Former Konami music composer and game producer Akira Yamaoka — best known for his work on the Silent Hill series — has joined Goichi Suda’s (aka Suda51) Grasshopper Manufacture. The extremely tall Kevin Gifford reported the news at 1Up and provided some fine translation from a recent Famitsu article. Here are Suda51’s thoughts on Yamaoka:
I really love Yamaoka. Ever since I saw a video of Silent Hill 2 at the Tokyo Game Show nine years ago, I’ve always dreamed of working alongside him. That’s why I thought I’d invite him over when I started hearing rumors that he left [Konami].
Yamaoka’s first project will be composing music for game being designed by Suda51 and former Capcom ace Shinji Mikami. That’s one hell of a dream team! The unannounced title will be published by Electronic Arts and is sure to make millions of otaku wet themselves.
Seriously though, this is fantastic news. I’m a huge fan of Yamaoka as an artist and as a person. It’s brilliant that he’s teaming up with other powerhouse creators.
