Konami’s website has apparently just put up the box art for the upcoming PSP title, Silent Hill: Origins. They still list the name as a “working title” though, so for all we know this could be changed later. Some people have already gotten a chance to play some of the game, via a demo that was leaked online last month. Already, it’s looking to be just the thing to give PSP owners a severe case of the willies.

Via Konami.com

Games Radar has a cool little feature up right now, called “101 Things You Didn’t Know About Games.” It’s basically a long list of trivia that relates to the gaming industry, but there are a few little factoids that are pretty interesting. Most of them deal with explanations of obscure references developers inserted in their games, like the fact that the titular “Pikmin” were named after Shigeru Miyamoto’s dog. Others relate to some odd events, like how the main voice actor for Silent Hill 2 ended up being cast while taking his daughter to another audition. My personal favorite is the revelation that Raz, the protagonist of Psychonauts (shown right), was originally going to be an ostrich. Hmm, guess they kept the legs. There’s really something interesting for everyone there.

Via Games Radar

How does one go about getting a job in the video game industry? It’s all about persistence, apparently. Well, that and patience, it looks like.

Jeremy Lee is a producer of sorts for the upcoming Silent Hill 5, and his resume might look something like this: reviewer, tester, production assistant, producer. Of course, production assistant could be just about anything. After making himself marketable, he said it took him nearly a year to nail a few key interviews for a solid position.

“I got that job from calling every developer I could find,” he said in a recent Detroit Free Press article. “It took me 9 to 10 months to get an interview with a couple of places.”

And a word of advice to all the novice job-seekers out there is to be passionate about what you work with.

“Just being passionate about games is the first important ingredient that you must have,” he said. “The vast majority of people could make more money writing accounting software.”

Ah, yes, I suppose not making money for a very long time is something to keep in mind. But it looks like what worked for him is if the job description had video games in it, he went for it.

via Detroit Free Press

A couple days ago, a demo for the upcoming PSP game, “Silent Hill Origins,” began to appear on various torrent sites for download. It has been confirmed by developer, Climax, to be legitimate, but Karl Jeffrey, CEO and founder of Climax, swears it wasn’t leaked by his company:

“All I can say is that code did not leak from Climax – 100 per cent guaranteed. The code that is out there is fingerprinted and was supplied solely to Konami for marketing purposes…At Climax we have strong and proven security procedures that protect all of our code, assets and builds. We have developed over 100 titles in 20 years in business and have never had a leak or theft from inside the company.”

The video above appeared online shortly after the demo. It’s pretty grainy and the sound is a little distorted, but rest assured, when the picture gets really choppy and the sound starts going nuts near the end, that’s when freaky stuff be happening.

Via GamesIndustry.biz

I started out playing arcade games at my local grocery store. My mother would shop while I fed quarters into Asteriods, Space Invaders, Galaga, Q-Bert, Frogger, Dig Dug, and Tetris. Those were the four games that my local super market would switch back and forth – once a year or so, they would pull Pac-Man out of the back room much to the delight of the kids in my small town. At this point I was hooked, and I would get very impatient waiting for some little dork to get eaten by ghosts so I could play – only to find out that his mother had given him more quarters than mine.

Gradually, I started to get my own games at home. My parents bought me my first hand-held – a 9-volt battery operated Battlestar Galactica from Mattel. Eventually, I acquired an Intellivision, an Atari, and then moved on to Nintendo Country. Today, I own almost every console created, and still play them every once in a while. When my boyfriend and I moved in together, it was under the condition that the Colecovison and Commodore 64 came with him along with his stash of games and Conan novels.

Over the years, people have been shocked that I am into so many hardcore games. I suppose being a woman automatically makes you want to play kinder, more genteel games. This sort of stereotypical thought pattern, thankfully, is beginning to wane in this day and age. It still rears it’s ugly head once in a while, but thanks XBL, and games like WoW – men are finding that women like to frag enemies and go on raids as much as they do. Personally I have never been one to entertain the thought of even playing some silly namby pamby game. The most innocent game I have (besides the Mario collection) is Diddy Kong racing. You can’t get more tame than that – there is not a hint of violence surrounding that game, unless you count the violence that rages inside of me when I play the frustrating game.

More nonsensical ravings and my list after the jump

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Microsoft has just updated the backwards compatibility of the Xbox 360 so that roughly 65 original Xbox games are now playable on the new system. There are now over 300 games for the original that you can play on your 360. Graphics are improved as the games will run in 720p and 1080i with anti-aliasing. And if your friend hasn’t switched to the 360, you’ll still be able to play with them over Xbox live no problem.

Hit the button to see the list via [Major Nelson].

At right: the game you’ve been waiting to play. I know.
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There was much mystery surrounding Konami’s press conference announcement today but as Mark Franklin took the stage there was little hint of what was to come. Initially the company began with the expected – two new DDR titles (Wii and 360) and a next gen entry to the popular Silent Hill series. Interestingly this Silent Hill seems to take a far more active character to the fray in the haunted locale – centering on Alex a former military man who is searching for his brother.

The military character is a break in the series. Silent Hill has always centered on showing the every-person in a dangerous situation reacting to the events in the psychological town. Also it is being developed by Westerners, not Konami in Japan so we’ll have to wait for more information to see how the story develops.

Other titles announced include Hellboy, Contra 4 for DS, Dracula X Chronicles and Silent Hill Origins for PSP,

Hideo Kojima took the stage moments after the general announcements and the crowd exploded. Then the same trailer shown at the Sony event earlier today for MGS4 rolled. Yes, it is the last Kojima MGS game. Yes, it is delayed. Yes, it is still PS3 exclusive at the launch of the title. Oh and Kojima wants the old E3 back, he says this year is all business and boring.

So what was the big mystery? Silent Hill 5. As psyched about this as I might be it doesn’t have as much impact as the build up insinuated.

We all know “Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A” by heart. The “Konami Code” has to be the most famous of all video game cheat codes. My first experience with the code was playing Contra. To be honest with you, there was no way I was beating the game without it. I try to play games as legit as possible, but on occasion we need a little help around the challenge of some games. 1Up.com discovered how the code originally came to be.

“In an interview in issue 14 of Japanese game magazine Dorimaga, Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who programmed the Famicom port of the game … “The arcade version of Gradius is really difficult, right? I never played it that much, and there was no way I could finish the game, so I inserted the so-called Konami code (laughs).”

1Up took the time to assemble a list of all games using the famous Konami code. The strange thing is that some of these titles aren’t even Konami releases. I knew the code worked for many games, but was actually not aware that the list was that long.

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Ok, let’s all say it together: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. The game that embedded that code into our brains is making a comeback. Konami announced today plans to bring it’s beloved side-scrolling shooter to the Nintendo DS.

Contra 4 (working title) for the Nintendo DS will take place two years after the events of Contra III: Alien Wars. The game will make full use of the dual screens by allowing enemies to come at all angles and massive boss battles as well. A new addition will be the use of a grappling hook which will allow players to grab on to parts of the environment in order to move around the level more quickly. Also, you better believe Contra 4 will have 2 player co-op. I mean, no Contra game would officially be considered a Contra game without 2 player co-op.

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PSP Fanboy just posted a new article titled “60 reasons to own a PSP”. I agree with some, and disagree with others they listed. Honestly, the single thing holding back the success of the PSP is the Nintendo DS option. Personally, I prefer the PSP as a system, yet like the DS games more. So far, they have 5 reasons listed. I will keep an eye on the site as they add more.

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