100w ago - Today Sound Director and Chief Creative Officer Akira Yamaoka at Grasshopper Manufacture has revealed the audio influences for Shadows of the Damned on PS3.

To quote: Greetings fellow demon hunters! I'm the Sound Director and Chief Creative Officer at Grasshopper Manufacture.

Some people may know me from my work on the Silent Hill series, but today I'm here to talk about our latest game -- Shadows of the Damned, out now on the PS3.

Music plays an incredibly important role in setting the atmosphere for games, and it's especially vital in an action-horror game like Shadows of the Damned.

When scoring Damned, I tried to imagine tracks that would bring Hell to life for the player and the lead character Garcia. Designing music isn't always the most transparent task, so in this blog post I want to explain my thoughts behind the creation of a few tracks included in the pre-order bonus soundtrack.

Broken Dreams

You could say I created this track to be the title song for Shadows of the Damned. Originally, I had planned to make it a duet, as sort of a theme for the two lovers: Garcia and Paula. I wanted to match the heavy, aggressive sound to the game world with Paula and Garcia at the center.

I never thought that the game's...

100w ago - Electronic Arts Senior Producer Steve Matulac has announced that Shadows of the Damned: A New Vision of Hell hits PS3 today.

To quote: In my 20 years in the industry, I have never had an experience like the one working on Shadows of the Damned.

First off, I spent the majority of last year living in Japan and onsite with the developer; Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture. It was a great experience living in Tokyo and working alongside the great team at Grasshopper Manufacture.

The concept of light and dark as a metaphor for good and evil is an old one, but the Light and Dark gameplay in Shadows of the Damned takes it to a whole new level. It is less literal, but rather metaphorical, in the pain and torment that is caused to our hero.

As for gameplay, the player should not take the approach of "shoot anything that moves". Each environment and enemy will require a thoughtful approach in order to progress. Usually, darkness is lethal to the player, but sometimes may be required in order to expose an enemy's weakness.

Each situation is different and the player must build upon the earlier concepts encountered in order to defeat the tougher enemies deeper in the game. Shadows of the Damned is the thinking...