Foundation 9 buries Harker

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Apr 22, 2008 11:10 am PT

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

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