Well the embargo for Downpour has lifted and the reviews are rolling it! Here are just some of the reviews I found so far and as I find more I will continue to update this post!

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We finally have a clear look at cover created by Masahiro Ito! Tell you the truth I’m pretty disappointed and I’m not fond of this cover at all. I much prefer the US and PAL ones… I think what bothers me most about is how the game logo is just slapped on there. It’s not integrated with the artwork at all. The cover should have stuck with the text only logo like the US and PAL covers did. I find the logo with the town background really takes away from the impact of the artwork and over all it looks way out of place. I’m not really digging the subject matter of this cover either as I’m getting neither a Silent Hill or much of a water feel from the screaming and slightly distorted person.

What do you guys think?

UPDATE
Thanks to Alchemist pointing out in the comments that this is actually a Korean cover using Ito’s artwork. It was late and I just assumed it was the Japanese one lol. I updated the title

Source (SH Wikia) Thanks Silent Haven!

Daniel Licht’s Downpour soundtrack is a different beast from Akira Yamaoka’s previous Silent Hill scores. If you were hoping Licht would be Akira 2.0, blindly copying Yamaoka’s style and calling it a day you will be sorely disappointed. Instead, Licht an accomplished composer of his own right, blazes his own trail with Downpour’s soundtrack and the result is nothing like what we’ve heard before in a Silent Hill game.
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UK retailer Zavvi.com has an awesome Pre-Order bonus for ordering Silent Hill Downpour and HD Collection a Toluca Lake T-Shirt! How adorable is that? I’m happy to see there’s cool swag to be had for UK Silent Hill fans!

Order Silent Hill Downpour: Xbox 360 | Playstation 3

Order Silent Hill HD Collection: Xbox 360 | Playstation 3

Now for some more great news we have official word from Konami on FB that Downpour is scheduled for a March 29 release. I hope we will get some sort of official press release soon.

Source (Zavvi.com | Konami FB) Thanks David for all this info!

French Xbox achievement list site, Succesfull, has uploaded all the achievements in Silent Hill HD and Downpour. I didn’t look at Downpour’s list in fear of spoilers but I just want to point out that I love the Sailor Moon reference in Silent Hill 3′s “Princess Heart” costume achievement: “Where’s Luna?”

Silent Hill HD Collection
http://www.succesfull.fr/index.php?option=com_succesfull&Itemid=6&l=en&JeuID=1530

Silent Hill Downpour
http://www.succesfull.fr/index.php?option=com_succesfull&Itemid=6&l=en&JeuID=1529

Source (succesfull.fr) Thanks to Merzitar for bringing this to my attention on the SHHS FB wall!

About a week until Downpour’s release here in the States and there hasn’t been much of any promotion for the game (well there are a few flash ad banners up at IGN now).

It’s rather disappointing, in fact many fans believe Konami failure to do any sort of promotion will lead to Downpour being a commercial flop. Which is a real shame

With that said I’m pretty jealous of the hype building in Mexico for Downpour’s release! Right now Mexican game retailer Game Planet is hosting a big Silent Hill shindig in celebration of Downpour’s release! They are giving away 20 passes to a screening of the 2006 Silent Hill movie at Coyote Autocinema (with free popcorn and drinks!) with a chance to win a Playstation Vita and Book of Memories for the best Silent Hill costume!

All you need to do is pre-order Downpour, like Game Planet of Facebook, follow them on twitter and answer three easy trivia questions… though the third one is not a real SILENT HILL trivia question!

The third trivia question asks what real life town was inspiration for Silent Hill. The movie version of Silent Hill was based off Centralia, Pennsylvaia which I believe is the answer they are looking for…HOWEVER if we are referring to the games Silent Hill was not based on a real town. Well if you want to get technical the look of the town in Silent Hill 2 and 3 was modeled off of real streets and shops from Bruno, CA and there’s a real Lake Toluca in Southern California…so I guess that counts? But I doubt Game Planet is looking for that answer!

Anyway! If you live in Mexico and want to get in on this awesome promotion you got to get a move on! Deadline for entries is March 9th! Also if any of you guys go I would love to hear how it went!

Source (Gameplanet) Thanks Erick Lopez for the heads up/translation and Yowulf for the additional translation!

Dean over in Greece stumbled on some cool Downpour Pre-Order bonuses today and sent them my way:

Seven Spots – Says Downpour is Releasing March 16 and offers a Downpour T-Shirt with Pre-order
http://www.sevenspot.gr/gr/GamesInner/9152cafbc91c8f89decd218085bba8fc/548-28443.html

Plaisio – Says Downpour is Releasing March 09 and offers a Downpour T-Shirt with Pre-order
http://www.plaisio.gr/Gaming/Games/XBOX-360/Konami-Silent-Hill-Downpour-XBOX360-1-19-07-08-003.htm

Public Says Downpour is Releasing March 30 and offers no sort of Pre-Order Bonus…

http://www.public.gr/prod/gaming/games/ps3-games/silent-hill:-downpour-ps3-games/prod1760019pp/

Source (Seven Spots|Plaisio|Public) Thanks so much Dean for the heads up and the translations!

Milan Records haas put up another full track from Daniel Licht’s Downpour score!

Source (Milan Records Soundcloud)

Amazon has 30 sec previews of each song on Downpour’s soundtrack up on the site! What are you waiting for go check it out!

Downpour soundtrack on Amazon

Source (Amazon) Thanks Cj and David for the heads up!

Hell Descent forum poster Twoback spotted these game display cases in a GAME retail store today! I can’t believe the release days are almost here.

Sure this is not much in the way of news but I thought it was neat to finally see the back of the EU box art! I got to say I find it funny that back art of the HD Collection is just filled with Silent Hill 2 concept art and screens. No love for Silent Hill 3 Konami marketing eh?

So far there’s still no official word on the Konami Europe website about Downpour release date outside of March 2012 but the HD Collection is still listed as a March 16, 2012 release. I have a feeling though that with the confirmation of HD Collection delay in the US that the release date will most likely change.

Twoback unfortunately had no luck getting any info from the GAME employees:

Source (Hell Descent)