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A demo for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will be released in January on Xbox Live and PSN, Konami announced today. The demo was previously (and currently) included with Zone of the Enders HD Collection, so if you absolutely can't wait to cut everything using precisely lined up slashes, you can go pick that up.

What you can't do is just download the demo from the Japanese PlayStation Network. We tried that, only to discover that - for the first time in our experience - the demo is region-locked.

The build of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance shown off this week at a press event in Los Angeles was essentially complete, and while the game itself won't be released until February, finished product means that the collaboration between Kojima Productions (represented at the event by producer Yuji Korekado) and Platinum Games (represented by producer Atsushi Inaba) is also done. So when Joystiq sat down to chat with them, we only had one important question: How'd it go?

Both sides were unsure of the partnership when it began. Korekado said that "the challenge for us was the worry about what kind of game would this end up being," and Inaba told us that Platinum wasn't sure about taking over for Kojima's series on this iteration. But now that all is said and done, both sides also say they not only had a great time, but they'd do it again. "We could not have done that without Platinum Games' expertise, it would not have happened," said Korekado. "So of course, this tag team, we'd love to do it again."

Inaba was even more adamant about the two studios working together in the future. "From our side, it would be a waste to not do this again. We made a great game, and we'd love to do it again," he said. He agreed that when the project started, both teams were reticent about joining forces. "But after working together on the game for a while, they were both able to learn from each other and grow as people and as developers. And we feel that's a plus. Moving forward as a team, we'd love to do it again, no doubt." Obviously, nothing's been announced yet, and the goal right now is to get Rising in the public's hands. But it sounds like Platinum and Kojima are ready to make more Metal Gear music together in the future.

The "law of the instrument" is a popular concept attributed to psychologist Abraham Maslow, which is usually phrased as: "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." It means that when you find one tool useful for one task, you'll then start applying that tool to other tasks, even if those tasks have tools better suited for the job.

Raiden, in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, carries a sword as his only tool, and as swords go, it's a nice one. It crackles with a kind of blue electricity, and it can cut through almost every available object in the world, from barrels and crates to palm trees and iron fences.

And with such a tool in his grasp, it's not hard to see why Raiden would fall prey to the law of the instrument. Cutting is his currency, and in this Metal Gear spin-off title, Platinum Games and Kojima Productions have sent Raiden on a spending spree.

The two new Metal Gear Rising announcements are for Japan only, accessible at different levels of difficulty for fans outside. The easiest to acquire is the demo, which will be available on the Japanese PlayStation Store on December 13 for those who don't already have it from the Zone of the Enders HD Collection. Getting that is as simple as creating a Japanese PSN account, or waiting for the inevitable western release.

The special edition Metal Gear Rising PS3 will be a bit harder to get your hands on. The 250GB system, with a special controller, copy of the game, and a few exclusive downloads, will retail in Japan for ¥31,960 ($390), but it'll likely more to import one.

It's easiest of all to watch the new Japanese trailer, featuring lots of ninja technique demonstrations. It's embedded after the break.

After all the hubbub over Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes in September, Raiden's here with his shiny sword and even shinier cyber-suit to remind us Metal Gear Rising Revengeance arrives in just a few months, ginormous mechs and all.

Wait, you've only got one suit of robotic armor in your closet? What are you, some kinda poor? GameStop is offering to double your wardrobe with the Cyborg Ninja costume - if you pre-order Metal Gear Rising Revengeace.

The GameStop-exclusive skin (for now, anyway) is modeled after the Cyborg Ninja suit worn by Frank Jaeger (AKA Gray Fox) in the original Metal Gear Solid. Not only does the ensemble have nostalgia going for it, there's also the benefit of not being able to see Raiden's face for an entire video game - you know, in case you've seen enough of Raiden's skin to last a lifetime.

It may not include a lamp, but Japan's Metal Gear Rising Revengeance "Premium Package" is pretty appealing. The ¥9,980 Premium Package comes with a special steelbook, a soundtrack, an artbook by art director Yoji Shinkawa, and a fun little figure of an enemy that can break into two pieces and stick together magnetically, so you can make it appear to be cut up as if by a sword.

The ¥12,980 Premium Package Konamistyle version throws in a Raiden figurine. You can stick his sword to his little foot! Both ship (in Japan only) on February 21.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will also have a limited edition, adding a soundtrack, a special package, and a "high frequency plasma lamp" designed to resemble Raiden's sword to the offerings. It's due on the same February 19 release date as the normal version.

A price has yet to be announced, but what price could you put on a major award like this?

The thirty minutes or so of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance that I played at the Tokyo Game Show were entirely in Japanese. I had no idea what was going on in the story (not that I ever really know what's going on in a Metal Gear game anyway), and the purpose of my mission was never clear.

With the narrative out of the picture, I was left only with the gameplay itself. Thankfully, based on what I experienced of the Kojima Productions / Platinum Games collaboration, that was more than enough.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance had a huge presence at the Tokyo Game Show this year, and we made it a point to snag a few minutes with the game's team. In the interview above, we chat with Rising's director at Platinum Games, Kenji Saito, and producer at Kojima Productions, Yuji Korekado. In the interview, we discuss how Platinum reacted when Hideo Kojima offered them the game (after canceling the project internally) and just how much collaboration there is between the two studios.

In normal Metal Gear games, you get by cameras by sneaking under them, or deploying a chaff grenade to disrupt their electronics. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance's idea of "stealth" just involves jumping up ten feet in the air and cutting the security camera in half. Why didn't Snake ever think of that?

Along with this trailer, the Japanese website reveals that the game will be released as both a retail game and a PSN download in that region. It won't be available through Xbox Games on Demand, of course, because there is no Xbox version in Japan.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is now PS3-only in Japan following the Xbox 360 version's cancellation. Kojima Productions announced the news today via its website. There the company apologized for the cancellation but didn't give any reasons for it. The 360 version, as Konami confirmed to Eurogamer, remains scheduled for release outside of Japan.

It's odd to reflect on a game being cancelled for the platform it was first announced on, but the news isn't surprising given the 360's poor sales in Japan since then. As our latest Stiq Figures show, the console only shifted 875 copies last week compared to the PS3's 12,433. Also, while the PS3 version of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection entered Japanese charts in fifth last November, the Xbox 360 version didn't even register in the top 20. While we understand where Konami's coming from, the cancellation of such a high-profile game can't help the console's chances in Japan one bit.

Speaking during the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary panel at this year's PAX in Seattle, Konami kingpin and Metal Gear mogul Hideo Kojima gave a bit of insight into the future of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as a series, as well as his continuing relationship with Platinum Games.

"First of all, I'm not a huge fan of spin-offs," Kojima said. "But as far as Rising is concerned, if it works out well, I'd really like to work with Platinum again to make a sequel."

Kojima also said that he'd "really love to make" a game with The Boss as a main character, but that it would be part of the main series if it were to ever happen, rather than a spun-off title like Rising. Kojima couldn't comment on whether Platinum Games would be involved with that game's hypothetical production, only that he's "really loving working with Platinum."

If you're at PAX, you can easily get a new t-shirt to cover your shiny cyborg torso and all of your pneumatic sinews. All you have to do is pre-order a copy of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance at the Konami booth, and you'll be rewarded with a t-shirt exclusive to the event. The pre-order will be fulfilled by Amazon, so you won't have to ... go find the booth again in February or something.

We have yet to see a picture of the exclusive item. You'll just have to be surprised (!) at the booth.

A PC version of Metal Gear Rising has always been on the table, even before Platinum Games took over the project and re-dubbed it Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. For now, however, the developer and its collaborator, Kojima Productions, are adopting a wait-and-see attitude before adding a third platform to the list.

"Right now, honestly, we are doing our best to complete at the same time the PlayStation 3 version and the Xbox 360 version," Kojima Productions creative producer Yuji Korekado said to Eurogamer. "For the PC version, we will contemplate making it or not once we reach this goal of completing the PS3 and 360 versions." Korekado added that, should a PC version even happen, it would launch after the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions carve out their spot on store shelves on February 19, 2013.

Hideo Kojima, acting as his own PR, tweeted an image of the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance website, which features a new trailer and a Feb. 21, 2013 release date for Japan.

Update: A Konami Japan press release gives a Feb. 19 release date for North America and Latin america. And a European version of the trailer (above) provides release dates for PAL regions: Feb. 21, except for UK & Ireland, which get the game Feb. 22.

Hideo Kojima, acting as his own PR, tweeted an image of the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance website, which features a new trailer (above) and a Feb. 21, 2013 release date.

Given that this is the Japanese site and a Japanese trailer (which you should totally watch) it follows that this is the Japanese release date. We're currently looking into dates for other regions.

Raiden slices! He dices! He ... rips electro-spines out of cyborgs!

In motion, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a visual feast of explosions, gracefully arcing swords, and watermelons. In these screens, it's ... not that. We like the version we remember a lot more than the version with a guy clipping through a cardboard box.

Konami is bringing some treats to Germany's Gamescom this August, whipping up playable versions of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for attendees. The company will also have a studio on the show floor, where it will broadcast news, interviews and other content; all available through various social media networks.

Gamescom will be the first time the public has the chance to cut up the competition in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which will be avaiable "in the beginning of 2013" for Xbox 360 and PS3. This fall's 3DS game, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate, which takes place 25 years after the events of the console Lords of Shadow, will also be available in a "playable version".

There's also a soccer game called PES 2013. You know, if Europeans would be into such a thing.

Platinum Games may give players a chance to put down Raiden's sword in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Around the 2:48 mark in the Game Trailers E3 interview above, Platinum producer Yuji Korekado (through his translator) suggests the possibility of other playable characters.

Specifically, Korekado mentions DLC, which he confirms the studio is planning for post-launch. "Right now we don't have any plans for online competitive play; however, we do have some plans for download content for after the release of the game, that will maybe let you play as a different character or experience different types of missions." We sincerely hope the character is Old Snake and the mission is to do some skateboarding.

JC Fletcher: What did you expect going into the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance demo? A mess? Something that reflected the troubled development? Xav de Matos: When that first gameplay footage was presented, Rising's vision didn't seem feasible. Slicing everything in the environment? That would have been a designer's nightmare. I would just cut a hole through every building and get to the end of the game! Up until Platinum was rumored to be helping on it, we were hearing the game was dead. There was even a report that it was canceled internally, right? Yes, it was canceled. And then Platinum Games took over, and made a game in which, even if you can't slice up everything, you have unprecedented freedom in your slicing. It's not the game Kojima Productions wanted to make at first, but I don't think many people are going to have a problem with that after playing. It's really fun to slice things, is what I'm saying. The slicing is good slicing. It also seems like it includes a lot of slicing opportunities, which is always key in slicing simulations. What I was worried about is that Rising would fall on the usual crutch of showing something super cool wrapped in quick-time events. I'm not down on QTEs, but that's not what I want from something featuring Raiden. I want to be in control.

The Rising demo strikes a good balance, giving you direct control of the action without throwing too many random button presses in your way to fake something badass. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was pure, precisely sliced fun. That's all you can ask for when you're given fifteen minutes to play a demo at an event like E3.

It takes over a minute and a half for Raiden to pull out his sword in this new Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance trailer released tonight ahead of E3 2012. But once he does, it's definitely worth the wait. Raiden's return will be playable during E3 next week, and we'll be there to take his blades for a spin.

Previously, Konami's FMV-esque trailers for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance have given us weird, disorienting looks into the surgical processes involving Raiden's robo-arm and cyborg eye, but this latest episode is a little more ... theatrical, let's say.

Anyone who clearly remembers and is still somehow able to comprehend Raiden's background as outlined in Metal Gear Solid 2 will be able to piece together what's happening in this video, though we're still not entirely sure why you'd hand a sword to someone during surgery, even if that surgery's purpose is to turn them into a milk-powered electro-ninja.

Just a quick warning: you won't see any cyborg ninja guys slicing robots in twain in this Metal Gear Rising video. This is the other part of Metal Gear - the part in which shadowy "authority" types deliver long speeches you won't understand.

It looks like Konami is setting up some kind of political intrigue backstory for Revengeance, with political machinations going on behind all the fighting and an entity called "Desperado" causing trouble. We're glad to see that not everything has changed in the transition to a new sub-series and a new developer.

There's a possibility that Raiden is sitting in the doctor's seat just above, like a good little droog, or it could be Clockwork Orange's Alex getting a reprogramming. We can't be sure, but it sure does seem like whoever it is isn't having a very good time. Perhaps it's time for Revengeance?

What we have here is the full version of last week's Metal Gear Rising FMV teaser. What we don't have is clear grasp of what's going on in it. Perhaps it's the initial rebuilding process of the game's main character, Raiden? Perhaps it's violent torture, and the seed for "Revengeance"?

You've seen Metal Gear as a top-down 2D stealth game on NES. You've seen it as a polygonal, highly cinematic stealth action game in the "Solid" series. You've seen it as a card game in the "Acid" series. You've even seen the first glimpses of Metal Gear as a pure action game.

And now, you'll get to peek into an alternate universe where Metal Gear is a mid-'90s FMV adventure game, courtesy of this bizarre live-action Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance teaser video. All that's missing is Tia Carrere and some random "cyberpunk" overlays - oh, wait, that last thing is fully accounted for. We hope this doesn't portend another complete reboot. We'll find out what this silly video is about on April 30.

While we still think it's too early to get our hopes up, it appears that the new Platinum version of Metal Gear Rising will achieve what the Kojima Productions version never could: a playable demo. In a Famitsu magazine interview summarized by Andriasang, Hideo Kojima revealed that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will be playable at E3 this year.

As you may have expected, the stealth element is no longer present in Revengeance. In the interview, Platinum CEO Tatsuya Minami said that stealth was the first element to go when Platinum took over. Kojima now says he never wanted stealth in there.

Platinum Games, the wordsmiths behind Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Bayonetta, moved its offices down one entire floor in Japan's Umeda Sky Building, from the ninth to the eighth, and took the opportunity to remodel its layout. The new Platinum offices have color-coded conference rooms. Personally, we like the vibe in the Red Room, probably because we can picture ourselves sitting across from Don Draper, drinking scotch on the rocks while our children grow up without us.

The move keeps Platinum's open-floor layout, a library with reference books on cats and a stunning view of downtown Osaka. We'll see how the new office works out for Platinum with the release of Revengeance, supposedly some time this year. Check out the new digs on the Platinum Games blog.