E3 2011: Konami’s Press Conference

Last year, Konami had put up what is probably the worst E3 press conference we had ever seen in the history of the show. Gimmicky games, sketchy presentations; everything felt like a total joke. Luckily for the company, this year’s press conference was much better and did bring some great announcements. Here is what you may have missed.

A new IP from Konami

Directed by Shinta Nojiri (who worked on Policenauts and both Metal Gear Ac!d titles), Konami’s new IP is called Never Dead. First announced at last year’s E3, more details were shown. This game is a 3^rd person shooter that puts the player in control of an immortal demon hunter. As the player can’t die, the protagonist of the game will be able to lose limbs and reattach them, which will come useful for solving puzzles. The game is scheduled for next winter. To present the game’s E3 trailer, it was revealed that Megadeth wrote a song especially for the game.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012

Konami’s popular soccer franchise is back once again this year. Few announcements were made about the next edition such as improved physics, advanced motion capture and refined controls.

Silent Hill

Few announcements were made about the Silent Hill franchise. For the long-time fans out there, the Silent Hill Collection was revealed. It will contain Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, both retouched in HD. No specific platform was mentioned nor was a release date. A new entry in the franchise named Silent Hill: Book of Memories was confirmed to be in development exclusively for the NGP. Finally, a new trailer for Silent Hill: Downpour was shown.

Also, a new Silent Hill movie was announced. Named Silent Hill Revelations 3D, this new movie will be highly inspired by the third game.

Lots of Kojima Productions announcements

First of all, Hideo Kojima confirmed the existence of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Available on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, this package will include updated versions of Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. All of the games will receive a special treatment that includes updated HD graphics, updated audio and achievements/trophies. This game package will be released in November 2011.

To make Kojima’s fans happier, a similar collection was announced for the Zone of the Enders franchise. Including Zone of the Enders and Zone of the Enders 2, Zone of the Enders HD Collection will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2012.

One thing to take note of is that the PlayStation 3 version of both of these collections will support a new feature called Transfarring. This new options will allow gamers to transfer their save files from a PS3 to a PSP and vice versa. To keep things short, it enables gamers to start a game at home, take their progress with them on the road to play on their PSP to then get back home and continue to play on their home console. This new feature is only the first step of what Kojima really wants to do: enabling the feature to work between PS3 and NGP, which would run on rather similar game versions.
Also, more details about Metal Gear Solid 3DS: Snake Eater were given. It was said that the game was enhanced to take advantage of the 3DS’ capabilities. Aside from the 3D field-of-depth and touch menus, the game will take advantage of both the 3DS’ cameras and gyroscopic sensors. The former will be used for the PhotoCamo feature which will allow the players to create camouflage based on pictures that they take in real life. For example, you could take a picture of a tree to obtain a tree-textured camouflage in the game. Since Snake Eater revolves a lot around hiding in the environment, this will come-in handy. Also, the gyroscopic sensors will be used for specific situations including ones in which the players must walk across a tree trunk.
As for Metal Gear Solid: Rising, it has been confirmed that nothing will be shown this week at E3. However, the game is still scheduled to be released in 2012.

Finally, Kojima has shown that his studio has built a strong gaming engine shortly after the development of Metal Gear Solid 4. Named the Fox Engine, it will supposedly allow Kojima to bring his next unannounced project to life on multiple platforms at once. While the famous game designer did tease that the game might be revealed at next year’s E3, we do know that it will be available on multiple platforms as the Fox Engine makes it easily possible.

Other quick announcements

To celebrate the Castlevania franchise’s 25^th anniversary, it was announced that more downloadable content will be available for Castlevania: Lord of Shadow later this year. The long-time classic Frogger franchise will receive a similar treatment for its 30^th anniversary as it will be released on the 3DS.