Long time Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka left Konami not so long ago to join Grasshopper Manufacture, led by Goichi "Suda51" Suda. In an interview with Gamasutra he revealed some of his motivation behind the move:
"Grasshopper is one of those Japanese companies that make very original games, even by global standards -- games with a lot of originality. Their games always have a very unique world view, and with the sort of toolset I had in the fields of music and audio, I thought I'd be able to contribute to what they're doing in a really constructive way. That was what inspired me."
Lately quite a few Japanese game music composer have opted to go freelance, but Yamaoka chose a different path:
"I want to be more closely involved with game development, to use my audio skills as a tool to improve the whole project. That's what I'm after," he told Gamasutra.
The first project Akira Yamaoka will work on at Grasshopper is a horror game currently in development with Goichi Suda and Shinji Mikami heading up the project that is to be published by EA Partners.
For the full interview with Akira Yamaoka head over to Gamasutra.