E3: The Konami Conference 2006

It was time to head back Downtown for Konami's briefing and a first look at the exceptional, extended MGS4 trailer, Konami's first game for Wii, Coded Arms PS3, and a 'whole library' of surprise games. Detailed report inside.

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The next studio up to present was Revolution Studios, with a new game based on the acclaimed comic book series from Dark Horse Comics, Hellboy. The game is coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP, and lets players unleash Hellboy's supernatural might in six fully destructible levels.

Funnyman John Heffernan kept things "entertaining"

Konami promising a "vibrant and detailed world" based on the creations of comic book legend Mike Mignola, for a "visceral tactical brawling experience". The hard-hitting trailer looked pretty convincing so this'll be one to keep an eye on.

Hellboy is scheduled for arrival on PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP

The comic book related announcements didn't end there either, with Marvel next up the table with Marvel Trading Card Game, a game that offers traditional one-on-one duelling competitions, combining multiplayer and online modes. Players can choose to play as a hero or a villain in the single player story mode, with a roster of heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe available, while the acclaimed versus system is developed courtesy of Upper Deck Entertainment. In addition, cross-platform online play with PSP and PC versions will be included, with DS multiplayer also supported.

Marvel Trading Card Game

Konami Digital Entertainment's top "music man", Mike McHale, was introduced next to talk about three new Dance Dance Revolution games coming this fall. First up is Dance Dance Revolution Universe for Xbox 360, boasting a slick new HD look for the best audio and video quality ever seen in a DDR game, with a new gameplay mode called Super Easy making the game accessible to new players; Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix is curiously an Xbox 1-exclusive that offers more than 65 new songs and Xbox Live compatibility, and Dance Dance Revolution Supernova for PS2, meanwhile, marks the first arcade version of the game to be released in North America in six years, expanding on every element in the massively popular series. DDR fans clearly have a lot to look forward to.

DDR Universe for Xbox 360 is one of thre new DDRs

The musical thrills didn't end there either, with the announcement of the newest addition to Karaoke Revolution series, in the licensed form of American Idol. McHale described the alliance with FOX as a "powerful synergy". The game, Karaoke Revolution: American Idol, lets players sing and perform through a full season of competition to claim the title of American Idol, with 40 all-new songs and several unique modes of play, as well as EyeToy compatibility to bring players "directly into the competition". A pretty smart collaboration that shows Konami's increasingly tactical approach to winning market share in the games market.

Ryan Payton, from Kojima Productions, took the stage next to open the concluding part of the event. He introduced us to what would be known at the show as "Show Maybe", a satirical Konami pamphlet designed with the look and feel of E3's annual "Show Daily" newspaper (which, unfortunately, has undergone its own redesign this year anyway, so perhaps not so clever, haha).

The huge brochure is full of MGS-relaed information and is probably the most innovative brochure at the whole show; the effort Ryan describe behind the creation of the brochure seems to be paying off at the show. He want on to discuss some recent "cryptic postcards" that have been mailed out to the games media, revealing that the themes on the cards all relate to the upcoming presentation from Kojima-san, who would be showing four titles from Kojima Productions. Time to forget about the lack of any sleep last night, sit up, and pay attention...

Portable Ops is one of Konami's biggest new announcements

Hideo Kojima took the stage to talk (in English) about the goals of his studio, first announced this time last year. Kojima Productions aims to spark a "revolution"... and the words beginning with "re" didn't end there. 'Rebirth' was the theme for Lunar Knights on Nintendo DS, an original action role-playing with a "unique day and night gameplay mechanic" in which players hunt down the armies of the undead around the clock, with gameplay broken up with high-quality animated cutscenes from Studio 4 Degrees, the people behind The Animatrix.

Lunar Knights from Kojima Productions on DS

'Respect' is the theme for for Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel on PSP, marking the birth of the "digital graphic novel genre", the all-new way to experience MGS, based on the story of the first Metal Gear Solid, in which players scan the pages of the digital comic to add information to a "Metal Gear matrix" with the stylised artwork from renowned visualist Ashley Wood

Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel for PSP

The next theme was 'return' for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, also on PSP. Ryan stressed that this isn't just some side story or spin off though, Portable Ops is a full Metal Gear Solid game for PSP, that takes place six years after MGS3: Snake Eater and boasts a full-blown single player campaign. The game will offer an original storyline set in 1970, featuring Big Boss, as well as the 'return' of characters including Para-Medic, Major Zero, Sigint and more. Kojima's team has included a new 3D camera optimised for play on PSP, and the game will also offer new multiplayer modes, a wide variety of multiplayer-specific environments, and a new 'white flag' system, allowing you to choose to surrender and live to fight again, or fight to the death until the next game begins.

It doesn't take a genius to figure this is high on the radar

As you might have predicted, Konami saved the best until last with the exceptionally impressive, full extended trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on PS3. As was alluded to at the start of the briefing, "if you thought what you saw yesterday [at the Sony conference] was impressive, just wait until you see this". In our opinion the extended MGS4 trailer is the best MGS trailer ever, surpassing any of the already-outstanding trailers for MGS2 or the surprise hit jungle-based trailers in Snake Eater in terms of style, structure and emotion.

More screens from the PSP-exclusive full MGS game

Almost a short film in its own right, it does take a few viewings for the impact to hit home and the trailer's intentions to settle in, but then you're left with perhaps the most stunning videogame trailer ever - certainly a massive step up from - and double the length of - the game's debut TGS trailer last September. What we also liked about the trailer was that it was clearly a genuine realtime display of PS3 graphics, with a framerate floating at around the 24fps "film-like" mark for the most part, occasionally slowing a little during bust scenes or scenes with complex physics, and sometimes increasing to an obvious 60fps in close-ups or enclosed scenes.

Kojima himself is not 100% sure of a 2007 release

With the sheer quality of visual detail and intense artistry of environment design on display here, the frame rate is an acceptable compromise when compared to the rock-solid 60fps "build" that was used for the TSG trailer, and to be honest it was just nice to see what MGS4 looks like in genuine realtime for PS3. The trailer has to be watched to be believed [update: see below for exclusively the best quality versions of the extended trailer anywhere] and is without question the killer app for PS3's "some point after launch" line-up.

Kojima-san himself is not 100% committed to a 2007 launch date, although the trailer does sardonically indicate that the game will release in 2007, with "2008" scratched out and replaced with "2007" at the end of the trailer. The end sequence of the extended trailer, showing Raiden battle several of the mech-like military bots with his katana and announce, "Snake, it's my turn to protect you", combined with the eye-openingly convincing, tear-wiping emotions displayed by Otacon, and the already infamous Snake moment debuted in yesterday's short trailer - this is moving stuff proving that the new generation of consoles, when used with the attention to detail of creators like Kojima, can move users in ways that last generation's "emotion engine" could never have imagined. And with that, Konami's conference ended on the highest note possible.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

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Video Coverage (Latest Videos & Video FAQ)
PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO
Description	Dur.	Size	Details
E3 2006 Videos
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 1) Extended E3 2006 trailer, 480p60 with Direct Feed Audio (Sample 1 10MB), (Sample 2 10MB) (HTTP Mirror)	14.51m	512MB	DFA, ED, 16:9 852x480p60 5Mbps
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 2) Short E3 2006 trailer, 480p60 100% Direct Feed	3.19m	60MB	DF, ED, 16:9 852x480p60 2.5Mbps
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 3) [UPDATED 5/18 - better quality] Extended E3 2006 trailer, direct feed, lower quality	14.34m	151MB	DF, ED, 16:9 640x360p30 1.5Mbps
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 1a) Extended E3 2006 trailer, lower quality with Direct Feed Audio	14.51m	131MB	DFA, ED, 16:9 640x360p30 1.0Mbps
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 2a) Short E3 2006 trailer, lower quality 100% Direct Feed	3.19m	25MB	DF, ED, 16:9 640x360p30 1.0Mbps
Coded Arms Assault Direct feed extended trailer   (PSP - Konami)	02:55	64MB	DF, ED, 16:9 856x480p30 3.0Mbps
Coded Arms Assault Direct feed trailer short   (PS3 - Konami)	00:36	17MB	DF, ED, 16:9 852x480p60 4.2Mbps
Coded Arms Contaigen Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	01:02	15MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.2Mbps
Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	03:02	45MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Silent Hill Experience Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	00:52	13MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Silent Hill Origins Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	02:36	37MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Lunar Knights Direct feed trailer   (DS - Konami)	01:52	17MB	DF, SD, 4:3 640x480p30 1.3Mbps
Steel Horizon Direct feed trailer   (PSP, DS - Konami)	01:00	15MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Death, Jr. 2 Direct feed trailer   (PSP, DS - Konami)	02:02	27MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Bomberman: Act Zero Direct feed trailer   (X360 - Konami)	01:02	15MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.2Mbps
Gradius Collection Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	00:59	15MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Marvel Trading Card Game Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	01:44	23MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Brooktown: Senior Year Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	00:54	8MB	DF, SD, 4:3 640x480p30 1.3Mbps
Dance Dance Revolution Universe Direct feed trailer   (X360 - Konami)	00:49	28MB	DF, ED, 16:9 852x480p60 5.0Mbps
Hellboy Direct feed trailer   (Multi - Konami)	01:12	22MB	DF, ED, 16:9 852x480p30 3.0Mbps
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA Direct feed trailer   (PS2 - Konami)	00:42	6MB	DF, SD, 4:3 640x480p30 1.3Mbps
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4 Direct feed trailer   (Xbox - Konami)	00:41	6MB	DF, SD, 4:3 640x480p30 1.3Mbps
Online Chess Kingdoms Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	01:00	16MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
Rengoku 2 Direct feed trailer   (PSP - Konami)	01:02	16MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps
GoPets Direct feed trailer   (PC - Konami)	00:31	4MB	DF, SD, 4:3 640x480p30 1.3Mbps
Winx 2 Direct feed trailer   (PSP, DS - Konami)	00:54	8MB	DF, SD, 4:3 640x480p30 1.3Mbps
Xiaolin Showdown Direct feed gameplay   (Multi - Konami)	00:58	9MB	DF, SD, 4:3 640x480p30 1.3Mbps
My Frogger Toy Trials Direct feed trailer   (DS - Konami)	01:02	15MB	DF, SD, 16:9 640x360p30 2.3Mbps