In a recent interview with Wired, Silent Hill 5 composer Akira Yamaoka revealed that there are no plans to release Konami's horror sequel on the Nintendo Wii. Despite the potential for using waggle controls in the twisted world of Silent Hill, Yamaoka explained that Wii users are not 'hardcore' enough and thus, I suppose, not suitable enough an audience.
Akira Yamaoka: We're making Silent Hill 5 for next-gen consoles. Are there any other platforms besides that? [laughter]
Wired Network: 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. The Wii user isn't a 'hardcore' user and that is why Silent Hill 5 won't be coming to the Wii. On the one hand, I can understand anybody's apprehension to market an adult game on the Wii, but on the other I wish this mythical hardcore/casual divide would just go away. 'Casual gaming' is a buzz-term with very little merit. You can't just tar two large sets of customers with a single brush in a convenient, black-and-white view.
With that said, I now step back and allow the rabid Nintendo fans to have their way with Yamaoka-san. He said something bad about the Wii, you know -- go get him and with many, many paragraphs!
[Courtesy of NeoGAF, because Nex isn't the only guy who reads it]
Contest:
4:52 AM on 10.20.2007
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Also, cawks.
Also, how many wolves must die?
I can't help but feel that the phrase "The Wii is not hardcore" is really developers saying "The Wii can't even begin to handle our games, but we still want their business, so we won't mock it's specs and just hide behind what Nintendo openly admits."
The actual high-quality hardcore Wii games released so far (all 3 of them :p) have sold extremely well.
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I'm a nihilist like that.
Stay away from my shit.
That's Just Racist!
I do admit that a good scary game on the Wii would be hard with the lower specs, but the most important part of a horror game is atmosphere and, as long as you have good art direction, any game can look good, regardless of the specs.
Using the Wii remote as a flashlight/gun/melee to fend off enemies would be good. We'll see how the new Fatal Frame fares on Wii, sales and presentation wise, and see whether what's his name's comment has any merit.
I would call seconds, but most of them are wearing turtlenecks; I don't do turtlenecks.
This is just BS speculation. Konami are dancing to the old tune of 'adult games on a Nintendo console don't sell. Konami could have clearly sold Silent Hill 2 and 3 on GC too, to match RE4, but they didn't because they are pussies. There are no technical limitation excuses to hide behind anymore, so Konami need to step up to the plate and deliver or just fuck off.
I'm so sick of their attitude sometimes, even if I love a lot of the games. It just upsets me that Capcom can deliver RE4, but they can't do Silent Hill on Wii, when even PSP gets it. Excuse me, which console is selling more here? Go figure.
Konami have been shirking Nintendo for ages now anyway. they do plenty of cool handheld stuff for GBA/DS, but next to nothing for GC and Wii (count the games). They clearly don't have the balls I thought they did. Perhaps the Manhunt 2 U.K ban stuff has put them on edge. But why should it, Manhunt 2 is still gonna make plenty of money everywhere else. This guys are clearing bending over for Sony and no mistake.
Get with the program Konami, grow a fucking pair of balls and deliver. In an industry where the average gamer is older, this kind of BS is beyond contempt. Makes me glad I have a 360, besides planning to get a Wii.
I would say the Wii has more adult users that the 360 and PS3 combined, which both skew much more towards the teenage male market, also known as "hardcore".
As for Yamaoka's comments, what he should have said was "Silent Hill 5 on the Wii would look just like Silent Hill 2 on the PS2. In fact that's all Silent Hill 5 really is, Silent Hill 2 with a fresh coat of paint. Please buy our rehash."
And I bet after Manhunt 2 sells like hot cakes on the Wii despite it's PS2 look, these dudes may reconsider.
That being said, it's time for some new blood to enter the horror genre. I love Silent Hill to death, but it really needs a makeover.
Then again, I've never been truly scared in a horror game before. Startled, yes, dogs jumping through windows and imps crawling out of air ducts are startling, but I've never been really scared, never questioned my sanity, never DREADED what was going to happen because I knew it was a game.
Also, I sure hope they have a PC release. PC gamers are certainly hardcore! We're more hardcore than 360 and PS3 users combined! And without the childish console fanboy arguments!
This meaningless console banter should end. Games are games. Anyone that doesn't play a game because it's not on their "HxC" system du jour is really just robbing themselves of a lot of great games. Plus...even if you are a hardcore gamer...when did that start meaning that you ONLY play "hardcore" games.
I didn't know that you needed "rep" points on the hardened streets of the interwebs...
As far as no Silent Hill on the Wii...who cares...I'll play it on whatever it comes out on. End of story.
Truth is Wii is more capable than and Xbox, and Xbox used to/still does have some swish looking games, I still own mine. Its not a technical issue with Konami, just lame user one.
How quick Konami forget how much RE4 sold on both GC, PS2 and Wii, so those sales shoot his arguament right down, before its picked up speed for take off. Up to them if they don't want to make money I guess.
Again, this isn't a platform arguement IMO but an adult game one. I'd like to hear his views on the Manhunt ban biz, especially when very few industry types bothered commenting on it, when they clearly should have.
Brilliantly said.
DESTRUCTOID - EDITED FOR AND BY HARDCORE GAMERS
...ouch.
P.S. What the hell is happening with 4chan? ;_;
Considering all of the Wii games coming out in the next few months, it is refreshing to hear a game company NOT want to rape my wallet. Thanks, Konami.
I don't know, I totally disagree with Yamaoka's blanket statement, but I also won't deny that Silent Hill 5 would definitely be more 'at home' on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
I would love more horror games on the Wii, I just think the stupid 'casual omg' stimga might be too strong right now.
What Konami is doing here is cutting of the nose despite their face, with the possibility of Wii Silent Hill. Customers are customers if they have a Wii.
You wouldn't catch petrol/gas station selling their shit to only Ford owners would you? You go where the money is and do some market research if you aren't sure, not just rule it out altogether.
Still, if that's how Konami want to roll, kudos to Tecmo for doing Fatal Frame on Wii. Can't wait to see those Manhunt 2 sales on Wii.
Despite what I may say about Nintendo on some subjects, I don't blame that company, the developers or even the public for the image that the Wii has. It's a mixture of things that have collided that makes the Wii look like a very unrewarding prospect to certain developers.
Just like the Xbox 360 is wrongly seen as a 'shooterbox' and the PS3 is wrongly perceived as ... well .... anyway, it's a stigma that affects how people see the Wii, whether it's true or not. It could be a haven of RPGs, of horror games, of anything, but it won't stop being seen as a kid's plaything for as long as all the elements are in place for that perception to continue.
But that's pure conjecture on my part because I'm bored.
But some people have to step up to the plate, and Nintendo needs to assure third parties they will not be screwed over.
Again, brilliantly said. I just bought a second Wii yesterday (pure luck that I was there when Best Buy had some), and now that I can segregate the harder stuff (such as Fatal Frame) down in my game room from the lightweight stuff that my 7 year old plays in the main living room, I plan on buying more of the darker games.
I was a kid when the Atari 2600 first came out and back then the emphasis *had* to be on gameplay because the graphics weren't there. The games on the C64 and early days of the PC had to focus on gameplay. Now that GPUs are as fast or faster than CPU, too much emphasis has been put on graphics. No, the Wii doesn't have the über-graphics of the 360 or PS3, but that means that the focus has to be on gameplay. Once we get past all of the damned mini-games that the Wii is being drowned in, I think there will finally be the Wii explosion that we're waiting for.
The 360 and PS3 are the big gorillas that intimidate you by letting you know that they are there and in your face. The Wii instead is that cobra that's coiled up in the grass waiting to strike.
Overly metaphorical? Maybe, but I still think it's true.
I agree Wii is still in its drought period, thus the lack of games, but that's down to developers 'backing the wrong horse'. They now have to double back to do some Wii games, taking twice as long as normal. This isn't Nintendo's fault at all, just developers/publishers, but Wii gamers are suffering because of it.
Some want to jump in and others are more reluctant. What's clear is that those that don't want jump in on Wii, will do so for 360. PS3 isn't looking too safe to many.
What's really funny is if some japanese developer don't fancy 360 development, where are they gonna go, if not to Nintendo, and if Sony fold out of the home market?
Why are we pooping our pants about a company that won't put the 5th of a series on the Wii, when Silent Hill hasn't been on a Nintendo console... ever?
Q_o
It's not that we're pooping our pants that they're not releasing it. It's the ridiculous excuse that they're using to justify not releasing it that has us slightly ruffled right now.
I could count the amount of 'hardcore' games on all formats on one hand, most games are cut and paste versions of something similar, few are genuinely hardcore.
And I'm not sad that Silent Hill 5 aint coming to the Wii. It's a game that's only justification for existence is a graphics upgrade. Those sorts of games fail.
Look at Resident Evil Remake and Resident Evil Zero on the GC. They failed, because people wanted more than just the same old RE with a fresh coat of paint. Then RE4 came along and blew sales off the roof.
Developers need to stop relying only on graphics to sell their games. Those days are over.
I'm not sure Wii is a particularly casual console, because to me that means something my parents might use. Right now all that would appeal to them is Wii Sports and possibly Big Brain Academy. There are a lot of mini-game compilations, which smack of rushed attempts to cash in on Wii's completely unexpected success, but not necessarily any attempt to service the casual user.