Silent Hill 2 Live!

Part 3: House Party

"Done with all the suspense, Konami unveils the real nightmare in the darkness of a strange mansion. This is our third act of our report where the beams from our flashlights are hardly enough to lessen our terror."

How much does Konami intend to play with the nerves of the press in order to make the promo of this video game? The strange kidnap transport towards a mysterious destination, the worrying reception of malicious dogs and mercenaries armed with paintball guns had us on our toes. Now we must bave the mansion in the middle of the woods.

After the transportation, the hundred journalists and the Japanese developers are brought into a house full of putrefaction. Human torsos hang from the ceiling, a small girl sits on a ledge, dangling her feet on a hardly lit balcony and strange silhouettes loom everywhere. With ominous lighting and creepy sound effects, the journalists were guided towards a room where a press conference was to be held!

Finally something famaliar, a professional reference mark! One hour after, the nightmare started again. Konami pushed the clans of journalists into the basements of the manor and there: Silent Hill 2 manifested real life, odors, grunge and all. Brilliant!

What a strange manor this was, crafted by Konami. Silhouettes could be seen on the balconies, light penetrated the dark rooms from varoius angels, and the little girl from Silent Hill 2 sat above the visitors, on the balcony, dangling her feet.

All this led to a another conference where Team Silent, the development team responsible for the game, answered questions for the press. A new, longer video for Silent Hill 2 was projected onto a big screen. The video was followed by applause.

After the hour-long conference the event began again. Led outside into the light, all the English, German, Dutch, Spanish, and French journalists were mixed to produce groups of 12 people, where everyone was given a flashlight for equipment.

Back inside the manor, a long wait in one of the corridors preceded. Subtle, green lights were reflected of a light fog amongts the room. Did the nurses come back in search of guinea pigs for the next part?

An obligatory medical examination! Patients were seen individually by nurses in a room with the closed shutters, where each participant had to reconfirm his will to continue and drink a cup of fresh blood! What an itimidating moment!

Then the game started without anyone pressing a start button. The team in green t-shirts were guided to the basement of the manor, where they were welcomed by Maria: "I am Maria, I'm real. You must find two lights. You may precede where this is a green light, but if you see a red light, you may not enter. I repeat: do not touch the red lights." Hmm... Is that the rule of this game?

Now we dove into a disturbing reality. Kitchens with oozing meat chuncks, soup where unknown body parts afloat, a wooden refrigerator with unknown contents, and jars of flesh samples. A high chair and a bathtub filled with blood: the entire basement is filled with things directly out of the game. Ha! There was a black silhouette? And it attacks people!

This super realistic setting made exploration a formadible job. Darkness was so deep that one could not walk without flashlights. And lets not even talk about the noises of various squealings, growls of dogs, and cries of the journalists who explored this darkness.

People started to gather into groups in their confusion. Then the atmosphere got more light-hearted and everyone seemed to have fun. The event really was a great success. There were even taps on a boiler that required to be turned on like in Silent Hill 1. That nurse is only part of the simulation, right? Right?