Kojima Hiring for"Next Gen Metal Gear Solid Series"

We don't know much, but we know this: There will be more Metal Gear Solid. A job listing from Kojima Productions (viaAndriasang) states that the studio is hiring"Next Generation Metal Gear Solid Series Production Staff."

Kojima has been coy about what his next game will be followingMetal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, but this certainly suggests it will, indeed, be yet another Metal Gear Solid game (a series he's promised he was finished with something like three different times in the past). But then the wording is left vague enough that there could still be other possibilities -- maybe Kojima Productions is just hiring more staff to continue working on theMetal Gear Solid: Risingspin-off series. Or then again maybe it's both, as they'vestated in their pasttheir intention of turning Rising into a series that'll continue separate from the official MGS series, which theyalsoplan to continue.

But whatever game this job listing is for, we know it'll be multiplatform: the programmer category asks for candidates with experience on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. So could a potential Metal Gear Solid 5 be released on the PS3 and 360? First we have to see if Kojima's next game evenisMetal Gear Solid 5, so time will tell.

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New Bond Game Reportedly Green-lit Along with Film

License-holder MGM studios was locked in bankruptcy struggles for over a year, but they've finally announced that the next James Bond film will finally move forward in development and hit theaters on November 9, 2012. And this is apparently good news for gamers as well, as reports also state MGM is moving forward with a new Bond videogame to coincide with the movie.

Deadlinereports that along with the movie announcement,"yet another James Bond videogame, which also had been held up because of the uncertainty, recently got the go-ahead."That's as much detail as the report goes into, but it sounds like it could be referring to a new Bond game rumored to have been in development at Raven Software.

Back in December, areport circulatedthat Raven restarted development on a"stealth-centric"Bond game they had in the works, which was put on hold for a while both because of MGM's troubles and so Raven could work on Call of Duty DLC. A short reel of early development footage for the game surfaced at the time as well, but was quickly taken offline.

The last Bond game,Blood Stone(which wasn't connected to any movie), was released just back in November.

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Japan Review Check: Majin, Kinect Joy Ride

Bit of a slow week for console games right now worldwide. That goes double for Japan, where the top-rated game coming out (according toFamitsumagazine, at least) isZombie Daisuki, a cutesy DS game where you raise an army of zombies to fight monsters and defeat bosses for you. It's from Chun Soft, best known for the roguelike RPGs they've released a bunch of on the DS, and it cleaned up in the review pages of this week's issue, earning 33 points and the only Gold award this time around.

Whether it'll ever leave Japanese shores is a question we won't explore here. Instead, let's check out the other interesting games coming out in the next week over there:

-Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom(8/8/7/8, 31 points): Interestingly,Famitsu's scores for Game Republic's latest pretty well match what the Western media gave, on the average. There's no"home field"score boost, in other words, which is a bit of a surprise considering how muchFamitsuhyped the project once upon a time.

"Majin's dialogue and mannerisms are really cute,"one reviewer said,"and it's fun how you're going on this adventure with him. The story's nice, too, and I enjoyed how the hero and Majin have to work together, dividing their powers."

However, the game's assorted faults couldn't be ignored by the review crew:"In a way, the game's a little too simple for me, which led to disappointment. It's a shame that you're asked to do the same kind of actions so often in the puzzles, such as dealing with levers to open gates and so on. The camera angle has a habit of changing on you in the midst of battle, too, which is a little rough."

-Kinect Joy Ride(7/7/7/7, 28 points): The least noticed game in the Kinect launch lineup does about as well as you'd expect inFamitsu."It's the sort of thing that families and young children can easily enjoy,"one reviewer began. The controls are certainly simple enough for that, and the fact that there's a lot more to it than just racing (like score for tricks and doing poses) is nice."

Things went downhill from there, though."Trying to drive the way you want can be frustrating,"another editor wrote,"but you get ample chances to make up for mistakes, and it's a simple enough race game that I can deal with it. However, the game itself is too basic, really, and there's no depth at all to it. I get the impression that there's just not enough here."

-Venus&Braves(8/8/8/7, 31 points): This PSP game is a port of an RPG originally released by Namco on the PS2 in 2003. The game wound up being a Japan-only release at the time, something many RPG fans lamented due to its distinct look and uncommon, isometrically-oriented battle system.

"There's a lot of unique little quirks to this game,"saidFamitsu,"from how you need to position your party members in battle based on their skills to how you can have the offspring of members join the party later on. The battles seem simple at first -- just a matter of switching units in and out -- but it unlocks a great deal of tactical elements for you to play with as you figure out who to put in and who to have deal the final blow."

The PSP port has a few problems, though. One of the more noticeable ones: The voiced narration in the cutscenes doesn't always match the onscreen text, something two out of four reviewers brought up. More worrying, though:"The system is addictively novel at the beginning, but you go through long series of fighting the same sort of enemies. This makes the game seem more and more like work the further you advance."

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WoW: Cataclysm Sells 4.7 Million in December

Apparently it's not yet impossible to hit ridiculously astronomical sales numbers on the PC, provided your game has World of Warcraft in its title. In an announcement that will probably shock no one at this point, Blizzard revealed the latest WoW expansion,Cataclysm, sold a whopping 4.7 million units in December.

As previously revealed, 3.3 million of those 4.7 million units were sold in the first 24 hours of its December 7 release alone. The huge number makes Cataclysm the fastest selling PC game ever -- although technically, yes, it's an expansion pack and not a full-fledged game. So for sticklers, let's call it the fastest selling"PC videogame software"ever. And the game it beat to take the title? Surprise: the last World of Warcraft expansion,Wrath of the Lich King.

"We've been floored by the community's response so far, and we'd like to thank them for their continued passion and support for World of Warcraft, and for helping Cataclysm reach this incredible milestone,"said Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime.

Cataclysm certainly seems worthy of its huge success, though, as ourglowing reviewattests to.

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Nintendo World 2011: The 3DS Goes Public

Nintendohas been upfrontabout the difficulties of selling consumers a gaming console with a 3D display that can only be properly seen with the naked eye. Today the company kicked off Nintendo World 2011, a free public showing of the Nintendo 3DS outside Tokyo, giving thousands a first-hand look at the new handheld device.

Given the wild domestic success of the Nintendo DS and the lack of an admission charge, there were surprisingly small crowds at today's event. The above photograph was taken less than a half-hour before the doors opened, yet people at the end of the line were within visual range of the entrance. Contrast that with the Tokyo Game Show (held annually at this same convention center) where early morning visitors spend hours waiting outside.

On the show floor, empty stretches of chains reflected the lack of crowds. Of thesixteen playable titles, few saw waits of forty minutes or more. The most popular game by far wasThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timewith posted wait times of over two hours.

Of course, the lack of crushing mobs was certainly not a negative, simply a statement as to how different Nintendo World felt as opposed to Tokyo Game Show. Whereas TGS is dark, loud and hard to navigate, today's event was bright, relatively quiet and pushing was non-existent. In fact, when the doors opened we were lead down the stairs by staff members who walked in front of us, arms outstretched, asking us not to run towards the booths.

The promotional material on the show floor demonstrated Nintendo's continued push towards a broad audience for the 3DS -- not just established gamer consumers. The five men pictured above are the pop group known as Arashi. They are a fixture in Nintendo's domestic advertising and they are extremely popular musicians/actors/television hosts. Videos shown on a loop at every booth featured all five members picking up a 3DS and marveling at the graphics. These commercials showed absolutely no game footage, just reactions to the console. I expect to see these ads on television very soon.

These game-free ads reflect the overall tone of today's event: the 3DS was the star of the show, more so than any individual title. At each new booth I approached, eager staff members made sure to point out the consoles' basic features -- the 3D slider, the analog nub, etc. One even went so far as to begin by identifying the device's name as if I didn't already know what it was.

Several booths were dedicated to software that will be pre-installed on every 3DS. The above booth was for visitors to play with the 3D camera. Another booth showcased card-based augmented reality games. Yet another featured"Face Shooting,"a game where players take a picture of themselves which is then mapped onto a 3D model. These models become animated enemies with blinking eyes and moving mouths for players to shoot down.

Besides these bundled applications, a number of today's playable titles will be available at the system's Japanese launch next month. Nintendo announced eight launch games today onthe company's official 3DS website, six of which (Winning Eleven,Ridge Racer,nintendogs + cats,Dynasty Warriors,Super Street Fighter IV, andProfessor Layton and the Mask of Miracle) were available to play today.Puzzle Bobblewas visible but not playable andCombat of Giants Dinosaurswas not shown at all.

Today's Nintendo World was only the first step taken by Nintendo to convince the general public that the 3DS is for real and worth the upgrade from the DS. They might not have shown up in droves, but those who attended seemed genuinely enthusiastic about what they saw here. Even those games which were hands-off demos hidden behind glass (seen above) drew lots of attention from visitors and booth attendants alike. Whether they're willing to drop 25,000 yen next month (approximately $301.10 USD, nearly as much as a PS3 or Xbox here), however, remains to be seen.

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1UP At Nintendo World 2011: Check Out Videos And Impressions Here

The usually secretive and elusive (at least when it comes to upcoming hardware) Nintendo has finally opened the 3DS to public scrutiny. Previously only shown at trade shows or press conferences, Nintendo is putting the 3DS on full display during Nintendo World 2011 in Japan this weekend, and here's our compilation of Nintendo World coverage. Start with our quick summary of the eventhere, and keep an eye out for updates and impressions as they come.

In the meantime, check out our videos of Nintendo World 2011 so far; here's the line just to get in:

Here's a quick walk-around of the show floor:

Check out this snippet ofKid Icarus: Uprisinggameplay narrated byKirbyandSmash Brothersguru Masahiro Sakurai:

Some more Kid Icarus: Uprising footage:

And our last bit of Kid Icarus: Uprising footage -- this time against a boss:

We also found some off-screen footage of the 3D Layton installment:Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle:

And finally, some footage from an upcomingResident Evil(we're assumingMercenaries, notRevelations) 3DS game:

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Unannounced PlayStation Phone Gets First"Review"

It started with a couple of tantalizing leaks. Then the leaks kept on coming. Now...well, now this is getting almost farcical. No, Sony did not officially announce the PlayStation Phone at CES this week -- but that hasn't stopped Chinese siteIT168from obtaining yet another leaked unit, and what's more, reviewing it.

Well, putting it through"evaluation efforts,"anyway, according to Google's translation of the website (viaEngadget). But of particular note here is that we now have a lot more details about the technical specs of the phone, at least as far as this model goes (which, to be clear, is not necessarily the final version that'll go to market). According to IT168's write up, the phone is powered by a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU, along with a 1GHz Snapdragon QSD8255 processor. This evidently results in the phone producing a graphics benchmark of 59.1 frames per second.

More details include a 4-inch LCD screen, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, a microSD slot, SIM slot, and micro-USB connection. There's also, of course, a new wave of pictures and videos of the device provided, which also show off its menus (which are all in Chinese, naturally).

So, once again, all that's left now is for Sony to finally put their horse before their cart and announce the damn thing already. Maybe at GDC next month?

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