PixlBit

E3's around the corner but that hasn't stopped the news from piling in the week before! For the second year in a row, Konami has released a video showcasing their announcements in lieu of an actual press conference so let's get through what was revealed in a little over 32 minutes.

After an introduction from 2012's hologram trend, the first part of the presentation highlights Konami's social games studio in San Francisco and their deal with Zynga. I don't care that you're making Frogger games. Social games = Facebook games so moving on. Next was PES 2012. Now, I like soccer, both the sport and their video games, but I've never understood making them something to showcase in your presentation about your most exciting announcements. Having said that, PES 2013 looks good and the new defending and dribbling mechanics look good. I prefer FIFA but PES is by no means a bad game and I'll definitely try the announced demo when it comes out. Those who like soccer should as well. Hi Cristiano Ronaldo! Thanks for your unnecessary celebrity cameo! Moving on.

Some footage of Zone of the Enders HD Collection was shown off, as well as an announced new anime intro, but little else. Kojima-san was there to discuss the game and it looks good but having never played it, I just won't see the appeal until I get my hands on it. However, I've heard nothing but praise for the series so I definitely will get my hands on it. I had already made this decision before this conference however so what was shown and discussed here added nothing. Konami's main focus was on Metal Gear Rising and a trailer, developer interview and Mega64 skit followed. I'll give kudos for having Depeche Mode's "Wrong" in the trailer but the interviews and footage didn't tell me anything I didn't know or had already inferred about the game. At least a demo of the game will be included in Zone of the Enders HD Collection and a release window was given: Early 2013. Also, the Mega64 skit totally ripped off a skit called Unemployed Ninja X-Play did a few years back, embeded below for your viewing pleasure.

Finally, we get a trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Okay. Now the trailer isn't bad. By no means is it anything like what the game will look like nor does it show off any gameplay but it's pretty good. However, because of that, nothing about it gets me excited. On the other hand, I didn't play the first Lords of Shadow but I've heard good thing about it, if not great things. On that basis and that alone, it has the potential to build on that game and become a better game than the first and I'm all for a great Castlevania game on the consoles. It's about time we get one again. A quick mention of the 3DS Castlevania game we all already know about and that's the end of the Konami conference.

Overall, I think it was better than last year's just because there was nothing like NeverDead being shown, which was clearly going to be a stinker. Also, there wasn't that much of a focus on Metal Gear, which I like since it shows that Konami is more than just the Metal Gear franchise but I was also surprised since this is Metal Gear's 25th anniversary. They did mention the Smithsonian exhibit from earlier this year but that was the extent of it. One thing I was really disappointed with is there was no mention of the Contra game that was teased at last year's conference. As I tweeted (@Colorwind) after finishing the conference, "Where's my damn Contra game, Konami!? It's Contra's 25th anniversary too, you know!" Overall, not bad but meh. Oh and one more thing. Here's that new Zone of the Enders intro that's going to be on the HD collection.