Downpour and HD Collection getting patched.

[Smiley]

KONAMI ANNOUNCES UPCOMING PATCHES FOR SILENT HILL DOWNPOUR AND HD COLLECTION

New online patch will correct frame rate and audio synch issues

Today, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. announced that online patches for both Silent Hill Downpour and Silent Hill HD Collection are currently in development and will be released soon.

Understanding the issues some users are experiencing, development teams are currently creating online patches for both games, which will fix the frame rate issues, the audio-synching in Silent Hill HD Collection, and the Auto-Save issues in Silent Hill Downpour. Players have voiced their concerns, and solutions to these issues will be fixed and launched in the coming weeks.

Patches for Silent Hill Downpour and Silent Hill HD Collection will be made available on both XBOX®Live Arcade and PlayStation®Network.

I don't find this very comforting. The last patch the HD Collection had on day one barely fixed anything despite claims from Tomm Hulett saying otherwise. If anyone was going to buy these games I'd strongly suggest Downpour over HD because that has the fewest bugs and glitches. But wait to see if these patches do anything relevant.

Frankly I hope the audio syncs up properly this time for HD.

[Guest]

I'v had no problems at all with the SH HD Collection.... as for DP, the frame rate issues are insane at some points. I stopped playing so i'v been waiting for this.

[Mrox2]

I hope soo , Cause SH2 For me is barely playable ....
SH3 is a bit fine , but the frame rate is a bish ! >.<

[Pikminister]

Like RE:Revelations, Downpour brought back the intensity, atmosphere and what one would expect from the series.... and yet the sales numbers are underwhelming.

I hope all this helps boost sales for that game. Fuck the HD collection. People should still own a PS2 anyways.

[Smiley]

I think Downpour actually trumps over Revelations because it is a tailor made survival horror game with its focus on a genuine single player experience coupled together with challenging puzzles and a lack of strong combat to keep the game play invested in more than simply action.

Frankly the frame rate has never been that severe so if a patch can further fix it then there's no reason for any survival horror fan to miss out on that game. It is a console title, it has all the tools of a traditional horror game, and now the technical limitations that people used to bring it down will hopefully be addressed.

[Pikminister]

Well Revelations has all those things covered quite nicely, actually. It's not a psychological-horror game like Silent Hill. Surely not. But it is a survival-horror hybrid game (which is not too shabby in these current times when action is king). It's a tailor made self-contained game. The puzzles are not quite challenging. But then I don't remember any of the same caliber in past RE games - except for a few mentionable ones in Zero (the mind-melting animal puzzle) and RE3 (water puzzle). Combat has always been part of RE, so yeah, Revelations has that too.

But that wasn't my point at all. My point was that both Downpour & Revelations came very close to delivering what fans wanted in a SH/RE game. And yet the fans, didn't respond to those efforts.

On a handheld, it's understandable why they didn't respond. Historically, it is not a traditional platform for the series (aside from Deadly Silent and Gaiden there was nothing else since forever) and it came out on a new system with a relatively small user base. It's a bit more difficult to explain why Downpour sales were so low on a home console, though. Consoles with established & numerous core users.

[Smiley]

I don't think Revelations came close enough. It's the byproduct of trying to re-tool RE5. Yes Revelations is one player in campaign alone, but the game design calls for that of a co-op adventure. The segments with all the characters minus Jill are action oriented. Jill's adventure is only a memorable horror experience when she does things on her own which are fewer than the segments where she's with a NPC partner.

There's not a range of puzzles either at least not compared to the earlier games or even Downpour's range. Revelations really only makes use of one type of puzzle design where if we looked at Deadly Silence that was a game that made use of classic puzzles and touch screen puzzles of a different sort. We're not merely talking about fetch quests here where you need a key to open a door. We're talking about mind benders that require some level of problem solving or physical work to overcome an obstacle.

And while combat is part of RE, it was never a driven focus despite not being psychological horror. They've taken some steps to tone the gun play down, but not a whole lot. With Downpour you are rewarded by the least amount of enemy kills, and while manageable, they still prove difficult enough that you are better off avoiding enemy contact than engaging.

It's easy to see why Revelations and Downpour didn't meet sales. Revelations is simply the result of being on the 3DS. The RE name alone can generate enough sales most of the time, but the 3DS isn't as mainstream as a home console or even the earlier hand helds that are still supplying a range of games. The company is at that point where they've attracted enough gamers in the horror and action department to bring about more hype with each game they make.

SH unlike RE is not intending to set a goal to gain the sales numbers to rival that of CoD. They've set realistic expectations regarding their SH title. They could do what Capcom does and hold out for DLC or recreate the game to be more action with each iteration. They haven't done that yet. They almost did when they tried to make Homecoming like the next "RE4" but it's clear they want to appease their fan base and the best way to do that is to take steps back and experiment with horror rather than action. This is why Shattered Memories and Downpour tried various levels of horror over action from lack of combat to changes in the level design of the town itself. This is their way of staying as true to their fan base as they can without team silent.

Despite that however Konami in general needs better testers, marketing and scheduling. Not just for SH but other games in their library. The company itself isn't using their resources properly with countless delays and no one to announce them till the last minute. Even releasing new trailers without updating their info and not thoroughly testing their games for glitches or bugs.

[Rombie]

After platinuming SH2 and beginning SH3 I was shocked at how night and day the problems are with the latter. I thought the SH2 port was bad, but it looks like a brilliant gem when compared to the trashy port SH3 got.

In almost every area the frame rate manages to chug at a constant 15fps or less, the audio sync is so widely out cutscenes audio can occassionally finish well before the actual cutscene does, there is almost no fog to speak of, and it's as if no testing was done on it at all. I haven't suffered any freezes in it yet, but I'm not surprised so many people have.

To top it all off the new voices are fine, but I don't even see why they needed to be replaced in the first place because I don't think they're really any better than the first time around.

I've put it aside and won't touch it again (or Downpour) until these patches come. If they end up doing little to nothing I'll be selling both titles off, not worth the hassle.

[Pikminister]

We won't agree with our particular critical eye on each title mentioned here (we obviously don't), so I'll move on to what was my point all along... pointing out Downpour lackluster sales despite being as close as the series has ever been to what the fanbase wants.

No one is saying it has to meet CoD sales numbers. Almost no games in existence achives that (except for some other CASUAL games such as Wii Sports/Wii Fit). I do think however, that one would expect at least sales numbers that are not so damn low. Especially if the game covers most of the basic needs and wants of the fanbase (unless it really doesn't at all).

In regards to bugs and lack of testing holding a game back from getting at least decent sales, Operation Raccoon City says hi!...

[Smiley]

Operation Raccoon City is also an action game with four player co-op and ten dollar DLC with more on the way. Comparing that to a single player survival horror game with no DLC is never going to meet such sales. If Capcom wants to CoD numbers that factors into why they won't merely break from the action and co-op trend when it comes to their main games and spin offs. Not saying they'll get the numbers, but it's a high enough goal to make these changes on their games. Even Revelations couldn't break from co-op which is why half the game's portion rests on the more action oriented Raid Mode. And they just had Mercs 3D with the intent to satisfy such a fan base.

Comparing that with Silent Hill. They've accepted their main games not selling as high and are only experimenting with types of horror as opposed to action. At least when it came to the main games. Silent Hill's spin offs are a different matter. They want to make a stamp on the Vita. Instead of going with traditional game play like before they want to branch into their own spin off category which has never been as widely regarded. In fact I don't think any SH spin off has ever made it to America with the exception of Book of Memories. Many SH fans are opposed to even a spin off of SH making use of co-op, but we'll see how far that goes. Instead of them trying to make a FPS they've settled on dungeon crawler which sounds very bizarre, but not as bad if you have reasonable expectations. I don't expect them to be high because as with Revelations having co-op means dick if it's released on a hand held that hasn't established itself yet.

The only down side I see for possible crippling numbers is once again Konami's marketing. It's not like everyone has a Vita at this point either. And even then the game library isn't jumping with must own titles. So gamers need assurance. BoM is going through the same last minute delays as the last SH games before it, and it's only a matter of time before gamers get fed up with this lack of communication. It also makes them suspect that the game is held back because it's not yet ready and will be pushed out with the same glitches and bugs. No one wants history repeated. Delays aren't bad if they benefit making the game better. But not informing your consumer base when preorders are made and dates have already been set makes for bad business. And it's worse if the game is released and problems still arise. This doesn't speak ill of BoM yet since it's not out. Just Konami as a business and why this could hurt future sales.

[Dracarys]

We won't agree with our particular critical eye on each title mentioned here (we obviously don't), so I'll move on to what was my point all along... pointing out Downpour lackluster sales despite being as close as the series has ever been to what the fanbase wants.

No one is saying it has to meet CoD sales numbers. Almost no games in existence achives that (except for some other CASUAL games such as Wii Sports/Wii Fit). I do think however, that one would expect at least sales numbers that are not so damn low. Especially if the game covers most of the basic needs and wants of the fanbase (unless it really doesn't at all).

I think survival horror benefitted from limitations of hardware at the time. Now many of those hardware issues are gone any game attempting to keep them often comes across as outdated. When modern attempts at survival horror try make use of modern game mechanics it usually gets met with complaints about abandoning survival horror. Overall games with outdated game design review badly and likely do not sell so well.

Got sent Downpour the other day, gonna start tomorrow and see how it goes.

[Wrathborne]

Get used to fighting the same 5 monsters for 10 hrs Dracarsy :/.

[Dracarys]

God damn social life, always geting in way of games. Tomorrow I will start it, or possibly late late tonight.

[Smiley]

You might want to open up a good amount of time. You'll find yourself exploring the town a lot more in this one if you want to do all the side quests and such. I don't think I fought a single enemy till half an hour or so into the game.

[Kaneco]

Can't wait to see what these patches are going to do to the HD collection before I decide to pick it up.