The Castlevania series has been bringing scares and hardcore action-platforming to gamers since 1986, but most of the 3D entries have pretty much sucked. The newest entry to the franchise, Lords of Shadow, seems to be heading in the right direction though.
The game itself was announced at E309 with some impressive trailers following in its wake, not to mention a cast of with some serious acting talent on their backs like Robert Carlyle, Patrick Stewart and Natascha McElhone.
In an interview with VG247, the game’s producer Dave Cox revealed some interesting new things about the upcoming game, one of them being the return of some very well known secondary weapons.
So it’s happened again: an anticipated title has gotten possessed by the dreaded delay ghost, and this time it’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. This was announced in a statement issued by Konami over the weekend. The delay has come as a surprise after both retail posters for the game had been printed, and the promotional site for the game was launched mere days ago.
“Unfortunately, we require more time in order to make the final adjustments and it is with the greatest regret that we have decided to change the release date for this product.
We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may cause customers who have already placed orders for this product or who are eagerly awaiting its release, as well as other concerned parties.”
The game’s producer, Hideo Kojima, is less than pleased with the game’s delay, as announced in Kojima Productions own blog:
“I always preach to the staff, ‘You must not have a delay after a release date has been announced. There is no greater crime as a game developer.’ Official announcement of a release date is nothing less than a promise to fans and business partners. In other words, a release date change is like betraying the expectations of everyone.”
Konami has recently announced release dates for the upcoming PSP exclusive – Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Japan – March 18th 2010
North America – May 25th 2010
Europe – May 28th 2010
Still no word on that rumoured English Peace Walker Demo though.
According to an article over on Aeropause, famous Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka has left Konami, after 16 of working for the developer. Yamaoka has left the company entirely, rather than simply move to another division.
Konami has yet to confirm the story, so for now this is mere rumour, but Aeropause calls it “a pretty reliable source”.
I know of a lot of gamers who will cry out in infamy once they hear this news. The Silent Hill games won’t really be the same without that distinctive Akira Yamaoka sound. It is currently unknown what the composer will be doing now that his partnership with Konami has ended.
At TGS 2009 Kojima Productions released two different demos of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. One was available for all at sites such as IGN, and another exclusive to Konami’s TGS 09 show room floor.
This new demo is said to contain the missing level from the downloadable demo, aswell as extras. Some of these extras are;
New control scheme
A third control scheme is said to be “unlockable”. Unlock a control scheme? Seriously?
New enhanced AI
Many people will agree that the Peace Walker AI had its glitches. Such as standing right in front of a guy, and not being seen. Aswell as standing behind, holding them up, and getting caught.
Mountain Level
The missing level from the downloadable demo will be available.
When will the demo be available? November 1st. Less then a week away. You will be able to get it on the Japanese PlayStation Store, and from the Peace Walker Official Site. No word on if this will contain atleast English subtitles, or will be all-Japanese.
Source: Metal Gear Solid: News
How on Earth did I let this one run past me? Last week, Hideo Kojima promised us the long awaited return of a franchise many have been clamouring for while Kojima himself has been hard at work on the Metal Gear Solid Games. I’m talking, of course, about Zone of the Enders.
According to Kojima’s blog, the feedback from the announcement was “greater than [he'd] expected. The biggest surprise, however, was the reaction from various Konami staff. People eager to work with Kojima have been catching up to him in elevators and around the office, begging to be a part of the game’s development.
Kojima promises the sequel will happen, but tells everyone to be patient and “wait a little more”. Personally I think it’s wonderful to see Kojima spend time on something else than Metal Gear Solid.
Chatting to Famitsu recently, Kojima explained his “support” role in the involvement of the new next-gen Castlevania, and discusses the reasons for some of the decisions behind the game’s design process.
“Kojima Productions is playing more of a support role,” Kojima told to Famitsu. “Castlevania is one of Konami’s most important brands, one that’s seen many releases since the original, and they’ve all been received warmly, but there’s never been a Castlevania created to really satisfy Western gamers. People like Dave were influenced by Castlevania to become game designers, and now they’re making titles like God of War.
According to Kotaku, Konami, masters of announcing announcements, have done it again. They say they’re going to be announcing things for MGS4 all week.
They also say that the announcements will be exciting and involve ‘game updates and other highly anticipated announcements’.
I can almost see my reflection looking back at me from some trophies. That could just be wishful thinking though – the trophies, not my reflection. God no.
We almost forgot to mention: MGS4 1 year anniversary means boobies.
The Konami press conference was naturally going to be an interesting one, simply due to the universal love for Hideo Kojima, and the hope that we would hear more about the previously announced Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. There was also hope that we would find out about the mysterious MASK project, which had unsurprisingly fell under the radar with the Metal Gear hype machine chugging away.
The press conference started a bit late due to the number of press in attendance. People had spotted Kojima about so the general feeling was that it was to be a good conference. After a brief montage of what we were going to see today (which included stuff we had seen before, but also some new releases), the Executive Vice President of Konami came up on stage.
During Konami’s press conference at E3, Hideo Kojima took the stage to talk about some of his upcoming games. Obviously Metal Gear Solid was a huge part of the update, but a few surprises were in store as well.
First off it seems Metal Gear Solid Rising isn’t going to be Xbox 360 exclusive as it was initially assumed. Kojima said Rising is for next-gen consoles, meaning 360, PC and PS3. MGS Peace Walker was also mentioned, but nothing new other than what we saw at Sony’s press conference. Kojima wrote the entire game himself and the MGS4 team is heavily involved in the creation of the PSP exclusive.
Metal Gear Solid Arcade was announced and is being built on the PS3 engine. The game will come with special 3D goggles and features an online component so gamers can compete across arcades. Seeing as arcades aren’t as big in the West as in Japan, it’ll be interesting to see if it will even make it to our neck of the world.
Finally, Hideo Kojima’s “mask game” was revealed, and I am definitely excited about this one. A debut trailer narrated by none other than Patrick Stewart showed off Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. The trailer was full of incredible fights, huge bosses and gothic locations. Lords of Shadow is a re-imagining that’s not connected to the other games in the franchise. LoS tells the story of Gabriel, voiced by Robert Carlyle, who’s looking for “revenge and retribution”. According to Kojima, Konami found that the world audience “demands bloodthirsty action with men that wield crucifix-whips”. Could this be one of the few good 3D Castlevania games?
Lords of Shadow is being released 2010 for PS3 and Xbox 360.
[UPDATE JUNE 1ST] The official teaser site has updated again, this time revealing a clear sky and calm weather. The countdown clock is at 13 hours and counting…
Speaking to Develop, gaming legend Hideo Kojima’s said that it’s unlikely he will be working on any “smaller” games anymore, instead sticking to big, next generation titles.
“Someone asked me earlier if I’d consider making a smaller game now that I’ve finished a project as massive as Metal Gear Solid 4,” he said.
“My answer is that, personally, I’d love to work on a smaller project. But, thinking about the time I have left to survive, I’d rather spend that time working on bigger projects.”
Kojima also admitted that Konami puts pressure on him to release more games in the Metal Gear. franchise.
“Yeah, there’s absolutely pressure there,” he said. “Maybe if I quit Konami that pressure might be a bit better, but since Konami handles the business side of our operations, yeah, there’s definitely a demand to continue a series as successful as Metal Gear.”
Expet something from the legend himself at this year’s E3.
Konami has just released more information about the new Race Mission mode and the Patriot feature for Metal Gear Online.
The Race Mission is set as two teams attempting to pass through racing style checkpoints after they have acquired their Kerotan or Ga-Ko items. The rules state that if the items are dropped and not picked up after a certain amount of time, the team will have to find it again at a random spawn location. Konami left out important specifics such as how the matches will be won but the guess is the team that passes through the most checkpoints with the item in hand.
Also the Patriot system will be added May 26th which as first seems like a cool reward for the games best players, it randomly selects the mout of the top players each week and rewards them the Patriots.
This grants them access to a Patriot .56mm hand rifle,which has infinite ammo, and doesn’t require reloading. Seems to be a weird choice to give the best players a gun with infinite ammo which doesn’t require reloading
Hopefully its not given to them for free in game but rather they need to spend money they rack up in matches to buy it, other wise seems a bit unfair to anyone else in the room.
Remember Vandal Hearts? For the uninitiated, Vandal Hearts is a Japanese tactical RPG developed by Konami Computer Entertainment for the PSX and Sega saturn.
Vandal Hearts was one of the first console RPGs to be released for the 32-bit systems, as well as being one of the earliest tactical RPGs to be released in North America.
A new installment, subtitled Flames of Judgement, is currently making its way to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network according to Konami. Flames of Judgement will be a prequel to the original PSX and Saturn game that combines “the speedy RPG pace of the original with top-notch visual presentation”.
Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgement will be on XBLA and PSN in September.
Official story blurb after the cut
Nintendo Power provided us with the first details and now Konami has made it official. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is due autumn on Wii, but also on PSP and PS2.
Shattered memories will be designed to make full use of the Wii’s motion control. The Wiimote will function as a torch, used to scour for clues, and a mobile phone, used to access maps and take pictures of “interesting elements”.
New to Shattered Memories is a feature in which the game watches you, and adapts its storyline and alters its gameplay elements in order to create a unique experience for every player. To me it sounds a bit like the insanity system from Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.
The game will not be developed by Konami, but Climax studios, the dudes behind Silent Hill: Origins
Full press release after the break
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