Konami E3: Kojima announces four titles - three Metal Gears and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Hideo Kojima took the stage during Konami's press event at E3 this evening and announced Metal Gear games and the Lords of Shadow game.

Nothing real earth shattering, but here is what happened.

• Metal Gear Solid Arcade was announced, and it's built on the PS3 engine. Comes with special 3D goggles, and is networked so gamers can compete from different arcades. It will release in Japan this year, and Konami is working out now on how to bring it overseas.

• Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker was shown via a video next, and was described as "grim with lots of nuclear war imagery". Cold War intrigue and the rise of Outer Heaven in Costa Rica in 1974 is mentioned. You will be able to hide under boxes too, apparently, from big men, guns and robot airship-like things. The main character is "Naked Snake", and it's set after MGS3 and a true sequel. Kojima did all of the the writing himself and the MGS4 team was heavily involved.

• Metal Gear Solid Rising was next, and showed that Raiden is indeed back. Kojima says it is for next-gen consoles which means 360, PC, and PS3 with no exclusivity.

• The fourth game is the masked one, and what sounded like Patrick Stewart was narrating. Awesome. It's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow with Jason Isaacs as a cast member. It stars a character called Gabriel whose mask can bring the dead back to life. It's out in 2010 for both PS3 and Xbox 360. Teaser video was full of "hard action" and Kojima notes that this is a new start for the series. Producer, Dave Cox, came on stage and called it a re-imagining that's not connected to any of the other games in the franchise. The story is of a hero looking for "revenge and retribution" and is being developed by Mercurysteam, with Kojima Productions supervising.

Kojima says that Konami looked to a global audience when deciding which direction to to go with the Castlevania title, and found that the world "demands bloodthirsty action with men that wield crucifix-whips".

Kojima then left the stage, being replaced by a trailer for Saw and the actor who plays Jigsaw in the movies.

Big thanks, IGN.