Konami blew quite a few minds at E3 when they announced that Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima would be involved in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, their upcoming reboot of the Castlevania franchise. It has since come to light that the game is actually being made by Mercury Steam with Konami Europe producing. It wasn't even really a Castlevania game in the beginning. So just what does Kojima's involvement entail, then? The man himself answered that question in a recent Famitsu interview.

Appearing at Famitsu's "Midnight Live 360", Capcom producer for Lost Planet 2, Jun Takeuchi,  indicated that the 4-player coop exhibited at this year's E3 will be coming to Xbox Live as well. Well, it's not exactly written on stone and in clear black and white. He did only say, "soon, I guess," after all.

Did you guys see that Bayonetta model at E3? Man, I can only applaud such dedication. She didn't look half-bad either. The game's been looking damn good too, and it's been steadily building up hype for its impending yet still unannounced release. Japanese gaming mag Famitsu is also getting in on the Bayonetta action with a full six-page feature complete with an interview with game director Hideki Kamiya and producer Yusuke Hoshimoto. More after the jump.

Apart from the Metal Gear feature I posted about earlier, Famitsu also scored an interview with Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura. The Final Fantasy Versus XIII director shared a few bits of info about the new Final Fantasy games currently in development.

So far, we've seen a teaser image, two countdowns and some letters and numbers that all tease Hideo Kojima's next project. Now here's another one to add to the mix.

Japanese gaming mag Famitsu has finally revealed the two extra characters added in the home console versions of King of Fighters XII (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3). Sadly, Mai and K' are nowhere to be seen. Instead, we get King of Fighters XI's Elizabeth Blanctorche and Mature, who apparently got better after she was killed by Iori Yagami.

Let's head over to the gaming Mecca and see what our fellow gamers in Japan have been getting busy with. According to this latest report from Famitsu publisher, Enterbrain, the Pocket Monsters show some strength as Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Sora no Tankentai tops the sales chart in the week of March 30th to April 26th. More in the full article.

Canadian developer Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M) has been shopping Wet around for a while now since it became a casualty of Activision Blizzard's streamlining of Vivendi's properties. It looks like the stylish shooter has finally found a new home, though.

Whos' Number 1 for Famitsu for 2008? All was revealed at the Famitsu Awards, and the Monster Hunters still proved to be the favorite as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G takes the top spot as Game of the Year.

With the demo finally released to the public (videos here!), Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Xbox 360) is now in its last stretch. Square Enix is on the move to make last-minute improvements to their build, and if you remember from previous reports, game director Motomu Toriyama and the rest of the team are already in the process of tying loose ends now. But what exactly are those refinements to be made? What differences will there be between the demo and the retail version of FFXIII? Take a deep breath, let's take 'em one bit at a time.