Guy Cihi (original VA for James) decided to sign a rights waiver to allow his voice work to be used in the upcoming HD collection so now the original voicework will be an option if you're not a fan of the new voices.

He signed that ages ago, but have Konami announced that they'll include it on the disc?

Oh really? So that's good. Glad that whole thing is behind us and we can all move on.

@TeflonBilly said:

He signed that ages ago, but have Konami announced that they'll include it on the disc?

He just signed it today, with all of the other original VAs and they were working with Konami USA to do it. The original VA will definitely be available.

Yeah, this was just made a done deal today.  This was being worked on for a while for the express purpose of including the original voicework for the fans who wanted it.

This is the best thing.

@DiscoDuck8k said:

I'm assuming that means the same for SH3 as well. This makes me happy.

They need to get the SH3 VAs to sign the same waivers. Claudia's VA already did because she was in SH2 as well, but as far as I know Heather hasn't been approached yet and the VA for Douglas is dead so I'm not sure what they'll do there.

Is the voice acting good or do people just want it for purity's sake?

@Pie said:

Is the voice acting good or do people just want it for purity's sake?

It's kind of awkward and some of it isn't too great, but it's interesting and kind of fits Silent Hill 2 really well. For purity's sake it's nice to have it, but I also really enjoy some of the original work - Maria and James especially.

James' voice work in Silent Hill 2 is about as good as the combat is in Silent Hill 4. But I respect the stupid opinions of people who were getting worked up about them changing that. I know if they don't get Heather's original VA for 3, then they just lost a sale to me. I will be in just as big of a fanboy rage, so I at least see where people are coming from on that even though I regard James' performance on the same level as the Resident Evil 1 voice work, albeit with considerably less camp and charm. We all have the way we want to hear our favorite characters talk.

@benjaebe said:

@TeflonBilly said:

He signed that ages ago, but have Konami announced that they'll include it on the disc?

He just signed it today, with all of the other original VAs and they were working with Konami USA to do it. The original VA will definitely be available.

Really? i could've sworn he wrote some blog about how he hadn't even been approached by Konami about the SH2 re-release and had signed away any liability for them to pay him for the work. Or maybe it was just that he was willing to waiver it for the fans. My mind's kinda derpy.

Anyhoo, I just really want this.