Konami Press Conference
The show continued with Silent Hill: Homecoming, the latest in an interesting trend of high-profile Japanese game series being shipped off to Western developers. Developed by Double Helix games, the latest in the series (no longer being called Silent Hill 5) will still be recognizable to fans, but has a distinctly American flavor. Characters appear to have a very different art style, but the levels sport the same gritty, grainy, foggy look they always have.
Double Helix is attempting to stay fairly true to the classic Silent Hill gameplay, but they've moved to a more modern dual-analog control layout, like Gears of War, or indeed most third-person shooters. That doesn't mean this is an action game though, as the emphasis in the demonstration still seemed to be on exploration. Story sequences are more interactive now as well, with branching dialog trees that allow players to choose their responses.
Rock Revolution closed the show with much pomp and circumstance but little actual discussion. This is probably because, as we learned later, the vision for this would-be Rock Band competitor has been scaled back. Much murmuring rippled through the audience as Konami's representative sauntered up to the microphone with a Guitar Hero controller. As it turns out, the game that once claimed it would have "the most realistic instruments ever" is now using their competitor's controllers. None of this was mentioned, however, and they brought on the all-girl Ramones cover band Sheena to play Blitzkrieg Bop.
Of course, this was to be followed up with a Rock Revolution version of the song. Unfortunately, the demonstration didn't go as planned, as the demonstrator stumbled through the level, unable to get her combo up to two. When the level was over with a 63% rating and the word "FAIL" plastered across the screen, the red-faced Konami employee simply dismissed the crowd.
By
Travis Fahs
CCC
Game Journalist
The Daily Poll