Konami’s E3 press conference was held yesterday, and we here at The Gaming Vault thought we’d give you a quick rundown of the biggest announcements.

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According to an article over on Aeropause, famous Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka has left Konami, after 16 of working for the developer. Yamaoka has left the company entirely, rather than simply move to another division.

Konami has yet to confirm the story, so for now this is mere rumour, but Aeropause calls it “a pretty reliable source”.

I know of a lot of gamers who will cry out in infamy once they hear this news. The Silent Hill games won’t really be the same without that distinctive Akira Yamaoka sound. It is currently unknown what the composer will be doing now that his partnership with Konami has ended.

The Konami press conference was naturally going to be an interesting one, simply due to the universal love for Hideo Kojima, and the hope that we would hear more about the previously announced Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. There was also hope that we would find out about the mysterious MASK project, which had unsurprisingly fell under the radar with the Metal Gear hype machine chugging away.

The press conference started a bit late due to the number of press in attendance. People had spotted Kojima about so the general feeling was that it was to be a good conference. After a brief montage of what we were going to see today (which included stuff we had seen before, but also some new releases), the Executive Vice President of Konami came up on stage.

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Nintendo Power provided us with the first details and now Konami has made it official. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is due autumn on Wii, but also on PSP and PS2.

Shattered memories will be designed to make full use of the Wii’s motion control. The Wiimote will function as a torch, used to scour for clues, and a mobile phone, used to access maps and take pictures of “interesting elements”.

New to Shattered Memories is a feature in which the game watches you, and adapts its storyline and alters its gameplay elements in order to create a unique experience for every player. To me it sounds a bit like the insanity system from Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.

The game will not be developed by Konami, but Climax studios, the dudes behind Silent Hill: Origins

Full press release after the break

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According to the newest edition of Nintendo Power, the first entry in the Silent Hill series will be seeing a re-release on the Nintendo Wii, with the subtitle: “Shattered Memories”.

“This is a re-imagining of the first Silent Hill,” said producer Tomm Hulett.

“It’s not a remake or a port. That’s an important distinction. It really feels like a new game.”

According to the Nintendo Power article, you will still play as Harry Mason, yet events and the story might not unfold in the same way as they did in the original.

“One of Shattered Memories’ most significant and intriguing additions—your answers actually affect how the game unfolds. And it doesn’t end there. the game “watches” you constantly, and your behavior throughout can determine when you’ll meet certain characters, which scenes you’ll witness, and a variety of other factors.” “In Silent Hill games, the town always gets inside the protagonist’s head,” said Hulett. “But now, it’s getting inside YOUR head.”

It sounds interesting and I’ll certainly be keeping a third eye on this title.

Take that internet!

According to Variety (for reals, yo!) Konami is currently developing a video game adaptation of the Saw movie franchise. Not only that, but Konami has rather high hopes for their new horror title:

“Because we have leadership in the survival horror genre, we’re passionate about it and wanted to find another property on par with Silent Hill,” Konami US marketing boss David Daniels told Variety.

The game’s plot will be that of the original movie, tying into the other films. Gameplay will center on Jigsaw’s famous traps, which will be turned into puzzles. Players control a character in an asylym who has to decide whether, and how, to solve the puzzles and save Jigsaw’s victims.

“One of the big pillars of ‘Saw’ is the maniacal, twister serial killer Jigsaw’s very unusual traps and you can expect that’s something we’ll carry forward,” explained Daniels. “Some traps will even be a direct translation from the movies, particularly the iconic ones fans love.”

Release is planned for this fall on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360

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Joyous news indeed, Silent Hill fans. Konami has finally announed announced a European release date for the fifth instalment of the Silent Hill franchise, Silent Hill: Homecomiing Homecoming.

The title will be released in Europe on February 27th next year, for both Xbox 360 and PS3.

Hey, better late than never, right?

Konami also announced that Wii fighter Castlevania: Judgement will also be released in Europe on February 27th… but nobody really cares about that, right? If we try to pretend it doesn’t exist, maybe it’ll vanish out of existence.

We can only hope.

Konami UK has sent out the very surprising news that the next instalment of Silent Hill, Homecoming has slipped to 2009 in Europe… despite already being on sale in the US.

The 360, PS3 and PC horror instalment was originally due out in Europe for Halloween – and hit North American shelves late last month. It’s currently down for release in Europe next February, 2009. No reason was given for the delay yet.

Homecoming, which has had its development moved over to US studio Double Helix from Japan, received average reviews from North American press, suggesting to some that the slip this side of the pond could be a quality issue.

More than likely though thanks to the many language spoken by our European cousins, is some problem with translation. Or it could be, they can’t be bothered.

The new release puts Silent Hill almost head-to-head with Capcom’s Resident Evil 5.I wish them good luck with that.