PS3 Fanboy

While Playzone doesn't give us any real new information about Konami's popular survival horror title, I'm sure some of you will be pleased just to see more scantily clad nurses.

When you're finished drooling over these new screens, be sure to cast your vote for Silent Hill 5 in this week's Poll Police!

It's been a long time coming, folks, but change your pants and cover your mouth, because you might just get a little too excited at seeing the first in what we assume will be many tidbits of gameplay from Konami's upcoming Silent Hill 5. While it's being handled by an American development team instead of the usual Team Silent, these guys seem to have caught the mood pretty well. Despite that, the transition from the real world to the ... um ... really weird and twisted world looks a little bit too similar to the film adaptation. It's a great way to do it, sure, but can you guys think of anything else that may be even cooler? Two more videos await you after the jump, so get watchin'!

The latest issue of EGM details the return of this fan-favorite horror title. Since Silent Hill 5 involves a military veteran recovering from his wounds at a hospital, it's clear this game shares a lot more with the franchise's inspiration film, Jacob's Ladder. The grain filter will make its return in this entry to the series, which a lot of fans are very happy about. However, that's not the interesting part.

The Havok engine is being used for real-time physics within most environments. Bumping into chairs, desks, weak floor boards, with produce noises that alert enemies to your presence. We're sure domino effects are likely too: knocking a chair into a table could knock a lamp down and break it (where there is, of course, a hidden key). Much like the film, Silent Hill 5 is going to employ real-time world deterioration. The transition between the normal world and the world of ... well, the messed-up world, will be visible in real-time and you can move the camera to check it out in great detail. That's some exciting stuff.

A final note is on the revival of boss battles. Bosses have been fairly tame in the Silent Hill games outside of the first and third, which featured large, monstrous bosses. The Collective, the game's developers, want to bring epic boss battles back into the game, relating the experiences to Zelda-like encounters. We're interested to see how that works. We'll keep you up to date as more info gets released.

Finally, it looks like Silent Hill 5 is bursting forth from the loins of Konami and scaring the bejeezus out of people. No, we don't have any screenshots and yes, we made all of that up, but we do have an interview with one of the creative minds behind the game. Masashi Tsuboyama, chief director, answers some questions in the latest Electric Shock magazine. Here are the points of interest:

• Konami and the team behind Silent Hill have looked at the current consoles and concluded they all have limitations that hamper their ideas for the game and delay progress. Except the PlayStation 3.
• No multiplatform plans as of yet. But the sales of PS3 are slow so they may have to reconsider later on down the road if things appear dismal. Which of course means delayed progress and not taking advantage of the PS3's power.
• Tsuboyama claims Blu-ray will be a very necessary asset in their development of the game.
• The PS3, he says, is tough to work with, but when they get used to it, the processing power will be far beyond the other consoles.

Keep an eye out at E3, as Tsuboyama seemed to clam up about the game when asked if anything would be shown. Perhaps he's being a tease, but we'd like to believe that the rumors regarding the game's progress are true. The game isn't a system seller, so we expect either a timed exclusive or simultaneous multiplatform release with the 360 -- with the game smartly built originally on the PS3. Keep your fingers crossed, and keep those mannequins out of dimly lit apartment buildings!
[via PS3 Forums]

When a similar headline caught our eyes, we jumped for joy and read on. Hopefully you will do the same! The rumor is this: a completely below-the-radar simultaneous PS3 and Xbox 360 release of Silent Hill 5 is due before the end of this year. Yeah, there's a lot of time left in this year, but we've heard next to nothing about this game. It's a big deal, so we're pretty surprised.

The rumor stems from the latest issue of US magazine EGM -- but the anticipated release isn't the only thing speculated. The game, said by Akira Yamaoka to resemble the play found in Silent Hill 2, is rumored to be under the care of Konami U.S. instead of their Japanese studio. We don't mind if a different studio is in charge of the game -- so long as we get a quality freak-out fest, we're satisfied to see Silent Hill on the next generation of consoles. In fact, we demand it now. We'll keep our eyes peeled for confirmation of this rumor.

Not sure how well this one will pan out, but let's go ahead and give Konami the benefit of the doubt. We've talked before about how Silent Hill 5 is going to return to the psychological fear produced by the second game in the series, but this whole "unique idea for fear in daylight" is a bit tough to picture. Who worries about monsters under the bed when the lights are on? As far as any other production news, the soundtrack is going to be the same creepy minimalist stuff with lots of white noise... and machine noise. Noise, creepy noise.

Well, what do you guys think? Is Silent Hill 5 going to break new grounds, as far as the placement of fear goes? Or will they end up making one of those "it's a horror movie but everyone's laughing" games? It is hard to imagine a true "horror" game where there isn't an aggravatingly thick fog or a flashlight... or night. It's not impossible, though. We'll just wait and see what comes of this game, but we at least know it'll probably come to the PS3 and possibly the 360.

Oh, and just so you know, the symbolism in this mannequin from Silent Hill 2 is part of the psychological aspect I, personally, would love to see again. The twin-legged mannequin represents the main character's lust -- he doesn't see anyone's face, just... well, you get the idea. Where did I read that analysis? Whatever. It was awesome.