Is this legitimate or just a slip up of some sort? Who knows at this point, with Konami being silent as the grave and refusing to make an official comment either way regarding a PS2 port of Silent Hill Origins. However, this has not stopped Amazon or Gamefly from listing it on their websites with a posted release date of March.

Granted, the boxart pulled from either site looks legitimate enough, but until official word comes spewing forth from the mouths of Konami higher-ups – don’t get too excited like I did and knock your drink over onto your keyboard.

Stay tuned folks until we find out if this news is true or not, and until then, like the enigmatic Rev. Jessie Jackson always says “Keep Hope Alive!”

Thanks: Siliconera

Ah, it’s another Zero Punctuation Wednesday, featuring another hilarious review from The Escapist’s Yahtzee Croshaw. This week, Yahtzee takes a trip to the creepiest town in gaming history in Silent Hill Origins. Since there’s about a good 80% or so chance of Yahtzee hating whatever game he’s reviewing, you can guess where a new Silent Hill game would fit in. He finds very little (i.e. nothing) good to say about the franchise’s latest foray into the PSP. Considering the series effectively peaked with number two, it may be time for the series to go through a major overhaul.

Via The Escapist

Last night, I went to a midnight showing for the newest Will Smith movie, I Am Legend. The story, as you may already know, surrounds Robert Neville, the lone survivor of a viral outbreak that turns a large portion of the populace into night-dwelling deadly creatures (essentially zombies). This forces him to spend his nights barricaded in his home, and spend his days searching for supplies and the elusive cure to the virus. To review the film in a word…”awesomeawesomegoseeitrightnow” (plus you can catch the new Dark Knight trailer in non-YouTube form). But as I left the theater, I got to thinking about one thing: man, that would make for an awesome game.

These days, the few zombie-based games out there have more to do with heavy action. Dead Rising, the upcoming Left 4 Dead, and even Resident Evil 4 have their scares, but most of the gameplay revolves around shooting every zombie in your path. I Am Legend could put the “survival” back into “survival horror,” since that is what a good portion of the movie focuses on. Read the full article

Kotaku discovered a very interesting papercraft project based on Silent Hill. This time, the project is basically a “blacky 3D paper fun model tribute to the foggy fog game, the second one, the one with the pillow”, according to the artist. This model looks extremely interesting and would be a great way for any gamer to spend a few minutes off the consoles and doing something constructive. Papercraft has always been around, but has really been hitting the video game scene only recently. Check out the original article with links to the project by clicking on the ‘Via” below.

Via Kotaku

All right World of Warcraft players, your wait is over. Blizzard has released the 2.3 patch for WoW, and it’s loaded with changes.

Not only does it introduce a brand new 10-man raid instance named Zul’Aman (it’s over in the Ghostlands), it loads in a ton of changes to classes as well. This patch also brings with it the start of WoW’s PvP Arena Season 3, which is reportedly scheduled to begin on November 20.

As usual, this patch is available in a ton of region specific flavors. You can grab the US version from the links below. The remainder of the regional patches will be released during the regularly scheduled maintenance periods for those regions. Check out FileFront’s version 2.3 patch page for other regional versions as they become available.

You can check out the patch notes for this release after the break, just prepare for some serious reading.

US Version

US Full Version
US Incremental Version

Read the full article

Christopher Gans left behind the Silent Hill movie, but not the world of videogame movies, as he’s going to be working on the Onimusha film. He made the connection with Capcom by working on the Silent Hill movie, and now according to ComingSoon.net, work on Onimusha will begin in April 2008. The site has also got their hands on a plot synopsis for the movie, which you might not want to read if you want to go into the movie fresh.

In feudal Japan, 1582, the warlord Nobunaga is ambushed by ninjas, led by the brave samurai Samanosuke. Trapped, Nobunaga commits seppuku, but two sinister sorcerers reanimate Nobunaga’s corpse with a half-human insect larvae. The resurrected Nobunaga orders the capture of two very special women to fulfill his evil plans.

When Britta, the daughter of a Dutch merchant, is abducted on board a ship by seemingly invincible warriors, her tutor and confidant Jacob pursues her captors, vowing to rescue her at all costs. Meanwhile, the beautiful Princess Yuki is also kidnapped, this time by ninjas that reveal themselves, incredibly, to be part spider. In search of Yuki, Samanosuke joins forces with Jacob to vanquish their common foe. In the Cave of Elders, he receives a magical sword that will slay all within its reach-friend or foe-and learns of a sinister ceremony at Inabayama Castle intended to blot out the sun.

Performing a dangerous, stealthy invasion of the castle, Samanosuke and Jacob find the women they love dressed as Moon Princess and Daughter of the Sun, ready to be wed to and ravished by Nobunaga. Aided by their allies, the two warriors attack the insectoid hordes, but Samanosuke falls in battle, seemingly dead. In a mystical encounter, he is given the option to survive and fight-but it comes at a terrible cost…

via 1UP

Halloween is here, and what better way to celebrate than by paying homage to some of the most notorious ghouls and monsters to grace our PCs and consoles? Without such cannon fodder as spiders, vampires and zombies we would be condemned to just shooting our fellow man, which although fun, would get old after a while. In compiling this list, I came across some notables worthy of an honorable mention, but who have yet to become mainstream enough to cross over into different genres, and instead continue to be pigeon holed within their niche. While this list is in no way a complete list of video game baddies, it is instead a list of some of the most common miscreants to get within our pistol sites or in the vicinity of our broadsword.

These distractions on our way to victory in our gaming universe are also not listed in order of importance or occurrence rate – because face it – one is just as annoying and evil as the other. Unfortunately, these monsters never get the glory that their bosses do, because they are nothing more than expendable minions set upon our paths to deplete our life force so that the main antagonist may continue with more important matters – World Domination. In truth, they become nothing more than something for you to enjoy chopping to bits or a vessel for extra health, magic, or cash, the poor, misguided fools. So without further ado, let me introduce you to the stars of this post.

Read the full article

There have been rumors floating around the net that Valve’s most addictive component to Orange Box, Portal, will be coming to the Nintendo Wii console. Anxious gamers or tell-tale rumors? CVG took liberty to get to the bottom of this by firing off the question to Valve’s very own Doug Lombari. Here’s what Doug had to say regarding the matter:

“It’s an extremely interesting idea, but there’s nothing in product – not yet, anyway.”

So there you have it. The hearts of many Wii owners crushed by a single blow of the crowbar. Doesn’t seem like the Wii has been getting much love lately.

An interesting note to make here is that Portal -may- still be possible. So even a small glint of hope is hope, nonetheless.

It really would be a shame to not consider getting Portal on the Wii. While Orange Box would be a bit ambitious, Portal as a standalone product for Wii would seem reasonable. Sure it would get the Wii graphical dumb-down, but that’s not what Portal is all about. Portal on Wii would seem a perfect match: simple controls, sleek design, and addictive gameplay. Here’s hoping that Valve give it a second thought.

Via CVG

In a recent interview with long time Silent Hill Sound Designer, Akira Yamaoka, Wired News found opportunity to discuss with the master how he comes up with those spine-tingling sounds we have all come to loathe and love. Mr. Yamaoka sheds light on the history of his design process with the SH series, how the tools of the trade have changed, and more recently, how he pulls-off working with a UK-based development group almost half way around the world (apparently lots of emails). Yamaoka gives explanation why Silent Hill made it onto the PSP, as well as his confirmation that he will be working on Silent Hill 5 for “next-gen” consoles. Yamaoka also states why the 360 will be the most viable platform for Silent Hill, and, more interestingly, how 80% of Silent Hill sales are outside of Japan. The most interesting part of the interview was when the topic of Silent Hill for the Nintendo Wii was brought up. Here’s what went down:

WN: What is the future of the Silent Hill series?
AY: We’re making Silent Hill 5 for next-gen consoles. Are there any other platforms besides that? [laughter]
WN: There’s the Wii.
AY: Ah, the Wii. Wiiiiiiiiii… Silent Hill Wii. Can we do it? Will players like it?
WN: Yeah! There’s a lot of potential there, using the remote as a flashlight, or a knife…
AY: Yeah, there’s potential.
WN: But no plans.
AY: No plans. The Wii user isn’t a hardcore user.

So there you have it. Konami thinks the Wii is too “kiddie” for Silent Hill. Ahh well… that’s their loss, right?

Via Wired.com

There’s a new gameplay footage video up for Silent Hill V courtesy of GameTrailers.com. as a consummate fan of the series I’ve been watching this one since its announcement. The video is short but the classic sight and sounds of Silent Hill are unmistakable. The video is age gated to keep the children of U.S. from having nightmare. Check it out on ThreeSpeech.