Yesterday, Konami posted their initial TGS line up. Rising is on the list! So is Peace Walker, since they are holding the finals for the Peace Walker Summer Camp tournament at their booth. Konami are also sharing their booth with their partner companies. Here’s the list so far, translated by Andrisang:

Currently confirmed for the Konami banner:

* Otomedues X (X360)
* Castlevania Lords of Shadow (PS3/X360)
* Crossboard 7
* Zack to Ombra Maboroshi no Yuenchi (DS)
* DanceEvolution
* Tongari Boushi to Mahou to Omise
* Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker (PSP)
* Metal Gear Solid Rising (PS3/X360)

Games appearing from partner companies include:

* Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki (Falcom, PSP)
* Catherine (Atlus, PS3/X360)
* Metal Fight Beyblade (Hudson, DS, already available)
* Metal Fight Beyblade Portable (Hudson, PSP)
* Momotaro Dentetsu World (Hudson, DS)
* UFC Undisputed 2010 (Yukes, PS3/X360)

>>Andrisang.com – Konami Outlines Tokyo Game Show Plans

So it was a pretty quiet Gamescom for Kojima Productions. So quiet that they only sent one dude, and he didn’t even bring a Rising trailer with him. I’m talking about Shigenobu Matsuyama, who is Rising’s producer. He appeared at the Konami press event yesterday only to say that he’s sorry he couldn’t bring any new Rising media, and that at next year’s Gamescom he won’t come empty handed. The only reason he appeared at the event was to “say his name and who he is in front of a European audience.”

He did end up letting a little info slip though. Today a few sites have put up Nobu’s comments about how Rising will continue the tradition of giving players the option of a “no kill” playthrough. Here’s what he said, taken from Kotaku:

“I believe that MGS has a key stealth element in not trying to kill anyone,” Matsuyama says. “You could actually have a no-kill completion [in Rising]. There will be a lot of mechs and cyborgs, but if you slice them up, that will be considered as a no-kill as well. You’ll have the freedom of killing humans, of course, but you can proceed through the game without killing a human being, but slicing up mechs and cyborgs.”

Matsuyama also talked about the option of cutting the weapons and ammunition of enemies, rendering them defenseless. That awesome display of the power of Raiden’s high frequency blade will be intimidating enough to make some enemies run away. However…

“You could maybe accidentally cut human enemies,” he noted. “We have to think about the violence and the morals behind it. I would like to add the expression of the pain [enemies feel] as well… not just make a slice ‘em up, dice ‘em up.”

That “expression of pain,” Matsuyama adds, isn’t necessarily meant to make the player feel bad about their choices, but an illustration of the reality of the player’s actions. Matsuyama says he’s aware of the guidelines and ratings that might limit the graphic display of violence. But, he says, “I don’t feel its correct that if we only change the color of blood or blur the scene” to mask that violence.

“I will put the essence of the beauty of the no-kill,” he says. “I want to emphasize that I will never reward a player for killing human beings in the game. I won’t make it easier to clear the game [that way]. I will probably make it more difficult.”

A new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trailer was also released! Check it out below:

Lords of Shadow may be out in early October, if Amazon is to be believed.

A major new feature from MetaGearSolid.org has just been published, entitled “FROM NOTHING: Why It’s Okay to Question Everything (Especially Metal Gear Games)“. Click here to read it.

The essay deals with the subject of the creative process, the nature of video game design, and defends the process of deconstructing and interpreting fiction, especially video games. If you’ve been a fan of the Metal Gear series long enough to see it’s highs as well as its lows, this essay will help you understand the story of the series in a way you may never have considered before. If you are new to the series, it will shine a light on its bumpy history and help you understand why things stand as they do. It’s a must-read!

Kojima tweeted that he had some announcements to make today, and sure enough he made a few. Since i’m tired i’ll just copy pasta the interesting stuff here from Andriasang’s write up.

On the Drama CD:

“The first announcement concerned a previously announced Character Song and Drama CD. Today, Kojima detailed the content of the CD.

The CD is titled “Heiwa to Kazuhira no Blues,” or “Peace and Kazuhira’s Blues.” You might know the Kazuhira character as “Miller.”

Included on the CD is 50 minutes of newly recorded drama content featuring the Peace Walker cast, two character songs, one for Snake and one for Miller, and bonus music tracks. The bonus tracks include BGM that was not included on Peace Walker’s main soundtrack.

The CD arrives on 9/22 at ¥2,940.

At the event, Kojima and Kikuchi played segments from the drama CD and the Snake character song. The Miller song will debut at tomorrow’s Sapporo leg of the tournament. For those who viewed the Ustream stream of the event, the audio was purposefully cut off because the recording is apparently incomplete at present.”

On Lords of Shadow’s Japanese localization:

The second announcement concerns Castlevania Lords of Shadow. Kojima Productions will be doing the Japanese language version of the game, and they’ll be tapping some major Metal Gear talent.

Kojima himself is overseeing the localization process. The localization is being produced by Kenichiro Imaizumi, with the recording overseen by Shuyo Murata, both Kojima Production staffers.

Key voice actors from Metal Gear Solid will appear in the game. This includes Akio Otsuka (voice of Solid Snake), Fujiwara Keiji (Drebin) and co-host Kikuchi (voice of Raven, Strangelove) and Mugihito (voice of Coldman). This is just part of the cast, though. Other cast members will be announced at the Sapporo event, but Kojima said that players can probably figure out who to expect.

Kojima purposely did not disclose who the MGS VIPs will be portraying in Castlevania. This and other details will be announced at TGS. Kikuchi let slip that she hasn’t done her part of the recording yet.

Q&A session:

During a Q&A section of the event, Kojima shared a few additional insights into all things Metal Gear.

A fan from Morocco who had apparently greeted Kojima at Sendai Station the day before, said that he wants Metal Gear to go on forever, but is concerned because Kojima always says the current Metal Gear will be his last. Kojima replied that he always says this because he gives his all to the current game, and thus can’t think about making another one. However, after finishing and giving it some time, he ends up wanting to make another one.

A fan from Miyage Prefecture asked why Peace Walker has you use a stun rod instead of a knife. Replied Kojima, there’s a certain group that will not allow knives to be portrayed on something like PSP, where parents cannot see their children playing. He said that in the next title, they will probably bring back the knife. However, he’d want people to have it, but not use it.

A 14-year-old asked if there will be a Peace Walker book. Replied Kojima, they were going to have the person who did the MGS4 book make a set consisting of MGS3 and Peace Walker, but this ended up not happening. (I did not get the reason.)

I know the reason. The man who wrote the MGS4 novel, Ito Keikaku aka PROJECT ITOH passed away from cancer in March 2009. Peace Walker was dedicated to him. Anyway, back to the Q&A:

A younger fan asked if there will be another Peace Walker, and will it be for PSP or for a console. Kojima responded first that this is a difficult question.

He detailed here the reason that he made Peace Walker. Quoting from this site’s [Andriasang] Tokyo Game Show 2009 writeup, Kojima at last year’s event: “20 years or so from now, I believe we’ll be in an era where one can play a variety of games by simply connecting a computer to a network. From within the home and outside the home. If this happens you’ll be able to to take games with you wherever you go. In anticipation of this, I wanted to release MGS on the PSP now and test out that state.”

In response to today’s question, Kojima said that because Peace Walker was so well received, he wants to do something bigger — make something that can be played on consoles but carried with you to a portable. He added, however, that he couldn’t say if such a game would be a sequel or not.

>>Andrisang.com – Hideo Kojima Makes Some Announcements

Today at 10am Japan Time, the Peace Walker Summer Camp tournament kicks off in Sendai. I think so anyway, if Google Translate is to be believed. Kojima Productions will travel to 7 cities over 4 weekeneds to pit the best Japanese Peace Walker players against eachother. The semi-finals, which Google translates into the “Lightning Cup”, will take place at Konami’s HQ in Midtown Tokyo on September 5th. The grand final will take place at Konami’s TGS booth on September 19th. Prizes seem to include a wierd ass bike, Toshiba REGZA HDTVs (which can make your shitty looking PSP games look good) and Peace Walker walkmans. But what if you want to get in on some Peace Walker competitive action and DON’T live in Japan? Well you’re in luck, because Kojima Productions will be live streaming every round over Ustream! Check the Google Translated link below for a timetable and a link to the Ustream page.

It might be worth watching, since Kojima has been teasing that he’s announcing something this weekend. If it doesn’t happen today, it should happen at the Sapparo round tomorrow.

>>METAL GEAR SOLID PEACE WALKER SUMMER CAMP (Google Translated)

Despite feeling ill, Hideo Kojima continues to post on his Twitter to  let everyone else know what’s up. In between his usual postings of what he’s eating, Mr. Kojima made some posts about an announcement he’s going to make this weekend, according to andriasang:

“Prior to TGS, we’ll have a big announcement (?) on Saturday or Sunday, so I must recover.”

Well we certainly hope he recovers, regardless! Before the Zone of the Enders fans find that their pants are a bit too tight though (too late?), Mr. Kojima made one thing absolutely clear:

“ZOE3 and so forth — it’s not that big an announcement. However, I think you will be happy.”

One thing to take note of is this recent picture Kojima posted onto his Twitter.

“Chapter_6″? What could it mean? Well, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker had five chapters. Maybe it’s related to that or it’s radio drama. On the other hand, Snatcher originally was meant to have six chapters; three more chapters than what was in the PC-Engine version and all subsequent remakes and ports for Snatcher. Then again, does that mean there is a “Chapter_4″ and “Chapter_5″? Likewise, Project S was going to be a Kojima/Suda51 collaboration involving radio dramas. Not sure why there are HDTVs involved in a radio drama recording session, though.

A word of advice–let’s not look too deep into this.  This can be anything from the announcement of a new Snatcher/Policenauts related title (who else wants to bet it’ll remain exclusive to Japan?), to a Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker McDonalds Happy Meal toy line that will have you say, ” I’m rovin’ it.” Keep in mind though, it was said to be “not that big an announcement,” so to save yourself from shedding fanboy tears, please keep your expectations low.

LINK – andriasang, yfrog

Thanks to Peace Walker, Konami have moved 1.27 million units of Metal Gear this 1st quarter (April to June). Last year it was only 160,000. In total, Konami sold 4.62 million units of software between (last year they moved 2.96). Here’s a full breakdown from the earnings report, with last years sales in parentheses:

• Soccer: 1.36 million (last year: 0.86 million)
• Baseball: 0.25 million (0.24 million)
• Anime 0.30 million (0.30 million)
• Music: 0.21 million (0.16 million)
• Metal Gear: 1.27 million (0.16 million)
• Other: 1.24 million (1.25 million)

Here’s a graph as well, showing that the PSP, obviously thanks to Peace Walker, was Konami’s biggest platform in this quarter:

Finally, the earnings report also had an updated release schedule. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is set for a fall release, while Metal Gear Arcade should be fully up and running all over Japanese arcades this winter. I’m sure by spring those machines will all be tar stained.

>>Andriasang.com – Dengeki Asks 5pb.’s CEO About His Hideo Kojima Collaboration

In last weeks issue of Dengeki Playstation, 5pb. CEO Chiyomaru Shikura was asked about his comments to 4gamer a few weeks back about an adventure game collaboration with Hideo Kojima. Dengeki bought it up by asking about the meeting he had with Kojima and Suda51 back in May. Shikura had posted a picture of the meeting on his Twitter, and suggested that a new adventure game project had begun. Shikura said to Dengeki “Nothing has been finalized, but it would be nice if we could make something interesting together. Above all else, I’m a huge fan of Snatcher, and Mr. Kojima is a god-like existence.”

Though the comment is short, it suggests that this game (which may or may not be Kojima’s much-tweeted about “taboo” project) is quite a ways off.

>>Andriasang.com – Dengeki Asks 5pb.’s CEO About His Hideo Kojima Collaboration

One of the visitors to Konami’s live test for Metal Gear Arcade has recorded a couple of videos depicting the new maps we previously reported on. The two maps, both of which are taken from Metal Gear Solid 4, are “Lethal Leviathan”, the deck of Outer Haven, and “Desert Duel”, the statue-bearing outskirt in the Middle East.

If this interests you, take this opportunity to write to the Metal Gear Online administrators and request that these maps be made available in an expansion pack so that foreign gamers don’t have to fly overseas just to check out a game that may never see a wide release outside of Japan.