Chatting with Konami on the Silent Hill Experience

After building a successful video game franchise over the past few years and grossing more than $30 million at the box office over the past couple of weeks, the Silent Hill franchise has now moved into a new area -- digital comic books.

The Silent Hill Experience, which was released in April for the PSP, combines comics, music and movies to deliver a complete behind-the-scenes look at the popular Silent Hill franchise. Wilson Cheng, the Konami product manager for Silent Hill Experience, answered a few questions we had about the digital comic book:

The Great Curve: So what made Konami decide to make a digital graphic novel instead of, say, a new Silent Hill game for the PSP?

Cheng: The digital graphic novel is something that Konami believes is a great new genre for the PSP. Not only can consumers play games and watch movies, they can also now read comics in a format that is more interactive than looking at static panels in a book. It's a new way of bringing more entertainment content to users. In addition to Silent Hill Experience, we have also adapted the IDW Metal Gear Solid comics for this genre as well.

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TGC: How is The Silent Hill Experience different from reading a comic book?

Cheng: The Silent Hill Experience is put together with animation and music, which can be more entertaining than looking at static image in a book. Characters are animated and their actions are more expressed. It's not animation in a traditional sense, but movement that gives the comic more life compared to traditional comics. The Silent Hill Experience also includes behind the scenes interviews with Christophe Gans (Silent Hill Movie Director), and Akira Yamaoka (Music Composer/Producer for the games) who worked on the Silent Hill movie and contributed 20 music tracks and hidden video content from the Silent Hill console games.

TGC: What has the reaction been from fans of the Silent Hill games to the idea
of an interactive comic?

Cheng: The reaction from fans has been very positive. If you love the Silent Hill games --and really even if you don't -- you'll appreciate this new type of genre for the PSP. It expands comics more into different mediums, which can only expand the appeal of comics to a new demographic.



TGC: Does Konami have any other interactive comic books in the works?

Cheng: As I mentioned previously, we are working on adapting the popular IDW Metal Gear Solid comics into digital comic form. That product, titled Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel will be released in June and will feature sound effects, music and an interactive database for Metal Gear Solid fans.

TGC: Are there any plans to release digital comics for other devices, such as
the iPod or Nintendo DS?

Cheng: We have not made any announcements, but anything is possible in the future.

For more information on the Silent Hill Experience, check out the official website.