If you were wondering what the loud noise you just heard was, that would have been the sound of my head exploding over the following news. You may remember us mentioning a while back that Akira Yamaoka, longtime composer and producer for the Silent Hill franchise, had left Konami after 16 years. Well, it seems as if Yamaoka has finally found a new place to call home: Grasshopper Manufacture, the home studio of the delightfully twisted Suda 51 – Goichi Suda to his accountant.
This week’s issue of Famitsu revealed that Yamaoka (as well as freelance game designer Kazutoshi Iida) had come to rest at the home of Killer 7 and No More Heroes – a situation that seemed to work well for both of them.
“It was a case of really good timing. I knew about Suda long before I met him,” said Yamaoka. “I saw Grasshopper as one of those few Japanese outfits whose games can appeal to an overseas audience. I had a chance to meet him in Los Angeles and we talked about this and that, and once we started discussing how we wanted to do something creative for a world audience, I was hooked on the company.”
Suda’s praise was a bit more gushing, meanwhile: “I really love Yamaoka. Ever since I saw a video of Silent Hill 2 at the Tokyo Game Show nine years ago, I’ve always dreamed of working alongside him. That’s why I thought I’d invite him over when I started hearing rumors that he left [Konami].”
Yamaoka will be providing music for Grasshopper, at least initially; he’s expressed interest in branching back out into game development again. His first project will be the still-unrevealed Electronic Arts horror collaboration between Suda and Resident Evil’s Shinji Mikami.
Suda plus Yamaoka plus Mikami on a horror title.
I don’t even need to know anything else about it. That line-up alone makes it a day one purchase for me. At this point, I’m not even sure if I care if Yamaoka continues with scoring future Silent Hill titles or not. So long as he’s allowed a place to shine with Suda’s crazy little punk rock dev studio, I’m perfectly okay with this.
[Via: 1UP]
