPPi]

That trailer was useless.

[MysterD]

More info will be in EGM's next issue.

[MysterD]

Around 3:34 into this Zero Puncutation's Yahtzee begins to talk about Silent Hill 5 Trailer, RE4, and of course RE5 Trailer -- and comparing all of them, basically.

[MysterD]

Silent Hill 5 has a new name now.
Silent Hill: Homecoming.

Planned for Euro release in Sept. 2008.
No word on a US release date yet.

Silent Hill 5 Titled, Euro Release in September
[Ure "Vader" Paul]
11:43 am EDT @ April 21st, 2008
Filed under: SILENT HILL 5, KONAMI, SILENT HILL: HOMECOMING

Konami issued a press release, specifying that Silent Hill 5 -- which is actually the sixth game in the popular horror games series -- is now called Silent Hill: Homecoming. Konami also officially confirmed that the game is hitting European soil during September 2008, with no mention of a US date at this time.

Here's the word from Konami:

    Homecoming is the first Silent Hill title for the new wave of ‘next generation’ consoles, featuring all-new graphics that bring the fear and terror of Silent Hill alive like never before. Alex must survive attacks from the misshapen denizens of the town using an all-new enhanced combat system that provides a wide array of attacks and counters. Along the way, Alex will encounter a variety of weapons to battle these horrific monsters and must also solve deadly puzzles as he uncovers the darkest secrets of Silent Hill.

    Silent Hill: Homecoming also features an all-new soundtrack by acclaimed series composer Akira Yamaoka.

By the way, Silent Hill: Homecoming is heading to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

[scottws]

Maybe I won't sell my 360 after all...

[Quemaqua]

New combat?  I won't hold my breath, but... could be cool.  I'm actually most looking forward to another Yamaoka soundtrack.  I've loved all of his stuff.

[scottws]

Speaking of Silent Hill, is The Room worth playing at all?  I had it installed for a little while but I probably only played for 30 minutes.  I couldn't get into it.

[Quemaqua]

It's rather different from the others.  I would say it's worth playing, but it doesn't feel quite like the others do.  It's just sort of fundamentally different.  Still, it does have some pretty cool stuff in it, and I think the primary problem isn't so much that it's built differently, but that some of the stuff is just plain weird or not that scary.  Some of it is, don't get me wrong, but there are a few points where you'll just go "WTF?" and get taken out of the moment.

But if you've been playing these games for a long, long time and kind of want something a little different, it does that pretty well.  I never did finish it, but I did more or less enjoy what I played.  The primary problem for me is that the plot doesn't start to make any real sense (or really tie itself to the other games at all) until much later in the game.

[MysterD]

I liked SH: The Room, but yeah -- it wasn't nowhere as good as the other three SH games.

[Xessive]

I played SH: The Room but I got bored.. I felt it was too monotonous. I know it was appropriate (considering the title) but reappearing in the room each time gave me more than enough moments of "ungh, again?"

[Quemaqua]

It was cool how it changed over time, though, and I loved the way you could peek through holes into the hallway and other room and stuff.  I thought that was fucking brilliant.

[Xessive]

It was cool how it changed over time, though, and I loved the way you could peek through holes into the hallway and other room and stuff.  I thought that was fucking brilliant.

Yeah, that was pretty cool. I think it was appropriate that even I, the player not just as the character, was trying to get the heck out of this room! hehe

The game became more of a high-tension situation for me where I was bored with my surroundings and desperately trying to claw out of the room.

[MysterD]

I also liked the "room" mechanic and the story, but the game really does need better controls on the KB/mouse for the PC version -- especially these days and age.

I wasn't very fond of the save system in SH4: PC -- especially when the other 3 games on the PC let you save anytime.

The control-pad controls are still fine, though -- as expected w/ a console game ported to the PC.

[Xessive]

I never really tried the KB+Mouse controls since my experience with SH games was not good with that setup. In SH4 I just went straight for gamepad mode. Controls were fine, though the camera angles could be better.

I wonder how the controls and camera will be in SH5.

[Quemaqua]

I can't fathom why any of you would try that game on the PC.  2 was a bad port, 3 was a decent port, and 4 just didn't feel right on the PC *at all*.  I don't know what it was.  It just... didn't look right, didn't feel right.  It was just weird.

[Xessive]

I really enjoyed 2! Actually it's still my favourite SH. I thought it was a decent port.. Granted they didn't change anything to make it more PC-centric. I played it with the gamepad though.

SH3 was alright. They did a better job porting it, I just didn't enjoy it as much. I'm not a fan of the dark+flashlight gameplay element i.e. Doom 3.

Although SH4 was graphically superior to its predecessors I didn't like the look of it. A lot of the colours just looked like mustard & ketchup mashes with a lot of browns and some earthy tones. Normally I like earthy tones, but something about SH4's look didn't appeal to me.

[Quemaqua]

Huh?  All the SH games have more or less entirely the same flashlight use.  I can't fathom how you'd see a difference between one or another.

But yeah, I hear you with 4.  I felt the same about the colors and textures in that one.  It worked in certain places, but it was just a bit too earthy and didn't quite mesh right.

[gpw11]

Silent Hill does the flashlight better than any other game I've come across.

[Xessive]

Huh?  All the SH games have more or less entirely the same flashlight use.  I can't fathom how you'd see a difference between one or another.

The flashlight is fine, but for example SH2 spent a fair amount in the misty day time but I only ever needer the flashlight is dark spots or at night, whereas in SH3 it's dark allround (and creepy) and the gameplay revolves around the using the flashlight. Gameplay like that is alright for segments, though I'd wind up having to turn up the brightness on my display.

By contrast, a game like Fatal Frame 2 (frickin' creepy game) doesn't rely on the darkness element, even though the game is set at night (and occasionally in black & white moments).

[scottws]

Hmm... I remember the flashlight more in SH2 than SH3.  I don't know what it is, but I love these games.  The wheelchair in SH3 got me to watch Session 9 (not as great as I was hoping) and I love the soundtrack to SH3.  I wish I had one for SH2.

As far as the games, I liked SH2 more because I thought it's plot was amazing.  SH3 I couldn't get into as much, mostly because I never played SH I guess, but I had previously read the plot summary.

[MysterD]

I can't fathom why any of you would try that game on the PC.

I don't have a game console. It's as simple as that.

2 was a bad port, 3 was a decent port, and 4 just didn't feel right on the PC *at all*.  I don't know what it was.  It just... didn't look right, didn't feel right.  It was just weird.

All the SH PC games, basically -- use your gamepad when playing the game.

SH3 was a better port than most b/c namely the controls on the KB/mouse weren't that bad. Though, again -- still better off w/ the gamepad.

SH4 was ported more like SH2 was; kind of lazily. SH4's keyboard/mouse controls are just not utilized too well when in third-person perspective; you're much better off w/ the gamepad here and playing it like in that style. Though in SH4, the KB/mouse controls worked great for the first-person sequences in The Room, since it played like the usual FPS game w/ the KB/mouse.

[gpw11]

I never really thought SH2 was a bad port.  Actually, I ended up stopping my console game and starting over on the PC.  Luck I guess?

[scottws]

I can't imagine playing an SH game with a kb/m at all.