Wii Owners, No Silent Hill For You!
By Steve on Saturday, October 20th, 2007 at 10:43 PM PST In Games
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
I agree with them…………BUT they may not want the ManHunt 2 fiasco
Manhunt fiasco happened to both the Wii AND the PS2. AO rated content won’t go out on any console, be it Sony, Nintendo or (maybe) Microsoft.
Haven’t played a Silent Hill game, not sure if it’s the game for me. I really didn’t like RE until RE4 (which is probably close to 800,000 copies sold for the Wii version). So I dunno if I care about this for PS3, 360 or Wii.
“AY: No plans. The Wii user isn’t a hardcore user.”
and never will be if developers never take the wii seriously and bring ‘hardcore’ titles to the system.
“AY: No plans. The Wii user isn’t a hardcore user.”
Yeah, I’m sure Twilight Princess was a walk in the park. Metroid Prime 3 sure was too. And I’m sure Manhunt 2 will be a happy little casual affair as well. No More Heroes, Smash Bros. Brawl, Fire Emblem, Soulcalibur Legends, Sadness, Guilty Gear, Fatal Frame etc. etc. I’m sure that all of them are just casual games since they’re on the Wii. Makes perfect sense.
@(blank):
You realize there are more games on Wii aimed at the traditional demographic then there are casual titles, right? Or are you just that stupid?
Its absolutely amazing,to the point of being ludicrous,the perception game developer and publishers have about who is buying the Wii . This perception is further exaggerated by the popular media .
“AY: No plans. The Wii user isn’t a hardcore user.”
The Wii user isn’t a what ?? Crikey mate am I the only Wii hard core gamer . Of course not!!!!!
The real question is, what percentage of Wii console sales need to be sold to hardcore Wii owners in order to match that of X360 and Ps3 sales at the same point? Does that make any sense?
Just speculating , but I would think that the Wii has a hardcore install base every bit as large as its rivals , if not larger .
That could be the real story for Gaming Today to hunt down .
Konami is full of shit.
Not hardcore?
Then what’s the meanin of hardcore!?!?!?
I play my Wii constantly…and I only own 2 games(excluding wii sports[I have many reservations])!!!
(blank) is right…if Developers don’t make “hardcore” games then the Wii never will be…Silent Hill…would fit perfectly on the Wii…
I think we should start a petition.
These blokes never played Resident Evil 4 for the Wii?
Clearly they are worried about not being able to squeeze the standard Capcom has squeezed out for the Wii and meet it?
They must have also seen Capcom’s Monster Hunter 3 - graphically also an impressive game for the Wii. Skeptics of the Wii’s ability to perform for that game were converted in a fashion, at a presentation event.
Apparently Capcom and Square have scared this small fry skeptical developer into cowardice, into running away from the challange.
i mostly agree with what he said, of course there is hardcore gamers who own the wii, but i believe that the majority of wii owners is not hardcore
NOT Hardcore?!
who do they think they are to judge the wii!?
I’m a more hardcore gamer than anyone on here!
I own a good pc, so I dont want an xbox or ps3 the only thing worth getting is a wii
Just cause I play wii, dont assume that I am a casual gamer!
Also, I use a Wii-mote on my pc.
WN: What do you think of the WIi vs. PS3 right now — do you think that PS3 will start doing better because of its users being more hardcore?
AY: Hmm. If Sony makes it easier for creators to create games for PS3, I think it will pick up. It depends on Sony’s programming tools.
WN: A lot of developers say that it’s too expensive unless they’re doing multiplatform. Do you see Silent Hill being multiplatform from here on out?
AY: Yes. It’s more challenging, but if we can do it, we’re going to.
WN: How important is the foreign market right now to the Silent Hill series?
AY: Overseas players are about 80% of our sales. It’s a lot more popular outside Japan.
WN: With that in mind, do you think that the 360 version of Silent Hill 5 will be the most popular?
AY: Yes, I believe so.
No such thing as a hardcore console, it’s the games what decide the audience of a console, if developers pull their fingers out their rears and make some games for the ‘hardcore’ user, then the wii users will be ‘hardcore’ ones.
Sounds to me like Konami suffers from a case of the sour grapes.
Think people…. Konami’s favorite game company for the past decade, Sony, is no longer at the top of the heap. Their PS3 console is far behind the Wii in terms of sales and installed user base. And on top of that, Konami invested millions in order to be able to work on the PS3.
So guess what? Konami is obviously going to be pissed about the success of the Wii. They’re going to insult the potential costumers they could have if only they had the imagination and creativity. It’s so easy to keep selling the same manure (blood, gore infested games) using the same old gameplay mechanics. They do as EA with the Madden series and it’s so safe to produce the same old stuff for the same old crowd. So that’s why they feel they can insult casual gamers.
Good thing casual gamers don’t know about Konami or any of their “hardcore” franchises… Konami doesn’t need any of their money… right?… right?
Wii is marketed to kids, it’s cartoonish. No SH for Wii. Buy a fucking PS3 X360 and fucking get over it.
silent hill will never be a wii game. even twilight princess had a hint of casual and that was a game cube port
Given the way Silent Hill V looks, I say it’s a mixed blessing.
@ Stevo
The Wii isn’t marketed to just kids, it’s marketed to non-gamers. Old people, girls, jocks, the like. And they still want to appeal to the gamer market.
Stevo, buy a fucking clue and get over it.
I don’t know why the wii seems to be considered “not hard core enough”, it’s not like it is made only for playing little kid games. I was hoping that they might come out with a silent hill game for the wii, I haven’t had the opportunity to play one of the games yet since I don’t have any of the systems that support them, but I like the idea of the games. Maybe somebody could recommend a good horror or thrilling sort of game for the wii? I am still researching.
Who cares about Silent Hill. The Wii got Resident Evil 4 and 5 is going 2 come on the i think
What the FUCK is that guys problem if you ask me hes got a big dick up his asshole and he should pop it out and fucking just make silent hill 5 for the wii come on just think about it that would be pretty cool to use the aimer as a fucking flashlight even if the graphics arent as good as the ps3 or xbox 360 i bet you it could top the intensity of even the “great” xbox 360 come on ask yourself if you have played resident evil 4 wii edition dont you think it was fucking kick ass i own it and i love it but dont get yourselfs wrong mario games and zelda games are still the the best and classics and you cant beat them but if people made more intense and bloody games for wii i would purchase and play those things all the time enough said in these sentances right here
stevo im a hard core gamer i think the wii is the best i also say that konami is the bigest moron ever for not puting silent hill on the wii its so stupid i mean come on it has so much potention im saying that it could be a flashlight then when you wield it the weapon oh and konami f you
i think they should make silent hill for the wii they r stupied if they dont alot of us prefre the wii and i think it would be awsome to play silent hill on the wii. i think konami should kiss a
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Coming this Fall for Wii.
Looks like you got it wrong, Spanky.
SHATTERED MEMORIES, WHAT NOW?!?