All Hope Is Lost - Akira Yamaoka Leaves Konami

[rewak]

And whats stopping him from continuing to make music for the series? It's not like the series is even being made by Konami anymore

[Rombie]

It was bound to happen. I expect he'll still have musical and some sort of input into the Silent Hill movie sequel (why skip a paying job you've done once already) and will likely come back and produce future title soundtracks.

Personally I think this is a good thing. His work as a producer was possibly a questionable move when he moved into that position, something which seemed mainly because he was the only remaining staff member to have worked on all of the titles once Ito left. And thus his input I'm unsure of as the majority of titles since have been made outside of Japan. His music was still more key than potential appearance on production values.

I guess he was waiting until Silent Hill Shattered Memories was basically completed before leaving the company.

[randomwab]

I just want his follow up to iFuturelist already.

[Dot50Cal]

Without his music, the series just won't be the same. He's become the front man for the series. What a sad day.

[zounds]

I don't think all hope is lost, this is just the end of Silent Hill as it once was. Konami can make Silent Hill into something more, it can grow greater if the effort is put into it. The problem is that we are looking too much at the past Silent Hill games for what the blueprint of the future titles should be. It's time for Silent Hill to grow up, and I think this will be a good kickstart to drastic change, if Konami should continue to persue the franchise.

Yamaoka will be greatly missed, however.

[Det. Beauregard]

Maybe he can come over to Capcom and make music for RE!

The only SH game I've played is Homecoming, and while the game itself was iffy, the music was excellent. I don't consider myself a SH "fan," but I'm sure this is a bleak time for fans of the series. My condolences.

By the way, that's a bad ass picture! Did he play SH music with an orchestra or something?

[Ray]

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffff

aww man

[BrionIrons]

Well there was no real contractual stipulation saying RE4 was GC exclusive if memory serves, no doubt some fanboy/girl will put me straight there, I figured it was wounded pride/arrogance behind Mikami complaining of being butt hurt by capcom porting RE4 over and leaving.

Yamaoka leaving Konami to me is a really good thing, least he can ply his trade elsewhere and not be tied to any single franchise now.

Not to continue to go off topic,but Shinji Mikami did sign a contract with Nintendo to have RE Zero,REMake,and RE4 Nintendo Exclusives.But capcom breached the contract anyway because they are money-hungry.Mikami a man loyal to his word "stated if RE4 was to become multiplatform he would cut his hands of"which in plain english leave capcom,and never make another Resident Evil title again.Resident Evil will never be the same without Mikami,and now Silent Hill will never be the same without Akira Yamaoka.Both both companies suffering with a huge loss.

[Smiley]

Meh. Unlike the SH series the RE series has been doing just fine without Mikami both critically an financially. Also I thought he was going to cut off his head. Either way, the so called "man of his word" has yet to cut it off.

[cooker]

no no no,this is sad news,without Akira ,SH is not same to me anymore

[Gideon Quinn]

To be fair, Akira Yamaoka is one of the few composers i can think of that isn't freelance nowdays. I guess people such as Masami Ueda worked exclusively for Capcom back in the day but that has become a dying trend.

It's a real shame that he has left Konami and there is obviously going to be a period of doubting from SH fans, but my passion for the SH series burned out a while ago after SH4. Origins and Homecoming just felt like second rate movie cash ins and the only thing i adored about either was the music. Since they were outsourced to western developers without involvement from Team Silent (Apart from Yamaoka's music) then i'm pretty confident that IF there are any future Silent Hill games after Shattered Memories (Which there really shouldn't be if you ask me...) then Akira Yamaoka will still compose for it.

[aris13]

Original Sound Version will have an exclusive interview with the composer about his move and future plans.

http://www.originalsoundversion.com/?p=6037

[BrionIrons]

Meh. Unlike the SH series the RE series has been doing just fine without Mikami both critically an financially. Also I thought he was going to cut off his head. Either way, the so called "man of his word" has yet to cut it off.

Eh not really,even though RE5 did really well.The new RE team seems to lack in the storytelling.and Mikami is a great storyteller when when it comes to Resident Evil.remember,if it wasn't for him Resident Evil would not exist.alot of people seem to forget that.

Anyway it is ashame that Yamaoka is leaving,but he must have his reasons.

[Smiley]

Uh, Mikami may have started the series, but his manner of "story-telling" being any better sounds like a joke. With him at the helm we still had the plot holes, cliche's, etc. And I'm more than confident to say RE5 had a better story than some of those past titles.

Mikami being a director of three RE titles in the main series, we have:

The original campy cheese fest with a "Boo! Haunted House" approach.

The much better remake that took the tone and atmosphere more grim and seriously.

And RE4...the game which moved the series into the new gameplay direction and focused on Leon saving the president's daughter.

Yep. Leon trying to rescue the president's daughter from a parasite-infected cult out for world domination is about as lame of a plot as one can get.

[BLSR1]

While I'm saddened by the news. I'm extremely disappointed in the news post. Don't say Silent Hill is dead unless you have a crystal ball that shows you the future. Right now that is your opinion and the last time I checked this wasn't a blog for you to post your opinion.