Silent Hill 5 video interview: Akira Yamaoka on game music

When it comes to survival horror video games, Silent Hill is definitely one of the many titles that have made its mark on the genre. With grotesque monsters, eerie backgrounds and spine-tingling music, the game has given us many not so fond nightmares after playing through the games many iterations through the past few years.

We owe many of our sleepless nights to Akira Yamaoka, the renowned musical composer for the Silent Hill series. The chilling soundtracks he’s provided for the games definitely sets the mood for a good night of fear-induced gaming. In an interview conducted during the E for All Expo 2007, he talks about how his role in the series has evolved through the years and how game music for the survival horror genre has changed.

The long-time video game music composer stressed how he wanted his music to sound unique and not just like “regular video game music”. He also mentioned that interactivity lends a big role in how it sets the proper mood for any game or even any entertainment medium like movies or DVDs.

After being involved with Silent Hill 3 as its producer, Yamaoka is looking to make the music for future video games which can give a total interactive experience for the player. He considers video games today as something that can be expressed in ways more than just visual means. He ended the interview saying that he aims to create music which evokes a lot of emotion for the gamer while playing.

Silent Hill 5 is the latest iteration to the franchise and is set to be released sometime next year for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. While Yamaoka mentioned the possibility of the game going live on the Wii platform, there haven’t been any definite plans so far regarding the matter. In the meantime, you can take a look at the video interview of Akira Yamaoka below.

When it comes to survival horror video games, Silent Hill is definitely one of the many titles that have made its mark on the genre. With grotesque monsters, eerie backgrounds and spine-tingling music, the game has given us many not so fond nightmares after playing through the games many iterations through the past few years.

We owe many of our sleepless nights to Akira Yamaoka, the renowned musical composer for the Silent Hill series. The chilling soundtracks he’s provided for the games definitely sets the mood for a good night of fear-induced gaming. In an interview conducted during the E for All Expo 2007, he talks about how his role in the series has evolved through the years and how game music for the survival horror genre has changed.

The long-time video game music composer stressed how he wanted his music to sound unique and not just like “regular video game music”. He also mentioned that interactivity lends a big role in how it sets the proper mood for any game or even any entertainment medium like movies or DVDs.

After being involved with Silent Hill 3 as its producer, Yamaoka is looking to make the music for future video games which can give a total interactive experience for the player. He considers video games today as something that can be expressed in ways more than just visual means. He ended the interview saying that he aims to create music which evokes a lot of emotion for the gamer while playing.

Silent Hill 5 is the latest iteration to the franchise and is set to be released sometime next year for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. While Yamaoka mentioned the possibility of the game going live on the Wii platform, there haven’t been any definite plans so far regarding the matter. In the meantime, you can take a look at the video interview of Akira Yamaoka below.