For upcoming Silent Hill title Silent Hill: Homecoming, Konami had Western studio Foundation 9 do the developing duties. How does the original Japanese team feel about that? Series composer and producer Akira Yamaoka states:
Silent Hill's identity is that Japanese teams create the kind of horror that takes place in the U.S. I'm not saying this in a negative way, but Japanese people creating a story taking place in the U.S. was part of Silent Hill's identity. This time we worked with a Western development team, with Japanese members also involved, so it's not just Western developers making this by themselves. We are involved, too. So it's different from the past iterations of Silent Hill, but I think it is something new and very interesting.
Yamaoka goes on to say that half the Japanese team members are really into David Lynch (pictured) movies like The Elephant Man. The other half are into other movies, it seems. Good for them.
Yamaoka Interview [Gamasutra] [Pic]