Topic: Silent Hill HD "Collection"

[Inccubus]

Konami explained that the reason Silent Hill 4 was excluded from the Silent Hill HD Collection for PS3 and Xbox 360, was because of fans reactions, Konami just wanted to include the most popular parts of the series in the collection.

Smells like bullshit to me.

Then there's this:
Silent Hill HD Remake: R.I.P. SH2/SH3

[Sonic_Reaper]

lol of course it's bullshit.  You seriously think they'd tell the world the real reason?  And also that they never paid the original voice actors royalties they owed?  Not really big news here.  I am guessing the contracts for the new voice actors stipulate that they will only receive a single lump sum payment, and no royalties on release.

[shelverton.]

Hmmm. SH4 wasn't THAT bad. I was actually looking forward to playing it in HD. Bullshit indeed.

[PFG9000]

Wow, now that boneheaded decision to re-record the voices makes sense.  I know people complain about the voice acting in SH2, but I absolutely love James's and Mary's performances.  I'll still get this game...used.

[Munchy]

lol of course it's bullshit.  You seriously think they'd tell the world the real reason?  And also that they never paid the original voice actors royalties they owed?  Not really big news here.  I am guessing the contracts for the new voice actors stipulate that they will only receive a single lump sum payment, and no royalties on release.

Well, video game voice contracts are a little different in that they don't pay by royalties like TV shows or movies. Don't know why that is (probably because a whole ton of game voices are non-union work), but that's just the way it's been. It's probably much more difficult because games don't exactly "air" like shows or movies, but then I suppose a royalty program would be by... copies sold?

My main call for bullshit on this collection is that SH1 and 4 are missing. How is this a collection without those?

[stiny]

Could be much worse....

...could have had Jim Sterling do all the voices:

Improving the Silent Hill HD Collection voice acting

[Inccubus]

LOLZ!

You know what? A spoof audio track would be a great bonus feature.

[Munchy]

LOLZ!

You know what? A spoof audio track would be a great bonus feature.

YES!

I'm honestly not too upset about the voice changes. At least now I might not have to skip every cutscene with Angela, Laura or Eddie in it.

[Inccubus]

You know. Looking at screen shots of these games in hi-def... sucks. They look like shit. I can see every fuckin polygonal angle in precise crisp detail. At least update the models you lazy bastards, jeeze.

[Mooning Freddy]

Wait, wait... They're making an "Original Silent Hill HD collection", and excluding the first and the fourth?
It's only two games? How are two games a "collection" anyway?
I mean, jeez, most of those games don't even NEED an HD remake. Their graphics and sound are fine even without it. The only game that actually NEEDS to be remade in modern standards is Silent Hill 1 (ahem, horrid PS1 graphics and sound, sloppy control, ahem) and they're skipping that game. (probably because it would require too much work?) 

And they're actually CHANGING the voice acting? Why, Konami, why are you doing this to your fans? Milking a dead cow? Hell, if they change Heather's voice acting it would be blasphemy. Heather Morris' voice acting is the best in the series. When the character is afraid, you can hear the fear in her voice, when she is angry, you can feel the rage. The current team is like the bastard son of a king who can't achieve the greatness of his father, so he constantly reminds people of his father's achievements to cover up for his own failure.

[Thy Gory Rory]

Man, I wanted to love this "classic" collection of SH 2 and 3 but it's just not an authentic experience when you take out the original voice actors. A simple charm to some but a deal breaker to most. I find this a humorous slap in the face if they're targeting this to the fans. Konami, ya blew it... I may still buy it but I'll wait till the price drops extremely low or just buy it used so you barely get a cent of profit. If the original voice actors don't get any money, why should you? Yeah, all the details about royalties is a mixed bag of legalities. Not having SH 1 and 4 included is just dooky icing on this crap cake. (Such eloquence, I know.)

People often treat SH4 like a black sheep. I guess I can understand why:
1. It was the first in the series not made by Team Silent.

2. Wasn't originally a Silent Hill game in development but was made to be one because Konami figured it'd be easier to sell part of that existing franchise than to have an entirely new survival horror game on it's own.

3. The game's plot and settings didn't actually take place in Silent Hill for the most part...

Sounds like I'm bagging on the game but I actually love it for what it was. Still had great graphics, weird concepts, creepy atmosphere, good music and freakish creatures you don't usually see in the series. SH4 really had it's own unique personality (probably due in part to the 3 reasons I gave above). ALSO: Haunted wheelchair derby racing!

[ShinAkumaXX]

Well, I'm just glad they are putting this out on 360 after all. I never played them and always wanted to play 2. Luckily I never played them so this voice acting change won't have much of an effect on me. I'm loving all this HD re release stuff. I know some people for some reason complain about it but why? It's basically games you like that will look good on your HDTV. Nothing negative about that. There seem to be so many Silent Hill games now... I remember I got Silent Hill for PS the day it came out. I really like that game. I really don't have much of an answer to why I've never played another... I don't remember many of them getting great reviews may be part of the reason. Anyway, it'll be great to finally play these and in HD. But yeah, it would of been an even snazzier package with 4 added. I'd prefer 1.

[Inccubus]

I know some people for some reason complain about it but why? It's basically games you like that will look good on your HDTV. Nothing negative about that.

There is one negative aspect to that. If you just port the game in a new resolution without upgrading the models they look like crap in HD. And it doesn't look like they're gonna upgrade anything.
People complain because a half-assed attempt to milk a franchise is lazy and shows disrespect to the fans which are more likely to buy a 'collection' like this.

[ShinAkumaXX]

Fair enough, I haven't played them yet but I've read that the Resident Evil recent upgrades are a little bit of a let down graphically while Shadow of the Colossus/Ico HD updates look great. I have to imagine that even if they don't look as good as you would want that they look WAY better than playing the PS2/Gamecube/Wii of RE4 and DC/PS2 version of CV. At least when it comes to playing them on an HDTV.  I can see it being half assed but it's still an upgrade. Heck I wish they would remake the games ala REmake personally, but I don't see that happening. Also... at least Konami is releasing these on actual disc in a nice package. I'm waiting a year to see if they will put the two RE games on disc here in the US. They got it on disc in Japan and Capcom likes to re-release games. So hopefully down the road they will put it out in stores. I prefer to be able to hold stuff I buy if possible. I guess I'd be asking too much to get a version of most Live Arcade games on disc, but for something like this...

[Abnormal Freak]

I love HD ports of older games. No texture upgrading is necessary; give it to me straight so that I may see the visuals without there being a blurry mess. I bought the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 a few years ago despite having beaten the GameCube original so many times because I wanted it in true 16:9. Well, had I known it wasn't re-rendered to true 480p widescreen, I wouldn't have bothered. Just got done playing RE4 on the PS3 for a bit and it looks great, more like what I was wanting with the Wii version (that is, clear definition; the Wii game looks exactly the same as the GCN one does when zoomed in). That's all I really want, just to be able to see the visuals well on an HDTV; I don't care if the models and textures are dated, actually I prefer the games to look just as they did at release.

I'd love to get this Silent Hill collection, but the redone voices seriously turns me off. Particularly since the voices of James and Mary/Maria are so essential to the storytelling and mood in SH2. Remove them and you've removed the heart and soul of the game. That and the new voices are shitsauce. (Apparently Mary Elizabeth McGlynn directs people to give real breathy vocal performances. MORE BREATH AND GRITTY VOICE MAKES FOR INCREASED DRAMA.)

I may yet buy it, used and inexpensively. I'm not supporting Konami on this one. But then, with the new voices, there's really no point; the games look rad on my 480i TV via S-Video anyway.