Gamertell

The first next-gen Silent Hill game has been officially announced, dated and named. Silent Hill: Homecoming, the sixth Silent Hill title, will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in September, 2008. It stars an all new character, Alex Shepherd, who returns home to search for his brother, who has disappeared.

Interestingly enough, that September, 2008 release estimate applies not only to North America, but Europe as well. First The World Ends with You gets to Europeans before Americans, and now Europeans will most likely get Silent Hill: Homecoming at the same time as Americans. It looks like both Konami and Square Enix want to show that they appreciate European gamers.

I’m hoping this is indicative of a new trend concerning release dates. It always seemed not only unfair, but a bit strange that Europeans would have to wait obscene amounts of times to play games. Look at Capcom’s Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney or Natsume’s Rune Factory. Americans received Apollo Justice in February, 2008, yet Europeans still haven’t had the pleasure of engaging in Apollo’s courtroom antics since their version has a May, 2008 release date. Rune Factory‘s tale is even sadder. While Americans were able to play back in August, 2007, Europeans received the game a year later in September, 2008.

Let’s shoot for worldwide release dates publishers! It not only will make your fans happy, but it would probably help reduce game piracy as well. I’m sure quite a few video game pirates are frustrated Europeans who want the chance to try a game that won’t be released in their country for possibly weeks, months or years. In the meantime - kudos to Konami and Square Enix for considering their European customers.

Read [GamesIndustry.biz] Via [Joystiq] Site [Konami]