Dev Box Interview: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories’ Producer Tomm Hulett

It usually takes a small army to create the video games that we play, and, most of the time, all of the focus gets put on the game itself, and not on the people that came together to make it. Our Dev Box interview series takes a look at some of the unsung heroes (developers, producers, artists, etc) that have committed their lives to entertaining all of us. In this week’s Dev Box we are letting Konami’s Producer Tomm Hulett, who recently looked on “Silent Hill: Shattered Memories” provide us some insight into who he is as a gamer, and how he ended up working in the game’s industry.

Name: Tomm Hulett
Title: Producer
Company: Konami
Job Description: Creating new game concepts, finding and hiring appropriate developers, directing the game’s development and ensuring a quality product
First title worked on: for Konami, “Coded Arms: Contagion.” First title ever, “Global Gladiators” (Virgin)
Most recent title worked on: “Rocket Knight” (XBLA, PSN, Steam)

What game has most influenced you, and why? [Continue Reading]

5 Videogame Movies That Got Something Right!: #1 – Silent Hill

It’s no surprise that movies based off of video games tend to suck pretty hard. However, through all the convoluted and unfaithful adaptations, there were a few films that have managed to do something right. I don’t mean that the films were great by any means, but that they managed to accurately replicate an aspect of the game in one form or another pretty well. It could be anything from the costume design to the mannerisms of the characters, and we’ll be taking a look at a few films that have done a good job in visually translating its source material to the silver screen. Be sure to check in everyday as we count down to the number one movie to see who made the top of our list!

Rounding out our list at number one is my personal favorite video game movie Silent Hill. Now I will admit I am a huge fan of the series, and so my view might be a bit biased. With that out of the way, I’ve chosen Silent Hill as the king of the hill (no pun intended), because I felt the filmmakers did such a great job in bringing the creatures and atmosphere of SIlent Hill to life. From the scene in the video below, you’ll see one of the first encounters with the creatures of Silent Hill; one that was inspired from the same scenario in “Silent Hill 2.” When I saw it for the first time in theaters, I couldn’t help but get goose-bumps from how well they mimicked the game. The rest of the movie would follow suit, and recreate famous scenes made memorable from the franchise. Silent Hill did decent enough at the box office to spawn a forthcoming sequel (which I am very happy about). It may not have been a great film, but by video game movie standards I think it’s one of the best along side Mortal Kombat! [Continue Reading]

Stay Out of the Forest – New Alan Wake Details

2005 seems like forever ago, and, in gamer years, it is. But 2005 is when Remedy debuted its psycho-survival, horror game “Alan Wake.” Since its E3 introduction the game had fallen off the map, suffering numerous delays and risked the possibility of transcending into the realm of vaporware. But “Wake” finally decided to show up for this year’s E3, and left a lasting impressions on the minds of many with an onstage demo at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. Despite that impressive demo, many questions remain, and Matt Leone over at 1up decided to get some answers from Remedy’s managing director, Matias Myllyrinne, and head of franchise development, Oskari Häkkinen. [Continue Reading]

Listen To The Music Of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

I couldn’t be more excited for this upcoming “retelling” of the first “Silent Hill” game.This new addition to the franchise promises a much needed reboot to the series which has fallen by the way side as of late (”Silent Hill : Homecoming,” I’m looking at you). So I was more than happy to hear series vet Akira Yamaoka return to scoring the game. And now that I have heard some tracks from the upcoming game, I have to say it does not disappoint. Check out a few of the tracks (which have a low chillout tempo) below and get excited again and what looks to be a return to form for the series! [Continue Reading]

Welcome back to Silent Hill

It’s been real quiet on the Silent Hill front as of late. Well this september gamers will get to take the trip back to that freaky as all hell town in the upcoming game Silent Hill: Homecoming, dropping on the x360 and ps3. In this version players will take the role of a 22 year old war veteran named Alex Shepherd returning home to find his lost brother. As you can see from some of the pics, you can expect the same foggy, creepy, dirty ,rusty settings and themes. Now although it looks cool im starting to wonder if it’s falling in the “samey syndrome”. This is technically the 6th game in the series (counting the psp version) and it all of it looks just like the last version played. And I know it takes place in the same town but how many times can one explore Silent Hill? They say this version is a reboot of the franchise but it seems more like another sequel, you wanna see a reboot of a series i suggest playing Resident evil 0,1-3 and then play 4…that’s a reboot folks! I’ll def’ play this version and will hopefully be surprised at what’s instore, but from what i’ve seen so far it looks like another creepy regular trip to good ol’ Silent hill. Below you can peep some new videos from gamesradar.com
Unit out…