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#castlevania Last week news of a game called Castlevania: Mirror of Fate for the Nintendo 3DS had fans of the series (myself including) imagining a brand new 2D adventure for Nintendo's latest handheld. Perhaps if we had known the game's full name, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow — Mirror of Fate, we would have known better. More »

#zoe Late last week, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima revealed a new Zone of the Enders project. Fans of the sci-fi series have been waiting for Kojima to start work on a new Z.O.E. Thing is, he won't be doing much much work on it. More »

#breaking Tonight at an event for Zone of the Enders, game designer Hideo Kojima and his studios Kojima Productions announced that they were working on a new Z.O.E. project that currently has the working title of "Enders Project". More »

#hideokojima When Hideo Kojima started out in the games industry, he met a lot of people like himself, would-be creators like him who had set other life goals for themselves. The famed game designer wanted to make movies but never found a path to that aspiration and he worked with many others who got into games unexpectedly. A great two-part interview at The Guardian talks about how people reacted to the Metal Gear creator's decision to go into games as a career and who Kojima's unlikely peers were: More »

#castlevania Over on their official Facebook page, Konami links out to a teaser site that sure seems to hint at something Dracula-related. The site bears the words "The Dragon Returns," which refers to the linguistic roots of the evil count's name. Dracul—as in Vlad Dracul—means dragon in Romanian. More »

City National Bank has sued Konami and Autumn Games for millions over allegations of fraud. Courthouse News reports the bank hasn't received any return on a $15 million line of credit it approved to the defendants, and in court documents claims the financial conditions of Autumn and Konami "were false at the time they were made and that defendants never had any intention of repaying the loan as promised."

"Rather than paying game-related proceeds directly to CNB as agreed, defendant have kept all game-related proceeds for themselves and have refused to remit any such proceeds to CNB."

City National Bank is seeking over $8.9 million in damages for "fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, money had and received, unjust enrichment, recovery of personal property, and punitive damages."

This isn't the first lawsuit the game has spawned. In March, EMI Music Group filed suit against Def Jam Rapstar creators 4mm Games and Terminal Reality, claiming the game contains unlicensed tracks by several artists.

#rumor The latest rumor suggests that Konami will be announcing a new Castlevainia game called Castlevainia: Mirror of Fate at E3. More »

This Wednesday, May 23rd is brimming with excitement. We welcome a new developer Bigyama to the fold, Novus Prime releases some new game-enhancing weapons, the x7 Nightclub updates, Lockwood brings new Delirious Squid items, and Konami releases a new collection of dazzling auras.

Novus Prime gets four new game-enhancing virtual items this week with the Alpha Squadron Arsenal. Deck out your pilot’s jacket with the menacing Twin Pulse Cannons for an added XP bonus and fill your hands with the stylish new Disruption Shot Pistols, complete with animated barrels and permanent in-game Nebulon boost!

Blend into your surroundings and boost your XP by 5% with the holographic Avatar Projection System outfit, and harness the destructive power of the Handheld Arc Drill to increase your Nebulon gains even further. Head over to the Novus Prime space station to get your hands on the Alpha Squadron Arsenal today!

Look forward to a new game in the Lockwood Publishing Showcase next week as part of Lockwood’s epic Fantasy Update. Brinsop the Evil Dragon descended and started wreaking havoc – Brave warriors will be rewarded!

Prepare your friends for action by sending a fantastical pet their way – Rachis the fire breathing Cockatrice and Gribbler the Dragon are available from the Lockwood Gift Machine one week early! Visit the Gift Machine now and get sending.

In the future world of Forthstar, humanity has traveled to the stars. But, in the last few decades, the situation has begun to unravel: Central government exists in name only and feudal states are at constant war. The rim of explored space is where only the hardiest can survive as Gunslingers and Dropship pilots. Gunslingers are outlaws and warriors who sell their skills to the highest bidder, while Dropship pilots help get goods and people into and out of the danger zones as war spreads.

The exclusive x7 nightclub gets another members-only bundle this week as well as a collection of Fire Opal clothing for men and an Amethyst collection for the ladies. Head there and be the first to dazzle your friends and torture your frenemies with your unique taste in fashion.

Delirious Squid stretches its tentacles once more with a range of bright tees and quirky accessories. Who wouldn’t want to look as if they have a bear trying to swallow their head? Boring people, that’s who! Crazy-cute pretty much sums up the theme of the ladies’ tees, hats and peeptoe shoes. The guys’ range is more rugged, but includes some familiar freaky faces. MC Squid and Squiddy Bones have draped themselves all over each item. Go backpacking in Delirious Squid world – these bags and boots are all you need!

Konami brings you their newest line of Auras. Check out some of their unique auras like the plasma shields, rainbow glow and glow dust. Check out Konami’s take on some classics such as hellfire, lightning storm and snowstorm. Unleash the power within!

This week in the Community Theater, HomeCast busts out the east coast Jersey accent to cover “stuff and stuff,” complete with a cameo by the Demon Warhorse. Among the “stuff” covered: the many new changes introduced with Home 1.65, as well as Super Madhouse, the new Bigyama items, the Casino’s update and more.

Codeglue brings a touch of the East here to the West with some elegant new furniture. Let the minimalist styling of hand carved, dark woods put your mind at ease while you enjoy the rest of nature around you.

Another exciting premier this week, Wrangler brand clothing launches their first ever virtual items with a collection of 10 pieces in PlayStation Home, including dark denim jeans for men and women. These will be available in both the VEEMEE and Threads stores in the Mall. With 10 new items available at launch and many more to follow, Wrangler will continue to bring their latest designs to the Home community in the months ahead.

Last but certainly not least, this past Friday the Home Community Volunteer program turned three! On behalf of the PlayStation Digital Platforms Community team, we wish to thank all HCVs past and present. You have added so much to the culture of the Home community, offering a bit of guidance to the newbs, and a friendly face to masses and healthy dose of friendly competition to the leader boards. May you continue this journey with us for years to come.

See you in Home!

- sales up from 258 billion yen to 265.8 billion yen
- operating income was up from 20.8 billion yen to 41 billion yen
- net income up from 12.9 billion yen to 23 billion yen
- sales from the consumer games division were down from 65.7 billion yen to 50.4 billion yen
- Japan accounted for 6.86 million software units sold
- Europe sold 6.23 million units
- The Americas sold 4.93 million units
- software units sold in total were 18.3 million pieces
- PS3 accounted for 34% of software units sold
- PSP accounted for 21%
- Wii accounted for 10%
- Xbox 360's accounted for 12%
- DS accounted for 10%
- 3DS accounted for 6%

Full presentation here

Link

This Wednesday, April 23rd, PlayStation Home gets an exciting core client update to version 1.65, the gorgeous Island Bungalow Personal Space releases to the public, beats by Dr. Dre arrive, new x7 exclusive early-access items release (and another freebie!), Konami releases more Secret Agent items, Juggernaut releases a down-to-earth companion, more Granzella Samurai items, and more! (Whew! This is a big week)

Let me get to the biggest news of the week—PlayStation Home gets an exciting new core client update. With it come a bunch of new features and improvements, including:

• A new simplified Menu Screen
• Furniture slot memory adjustments and enhanced visual display of available memory use
• A new Voice Chat system
• Alerts are now integrated better
• Shopping right from the Wardrobe
• Cross game invite system has been expanded
• Improved stability of real time games
• And more!

To see the full Patch Notes, click here. Users new and old will appreciate this great variety of new features and improvements.

Increase your swagger with beats by dr. dre. Available in sleek black, red, white, and blue, pick up the bundle to complete your collection. Style in technology never looked so good.

x7 Exclusive Update—Members of x7 will get early access to several new items this week including some new fantasy furniture, three new companions, a new x7 exclusive bundle and even a freebie. Head there starting Wednesday to reap the benefits of being part of the most exclusive club in all of Home.

Konami is releasing more Secret Agent items. Be the lady or gentleman spy while you operate your covert missions. Who would suspect such taste in fashion would reveal you have ulterior motives? Head to the Mall and prepare for your next secret assignment.

Juggernaut is releasing possibly the most unusual companion to date—the Green Machine. Pick up this truly groovy little guy and feel at one with the universe. Like, whoa, man!

Urgent Fury and Gamer Indepth’s Luge from The Tester, season 1, drop some new videos in the Community Theater this week. Urgent Fury starts out with a deep look at MLB 12 The Show. MoChocolate (also from The Tester, season 1) tries to impersonate Luge and take over her show for a day, but there can only be one Luge. Head to the Community Theater Wednesday to see his antics followed by another great Luge Cam tour of PlayStation Home. You might even see Akilleez_Might, the current winner of The Tester, season 3 celebrating his recent win with the community.

Now available to the public, the Island Bungalow personal space and clubhouse arrive after a couple weeks of preview tours given by our Home Community Volunteers. Inspired by exotic tropical getaways, this personal space has a simple elegance, letting nature take center stage. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, you should. I personally find that it has the absolutely most gorgeous sunset vista in all of Home. Escapists and traveler bugs that enjoy a get-away should snap up this instant vacation right away. Both personal space and clubhouse versions are available. Find them in the Estates store starting Wednesday.

Other items now available to the public include some classy ladies evening wear from Juggernaut, the Elemental Auras and more.

See you in Home!

#minecraft Konami came close to a satisfying 3D Castlevania experience with Lord of Shadows, it was missing a certain something. Something that Nick "Nario" Hagman found in Minecraft by recreating the entire original game, block-by-block. More »

#castlevania Any gaming gourmet can whip together a piece of cake or a burger. Only the most dedicated have what it takes to make Castlevania-style Wall Turkey. First step, grab a sledgehammer. More »

EMI Music Group has filed a suit against Def Jam Rapstar creators 4mm Games and Terminal Reality, claiming the game contains unlicensed tracks from Kanye West, Lil Wayne, DMX and more, and uses unlicensed compositions from DJ Khaled, MIMS and Daft Punk.

According to statements given to The Hollywood Reporter, EMI demanded royalties from the game makers but never received a response. EMI is looking for compensation on 54 songs from Def Jam Rapstar's total tracklist, and with EMI looking for upwards of $150,000 for each "infringement" that total tab is looking mighty steep. In the worst case, that brings us to total of $8.1 million.

The karaoke aspect of Def Jam Rapstar, and its online video-sharing capabilities, also make this dispute trickier, since EMI owns the rights to display, publicly perform and distribute these songs. Please excuse us while we try to get Richard a good lawyer in case EMI targets us next.

#psvita Last I checked, Little King's Story was not a sexy game. It was a cute game. Now that Konami is handling the game, it seems different. More »

Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition is officially a thing, coming to XBLA, PSN and WiiWare this spring. Hyper Arcade Edition updates Frogger's classic core mechanics and adds new game modes, including Tile Capture, Battle Royale, Freak Out and four-player matches against friends or the CPU.

This new Frogger also totes a variety of different skins, with the version's default neon, original 8-bit sprites, and classic Castlevania and Contra skins. As noted previously, Hyper Arcade Edition is in development from Zombie Studios, the team behind Blacklight: Retribution. We're still holding out for the realistic 3D mode with frog-et launchers.

Among the many things that Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima is known for - microblogging about everything he eats, for instance - we're particularly interested in his proclivity for breaking the fourth wall. The first Metal Gear Solid's controller port trick is but one example of his bizarre, outside-the-box thinking when it comes to making games. As it turns out, he was trying to do so as early as 1988, when he first worked on the original Snatcher for Konami.

During a roundtable interview session today, just ahead of his appearance at the Smithsonian's "The Art of Videogames" event, Kojima detailed his first forays beyond the game as presented on screen. "Back when I was making Snatcher, which is a PC game - at the time we used floppy disks," he said. "One thing that I wanted to do that I wasn't able to do was that I wanted to have a secret message on the disk -- actually have something written or printed on the disk." Kojima wanted the missive to be heat activated - which is to say "activated by the heat created by the disk drive itself." S ... seriously?

"So maybe when you put it in your disk drive and you're playing for about fifteen minutes, the heat from the disk drive interacts with that chemical and creates a certain smell. It smells like blood or something like that," he said through a translator. "And when you pull it out you see like a dying message on the disk. That was actually an idea I had for the original Snatcher but unfortunately I got yelled at for it and they didn't let me do it." Isn't it always "they?" Those guys are the worst!

#japan You think only male nerds are scary? Wrong! Japanese voice actor Shinnosuke Tachibana is so freaked out by some of his female fans that he actually asked them to stop tailing him. More »

#watchthis Well, that's a lie. This video, released last week by popular YouTube user Lore, only sums up part of the action-shooter-stealth series' twisty, oft-incomprehensible story. Still, it's worth watching if only to see Lore's adorable cartoon portrayal of Solid Snake's adventures. More »

#konami Graphics engines have gotten quite powerful, to the point that they can render wide-open spaces, far-off worlds, and incredible alien races. But can they re-create… a meeting room? More »

#metalgeararcade While Metal Gear Online's servers will be shutting down soon, there is one last place to get your Metal Gear Online fix: Japanese Arcades. More »

Last we heard, Konami's HD re-releases of the two Zone of the Enders games were coming out in "early-to-mid-2012". Nope. They're now coming in the Fall. More »

Konami has shifted the launch date of the Silent Hill HD Collection once again, with the bundle now due to hit stores on March 20. As Game Informer notes, the survival horror classics were intended to creep in by March 6, after having already been delayed from January.

Despite this delay, March is still set to be a mad month of Silent Hill. Silent Hill: Downpour should be out on March 13, and Vita's Book of Memories on March 27. Now, the HD collection will be sandwiched inbetween, with a digital launch expected sometime after.

#lisafoiles There are misdemeanors I have committed in this life, I'll admit it. For example, I recently got a ticket for jaywalking and it cost me $200. For jaywalking. I'm still very angry about this situation and am actively devising a plan to exact revenge on the LAPD, and guess what! Now you're all accomplices. More »

Hot off the news: Metal Gear Solid creators Konami are advertising for “Project engineers for the latest Metal Gear Solid targeted for high-end consoles and PC.” What could this possibly mean? We brought on our own engineers to decode it, and it seems that could mean the fifth proper game of Snake is headed for the computer machines. Of course we already sort of knew that was happening from way back in 2009, but it’s nice to have it confirmed in internet writing. Unsurprisingly, the game is unlikely to be out until late 2013, or early 2014. So that is some far-away news.

#loveplus Today, love simulator New Love Plus went on sale. Today is also Valentine's Day. A photographer at Japanese game site 4Gamer snapped this photo, which seems to show a young couple passing by the Love Plus Akihabara launch, which is populated with dudes. More »

If you're one to believe analysts (ha!), note that Nomura Securities is forecasting that MGS5 will be out by March 2014. Apparently, Nomura doesn't realize how long it takes Hideo Kojima to get games out the door. Nihon Securities Journal] More »

#wedontneednowater An image circulating Twitter earlier today seemed to imply a Konami office building in Japan was burning. It most certainly was not, a spokesman told Kotaku. All is well. More »

#konami Multiple Japanese Twitter users have posted pictures of what appears to be a fire in a Konami office. More »

#loveplus You might think this statue of Nene Anegasaki from Konami's love sim Love Plus looks pretty nice. You might think it's well sculpted and well put together. But wait until you see it in pieces. More »

#bowlin Konami has confirmed that the beloved beat-em-up The Simpsons Arcade is coming to consoles, and sooner than you expected. Not only does it get here, like, Friday (on Xbox Live), it'll be available free to PlayStation Plus subscribers when PSN gets it on Tuesday Feb. 7. More »