Konami continues to cash in on the current Wii fitness craze by announcing Walk It Out. In case you haven’t guessed by now the game is all about the incredibly thrilling act of walking. Yes, you read that correctly, Konami is releasing a game in which you walk.

Players will walk along to a soundtrack of over a hundred songs and, erm, I think that’s pretty much everything the game has to offer. You can use the Wii Balance Board of course, or Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution mat, to imitate the art of walking. There is also the option of using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, although I’m thinking that doing that defeats the whole object of the game (although I suppose you do the arm motions when you walk, but why am I even bothering to put much thought into this?).

I love video games, and I’m sure anyone visiting this blog shares the same opinion, but there are some topics which just aren’t worth the time of day to make into a video game. Why is Konami trying to encourage people to stay inside when they can go outside and walk for free throughout our beautiful world? People don’t walk enough these days, and are missing out on sightseeing opportunities and the physical benefits that a good walk brings. This is just Konami trying to cash in on something a lot of us do all the time, as is human nature. What’s next? A game where you breathe the air around you?

The amount of crap one can find on the Wii is just getting ridiculous.

UPDATE: Here’s a cheesy trailer for the game:

At least they try, and fail hard, to make walking sound exciting.

(Images source: Kotaku)

Konami has confirmed that a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill is making its way to the Wii, PSP, and PS2.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - coming from Climax, the same studio behind Silent Hill: Origins - will reintroduce the character of Harry Mason, and the basic story of the hunt for his daughter Cheryl will remain in place. Don’t expect the story to stay exactly the same though; as producer Tomm Hulett says it will be “twisted to betray your expectations” (source). There’s a lot more to it than that though, especially for the Wii as the game lets you use the remote as a flashlight, cell phone with GPS, and to pick up and manipulate objects to assist you in solving puzzles.

However, one of the biggest changes is in the game’s new ability to change how the story unfolds based on your actions. We’ve all seen this been done before, and usually it’s a lot of empty promises; but Hulett says that your behaviour will determine which characters you meet, or which scenes you will witness, as two examples.

I didn’t play any of the Silent Hill games after Silent Hill 2, but I adored the first game and it was one of my favourite games for the PSOne. I would probably still crap myself if I went back and played the original today, but at least now I will have the chance to change my boxer shorts again with the release of an updated version.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories will be released this autumn. While you’re waiting there’s always Silent Hill: Homecoming, but if you’re a big fan of the series then you probably already have it.

I first mentioned that Metal Gear Solid would be making the jump to the iPhone back in December, but now we have a trailer and some further information to go along with that.

Metal Gear Solid Touch is basically a retelling of the story from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, but from a different perspective.  From the looks of it though it’s a little more than an on-rails shooting gallery, as you’ll play the game from over Solid Snake’s shoulder and use your fingers to do all the work. You can move the reticule by sliding your finger across the screen, tap to shoot and zoom in and out by pinching the screen; which should be familiar to all iPhone owners.

Advancing through the game will also, wait for it, unlock wallpapers for use on your iPhone!!! Sounds exciting, huh? Whatever, it will still sell by the truckload…wait…truckload? The game is download only so maybe that’s the wrong word to use here, but screw it.

There’s no release date or pricing structure yet, but we should know that pretty soon.

An earlier rumour that the next Metal Gear game would be for the iPhone has been confirmed by Konami. The game will - fittingly for the iPhone - be called Metal Gear Solid Touch.

Returning to the universe of Metal Gear Solid 4 the game will consist of 8 stages with the promise that more will be added at a later stage. The game will also take full advantage of the iPhone’s touch screen, employing the zoom-in text method for controlling the sniping function. Bonus points earned through the game will also allow you to unlock stuff such as iPhone wallpapers. It’s slated for a worldwide release in spring 2009.

Konami also revealed three more of their franchises that will be making the jump to iPhone; Silent Hill, DDR and Frogger.

With Konami on board the iPhone has gained yet more respect as a valuable new gaming platform. It has also given me yet another reason to try and save up the money to buy one.

Before I forget, you will be able to download Metal Gear Solid sackboys for LittleBigPlanet from December 18th (the dates have since been removed from the Hong Kong Playstation site, so we’ll just have to wait and see if this date still stands). These should put your mind off the next game for at least a week or two, plus they’re incredibly awesome.

While we have another month to go until Halloween I figured that I’d get in there early (when you least expect it…muahahaha!) and take a look at four upcoming horror games. Although I like horror games I’m a bit of a wuss when it comes to playing them as I slowly slog my way through them crapping myself before turning every corner. I have bad memories of stupidly playing Doom 3 in the dark, although I wasn’t as bad as this guy. Anyway, here’s a quick look at what you’ll be needing new underwear for in the coming months.

Left 4 Dead

Release date: November 21 (UK)

The people at Valve always put out amazing games (Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 anyone?) and Left 4 Dead seems like it’s shaping up to be no exception to this rule. The premise see’s you and three other players stuck in a city overrun by zombies and other strange monsters such as the obese ‘Boomer’ who, when it explodes, can cause massive damage to anyone in the immediate area. The objective is to escape, but you have to work as a team to do this and anyone who departs from this will find themselves quickly overrun by the games intelligent ‘director’ AI.

I’m really excited by this one, even if the fast zombies may seem horribly overwhelming at first. I’m not sure what version to get as my PC is not exactly stellar these days but, at the same time, I love the mod scene and one will inevitably grow up around this game. Check out this link for some footage from the Xbox360 version.

Resident Evil 5

Release date: March 13 2009 (UK)

If you haven’t heard of this one then your cave must go pretty deep, especially with all the controversy surrounding it. Fans of the series will recognise the return of Chris Redfield, this time thrown into infected Africa. The game will play similar to the control system used in Resident Evil 4 and, if that game is anything to go by, it will be just as perfect.

Resident Evil 4 showed us that you don’t need the usual shambling zombie to be scared stiff as the thinking one can be far more terrifying. I remember the beginning of the 4th installment when the villages break into the house you’re in and chase you upstairs. Getting trapped in an upstairs room with hordes of people chasing you is pretty scary, until you find the window - and then you realise that they’re climbing up on ladders. That’s not forgetting the chainsaw guy (who makes his return in this installment, along with a particularly intimidating guy with an axe) and the boat on the lake scene that may put you off water for life.

Thankfully you can also experience the terror with a friend as the game supports an online co-op mode.

Dead Space.

Release date: October 24 (UK)

It’s being called Bioshock in space but will it be anywhere near as good? Dead Space is EA’s attempt at creating a new horror IP and they’re doing a good job building up all the fiction around it, but that’s all well and good until the game turns out absolutely pants. Luckily it seems to be shaping up pretty well, and is also looking pretty terrifying!

The story takes place on the giant mining space ship the Ishimura, but the crew who made the distress call seem to have turned into horrific nightmares. Since the ship is stricken and no longer under control you’ll encounter parts of the ship devoid of gravity, which you have to navigate using your magnetic boots while putting up with mind bending ceiling-is-now-the-floor type puzzles like those seen in Prey.  Oh, and there’s also that small matter of the incredible amounts of gore.

If EA can pull this off then we may just have an excellent new horror series on our hands.

Silent Hill: Homecoming

Release date: November 20 (UK)

Like Resident Evil the Silent Hill franchise is still going strong and, as always, will probably turn out to be far more terrifying than the Resident Evil franchise (although the giant spiders still freak me out). Since the original the Silent Hill games have got progressively weirder and weirder and, quite frankly, I’ve lost all hope of understanding just what the hell is going on. I think the above picture pretty much just sums up my reaction to each new Silent Hill game, as I’m sure you’re all with me in thinking ‘what the hell is that??!?’.

Another person goes to Silent Hill in search of someone…yawn. Real-time wounds will show up on Alex, the protagonist, and the strange creatures that populate this town from hell, which I guess sounds pretty cool. This is combined with completely new enemy AI and physics that allow more realistic interaction with the environment, so bumping against an object can alert terrifying creatures to your position.

However, Team Silent (the developers behind most of the franchise) aren’t developing this installment so I’m a bit sceptical about how the new developers, The Collective, will be able to handle the constantly confusing storyline.

Ah, yes, Solid Snake, his aging version and the game that was always meant to be the Sony PS3’s killer app: Metal Gear Solid - Guns of the Patriots. The great finale to the vastly overrated Metal Gear series of games that started life on the MSX, moved to Nintendo’s Famicom, and ended up supporting the PlayStation. The first PS3 game to truly try and use all of the space provided by them Blu-Ray discs. A properly mainstream, all singing, all dancing, highly anticipated, major release. So, uhm, how is it?

Well, for starters it’s got a distinctly unattractive title and an obvious obsession with all things militaristic, but that you knew, didn’t you? Other than that, MGS4 seems (only played -and watched- it for a few hours mind you) like a fine -if flawed- game with some amazing production values. The graphics are fantastic, the soundtrack is okay and the plot decent enough for games of this sort. Gameplay-wise MGS4 is an enjoyable shooter/stealther with overcomplicated controls that’s constantly being interrupted by B-movie quality cutscenes; a fact that seems to have been ignored by most reviewers, who apparently loved the thing to death. Oh, and if you’re a fan of the series you absolutely have to grab it apparently. If not, but still want to see what Hideo Kojima is capable of, give the excellent and quite retro Snatcher a go.