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Konami looking for motion sensing input for PES

Konami has pretty much offered the only viable contender to EA’s FIFA series, the PES, or Pro Evolution Soccer series, which has been a torn in EA’s eye for almost a decade. Developer and publisher Konami has revealed that they’re looking to add motion controller input to the series, as PES producer Shingo Takatsuka mentioned to IGN, saying that the company is “aggressively” looking into both Project Natal of Xbox 360 and the PS3 motion controller as well. However, the most obvious choice for motion controllers, the Wii, wasn’t mentioned.

Contra ReBirth PAX 2009 trailer

The twelfth Contra game is coming out in the United States in only two days, so we’re all getting excited for some side-scrolling action. Contra ReBirth is much like Contra 4; old school 16-bit action. Remixes of songs from previous titles in the series are also featured in the game.

European and Japanese residents can already grab the title if you’re wondering. ReBirth was developed by M2 exclusively as a WiiWare title.

Shadow of Destiny PSP port coming to US, à la ESRB

An ESRB listing of the Shadow of Destiny port for the PlayStation Portable reveals that the game will be getting a North American release. The game was rated Teen for Alcohol Reference, Animated Blood, and Violence. Nothing official from Konami says anything about the release, but at least we know that it’s definitely on its way.

The Japanese version is set to debut on October 1st, so it could be possible that it’ll be released not too far after. Unfortunately, no word on a European or Australian release yet.

[Thanks, Leland!]

Konami employee demoted for becoming a mother

Being a mother can be bad news for the mother herself: sleepless nights, listening to constant crying and whining and almost dying from exhaustion. Add to that the fact that in Japan you could also be demoted from your job.

This has happened to an employee of Konami in Japan. She is suing the company after she allegedly had her wage lowered and was demoted upon returning from her maternity leave. Yoko Sekiguchi is seeking $343,000 in damages, stating that she was moved to a domestic position and had her salary cut by $2,080 a month after she returned.

Apparently, Konami changed her position to create a better child-rearing environment for her. Sekiguchi, as one can expect, was not pleased: “Being forced to lessen your career to raise a child is sexual discrimination.”

Sekiguchi’s job had her travelling all over the world to acquire licensing deals. The Winning Eleven series comes to mind.

Konami will hold Metal Gear Online tournament June 26th

To finish off a week of Metal Gear announcements Konami has announced an officially sponsored Metal Gear Online tournament. While no prizes have been announced yet Konami says that you should hurry up and register as space is limited. Below are the directions to register for said tournament:

1) Log into MGO with the character you wish to enter into the Tournament (starting June 23rd) – but hurry, only a limited number of players can participate
2) Go to Lobby Select and choose Tournament Registration
3) On the Lobby Screen select one of the 4 tournament lobbies to register (i.e. US TOURNEY 1, US TOURNEY 2, etc.)
4) Select either Join Team (pick a team off the list to join), Create Team and Submit Entry (set up the team name and password), or Solo Entry (assigned to a random team)

Entry will apparantly begin on the 23rd while the actual tournament will begin on the 26th. We’ll keep you posted as more information is released.

Read (GamingShogun)

Six Days in Fulljah 2/3 of the way done, still doesn’t have a publisher

Six Days in Fulljah was dropped by its publisher, Konami, back in April but that didn’t discourage the guys over at Atomic Games who have continued with development just as planned.

Apparantly, Atomic Games president Peter Tamte along with the game’s consultant Captain Read Omohundro appeared on Fox News to talk a bit about the game. Other than saying how they are currently looking for a publisher for the game, he also told us that the game is about 2/3 of the way done.

Well, Mr. Tamte it doesn’t matter how far done with Six Days in Fulljah you are unless you find a publisher so get on that!

Read (Big Download)

Metal Gear Arcade caught in its debut trailer

Yesterday we found out what the Metal Gear Arcade’s hardware would look like and now we know what the its gameplay will look like.

If you didn’t know Metal Gear Arcade is basically just Metal Gear Solid 4’s online component. The different with the arcade version, however, is that you will be using a new kind of controller specifically designed for this application along with the fact that its completely in 3D. So yes, you will be wearing some kind of 3D glasses goggles while playing this game.

Still no word on if Metal Gear Arcade will ever hit American arcades but it is set to his Japanese arcades sometime later this year.

Famitsu puts Metal Gear Arcade on display

First announced at EA, Kojima and Konami have kept their Metal Gear Arcade under wraps pretty well. Well, those wraps are still tightly bound but at least we have a few details and the above picture to hold us over thanks to the latest issue of Famitsu.

According ot the magazine, players will control the arcade while sitting down, wearing 3D glasses using a controller that allows for seperate movement and viewpoint control. Better yeah, in addition to being able to play solo players will get the chance to participate in up to 16-player co-op. Sounds awesome.

Unfortunately, there is no word on if Metal Gear Arcade will ever make it stateside but for those in Japan, it is set to hit arcades over there later this year.

Read (Joystiq)

Original Metal Gear Solid coming to PSN

There has been a lot of Metal Gear Solid news at this year’s E3, and they seem to keep rolling in. Konami has announced that the original Metal Gear Solid game, which was released on the PlayStation back in 1998, would find its way to the PlayStation Network, and will be offered on June 18 for $10.

This E3 has been busy for Konami, where the publisher has announced several Metal Gear games, inclduing Metal Gear Solid Rising, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Metal Gear Solid Arcade.

Elebits Game Review–Deranged Plot, Weirder Play

I have to hand it to the Wii, I really do, because this is the system that seems bound and determined to, at all costs, take CHANCES.  They will do the strangest things for little or no more reason than THEY CAN.  And the perfect evidence of that concept is found in a little game from Konami called Elebits, out now for the Nintendo Wii.

See, this game may have one of the most insane plots EVER.  A vaguely earthlike society–I say this because there are some sheer impossibilities going on here–has advanced to about twentieth-century technology because they discovered electricity a long time ago.  Nothing odd there, except their electricity doesn’t come from wind or solar or coal.  This society gets its electricity thanks to a race of tiny little creatures called Elebits, which fell to the planet’s surface on a giant lightning bolt.  The people of the planet promptly enslaved the Elebits by jamming them into their appliances and using their electrical power to run their blenders and heaters and computers and whatnot.  Oh, sure, the game SAYS that the people and Elebits were FRIENDS, but I don’t buy a word of it.  After all, who’s coming out ahead in that little arrangement?  It sure isn’t the Elebits.

But anyway–you’ll be playing an eight year old kid of such spectacular shortsightedness that he wishes the Elebits didn’t exist, throwing the planet into a pitch black barbarism just so his Elebit-researcher parents would spend more time with him.  It’s about the time he actually articulates that wish that the entire town goes dark.  The Elebits are asleep on the job, and its up to you, armed with your dad’s capture gun, to tear the house apart in search of the Elebits so you can get them back to work and watch your favorite TV show.

See what I mean?  This game couldn’t be more deranged if you were required to wear the Wiimote like a hat.

You’ll be blundering around your house, using your “capture gun“, which is basically a portable tractor beam that apparently doesn’t require Elebit power to work at the lowest levels, to lift things and shake things and throw things around so you can find those lazy little bastards and return them to their electrical enslavement.

This is actually fairly entertaining, at least for a while, until you start getting into narrow rooms and get hampered by a “breakage limit” in which you’re suddenly no longer allowed to smash things open in search of Elebits.  I call that a cheat, myself–I was gleefully throwing potted plants around the room without consequence and now, all of a sudden, I break open that vase to look for Elebits and it’s game over?  Screw that, says I, with all the emphasis it deserves.

But still, Elebits is absolutely a departure from literally everything that came before it.  I can’t think of anything even vaguely resembling a parallel on this one and it shows.  This is a fun game that does start getting in its own way after a while, but there’s still fun enough in this one to make it a solid rental, if nothing else.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker coming to the PSP

It looks like Sony has finally taken a hint and contracted one of their most loyal developers, Konami, to give the PSP’s game library a little wake up call — Recently announced during E3 is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, a PSP exclusive that isn’t a port in any way shape or form.

Peace Walker apparantly takes place 10 years after the happenings of Metal Gear Solid 3 and stars none other than Solid Snake. The best part, however, is that Hideo Kojima will be diverting his attention away from the Xbox 360 Metal Gear to focus completely on Peace Walker which means it’s sure to be a hit.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will be released for the PSP sometime in 2010.

Sony announces PSN title Zombie Apocalypse

If you just can’t get enough zombie mayhem you’re going to want to check this one out — Konami and Nihilstic have recently announced on the Official Playstation Blog that a new game entitled Zombie Apocalypse is set to hit the Playstation Network sometime next month.

As you can see from the above screenshot Zombie Apocalypse is exactly what it sounds like, a run around and kill as many zombies as you can game. It may seem cliche but this is exactly what the developers were getting at; they wanted a fun to play party game full of gore and fun. 

Multiplayer of course will be included in the form of 4 player co op with 55 increasingly difficult levels to survive. Konami and Nihilistic really focused on creating a game that will appeal to arcade, casual, and hardcore gamers a like and it looks to me like they succeeded with Zombie Apocalypse.

Contra Rebirth coming to WiiWare?

Now, there has been no official word from Konami regarding the release of a Contra: ReBirth, but if a Japanese product listing on their official website is to be believed, this game may actually be on its way.

The listing has the game priced at 1000 Wii Points and from the looks of the above screenshots will be a more modern take on the hugely popular 1987 title Contra.

If you can decipher Japanese, which I can’t, head over to the product listing and see what information you can come up with.

Metal Gear Solid Touch Lite hits App Store

If you share my distate in shelling out any amount of cash for iPhone apps but want to give Metal Gear Solid Touch a go, you’re in luck — Konami evidentally wanted more people to get a taste of the game as they have recently released a trial version onto the App Store.

Entitled Metal Gear Solid Touch Lite, the trial will run 84.4 MB and feature 3 full levels of tap-shooting action.

After fiddling with the game for a bit I’ve discovered it to be quite fun but found my finger getting in the way causing me to miss my target. I probably won’t be buying the game but perhaps after trying the Lite version, you will.

Atomic Games responds to Fallujah cancellation

Imagine waking up one morning only to find out that your hopes and dreams were smashed; a bit dramatic, but Atomic Games was quoted to have felt similiar when Konami told them they weren’t going to publish Six Days in Fallujah:

We were informed on Thursday night that Konami had decided to pull out of Six Days in Fallujah. This caught us by surprise. Development of the game had been progressing very well and on schedule. We would very much like the opportunity to complete the game.

Followers of the controversial title will be happy to hear that when contacted by Kotaku about whether or not they would find a new publisher, Atomic Games responded with “stay tuned”.