[1]
Konami is usually pretty on top of their stuff when it comes to audio in their games. There was a lot to see and hear at their press conference a couple days ago, so I thought it’d be fun to tell you about our first impressions of the audio in some of their newly-announced projects.
With three new Metal Gear Solid titles in the works, a new Castlevania, some DDR news, and our first look at Akira Yamaoka’s “Always on my Mind” arrangement for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, the only thing missing was a new Suikoden title! Maybe we’ll have to wait until Tokyo Game Show for more about my favorite series ever, but I’d saying the spread of titles shown in the press conference are far from disappointing.
Read our first impressions after the jump.
For some reason, Konami decided they wanted to blow their load right at the beginning. Kojima came to the stage, and made a comment about how Konami kept many people at home due to the swine flu scare. He noted that while his projects have nothing to do with pigs, they do involve snakes. He then proceeded to introduce Metal Gear Solid Arcade, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Metal Gear Solid: Rising. There wasn’t much in the way of audio except for the long trailer for Peace Walker, which interestingly featured hints of the classic Metal Gear Solid theme that we all thought was dead forever.
Kojima then revealed the final of his four projects, Castlevania: Lord of Shadows. Everyone was pretty excited, and we were all treated to a lengthy trailer showing some actual gameplay. The trailer opened with some narration by the amazing Patrick Stewart before the main character starting speaking with a heavy Scottish accent. The voice acting is definitely top notch. From there, however, things went downhill. No familiar themes, no epic rock elements, but instead a pretty standard cinematic orchestral cue that slowly built tension with some ascending string stabs. It would seem that just as Igarashi isn’t involved with this project (to our knowledge), Yamane is also nowhere to be seen.
A number of other titles were shown at this time, and finally, Naoki Maeda [2], who we had just talked to the day earlier, made his way to the stage. For the most part, the press conference was pretty quiet, and while I doubt many in the crowd were particularly excited about a new DDR title on the Wii, Maeda amazing personality and enthusiasm had everyone laughing and clapping as he exaggerated the hip movements required for the balance board mode in the game
Next up, a trailer for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was shown, featuring the “Always on my Mind” arrangement that Tomm Huelett had told us about earlier [3]. It wasn’t a very extensive preview of the piece, but I enjoyed the grungy approach along with electronic percussion, flute melodies, and of course, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn’s haunting vocals.
Before it was over, we were told there was one more surprise in store for us. A trailer was then played for DDR, which immediately made me think they had loaded up the wrong video. However, this time, they showed a pad with additional arrows on each corner, and as it turns out, the third pillar of the DDR series that Maeda told us about in our interview is actually an 8-buttoned DDR for the PS3 and Xbox 360 that will feature over 150 songs. Pretty impressive for fans of the series, but the audience didn’t seem very impressed.
With that, it was over. There were definitely some interesting developments in terms of the return of the MGS theme and the lackluster music from Lord of Shadows, but I’m definitely looking forward to a Shattered Memories soundtrack release and a new way to play DDR.
What do you guys make of these developments from Konami? Is there a particular title or soundtrack that you’re going to be watching for from here on out?
Comments Disabled To "E3 2009: Konami Press Conference Sights and Sounds"
#1 Comment By ShawnS On June 7, 2009 @ 9:14 am
Maybe it’s just me but it seems like now that the storage space, time and money are there to support orchestral soundtracks everyone thinks they simply HAVE to have one in their game. I loved Michael Giacchino’s early work on Lost World and Medal of Honor but the difference to me between that and, say, Red Faction Geurilla, is that the themes and melodies were actually memorable. Not to pick on Guerilla, it’s just the latest game I’ve played where I’m totally oblivious to the music beyond it being a cue that the bad guys have stopped actively looking for me.
That’s how I felt seeing Castlevania and hearing nothing in the music that stirred any part of me. They may finally have nailed a 3D Castlevania on gameplay but the music simply HAS to be there to make it official.
As for DDR it seems kinda cheap to add more buttons just to sell a new dance pad (I have accumulated several over the years which are now going to be useless) but I do appreciate a tracklist of 150+ songs. It’s been a while since I’ve played so maybe I’ll get back into it if they bring back some of the older songs (pre-DDR Extreme).