Re-imagined Silent Hill Announced 63
Konami has announced that a new Silent Hill game, titled Shattered Memories, is due out this fall for the Wii, PS2, and PSP. "While the game shares its twisting plot with the original PlayStation game, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories takes a different path in many, many ways. Characters can be approached but will offer different responses and be found in different places, while new clues and gameplay paths can be followed." The Wii version will make full use of the Wii Remote, taking the role of both phone and torch, as well as being used to "pick up, examine and manipulate items to solve puzzles along the journey." According to the Opposable Thumbs blog, the choice not to develop for the PS3 and Xbox 360 was due to the development costs associated with those consoles.
Why re-imagine? (Score:3, Interesting)
The only reason to "re-imagine" an old product is to gain the loyal fanbase of the previous product. But if it is really such a departure from the old product, why not establish it as its own franchise? And if it isn't really such a departure, then why not just call it the latest version?
What really fried my tomatoes was the way Battlestar Galactica "Re-imagined" totally crapped all over the original series. Whatever you want to say about the "story arc" or "quality of writing", it simply wasn't anything like the original Galactica. The only thing that tied it to the original series was the names of the characters. The rest, completely unrelated crap.
So why not call it something else? If the concept is so good, take it out on its own. Don't try to leverage an old product and rape the memories of the fans of the original.
Re:Why re-imagine? (Score:5, Insightful)
Whatever you want to say about the "story arc" or "quality of writing", it simply wasn't anything like the original Galactica.
Thank the gods.
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Thank the gods.
I hear ya. The original BSG made me cringe... so campy. Cowboy Planet! Heh.
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What, you DIDN'T like the episode where they hung out in the cheesy space disco and traded cute quips about a week after their entire civilization and everyone they loved had just been wiped out? You DIDN'T like the cute kid and his robot dog?
How could you complain about that when compared to the cheeseball new series and its "adult conflicts," "real emotions," "ongoing character arcs," "sense of actual desperation," and other such silliness?
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Re:Why re-imagine? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, please. Retelling an existing story in a new way is something humans have been doing for as long as stories have existed! It's a basic practice of all cultures.
Are you really going to argue that (for example) Shakespeare's Hamlet would have been better if he'd called it something different to avoid "raping" the memories of the fans of the previous Hamlet play he was reimagining?
If you don't like the new version, the old version still exists. Your memory is only "raped" if you choose to mess with it yourself in your desperation to find something to be outraged about.
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Like bearded men in sealed trains, hatted men in ice boxes should be avoided at all costs.
Re:Why re-imagine? (Score:5, Funny)
"Oh, please. Retelling an existing story in a new way is something humans have been doing for as long as stories have existed! It's a basic practice of all cultures."
Yes, but bitching about those retellings of those existing stories is something humans have been doing for nearly just as long as stories have existed.
Archaeologists have unearthed cave paintings in Altamira that were basically retellings of nearby existing cave paintings, but with minor details changed, such as the Star Deer being female instead of male, as it was in the original. There is also archaeological evidence that points to primitive screeds being carved by a caveman on pottery in the basement of his parents' cave that tells of how much better the original Altamira cave painting was, ending with a cryptic admonishment against the younglings that were apparently trespassing on the primitive patch of soft grass in front of the dwelling.
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Re:Why re-imagine? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Don't try to leverage an old product and rape the memories of the fans of the original.
At least they're pretty honest about it: Silent hill: Shattered Memories
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Sometimes the re-imagining isn't drastic. While it is a money grab (no point denying it), it's also a good way to make an old title available. Don't forget that there's a lot of people that might not have played the original when it was released (too young, no interest, etc), but now have an interest in the franchise. The problem for these people is that you can't find the original.
Update the graphics, move some stuff around, add some bonus crap (extra game paths, hidden areas) and release the game. Thi
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<p> wouldn't it be just as easy to buy the original?</P>
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Not necessarily. Even with eBay, the original may be really really expensive, but a re-imagining or re-release might be more widely available.
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You're not re-imagining this correctly. That's Silent City and Raccoon Hill.
You forgot Tom Clancy's Silent Racoon.
Yes, the first mission is in Hill City.
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Yeah, but 2010 version is almost out. It's got the updated roster!
I guess... (Score:1)
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Depends. This is a remake of an old game, from a franchise which has, even by a relatively kind assessment, been struggling for a couple of years now. The economics of this particular game are going to be odd. Silent Hill: Homecoming, which was released for the 360 (and PS3? - I can't remember) wasn't exactly a roaring sales success. The franchise's brand has been harmed as the games have picked up a (sadly well deserved) reputation for stagnation and sloppy production values. This is due, I suspect, to the
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SH-Origins (Score:2, Informative)
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It might even be cost effective, since the only cost would be Sony's tube tax, and a few guys to test it out and make some changes if necessary.
Compared to a whole rewrite, including mob placements and plot adjustments, it should be dirt cheap.
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Actually, I think I'd rather have a re-imagined version. The original was a great game (as was number 2. 3 was ok and I try to pretend that everything since then doesn't exist), but it has aged quite badly in some respects if you play it now.
For starters, the PS1 graphics are just plain nasty. More seriously, the controls feel dismal to somebody used to more recent offerings. You don't have the options for directional, as oppposed to rotational, movement that you have in the later games and you can tell tha
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You don't have the options for directional, as oppposed to rotational, movement that you have in the later games and you can tell that the game was designed for a controller with only one analogue stick.
I think you mean no analog sticks. The PlayStation didn't have a single-analog controller.
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Yes, good point. I'd forgotten how primative the original PS1 controllers were. And, of course, while more civilised controllers soon became available, PS1 games had to be designed to be able to work on the most basic controllers right throughout the lifespan of the console.
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Zack and Miri make a videogame (Score:3, Funny)
A re-imagining? With all male cast?
PS2 and PSP (Score:1)
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Re:No combat in the game - point and click? (Score:5, Interesting)
Siren: Blood Curse on the PS3 has sections where the player controls characters who are completely unable to fight back. In many ways, Siren has taken over the mantle of the best traditional survival-horror series around, since Resident Evil became an action game and Silent Hill started to self-destruct with its fourth installment. What's interesting about the Siren games is that you control multiple characters for various sections of the game. Some are physically fit adults, who may even have experience with weapons, while others have disabilities, or are pre-teens, rendering them far more vulnerable to foes and entirely reliant upon either avoiding detection, or running away if spotted.
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As for a new Silent Hill well I liked the original game on the PS1 and some of the other PS2 releases but once you start to get lots of versions the franchi
Centralia Pennsylvania (Score:4, Informative)
I never played silent hill, but liked the imagery, and heard from someone it was based on a small town that had an underground coal mine catch fire.
I did some research and found out such a place really existed. Ever since then, Centrailia Pennsylvania has fueled many of my role playing game settings. Appaerently it caught fire many years ago, and has been burning ever since.
Wow.
Re:Centralia Pennsylvania (Score:4, Informative)
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To be fair, though, the movie was one of the least bad game adaptations I've seen. It was a solid 4/10, maybe even a 5/10. That puts it miles ahead of most other adaptations. It even had a couple of genuinely creepy sequences. Sure, it doesn't really fit with the canon established in the games all that well, but there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.
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Oooh good times.
Not too surprising, (Score:2)
given that the entire series has been a "retelling" of the movie Jacob's Ladder.
Not that I'm knocking it. Personally I'm glad that they are at least trying to get the series back on track. It has certainly needed it.
No and no. (Score:3, Informative)
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You might be interested to note that Silent Hill 4 wasn't actually even developed as a Silent Hill game, but rather as a stand-alone title just called "The Room". The decision to stick a Silent Hill label on it, while sticking in a few references to the other games in the series, was made very, very late in the development process. And oh boy does it show.
The end-result was a "lose-lose". The reputation of the Silent Hill brand was damaged quite seriously, while the fact that people came to the game itself
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That's why I play video games...so I can pretend to be weak and helpless! In real life I'm a Formula 1 race car driver who moonlights as a secret agent.
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In horror, atmosphere and a feeling of helplessness is pretty important. Although I'm sure you've never felt fear in your life, Mr. Bond.