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Silent Hill: Downpour studio Vatra Games 'under review' for closure, 'no decisions have yet been made'
Silent Hill: Downpour's Czech Republic-based developer Vatra Games is "under review," according to a statement from UK-based parent company Kuju Entertainment. The statement comes after a damning tweet from former 2K Czech employee David Semik stated, "Vatra Games RIP," though Kuju contends that "at this stage, no decisions have yet been made."Vatra is said to be working on a non-Silent Hill game following this year's Downpour. Eurogamer Czech was told the project is akin to Darksiders or God of War-style action games. It's unclear if that project will continue, or how long Vatra has before hearing of its fate. Downpour received mixed reactions from critics. The studio's only other game thus far has been Rush 'n Attack: Ex-Patriot. It was formed by several ex-2K Czech employees in 2009.
Silent Hill HD Collection, Downpour and Book of Memories all coming in March
You know what they say about March: In like a lion, out like a twitchy, messed up sex monster. That is to say that Konami has revealed that Silent Hill HD Collection, Silent Hill: Downpour and Silent Hill: Book of Memories will all be released this March. Breaking it all down, HD Collection will be released on March 6, Downpour on March 13 and the Vita exclusive Book of Memories on March 27. Then again, maybe a March release makes sense, what with the madness and all. Check out some new screens of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 iteration, Silent Hill: Downpour, in the gallery below.%Gallery-144415%
Silent Hill: Downpour Design Director leaves Vatra Games
Brian Gomez, design director for Vatra Games' upcoming Silent Hill: Downpour, has left the company in order to pursue other opportunities a little closer to home. "When it was announced that Downpour was being delayed to 2012, my family and I came to the decision that I couldn't keep making the commute between Los Angeles and Brno for another 4 to 6 months," Gomez said in a letter to the Silent Hill Historical Society. Gomez reassured the Silent Hill hopeful that his absence will have no adverse effect on Downpour's development, as it is nearly completed. Gomez also implied creative differences between his vision and Konami's, although he did not cite them as a reason for his departure: "There's a lot of things I still want to do in this genre that Konami simply didn't let me do." Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, is a solid 6,049.2 miles away from Los Angeles, which is a fairly substantial commute for any family man. Silent Hill: Downpour is still slated for a 2012 release, come rain or shine.
2012 goes Silent Hill crazy with Book of Memories, HD Collection, and Downpour launching in Q1
Originally slated for Fall 2011, Silent Hill HD Collection is now heading to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on January 24, 2012. Konami is also putting Silent Hill's first PlayStation Vita outing, Book of Memories, in the handheld's launch window of February 2012 (Vita itself hits retailers on February 22). Rounding out the survival-horror trio of launches, Silent Hill Downpour falls to retail sometime in March. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game was pushed back to the murky "Q1 2012" earlier this month, but it seems that Konami has cleared things up. Here's hoping you're ready for a surprisingly macabre beginning to 2012!
Silent Hill: Downpour 'not missing out' without Yamaoka, says Vatra dev
Vatra Games design director Brian Gomez doesn't feel that his studio's upcoming survival-horror title, Silent Hill: Downpour, is being too adversely affected by the absence of longtime series composer Akira Yamaoka. "I was worried when we lost him, we lost him really early on in Downpour. But I was a big fan of Dexter already, so I'm happy we got Daniel Licht," Gomez told me this morning after a GDC Europe panel on the SH franchise. "It was the closest to Akira but also brought something new to it," he added. Back in 2009, Downpour producer (at Konami) Tomm Hulett told us, "If Akira's music isn't there, it just doesn't sound quite right. And I'm sure that there are people out there who could emulate the sound and try to get it close, but there would be something missing." But time heals all wounds, and Gomez thinks the game will still fall in line with the franchise's established standard of audio. "As much as I would've loved the honor of working with Akira, I don't feel that we're missing out by not having him." That said, it's clear that Gomez wants Yamaoka back at Konami, and back on the Silent Hill franchise. Speaking to the ongoing friction between Yamaoka and his formeremployer, Gomez added, "I think this whole feud between he and Konami is just fucking stupid. Everyone needs to calm down, and bring him back in, and do something." Gomez had yet to play Yamaoka's latest work, the critically acclaimed (but commercially ignored) Shadows of the Damned from Grasshopper Manufacture and EA. "I've just been too busy with Downpour, unfortunately."
Silent Hill: Downpour preview: Shattered Homecoming
Noisy trade show floors are notoriously bad places to preview survival horror games. You can try to preserve crucial atmosphere with headphones, but even then it's hard not to be at least a little distracted. As such, it's hard for me to compare the overall feel of Silent Hill: Downpour to that of its moody brethren, but I can at least offer a technical rundown.%Gallery-126003%
New Silent Hill in the hands of Vatra Games
1UP reports that the recently revealed "next Silent Hill" game will not, in fact, be developed by Climax, which is fresh from the totally awesome Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Instead, the lead has been taken by Vatra Games, a Czech studio whose only other credit is retro relaunch Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot, also announced on Friday. It's not that we think Vatra will do a bad job -- we frankly have no clue what they'll do. But we were so looking forward to seeing where Climax took the franchise after Shattered Memories that it's hard to not be a little deflated and, perhaps, even ... shattered by its absence. On a slightly more informative note, Vatra's official page says it's working on two games for PS3, 360 and PC, so that likely gives an indication of the platforms on which the new Silent Hill will appear.
