"Castlevania the Adventure," Konami's 1989 Game Boy debut for their vampire hunter franchise, appears to be next in line for the company's ReBirth treatment. "Gradius ReBirth" and "Contra ReBirth" have already updated classic Konami properties with new looks as WiiWare downloads. Now, Simon Belmont will follow in their footsteps.

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by John Constantine

Konami knows which side its bread is buttered on. The Hideo Kojima side! Kojima Productions fourth project announced at Konami’s press conference is “Metal Gear Arcade”, a brand new cabinet amusement based on “Metal Gear Online”. The game is currently only set to release in Japan but Konami hopes to release the game worldwide.

The cabinets were only shown in an incredibly small picture, but Kojima said that they would be networked across the country and feature specialized controls to reproduce the “Metal Gear Online” experience. Not only that, but the cabinets will be equipped with specialized goggles because the game will be 3D. 3D like sci-fi movies in the 1950s, not like polygons. Neat!

by John Constantine

When Hideo Kojima walked on stage at Konami’s E3 press conference this afternoon, announcing that he was going to be showing off four games that Kojima Productions is working on, you could literally hear the crowd start holding their breath. They let out that breath as screams when the fourth game turned out to be ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’.

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The Kojima Productions website has been getting a lot of attention in the days leading up to E3. It all started with a stormy sky over an empty field, which resulted in the forums lighting up with ridiculous speculations on the shape of the clouds.

More recently, though, the site has been much more forthcoming, with a countdown clock (to the E3 announcement next week) and lightning strikes which reveal series of letters. And, after the letters have rolled, we get a very clear look at this handsome gentleman:

Wow, he sure looks familiar! If I didn't know better I'd say that's Big Boss, Solid Snake's poppa. But, in a recent interview with Famitsu, Kojima has said it may not be the case, saying that he wears his [censored] different. Yes, the interview is infuriatingly censored, keeping the juiciest bits a secret until next week.

Personally I'd love to see a return to the 'Metal Gear Solid 3' style of gameplay, which emphasized stealth over straight-up action and had a clear-cut, easy-to-understand storyline.

To complicate matters, though, recent scans of the Famitsu interview revealed a character who looked a heck of a lot like Raiden, albeit with a bandana over his left eye. Oh, and his eyes are brown, not blue. Who could it be? The return of Gray Fox? Intriguing to say the least!

Thankfully next week will put most of the speculation to rest. We'll be reporting live from E3, so be sure to check back and we'll have all the juiciest 'Metal Gear' news you can stomach.