The lovely folks over at GameCinemaHD have just posted a video of the first major boss battle from the next installment of Konami's long-running horror series, Silent Hill: Homecoming. Those of you who would rather be surprised are advised to ignore this post altogether. Those of you too curious to stop yourselves should be warned that the clip contains language not suitable for most work environments. Knowing that some of our readers are of the more weak-willed variety, we've gone ahead and posted the video after the jump, so the choice is yours.

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While Fahey only went rods and cones on with Silent Hill: Homecoming at E3, I got to spend a few minutes with the Double Helix developed horror game, most of which was spent wrapping my head around the game's new control scheme. After some initial fumbling, which led protagonist Alex Shepherd bumping into walls and ambling backwards unintentionally, I got it.

It's not like Silent Hill has ever had an exemplary control set up. Homecoming at least gets some credit for making the experience feel a bit more intuitive, once one breaks old Silent Hill habits and allows for easier access to your inventory. After some grumbling — and a confused search for a quick turn button — it felt like a change for the best.

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Earlier this week I watched a Konami rep play through a bit of Silent Hill: Homecoming while we were awaiting the coming of Castlevania creator Koji Igarashi. The quick play through showed off the opening moments of the game, with protagonist Alex Shepherd waking up in Silent Hill and setting off on the search for his little brother. The game looked rather nice in motion, and creepiness immediately ensued as Sheperd's little bro seems to have a penchant for scampering in and out of shadows, a staple of the horror genre since Uggok the caveman drew the first horror cave painting. Note to Alex: your brother might be more receptive to being found if you don't slowly walk towards him with an axe in your hands.

While the demo was cut short by Iga's entrance, two bits of news to come to light. Pyramid Head will indeed be playing a part in the game, and now the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game is coming to PC, as did Silent Hill 2, 3, and 4 before it. What will Pyramid Head do in the game? Not sure, but I'm ruling out the hokey pokey.

Konami has released a batch of new screens from the game formerly known as Silent Hill V currently under development from the team formerly known as The Collective. Yes, your reservations are well warranted about the game, but if all the tender loving care spent lighting and texturing those zombie nurse racks is exhibited in other, possibly more important aspects of Silent Hill: Homecoming, Double Helix might just be able to pull it off. If not, we'll be giving away pitchforks and easy-light torches for our proposed "Silent Hill V Went Horribly Wrong And Someone Must Pay" contest in September. Watch for it!

I am not ashamed to admit my slight bias towards Silent Hill. I am an unapologetic fan of the series so it should come as no surprise to discover that this was the the title I was most looking forward to seeing at Konami's Gamer's Night. Between watching others play and playing a bit myself, I was able to see about the first half hour of gameplay and it was a blast. I know many of you are concerned given that the original team is not working on this one, but set those fears aside because this is till the Silent Hill that you know and love. After listening to some announcements about the game we got to see a little trailer and my interest was (even more) piqued by a short (less than 2 seconds) but exhilarating appearance by everyone's favourite Silent Hill denizen, Pyramid Head. Also visible in the trailer was a trucker who drops the player character off in his home town. Could this be a later version of Travis, the main character of Silent Hill: Origins?

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With a brand new name to replace its former numbered name, Silent Hill: Homecoming also has brand new screenshots as well. Along with the requisite walking through the fog and creepy monster shots, these screens also feature some of the people that you meet when you're stalking down the street. You know, the poeple that you meet each day. The sideways-mouth with pointy teeth guy is a person in your neighbourhood. How much would you pay for a Silent Hill / Sesame Street crossover title?

When we learned that The Collective—now Double Helix—had been tasked with Silent Hill V development at E3 last year, we wondered "What about Harker, that original vampire kicking game they're working on?" Since we've heard just shy of nothing on Harker for nearly a year and Silent Hill V was just recently rechristened Silent Hill: Homecoming, a report from GameSpot that the team has essentially killed the game doesn't surprise.

"Killed" is more politically correctly described as being put on "permanent hiatus", but it's rare for these projects to be resurrected. As long as they don't muck up the next Silent Hill, we'll forgive this cancellation of a game that we weren't particularly interested in anyway.

Foundation 9 buries Harker [GameSpot]

No longer will we have to anxiously await Silent Hill 5 at some unknown date in the future! Now we can anxiously await Silent Hill: Homecoming, due out at the end of September for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, to help usher in the hectic fall gaming season. The latest installment of the now venerable series features shiny new graphics, an enhanced combat system, an all new protagonist in one Alex Shepard, returning home to solve the mystery of his missing brother, and not a bloodbath at the Homecoming Dance as I had hoped for. Oh well, there's always Prom Night.

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