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As some of you may be aware, I’m something of a Silent Hill fanatic. I know – it’s a weird thing to be fanatical about. It’s mean and moody and kinda disgusting and the storylines are often nothing short of grotesque, but there’s something about that FUBARed town that gets my pulse pumping … and it has very little to do with a certain dude and his pointy hat.

Well, good news for fellow fanatics, and those of you who may have missed out on early visits to that quiet little resort town. In what they say is a direct response to customer demand, Konami Europe are re-issuing a selection of the finest (read: most profitable) PS2 games, including the last three games of the SH franchise developed internally at Konami – Silent Hill 2, 3 and Silent Hill: The Room (SH4).

The original 1999 title Silent Hill has not been re-issued – though this is likely as a result of the much anticipated ‘reimaging’ of the original game, scheduled for a Wii and PSP release in October of this year.

“They are proper reissues,” a spokesperson said. “Konami has put them out at budget price because of demand. They are re-manufactured. They are ours. We’ve manufactured certain amounts depending on the title, and they’re being bought by wholesalers so will likely pop up in independent rather than chain stores.”

But that’s not all. Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are also scheduled for re-release. A full list of the re-issues – along with details on just why Konami may be doing this – follows the cut.

• Suikoden Tactics
• Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
• Silent Hill 2, 3, and 4

We’re told that pricing will follow traditional Greatest Hits guidelines, with games retailing anywhere between £10.00 and £20.00 GBP.

As for why now … well, it might be coincidence, but only this week we learned that profits for Konami’s ‘MGS4-less’ quarter is a staggering 94% down. According to GameSpot, across its gaming, arcade, health club, slot machine, and other businesses, the company posted revenues of ¥55.98 billion ($585 million), a 21% drop year-over-year. Konami still managed to turn a net profit for the quarter, but the reported ¥367 million ($3.83 million) represented a steep 94% drop from the previous year.

In the digital entertainment division – which includes “software, arcade units, and collectible trading cards like the Yu-Gi-Oh series”- sales were down more than 45% year-over-year, falling from ¥44.85 billion ($469 million) to ¥24.6 billion ($257 million). Konami’s best-selling genres were soccer (860,000 sold), games based on animated TV shows (300,000 sold) and baseball games (240,000 sold). By comparison, the publisher sold 3.94 million Metal Gear games worldwide in last year’s fiscal first quarter; this year’s number was 160k. You do the math.

Ever optimistic, a spokesperson said that Konami will “place particular focus on the development of animated games and original games in addition to sports and music games, which are Konami’s strengths.”

Source: GameSpot UK