Foundation 9 buries Harker

Double Helix-developed vampire-slaying action game put on indefinite hiatus as team shifts development focus to Konami's Silent Hill: Homecoming.

Earlier today, Konami unearthed details on the fifth installment in its long-running survival horror series, Silent Hill. Formerly announced as Silent Hill V at Konami's whirlwind E3 Media and Business Summit press conference last year, the game has been renamed Silent Hill: Homecoming, and will arrive for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation this September--in Europe at least.

Developed by Foundation 9's Double Helix outfit, Silent Hill: Homecoming has apparently had a garliclike effect on the studio's other supernatural horror game, Harker. GameSpot has confirmed with Foundation 9 that the Bram Stoker-inspired vampire-slaying action game has been put on permanent hiatus.

"The best way to put it is that the Harker team rolled into the Silent Hill V team," a Foundation 9 representative told GameSpot. "Frequently, when you pitch original IP, a publisher sees your vision and says, 'You know, we don't quite want X, but could you do Z?' So, it's not like Harker was rolling along and killed; it's more like the team simply started doing something else, directly in the same vein (no pun intended!)."

As to whether the team would return to Harker once development had wrapped on Silent Hill: Homecoming, the Foundation 9 rep said that while it is possible, the publisher is still weighing its options.

Announced for "next-generation consoles" at the tail end of 2006, Double Helix's--nee The Collective's--Harker paints Stoker's famous vampire slayer in a more brutal light, giving him a bevy of weapons to make with the night-dweller killing. It had been slated to arrive in 2008.

45 Comments

  • ahm85

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:07 pm PT

    I want this on PC .. my favorite platform

  • brokeirishman

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 7:53 am PT

    WHAT THE F***, MAN!!! I know you've got a good thing rolling with the Silent Hill series, but seriously!!!! This is why all we have is re-hashed sequels and cheap knock-offs: no one wants to put any thought and effort and in original IPs and take some chances any more. This blows....

  • gaziantep_spor

    Posted Dec 4, 2008 4:56 am PT

    F**K man I wanted this game, it looked so sick

  • dynomitemasta

    Posted Oct 20, 2008 10:47 am PT

    so they killed Harker for Silent Hill: Homecoming? Maybe it's good because honestly, SH5 is the weakest of the long series, even Origins is better as well as the ill received SH4.
    I was really looking forward to this game, what a shame. THere are NO good Vampire games out, the PS1 had a few point and click adventures. Man, this stinks.

  • Sam_Redfield

    Posted Aug 10, 2008 4:48 pm PT

    god dame why there is no news or trailers about it on e3??

  • king_loei

    Posted Jun 16, 2008 7:01 pm PT

    This looked pretty cool...

  • HummaKavula

    Posted May 5, 2008 12:02 am PT

    Harker actually looked more appealing than Silent Hill 5.

  • Filaki

    Posted Apr 25, 2008 2:45 am PT

    darn. was looking forward to this

  • Talgrath

    Posted Apr 24, 2008 3:11 pm PT

    Harker looked a hell of a lot better than Silent Hill V...this sucks.

  • brianpoetzel

    Posted Apr 24, 2008 1:16 pm PT

    Awwww. I was looking forward to this one... :-(

  • MrOrmond

    Posted Apr 24, 2008 2:47 am PT

    Wait, so we lost a decent looking vampire hunter game... to franchising? All too familiar.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 8:53 pm PT

    I'm kinda iffy about this game right now. I'm looking forward to it in some respects since the American company that's developing this sequel is putting more emphasis on combat mechanics, which was never a strong point in previous games. Then again, this is a game that's being developed by Fountain 9, which is a merged company made up of Collective and Backbone Entertainment studios. As far as Backbone Entertainment is concerned, they've only just made portable handheld games for the DS & PSP and a couple XBLA & PSN games, and not very notable ones at that. Collective studios has also made some love/hate games like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Indiana Jones: Emperor's Tomb, Marc Ecko's Getting Up, Da Vinci Code, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen... and though I really loved Marc Ecko's Getting Up, I'm not looking forward to putting up with the amount of bugs that have plagued their games. But who knows, maybe this will be awesome, I guess we'll have to wait and see. At least it's still slated for a 2008 release.

  • dragonbreathrw

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 3:23 pm PT

    http://www.petitiononline.com/talyn/petition.html



    There, it's done. Anyone who doesn't want Harker to fail, sign this.

  • dragonbreathrw

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 3:10 pm PT

    Having more diversity on the "next gen" Silent Hill is fantastic, especially considering the gripes that were across the board for Origins and the lackluster port of Origins. From what I saw of gameplay, Harker looked pretty solid, and having that team on the SHV team is not bad. However we could always start up a petition. Strong enough public outcry stopped Wal-Mart from suing that employee who needed the medical assistance, and strong enough outcry from the public could bring back Harker after SHV is completed.

  • okassar

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 11:47 am PT

    Silent Hill is awesome!!!!!!Especially now with better graphics,it'll be better than ever.

  • sidious

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 10:54 am PT

    I hate it when this happens. Harker looked good. I know that it may not have met its full potential, and it had been in developement for ever. But still, I liked the concept. I'm not a big Silent Hill fan, but I'm sure those who are will be excited.

  • jknight5422

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 10:34 am PT

    Out with the old vaporware and in with the new.

  • Priest57

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 8:14 am PT

    I was looking forward to "Harker", too bad it's postponed, but Silent Hill V should be all that much better with more attention to its development.

  • LordAndrew

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 7:01 am PT

    Dammit! Harker sounded interesting.

  • Icy_Wolf

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 4:45 am PT

    *sniff
    I was so looking forward to slaying some vamps, and Harker's screens were pretty sweet
    Another SH game...yay, whatever.
    Sigh

  • pourya_ahmadian

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 12:48 am PT

    yah,someway;but what is about game?

  • abw1977

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 9:29 pm PT

    Damn Harker looked awesome...

  • ThickFreak

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 6:54 pm PT

    Ahhhhh.... I was lookking forward to this game!

  • Kratos1235

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 5:54 pm PT

    Shoot! Harker looked really cool, but i guess I can only hope that they finish it up after Silent Hill V

  • BigSmitts07

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 5:37 pm PT

    sequels sequels sequels....

  • liesandpies

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 5:03 pm PT

    I had like half a dozen friends messaging me on xbl about this.

  • Tr3vz

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 4:58 pm PT

    plz continue harker

  • GodsPoison

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 4:00 pm PT

    Awwwww, i wanted to play that game too. but i suppose i can settle for SH5 and hope they get back to harker.

  • redskinStu

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 3:47 pm PT

    Too bad. It sounds like it could have been a good game.

  • peacenutman

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 3:14 pm PT

    As much as I love Silent Hill, its not the same team making it anymore. The team who made original 1 2 and 3 are making Siren 2 for PS3.

  • EnderSR388

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 3:12 pm PT

    So instead of giving us possible something fresh and original, we get the same Silent Hill tripe we've been playing for years. Great, can't wait. Well, maybe it's better, we might have ended up with another Van Helsing (the crappy movie game from VU).

  • mykel77

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 3:04 pm PT

    awwwwww, i was really looking forward to this game, buffy was fantastic. Saw this coming with the merger and there have been no updates on harker. development must not have been coming along well. Silent Hill Homecoming is a great trade off though.

  • Avenger1324

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:40 pm PT

    I'd much rather see new IP emerging than a fifth game in pretty much any series. The Harker video in zeke2040's profile looked good

  • Warchief_Zuljin

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:34 pm PT

    Anyone remember when games that didn't have "Final Fantasy" "Grand Theft Auto" "Halo" "Metal Gear Solid" "Silent Hill" or "Resident Evil" came out? You know, something original.

    Oh yeah, jbot666, the vampires in 30 Days of Night were nothing more than dogs. I couldn't stop laughing whenever they mauled someone to death.

  • polsci1503

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:34 pm PT

    That's too bad... I have been tracking this game since it was annouced. I liked The Collective's Buffy games so I thought this had promise. Doubt we'll ever see the game now.

  • holenjd

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:29 pm PT

    Honestly, while Harker looks great, I LOVE Silent Hill. I even really dug the movie other than the ending. So as long as I have my Silent Hill, I can wait for Harker.

  • litafan4ever

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:24 pm PT

    this game looked awsome...too bad we're getting yet another rehash of the same old Silent Hill we've played dozens of times before...sad part is I'm not surprised.

  • Artemis_D

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:09 pm PT

    This is crap. I was really looking foward to this game. We're blowing off an original IP for ANOTHER bloody Silent Hill game? ANOTHER? Christ...

  • CooVee

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:05 pm PT

    Oh yeah I forgot all about Harker. Shame, the game looked pretty awesome as well.

  • haesuse

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 12:42 pm PT

    yeah i agree with zeke2040. it would have been nice to see a new horror IP. It really has come down to same 3-4 franchises late. Yes, there are a few games on the horizon, but none of them look to be a direct threat to the big 3 of the survival horror. Oh well, hopefully they'll end SH fracnhise here, to be hoenst i havent even touched 4, and barely played 3. just got tired of it!

  • jbot666

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 11:40 am PT

    Vampires are boring anyway except in 30 Days of Night

  • zeke2040

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 11:34 am PT

    i have a preview of harker on my profile check it out.. i would prefer harker , cause its different fresh, and it look bloody great... i cant stand the slient hill game, after 1-4 game i so gave up on it... the first two was the best of silent hills games... well if you go to my profle, check out the second page for the video of Harker the game... enjoy you guys

  • Amnesiac23

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 11:31 am PT

    This kind of sucks because I was looking forward to seeing how this game would have turned out. But Silent Hill is more important in my book so I guess its alright. I just hope they don't screw up Silent Hill....

  • Lord-Viru

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 11:25 am PT

    Shame, never heardof Harker before this but from what I read it sounds like a good idea,as S cynt says, when Silent Hill V is released perhaps they'll restart the game.

  • Scynt

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 11:19 am PT

    This is very disappointing news. It is always very sad to see new, original ideas shot down before they get a chance to sell to the public. I was really looking forward to this game, it looked like it had great potential. Hopefully it will pick back up on development after Silent Hill 5 comes out.

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