I...I...love silent hill. Alongside Metal Gear Solid, it's a series that I really hold dear. It's a series(like metal gear solid) that I've been playing ever since the PS1 days fanatically. I've played every single silent hill over 8 times each. I love the storyline, I love the atmosphere, I love the game play, I love pretty much everything about it. And of course loving something for this long, will result in a pretty strong attachment and conservatism regarding the series.
What should be common knowledge now is that the next Silent Hill(now titled Silent Hill: Homecoming) was handed off to American Developers"The collective". When outrage initially was expressed from the Silent Hill community, the damage control casuals of the series took offense. What should be noted to these people is why people got so mad. First off, the collective made the davinci code, and "buffy the vampire slayer" games. Gee, sounds promising.
The main issues overall though, are:
1. They aren't team silent. Period. These games have such a personal touch on them that straying from the original developers causes such a serious impact it's ridiculous. If you don't know this you're obviously just a casual of the series. The thing is though, had someone like Hideo Kojima did the game I wouldn't have been angry. Now you're probably saying, "is it because he's asian", it's not. If capcom did the next Silent Hill I'd commit suicide. It's because Kojima has that personal touch and attention to detail in his games. He has the capacity to make a good horror game.
2. Americans have different approaches to "horror". I'm American. I know this. How many people have told you the Japanese version of the ring, and the grudge were better than the American remakes? I swear to God, I actually gave them a chance until I started hearing details. Now the protaganist of the next game is COMING HOME FROM A WAR and has to find his brother. Not only that, but now the game is centered towards combat. The developers themselves have stated that, now your character isn't so hopeless anymore, you can fight the monsters more effectively now.
GOD DAMN IT you're SUPPOSED to feel hopeless in silent hill. The fact that you aren't so prepared in combat is WHY the monsters are scary. The monsters in God of war would be pretty damn scary had you not had the power of kratos. The abilities of the protagonist affect the horror just as much as the power of the monster. I DO NOT WANT an action game. I want a horror game. A known victim of this is Resident Evil.
For every hardcore silent hill fan out there like me, there's about 3 hardcore resident evil fans. And the way I'm acting now, is how they were acting when Resident Evil 4 arrived. It transformed the series into an action game. And received very high critical and commercial success. It's obvious that the general public just prefers that more than tension and atmosphere. So of course, Resident Evil 5 will follow the same course. Forget infected brain eating zombies, mind controlled African humans are far more frightening. :rolleyes: The collective sees the success and Resident Evil 4's action based gameplay and thinks "me too", obviously.
Just look at how the casuals reacted to the metal gear online beta. Metal gear solid was doing just fine when only the hardcore fans were playing it. But now that MGS4 is the major blockbuster ps3 exclusive all the little novices to the series are hoping out of cod4 and asking Metal Gear Solid to change too. Kojima did a nice job of blending stealth and action in the game so far and I thank him for that.
Contrary to my prediction, there are still some good horror games coming out this year. Alone in the dark, Siren's PS3 remake(the demo is very very good), And fatal frame's next game which will be appearing on the wii. It still just hurts that Silent Hill of all games had to be deaded. The only games that succeed nowadays are games with action and online multiplayer. Single player games, which sadly include horror games are gonna become a thing of the past. And leaving their gameplay elements with them. Yay. I'm done complaining now.
Phil Spencer and Microsoft have come under fire following the closure of multiple Bethesda-owned studios including Tango Gameworks.
wow haha.
i dont think he will resign. or will be kicked off.
if hes still here after everything in the past, this wont affect him unfortunately.
Where are the Xbots that cheer for MS to buy everything? They destroy everything they touch... MS only cares about AI now, the MS CEO could care less if all the studios get closed.
Of course Christopher would submit this lol.
The unbiased site admin strikes again!
UK indie outfit Roll7 is reportedly facing closure, along with Bethesda’s Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin – but if making award-running, profitable games doesn’t guarantee safety, what will?
Idk. Great games have still been releasing. Mcsft is still no different than after the 360 era. PS, you just have to wait many years for. Nintendo is readying next gen and will definitely have many games. 3rd party and indies have been the highlight so far this year.
Xbox employees are bracing for what follows more layoffs.
Tom Warren: "I understand Hellblade II is another game that Microsoft has been considering for the PS5."
"Microsoft has also had internal debates about whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass. I understand this is a debate that has been ongoing internally for quite some time, with concerns from some that the revenue that Call of Duty typically generates for Activision Blizzard will be undermined by Game Pass.
I’m told that Microsoft has also considered increasing the price of Game Pass Ultimate again."
Further down
"While Xbox hardware sales are a cause for concern, Microsoft has been beating the Xbox Game Pass drum in recent years, telling us, “The [Xbox] business isn’t how many consoles you sell.” But Microsoft’s latest earnings showed that Xbox content and services, which includes Game Pass, would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard, and overall gaming revenue would have declined without this giant acquisition. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood is now expecting Xbox hardware revenues to decline again next quarter. "
"Even if they ever bring it to PS5 it's not sure that it could be considered a success"
Who the f*** would think like this before the main release even happens...Jesus.
" Strategy has shifted from bringing more games to Game Pass to bringing more games to other platforms "
Gee. Can't imagine why
It's almost like Gamepass hasn't worked out the way they wanted and they keep lying to us that it's exceeded expectations.
People need to cancel their GP and buy games like Hellblade 2 in full. It's not going to magically solve everything, might not even make a dent but it's something.
I don't know if they'll die out, but they sure as hell won't be scary anymore. They'll go from "survival horror" to "survival beat-em-up". It's a real shame.
The Siren PS3 remake is a very good sign though. If you don't have a japanese PSN account you should watch youtube videos of it. It's very good.
%100, I've been saying for years that gaming's new found popularity is actually ruining it, and everyone disagrees. I HATED cod4 multiplayer, refuse to touch Halo, refuse to buy anything that says xbox or wii, etc etc. It sucks though because all I do these days is wait for something quality and having a personal touch to it, while the developers must like it because more people buy there video games, it's also a curse because they deliberately mold the game to attract a larger audience, and that to me destroys the essence of what a truly good gaming experience is. What happened to all the old quirky pc gaming market with games like American McGee's Alice, o right those types of games will never be reproduced simply because they do not attract "mass" appeal. F*ck the free world.
I never really cared for survival horror, res 4 was good, it was one of the few survival horror games that was made correctly, I prefer stealth action or when a small part of the game is survival horror ie: Uncharted,Resistance, I find that more interesting, there is often too much atmosphere in survival horror games, don't take this the wrong way because I am anticipating Fallout 3.
thanks for the fine post, i share the same ideas..