But this time there are no references to movies....
COSPA STORE
COSPA Inc. is one of the top manufacturers of character apparel, goods and costumes from anime, manga and games in Japan. We own several brands: COSPA, Nijigen COSPA, Resinya!, COSPATIO and TranTrip. Each has a unique brand concept. We were established in 1995 and have created the character goods market for everyone who loves character apparel, goods and costumes. Our goal is to share and maximize fun by creating new trends for character apparel as communication tools. Our policy is to produce only approved and properly licensed merchandise that brings original creators' passions.
THINGS AND STUFF
There is a store in the game called THINGS AND STUFF located in (ALTERNATE RESORT AREA), this store exists in real life and is located at Garden City NY the exact addres is: 186 7th Street, Garden City, NY (you can look at google maps)
The store in the game has the same logo, and the facade is almost identical:
IT´LL DO CLUB DANCING
This sign is located in ALTERNATE RESORT AREA on SANDFORD St. next to the THINGS AND STUFF store.
It´ll do Club Dancing Was quite a place in the 50's and 60's.
Located near Tennyson Park in east Dallas. Dancing and mingling in the evenings. There is a interesting story that during the day it was a hang out for "pressure cooker" wives. They shopped, drank and socialized most of the day- then ran home and threw dinner in the pressure cooker so they would have it on the table for hubby when he got home.
BOWL FREEWAY LANES
This sign is located in RESORT AREA on SANDFORD St.
Freeway Lanes offers the best bowling experience in the Cleveland area. With locations in Mentor, Parma, Solon, Wickliffe and Warren, you'll find over 250 lanes, high definition screens, outdoor patios, restaurants with full-service bars and live entertainment.
BETTS BIG T (Service & Grill)
In RESORT AREA on one side of Bachman Rd. there is a sign with the name:
BETTS BIG T (SERVICE & GRILL) is the name of a restaurant in Chiefland Florida ( 2525 N Young Blvd Chiefland, FL 32626 )
40 MOTEL
This sign is located in RESORT AREA on BACHMAN Rd. in front of JUDE´S DINER.
A reference from a Motel located in Columbus Ohio ( 3705 W. Broad St. Columbus, Ohio Rt. 40 West)
HECTOR SAXE
Hector Saxe is a Paris based seller of board games and related accessories French company, designer and manufacturer of Backgammon since 1978. Hector Saxe of Paris produces a collection of backgammon sets that are second to none. Using the finest faux leathers, real leather, and other high quality fabrics, these beautiful backgammon sets are the ultimate! Each backgammon set includes 30 chips, 2 dice cups, 2 sets of matching dice, doubling cube, and cloth drawstring back to storing and protecting your backgammon. As much art as game!
A MOVEABLE FEAST
A Moveable Feast is a set of memoirs by American author Ernest Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) about his years in Paris as part of the American expatriate circle of writers in the 1920s. The book describes Hemingway's apprenticeship as a young writer in Europe (especially in Paris) during the 1920s with his first wife, Hadley. Some of the later prominent people who are featured in his memoirs include Aleister Crowley, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Madox Ford, Hilaire Belloc, Pascin, John Dos Passos, Wyndham Lewis, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein.
ELKS BINGO
This sign is located in RESORT AREA on BACHMAN Rd. in front of JUDE´S DINER.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868. It is one of the leading fraternal orders in the U.S., claiming nearly one million members
COMTEMPO CASUALS STORE
Contempo Casuals, aka Contempo was originally launched in the 1960s by the, believe or not Neiman Marcus Group, then later sold off to Wet Seal, a clothing store formed in Newport Beach California. Wet Seal was a young women's clothing retailer headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California which also added the clothing store Arden B. to their list. While Wet Seal mostly maintains clothing for teenage girls, Arden B. targets the urban girl or career styles.
Contempo carried moderately priced brand name and company-designed apparel along with accessories that created and induced many of the trendy fashions we now love so much on the vintage sites. Mainly from the 70s through the early 90s. They hit their triumph of fashion in the 1980s . They exposed and created the path for the avant guarde designer. They sold to their funky, chic,sexy,whistle wearers. The girls who dared to be different could find clothes at reasonable prices that would challenge mainstream dullness.
THE TEXTURE BELOW WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE CD AND WAS NOT USED IN THE FINAL GAME, THE FINAL TEXTURE IS CONTRASTS CASUALS STORE.
Wow, that's actually pretty cool. I was not aware of most of these. How did you manage to figure all of that out? It's crazy how some of these signs and logos are almost exact replicas of ones in real life, I figured most of the stores in the game were just generic names they made up.
"Fault always lies in the same place, my fine babies: with him weak enough to lay blame."
"The lies and the mist are not they but I. You all know that I am One. Yes, and the One is I."
I didn't know there were this many "readable" signs in the game When I play it, I can't even make most of the signs out. But I guess I just missed those in the dark. Good job.
Either that, or are you secretly someone who worked on the game and that's how you know all this stuff so well? Edit: nevermind, it seems you didn't, based on your profile. Still, this research you've done is really cool.
So... Do you think the developers have actually seen all those places or they just picked random bussinesses from random phone guides in order to create the town??
I don't think these locations were picked at random. They all have that sort of old-school, small town charm to them.
Nice to see something from my area, though (Columbus, Ohio). Very, very cool.
"Are you goin' to Hell or Heaven? Did you walk with the sinners, or pray with the reverend? Tell the truth, I did a little of both, but ain't no tellin' where I'm goin' 'til my body's a ghost."
Now I Know, The Real Reason Why I Came To This Town....I Wonder....What Was I Afraid Of? Without You..I've Got Nothing...Now, We Can Be Together Again.....Mary.....
VENDING MACHINE
The Soda machine in the hospital is a clear reference from the DIXIE NARCO vending machines company, model ¨501 T¨,
has the same design with different colors.
Haoie wrote:Some of these are surely just coincidence. Especially store names.
The only one I think could be a coincidence would be Julio's Auto Parts because all the others not only have the same names, but same fonts, designs, and logos. There are far too many similarities for many of them to just be coincidence. Either way, someone was copying from someone.
o.o How does one go about finding all this, it's AMAZING!
Cry baby, cry baby, cry,<3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_DW9xJTX-4 I love the Silent Hill Series. The games: Homecoming, Origins, and Shattered Memories, did nothing wrong whatsoever, they were developed well, and did things different. Just because they were not by Team Silent doesn't mean that they're bad games. I believe in this series. I believe that one day, we can have a game that will make all Silent Hill fans Happy. I believe that Silent Hill Downpour can achieve this.
Team Silent may be gone, but their series isn't. Instead... it's here, it's alive.
If you agree, add it to your sig.
When I play it, I can't even make most of the signs out. 
But I guess I just missed those in the dark. Good job.
