Fable III has just been released, and while playing through this action RPG, I found a pretty damn creepy scene. Without spoiling too much in this intro, our Hero finds his or herself ashore a mysterious land. He or she and Walter, an old war veteran friend, travel in the only direction available to them; a dark ominous cave. Within this cave lies a very interesting enemy, and his ‘children’. Fable III has earned itself rights in our Suitable Mention In Horror series. Now before we go on, let me warn you guys that there will be spoilers.



After an exciting escape, you and Walter ride off from your destruction on a ship. Little do you suspect, a war ship guns you down, and everyone aboard is cast out at sea. Your hero and Walter awaken on the sandy shores of Aurora; the land to the south of Albion. On Aurora, you meet The Crawler. The Crawler lives in darkness, it IS darkness, and it wants the light of your soul. This whole chapter entitled “Darkness Incarnate”, is a freaky good time. Color and light becomes absorbed by darkness, and the usually bright and vivid color scheme becomes drab and dreary.



The Crawler speaks to you in a dark demonic voice, whispering macabre forms of poetry from all sides at once. I am a sucker for demons whispering in my ears. Call me crazy, but I find it cool. Your hero and Walter work their way through the caves where The Crawler lives, constantly victims to its taunts. Throughout this chapter you have to fight The Crawler’s ‘children’. These shadow creatures aren’t particularly scary, but The Crawler make this scene freaky and memorable.



Liquid Darkness seeps from the crevices of the chamber, and brings a strange but refreshing look to Fable. Even the sanctuary in which you do all of your menu tasks get’s touched by The Crawler’s presence. Poor 'ol Walter even gets touched, and he becomes temporarily blinded. After a scuffle, and an escape, you learn from Auroran citizens that The Crawler is a powerful threat to Aurora and Albion. The Crawler, appearing from nowhere, becomes a central character in Fable III. The Crawler is darkness incarnate, and based on the anticlimactic ending of Fable III, I expect to see him again. The Crawler is the sole reason Fable III makes it into our Suitable Mention series. He, well rather, IT, is one awesome creature. I wouldn’t mind taking some more dark-poetry lessons from The Crawler.


Originally posted on my horror gaming site, HellDescent.com.

This cute and visually pleasing indie game may be about creating (or destroying) vast block worlds, but the single-player has something that brought it to my attention; monsters. While the main appeal of this game is the multiplayer building and exploring, the single-player mode contains some elements that scared me. I bet you’ve never expected to see that many vibrant colors on Hell Descent! Hit the jump for our first entry in the ‘Suitable Mention In Horror’ series.



Minecraft‘s single-player is cute and cuddly during the day, but at night it becomes a terrifying race to hide from monsters. While the creatures aren’t horrifyingly scary, they are extremely resilient and love hunting you down. These monsters strike fear, not because of their simple pixelated appearance, but something more. There are archer skeletons, zombies, spiders and exploding Creepers. These annoying little monsters appear as soon as the sun sets,and the only way to escape is to dig, and dig deep! I found myself fearing dusk. I would run to the nearest mountain and dig into the brown soil blocks closing the entrance behind me. After making a small tunnel system, I stood and waited. The footsteps and hissing could be heard above me. Just one block separated me from the exploding Creeper and moaning zombies.

Minecraft would be the last game I expect to be scary. Its vibrant, colorful palette, and cute, blocky graphic style is far from what you would associate with horror. Perhaps it’s the feeling of vulnerability; something that hasn’t really been present in horror games for awhile. Horror games have left the realm of Survival Horror and into Action Horror. No longer are players afraid to confront enemies. You are given the tools you need, and are set off to destroy the monsters. Minecraft’s single-player has the elements of a classic horror game. You start low on resources to fend for yourself with, and are actually vulnerable to the monsters. Now, Minecraft is no way intended to be a horror game, but I see some of the essential survival horror qualities in it.



Minecraft is an extremely flexible indie-game which has had great success since its burst in popularity a few months back. The singleplayer portion definitely earns a spot in our newly created ‘Suitable Mention In Horror’ series. In fact, there will be a Halloween update to those who purchased the game. This update will arrive on Halloween and include new monsters, a hell world and new lighting mechanics. Minecraft is still in alpha and can be purchased for €9.95 ($14.06).



Originally posted on my horror gaming site, HellDescent.com.

Digging into our Silent Hill fan-site roots, we have contacted one of the most famous Silent Hill icons. We present to you Guy Cihi, the voice of James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2! Mr. Cihi was kind enough to give us a hefty interview on his role in the legendary Silent Hill 2.

For those of you living under a rock, Silent Hill 2 is one of the best horror games of all time. In Silent Hill 2, you follow James Sunderland. James receives a letter from his late wife Mary. How could she be sending letters from the grave? Is she really dead? James asks himself these questions as he makes his way through the foggy town of Silent Hill, headed to his and Mary’s ‘special place’. The town of Silent Hill picked James for his troubled past, and it promptly forces him to face his inner, and outer demons. Yes, casual Silent Hill fans, this is where the REAL Pyramid Head is from. Silent Hill 2 is a story of life, death, and even a bit of rape. And now we get to speak to the man behind the extremely interesting James Sunderland character. We hope you guys enjoy this Halloween treat! Hit the jump for the full interview!

HD : Silent Hill 2 had how I can only describe as “sleepy” vocals. As if the characters were all in a dream like state. Was this part of the role? Were you and the other voice actors instructed to add such a tone to the acting?

GC: The actors were all ‘dialed into’ the story, the setting, and the characters. There was a sense of supernatural strangeness ever present in our minds. I don’t recall specifically being asked to sound ‘sleepy,’ but the directors were always there guiding our performances.

I think it’s important to point out that all of Silent Hill 2 was performed and recorded live on large motion capture stages with all actors present. Unlike most RPGs, when you see two or three SH2 actors on your screen, it means that there were two or three SH2 actors performing live together at the time of recording. That close proximity created tremendous dynamic tension between the actors and allowed us to play off each other’s emotions. The relationships in SH2 wouldn’t have been nearly as intimate had we recorded body movement and dialog at different times. I was told by the director that it was the first time synchronized mo-cap had been done for such a large scale production.

HD: You provided both the voice recordings and performed the actual motion capture for James, correct? Which did you prefer, the voice performance or the motion capture?

GC: I enjoyed it all but, as I say; we performed all of the scenes live on stage in front of multiple cameras, directors, and crew. It was similar to recording scenes for a movie. The main difference being that we weren’t wearing costumes; we were wearing skin tight body suits with nodes attached at key points. Some of the motion cameras were magnetic and others were laser type. Video cameras were always present to capture our facial expressions and allow the editors to synch the sound recordings with the body language. I don’t really think of my work as voice recording because the recording work only took about four days to complete whereas the stage performances took almost four months. For me it was like performing in a strange movie. Several days were spent exclusively for capturing my walking, running, hitting, and dying. I was sore for weeks after those dying days. Every time you let James die and hit the ground, I swear it still hurts me!

HD: Have you been following the Silent Hill series since your work as James? If so, what do you think of the series as of today?

GC: I haven’t been following the series. What I know is only what I have gathered from SH2 bloggers and webmasters who contact me. It seems that the series has grown spotty over the years. I read that a Silent Hill movie was released but I didn’t watch it. The reviews were pretty bad. I read recently that Sony is working on a second SH movie titled Silent Hill 2. Some bloggers have written that it would be good to idea to stick to the original SH2 game theme and characters, but I don’t expect the director and writer will do that. They seem to prefer doing their own thing. You might be able to find a trailer for the new SH2 movie if you Google “Silent Hill 2 Trailer.”

HD: Silent Hill 2 is known for having one of the most deeply twisted stories in gaming history. Did you read the script prior to recording? If so, did they keep the endings secret, making your reactions more real to the experience? Or did they give you a complete synopsis of the game so you could deliver a proper feel?

GC: Was it just luck, or did fate put that deeply twisted script in my hands? Hmm…. No, I did not read the entire script before recording. The directors kept the endings secret. I’m not sure if it was to affect our performances, or because they were still working on it as we progressed. In any case I can tell you that they were quite specific about what they wanted in terms of pathos and torment. Acting James was cathartic. I was recently divorce at that time and still very close to my pain. I was able to deliver tears and sadness on demand. I went through hell with my ex and at times was near suicidal. If it weren’t for my children, I’m not sure I would have made it through. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving them alone with only her to raise them. Forgive me if this is getting too personal. What I mean to say is that if the directors asked me for tears or anguish, all I had to do was dredge up some dark memory and it was right there with me again – the sadness. I’m generally a happy go lucky guy. One of my talents is the ability to forget painful experiences. Performing James reminded me that we never really forget our pain. We just hide it away – if we’re lucky that is.

HD: Do you think video game acting will ever be taken seriously enough to be awarded Oscars?

GC: Definitely! It’s only a matter of time. The gaming industry is already much bigger than the movie industry. I think the next phase of the gaming industry will see an increased emphasis on character and story development. The tech aspects should become increasingly more open and available and hopefully that will usher in a generation of indie games. The problem that I’ve heard over and over in the packaged game industry these days is that the ‘model is broken.’ Games have become too expensive to produce. I remember Hollywood said the same thing about movies and then a slew of indie productions came out and rewrote the book. I expect pretty much the same thing will happen for games.

HD: Which scene was the hardest to play, or the one that needed the most takes?

GC: The hardest scene to play, and the one that had to be redone the most, is a scene that occurs late in one of the alternate endings. It’s the scene where James picks Mary up from her deathbed and then turns and carries her away. I was quietly crying each time I lifted my wife’s lifeless body up from that bed but creating the emotion wasn’t the problem. The problem was that it was taking me too long to get Mary up into my arms and turned around. No matter how many takes we did it, the directors said it was too slow. As I lay in bed one night after shooting, I replayed the problem over and over in my mind. Finally I remembered a “trick” I learned in college acting class. It’s a stage trick for carrying a ‘dead’ body. The next time we shot the scene I nailed it on the second take. I wonder if anyone reading this interview knows the, ‘how to lift a dead body trick?’

HD: You’ve always seemed very involved with the fans of the series, which many voice actors and actresses tend to stray from doing. What are your personal thoughts on maintaining contact with the fan base? Is there any message you have for us?

GC: My ex-wife is a Japanese movie and TV performer. Our wedding was covered by all the major TV networks and she even sold the location rights for our honeymoon. I learned firsthand that being famous basically sucks. You can’t go anywhere without people pointing and whispering. I’m happy to interact with SH2 fans provided they are polite and well behaved. Having said that, I can tell you that SH2 fans are some of the nicest and most decent people I have ever had the pleasure to communicate with. What is it that SH2 fans have in common because I’ll tell you what, whatever it is, the rest of the world could sure use a big dose of it! You guys are the best!

HD: If Konami were to revisit the role of James for another game, would you have any interest in reprising your role?

GC: Sure, why not? It was fulfilling and that’s what life is supposed to be about. If you feel you want Konami (or Sony) to hire me again, there’s a guy in L.A. you can write to named Michael. He’s a super guy. So if the spirit moves you, write to Mike and let him know how you feel. He’s always happy to hear from SH2 fans.
Editor’s Note: Michael’s email removed upon request.

HD: How do you feel contributing to a legendary game? In the part, “Leave us alone, leave us both the hell alone!”, I know that I heard that in a movie before, what were you going for? I heard that Mary/Maria’s voice actor had a very emotional reaction to the game, even so much as crying during the letter part, was the emotional impact of the story strong for you as well? Did you “connect” with James? If so, how?

GC: Legendary? Wow, thanks!

I feel great about my role in SH2 mainly because of wonderful fans like all of you.

In the part where I scream “Leave us alone…” I think I was going for a tormented screaming version of Greta Garbo’s famous line, “I vant to be alone.” Remember, I did James long before that kid ever recorded his infamous “Leave Brittany Alone” video. He was copying me; not the other way round.

Monica (Mary/Maria) and I both felt very strong emotions all throughout the acting and recording sessions. She’s a fantastic talent. To this day when I hear Monica read the letter I get all choked up.

Yes, of course I connected with James! The reason I got the part was because the director said I was James. More specifically he said that I was just the way he pictured James in his mind. As I said, I had some emotional issues at the time and that helped me portray James’ anguish and pain. Fortunately, I’m not haunted by anything close to the heavy dark stuff that James is.

HD: Do you see James as a tragic character? Was he a victim of circumstance? Was he selfish and did he murder his wife to make his life easier?

GC: James is absolutely a classic tragic character. Yes, he was a victim of circumstance but his situation was necessary for his karma; his life’s problem to solve. Was James selfish? Yes, and no. He has a lot of hurt and anger inside but he’s also kind and very protective. I can’t talk about it easily. It’s painful going back into that mind again. Anyway, it’s you the players who get to answer these questions. There’s a variety of possible endings and you can choose the one you want to believe. I won’t say which ending I believe in, but I will tell you that dog ending was just plain dumb. I told the director it was dumb and that I didn’t want to do it. He said it was a Japanese thing and he asked me nicely to just play along. What could I do? I’ve seen it on YouTube and I still think it was dumb.

HD: Have you ever been recognized by fans of the game since 2001? If so, what was it like? If not, do you wonder if people will?

GC: Yes, I have been recognized. Not by my face but by my name. Once when we were making introductions at a business conference in Seattle, a fellow outside our group overheard my name. He came over to our group and stood there staring at me with a huge grin on his face. After a while he introduced himself and asked if I had done James in Silent Hill. When I said yes, he got out his camera and asked me to please take a photo together with him. He was just about to leave when suddenly he turned round and blurted out, “do that chainsaw thing!” I had no idea what he was talking about. “You know,” he said, “the part where you raise the chainsaw above your head and do that primal scream.” I obliged him but I have to tell you in all honesty, I must have been really tired that day on the set because I don’t remember taping that scene.

Often business people I meet for the first time will ask me about SH2. Whenever they do, I know it’s because they Googled me before our meeting. They usually ask, “What was that video game thing you did?” Each time I tell the story I am reminded again of how powerful it is. James’ deep regrets following the ‘mercy’ killing of his wife never fails to capture rapt attention. Perhaps this powerful basic story is the reason for SH2’s long term success more so than its technical merits.

Here’s another example in testament to the strength of the story. A while back I met some fellows from California in the electric vehicle business. They came to Tokyo for the auto show and some meetings with me. At our second meeting, sure enough, one of the fellows asked me, “Tell me about that video game thing you did?” (He must have Googled me the night before…) As I was retelling the SH2 story, his partner suddenly perked up and said, “Hey, I’ve seen that game! My kids played that all the time. It’s one of their favorites!” After that, he wouldn’t leave without me taking a picture with him to show his kids. See what I mean? Even though the fellow had never played SH2 himself, he remembered James and Mary’s tragic story.

Thanks for inviting me for this interview, Cj. And thank to all of Hell Decent’s SH2 fans for asking such excellent questions. Happy Halloween!


Original Interview on HellDescent.com I go the chance to interview the man, and face, behind James Sunderland of Silent Hill 2. I wanted to share this with you guys. Original interview can be found on HellDescent.com Digging into our Silent Hill fan-site roots, we have contacted one of the most famous Silent Hill icons. We present to you Guy Cihi, the voice of James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2! Mr. Cihi was kind enough to give us a hefty interview on his role in the legendary Silent Hill 2. For those of you living under a rock, Silent Hill 2 is one of the best horror games of all time. In Silent Hill 2, you follow James Sunderland. James receives a letter from his late wife Mary. How could she be sending letters from the grave? Is she really dead? James asks himself these questions as he makes his way through the foggy town of Silent Hill, headed to his and Mary’s ‘special place’.  The town of Silent Hill picked James for his troubled past, and it promptly forces him to face his inner, and outer demons. Yes, casual Silent Hill fans, this is where the REAL Pyramid Head is from. Silent Hill 2 is a story of life, death, and even a bit of rape. And now we get to speak to the man behind the extremely interesting James Sunderland character. We hope you guys enjoy this Halloween treat! Hit the jump for the full interview!{{page_break}}   HD : Silent Hill 2 had how I can only describe as “sleepy” vocals. As if the characters were all in a dream like state. Was this part of the role? Were you and the other voice actors instructed to add such a tone to the acting? GC: The actors were all ‘dialed into’ the story, the setting, and the characters. There was a sense of supernatural strangeness ever present in our minds. I don’t recall specifically being asked to sound ‘sleepy,’ but the directors were always there guiding our performances. I think it’s important to point out that all of Silent Hill 2 was performed and recorded live on large motion capture stages with all actors present. Unlike most RPGs, when you see two or three SH2 actors on your screen, it means that there were two or three SH2 actors performing live together at the time of recording. That close proximity created tremendous dynamic tension between the actors and allowed us to play off each other’s emotions. The relationships in SH2 wouldn’t have been nearly as intimate had we recorded body movement and dialog at different times. I was told by the director that it was the first time synchronized mo-cap had been done for such a large scale production. HD: You provided both the voice recordings and performed the actual motion capture for James, correct? Which did you prefer, the voice performance or the motion capture? GC: I enjoyed it all but, as I say; we performed all of the scenes live on stage in front of multiple cameras, directors, and crew. It was similar to recording scenes for a movie. The main difference being that we weren’t wearing costumes; we were wearing skin tight body suits with nodes attached at key points. Some of the motion cameras were magnetic and others were laser type. Video cameras were always present to capture our facial expressions and allow the editors to synch the sound recordings with the body language. I don’t really think of my work as voice recording because the recording work only took about four days to complete whereas the stage performances took almost four months. For me it was like performing in a strange movie. Several days were spent exclusively for capturing my walking, running, hitting, and dying. I was sore for weeks after those dying days. Every time you let James die and hit the ground, I swear it still hurts me! HD: Have you been following the Silent Hill series since your work as James? If so, what do you think of the series as of today? GC: I haven’t been following the series. What I know is only what I have gathered from SH2 bloggers and webmasters who contact me. It seems that the series has grown spotty over the years. I read that a Silent Hill movie was released but I didn’t watch it. The reviews were pretty bad. I read recently that Sony is working on a second SH movie titled Silent Hill 2. Some bloggers have written that it would be good to idea to stick to the original SH2 game theme and characters, but I don’t expect the director and writer will do that. They seem to prefer doing their own thing. You might be able to find a trailer for the new SH2 movie if you Google “Silent Hill 2 Trailer.” HD: Silent Hill 2 is known for having one of the most deeply twisted stories in gaming history. Did you read the script prior to recording? If so, did they keep the endings secret, making your reactions more real to the experience? Or did they give you a complete synopsis of the game so you could deliver a proper feel? GC: Was it just luck, or did fate put that deeply twisted script in my hands? Hmm…. No, I did not read the entire script before recording. The directors kept the endings secret. I’m not sure if it was to affect our performances, or because they were still working on it as we progressed. In any case I can tell you that they were quite specific about what they wanted in terms of pathos and torment. Acting James was cathartic. I was recently divorce at that time and still very close to my pain. I was able to deliver tears and sadness on demand. I went through hell with my ex and at times was near suicidal. If it weren’t for my children, I’m not sure I would have made it through. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving them alone with only her to raise them. Forgive me if this is getting too personal. What I mean to say is that if the directors asked me for tears or anguish, all I had to do was dredge up some dark memory and it was right there with me again – the sadness. I’m generally a happy go lucky guy. One of my talents is the ability to forget painful experiences. Performing James reminded me that we never really forget our pain. We just hide it away – if we’re lucky that is. HD: Do you think video game acting will ever be taken seriously enough to be awarded Oscars? GC: Definitely! It’s only a matter of time. The gaming industry is already much bigger than the movie industry. I think the next phase of the gaming industry will see an increased emphasis on character and story development. The tech aspects should become increasingly more open and available and hopefully that will usher in a generation of indie games. The problem that I’ve heard over and over in the packaged game industry these days is that the ‘model is broken.’ Games have become too expensive to produce. I remember Hollywood said the same thing about movies and then a slew of indie productions came out and rewrote the book. I expect pretty much the same thing will happen for games. HD: Which scene was the hardest to play, or the one that needed the most takes? GC: The hardest scene to play, and the one that had to be redone the most, is a scene that occurs late in one of the alternate endings. It’s the scene where James picks Mary up from her deathbed and then turns and carries her away. I was quietly crying each time I lifted my wife’s lifeless body up from that bed but creating the emotion wasn’t the problem. The problem was that it was taking me too long to get Mary up into my arms and turned around. No matter how many takes we did it, the directors said it was too slow. As I lay in bed one night after shooting, I replayed the problem over and over in my mind. Finally I remembered a “trick” I learned in college acting class. It’s a stage trick for carrying a ‘dead’ body. The next time we shot the scene I nailed it on the second take. I wonder if anyone reading this interview knows the, ‘how to lift a dead body trick?’ HD: You’ve always seemed very involved with the fans of the series, which many voice actors and actresses tend to stray from doing. What are your personal thoughts on maintaining contact with the fan base? Is there any message you have for us? GC: My ex-wife is a Japanese movie and TV performer. Our wedding was covered by all the major TV networks and she even sold the location rights for our honeymoon. I learned firsthand that being famous basically sucks. You can’t go anywhere without people pointing and whispering. I’m happy to interact with SH2 fans provided they are polite and well behaved. Having said that, I can tell you that SH2 fans are some of the nicest and most decent people I have ever had the pleasure to communicate with. What is it that SH2 fans have in common because I’ll tell you what, whatever it is, the rest of the world could sure use a big dose of it! You guys are the best! HD: If Konami were to revisit the role of James for another game, would you have any interest in reprising your role? GC: Sure, why not? It was fulfilling and that’s what life is supposed to be about. If you feel you want Konami (or Sony) to hire me again, there’s a guy in L.A. you can write to named Michael. He’s a super guy. So if the spirit moves you, write to Mike and let him know how you feel. He’s always happy to hear from SH2 fans. His address is: mr.33513 (at) konami.com HD: How do you feel contributing to a legendary game? In the part, “Leave us alone, leave us both the hell alone!”, I know that I heard that in a movie before, what were you going for? I heard that Mary/Maria’s voice actor had a very emotional reaction to the game, even so much as crying during the letter part, was the emotional impact of the story strong for you as well? Did you “connect” with James? If so, how? GC: Legendary? Wow, thanks! I feel great about my role in SH2 mainly because of wonderful fans like all of you. In the part where I scream “Leave us alone…” I think I was going for a tormented screaming version of Greta Garbo’s famous line, “I vant to be alone.” Remember, I did James long before that kid ever recorded his infamous “Leave Brittany Alone” video. He was copying me; not the other way round. Monica (Mary/Maria) and I both felt very strong emotions all throughout the acting and recording sessions. She’s a fantastic talent. To this day when I hear Monica read the letter I get all choked up. Yes, of course I connected with James! The reason I got the part was because the director said I was James. More specifically he said that I was just the way he pictured James in his mind. As I said, I had some emotional issues at the time and that helped me portray James’ anguish and pain. Fortunately, I’m not haunted by anything close to the heavy dark stuff that James is. HD: Do you see James as a tragic character? Was he a victim of circumstance? Was he selfish and did he murder his wife to make his life easier? GC: James is absolutely a classic tragic character. Yes, he was a victim of circumstance but his situation was necessary for his karma; his life’s problem to solve. Was James selfish? Yes, and no. He has a lot of hurt and anger inside but he’s also kind and very protective. I can’t talk about it easily. It’s painful going back into that mind again. Anyway, it’s you the players who get to answer these questions. There’s a variety of possible endings and you can choose the one you want to believe. I won’t say which ending I believe in, but I will tell you that dog ending was just plain dumb. I told the director it was dumb and that I didn’t want to do it. He said it was a Japanese thing and he asked me nicely to just play along. What could I do? I’ve seen it on YouTube and I still think it was dumb. HD: Have you ever been recognized by fans of the game since 2001? If so, what was it like? If not, do you wonder if people will? GC: Yes, I have been recognized. Not by my face but by my name. Once when we were making introductions at a business conference in Seattle, a fellow outside our group overheard my name. He came over to our group and stood there staring at me with a huge grin on his face. After a while he introduced himself and asked if I had done James in Silent Hill. When I said yes, he got out his camera and asked me to please take a photo together with him. He was just about to leave when suddenly he turned round and blurted out, “do that chainsaw thing!” I had no idea what he was talking about. “You know,” he said, “the part where you raise the chainsaw above your head and do that primal scream.” I obliged him but I have to tell you in all honesty, I must have been really tired that day on the set because I don’t remember taping that scene. Often business people I meet for the first time will ask me about SH2. Whenever they do, I know it’s because they Googled me before our meeting. They usually ask, “What was that video game thing you did?” Each time I tell the story I am reminded again of how powerful it is. James’ deep regrets following the ‘mercy’ killing of his wife never fails to capture rapt attention. Perhaps this powerful basic story is the reason for SH2’s long term success more so than its technical merits. Here’s another example in testament to the strength of the story. A while back I met some fellows from California in the electric vehicle business. They came to Tokyo for the auto show and some meetings with me. At our second meeting, sure enough, one of the fellows asked me, “Tell me about that video game thing you did?” (He must have Googled me the night before…) As I was retelling the SH2 story, his partner suddenly perked up and said, “Hey, I’ve seen that game! My kids played that all the time. It’s one of their favorites!” After that, he wouldn’t leave without me taking a picture with him to show his kids. See what I mean? Even though the fellow had never played SH2 himself, he remembered James and Mary’s tragic story. Thanks for inviting me for this interview, Cj. And thank to all of Hell Decent’s SH2 fans for asking such excellent questions. Happy Halloween! HellDescent.com is a horror gaming site for the fans, by the fans of the genre. From Survival to Action, we cover all forms of horror gaming. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

Silent Hill 8 (Working Title) has finally been shown to the masses at this years E3. The title will be developed by Vatra Games and be available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. Silent Hill games are notorious for their symbolism and secrets that first glances won’t show. So we took the time to do a trailer analysis. Hit the jump for our in depth look into the Silent Hill 8 trailer.




Silent Hill 8 follow escaped convict Murphy Pendleton. From the trailer we can see that he is on a bus with fellow convicts, on their way to the local prison. Murphy starts to nod off and increasingly pass into the otherworld of Silent Hill. No information has been given as to why Murphy is headed to prison, but for the sake of being able to relate, and accepting your character, we think he won’t be too bad of a person. Unless Vatra wants our character to be extremely sick in the head. Murderer, pedophile, or just an unlucky guy, we don’t know yet! Also to note is that Murphy doesn't speak once in the trailer. While we doubt Silent Hill will go with a silent protagonist, we hope to hear Murphy speak next time.



Silent Hill returns to pure fog. No ash, snow or dandruff. Seen above we can see Murphy lost in Silent Hill. There appears to be a crow on the street sign. Birds in Silent Hill? Seems sorta Resident Evil to us, but this is still a early trailer. The actual look of the town is shaping us nicely. Abandoned, messy and foggy. Vatra is doing a great job at making the town actually look abandoned. Just how we like it. The game is said to have multiple side missions, which makes us think that this game will be more open than past ventures. Silent Hill 1 and 2 gave us access to the town of Silent Hill. We could roam around to some degree, and for that to be expanded would be pretty awesome.





Murphy isn’t the only person in Silent Hill. We can see a mysterious mailman, a faceless man, two convicts, a guy in the woods, a little girl, and what looks to be like a little person. The girl can be seen twice in the trailer. Once in a portrait, and the other time pushing away a man to chase what looks to be a little man. Murphy won’t be the only convict either, in the bus there can be 2 others seen, as well as the police officer escorting them. Looks like her name is A. Cunningham. Sorry folks, no Cybil.




The otherworld, while going back to its rust and metal look, is looking a bit different as well. From what we were shown in the trailer, the otherworld is looking to be very wet. Rain and leaks can be seen, as well as lightning. There’s certainly a cloud over Murphy’s head and Silent Hill is bringing it to life. Real time transition changes are back too. Popularized by the Silent Hill movie, and implemented in Silent Hill: Homecoming, they have found their way into the series. Instead of a peel away effect, the transition looks more like paper burning. Objects levitate and burn away as well. So far Murphy’s otherworld has rust, water, and burning. The game already seems like it will follow in the vein of Silent Hill 2 with a personal hell.




We have seen 2 enemy types so far. One is a weird looking lady or child that looks as if it’s been in water and started to decay. The other reminds us of a Lying Figure, but bigger and darker. The graphics are still a bit lacking in the enemy department, but remember, this is still early in production. The enemies appear more viscous too. The dark figure can be seen sneaking around Murphy and dropping behind him for a surprise attack. The wet lady thing also slashes pretty quickly. Does this suggest that game will be a bit more combat heavy? The press release indicates that everyday objects will be weapons. Origins did something similar, and to see that brought back would be fairly interesting.



In this screen we can see Murphy looking pretty messed up. There looks to be visible damage on our character. This is a pretty nice feature to have. Homecoming had visible enemy damage, perhaps Silent Hill 8 will take that system further.



Lastly, we see that not just Murphy is being cast into the version of Silent Hill that’s not exactly on the map. The whole bus along with the prisoners, escort officer and bus driver are now in the town. Silent Hill 8 is looking to be indeed bigger. Multiple characters have already been shown, and with the inclusion of side quests, we can expect this game to take the series in a familiar, but expanded approach to what we know and love.

*Original Article On HellDescent.com*

I just purchased the Xbox 360 slim and here is my unboxing video. Its sleek, finger print prone and has a cute little beep when the power button is pressed.
Sitting in the dashboard, the Xbox is dead silent. While my content was transferring from my HDD to the new one, I did here a high pitched noise. Where it originated from specifically I'm not sure. It could have just been something settling in. I'm no tech expert.
The disc drive could not be heard from across the room while it was spinning, but up close it could be. Still a major improvement from the original 360. What was once a jet engine, is not a light whisper. The last thing I'll say is that this thing still gets a bit warm. As does the PS3, but with the history the Xbox 360 has, heat tends to scare me a bit. Lets hope Microsoft has redeemed themselves with the Xbox 360 S.

Visceral Games has released the latest Dead Space 2 trailer, and let us tell you; it’s epic. There’s loads of things going on and you might miss some of them, so we took the time to delve deep into the trailer and try to squeeze as much info as we could. Hit the jump for our analysis of the newly released Dead Space 2 trailer.



The Sprawl is a large colony and it’s vast and pretty. We can see here Isaac taking a good look at his new location. Most likely this scene is close to the beginning of the game. Around the :30 second mark, Isaac says, “Where the hell am I?!” He must have been transported to the colony for some reason against his will.



Isaac is crazy. Plain and simple. The Marker’s psychological effects can be seen more clearly in the Dead Space animated comic and Dead Space: Extraction. People start to see things and eventually go completely mad. The only person that is know to be immune is Lexine Murdoch. Isaac is not. While we may not have seen much hallucinations in the original Dead Space (besides the whole ending twist), Dead Space 2 seems to be all about Isaac and his “unique form” of dementia. He’s seeing symbols, so is an unknown survivor that can be heard at around :54 seconds. The Marker seems to have..well, left its mark on the survivors of the Aegis VII incident. Isaac also looks a lot spiffier, as well skinnier this time around. Being crazy is a great diet we hear.



Isaac is receiving help from a mysterious woman, we believe it to be Lexine Murdoch from Dead Space: Extraction due to her similar accent. The whole Aegis VII incident has also been covered up, no record or signs of what happened exist, The Government being behind it all. Necromorphs aren’t the only threat either as it seems. Isaac can be seeing being fired upon from 1:15 onward. Perhaps the very same people who created The Marker, and employed Kendra have erased Isaac’s memory and now want him dead after he escapes their captivity. Right now a sort of Aliens Resurrection thing is on our mind. The hero survives, leaves with something from the incident, in this case severe dementia (perhaps something else), and now the people behind it want to study him or just keep him shut. But if they did have him in captivity, why not kill him? As you can tell, we’ve seen way too many films.





There will certainly be some epic boss battles. Look at these ugly bastards. The one above has saggy tits!, scary. The one above seems to us like a miniboss though, not quite a full fledged fight, but taxing enough to not be considered an average enemy type. The 2nd (the first image) looks to be a full boss. During the E3 demonstrations Isaac can be seen fleeing it. Necromorphs has certainly gotten bigger and more vicious.

And now for the hidden messages in the Unitologist language that Visceral loves using for cryptic messages. Let’s go through the three we found.



The word “Ignition” can be found at :37, :41, :49, and :50, 1:07 and at 1:12.



The following two lines were spotted twice. As far as we know we have found everything. If not, join the forum and leave a comment.

All in all, Dead Space 2 is looking to be a very good game. The action portions are intense and create lots of tension. It’s scary action! Something Resident Evil 5 couldn’t wrap it’s head around. Look for Dead Space 2 in stores January 25th.

*Original Post On HellDescent.com*