konami

The Zynga Platform has signed on a major partner.

The social-gaming company has inked a deal with Konami Digital Entertainment that will see the developer bring titles to the new Zynga Platform, the firms announced yesterday. Zynga has also signed on developers Rebellion and Playdemic.

Konami is one of the most-respected game developers in the world, thanks to its many successful franchises, including Metal Gear Solid, Contra, Silent Hill, and others. The Konami deal adds some additional legitimacy to Zynga Platform--a service that is still in its infancy.

Zynga announced its Platform service earlier this month. When gamers head over … Read more

Jeff and I are a little intimidated by today's guest, Blair Butler, because she not only loves video games and comic books, but also knows a ton about martial arts moves like the rear naked choke, which makes her one of the coolest guests we've had on the show! Blair joins us after a busy weekend at New York Comic Con 2010 to chat about all the news from the show, as well as her Fresh Ink segment on G4's "Attack of the Show."

The Javitz Convention Center here in New York once again opened its doors to the New York Comic Convention, and Blair tells us the East Coast chapter has been quickly catching up to San Diego over the past five years.

Among the many announcements from the show, we're especially excited about AMC's television adaptation of Robert Kirkman's monthly black and white comic series "The Walking Dead." The story is about a small-town police officer (played by Andrew Lincoln) from Kentucky struggling to survive in a world taken over by flesh-craving zombies. Blair is super psyched to watch the series when it debuts on Sunday, October 31, but in the meantime you should definitely check out her review of the comic in this list of the best graphic novels for comic novices on G4TV.

Remember Konami's classic X-Men beat-'em-up arcade game from the early '90s? Marvel revealed plans for an update on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network that will feature six-player "drop-in" online multiplay, custom matchups, and various difficulty settings. Fans of the original game will enjoy the classic look of the game, and players can use all the original characters including Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Dazzler. Konami plans to release the update later this year.

Tune in for lots more video game and comic news with Blair, including the best and worst costumes, a Pedobear dancing to Michael Jackson, Stan Lee's hockey/superhero mashup "The Guardian Project," and much more from the front lines. Thanks to Blair for an awesome show, and thanks to you for listening!

If you visited the Japanese hot springs resort of Atami recently and spotted a disproportionate number of men gazing longingly at their smartphones, it probably wasn't because they were playing Angry Birds. This summer, the beach town became a vacation hub for guys who like to treat their girlfriends to sun-and-fun holidays. Girlfriends, that is, who only exist on-screen.

And yes, there are such men, particularly those enthralled with Konami's Love Plus, a popular dating sim for Nintendo DS that also comes as an augmented-reality application for iPhones. Players of the game know that to keep their virtual gals happy, they'd best spend quality time with them, throw them birthday parties, take them on dates, and yes, shell out yen for beach getaways. After all, at $84, a return fare from Tokyo to Atami on the Shinkansen bullet train ain't cheap (fortunately virtual girlfriends travel free).

Sadly for romantics everywhere, Atami's summer of virtual love ends Tuesday. It was geared toward players of Love Plus Plus, a sequel to Love Plus released this year. The object is to form and nurture a relationship with one of three high school girls with rotating outfits, distinct musical tastes, and clearly permissive parents. (See a game trailer featuring stars Rinko Kobayakawa, Manaka Takane, and Nene Anegasaki below.)

More than 2,000 visitors have taken part in events related to Atami's lovefest, according to reports, with some traveling from as far as South Korea and Taiwan, locals say. The young bucks did things fairly typical of suitors--gaze into their girlfriends' eyes during long sunset walks on the beach, admire their pixilated bikinis, and touch their virtual cheeks with a stylus.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted a 21-year-old Tokyo man as saying the game has encouraged him in his search for his first human paramour. "I hope that this will serve as practice for when I have a real girlfriend," he said. … Read more

It used to be just 3D TVs, Blu-ray players, and video cameras. Now, even arcade machines are jumping on the bandwagon. Konami is showcasing a special Metal Gear arcade this week at Japan's Arcade Operator Union 2010 that merges 3D with head-tracking technologies for motion control.

Players do have to don a pair of 3D glasses with an attached camera to enable these functions, though the game realism is further enhanced with a full-size rifle replica, plus enveloping surround sound. If that's not enough, there's even a built-in mic for some serious multiplayer and squad action.

This … Read more

Metal Gear Solid Rising won't be using the Metal Gear Solid 4 game engine to help Kojima Productions save some cash. Instead, the game's developer plans to build the title "from scratch" to ensure that it's as beautiful as possible.

"We're redoing the engine from scratch, and it's going to look amazing," Sean Eyestone, the host of the Kojima Productions podcast, said in a recent episode. "It's going to be a big project like Metal Gear Solid 4. The entire team is serious about making it look as good as possible on every platform."

As a Metal Gear fan since the beginning, I really like the series. There's something enchanting about Solid Snake, Liquid Ocelot, Big Boss, and all the other characters that make up the story. But I'm deeply concerned by Kojima Productions' focus on the beauty of the Metal Gear series instead of the content of the games. For years now, the franchise's individual titles have been preachy and long-winded.

We don't need better graphics from Hideo Kojima and his team; we need better writing.… Read more

The recent handful of news-centric shows forced us to depart from our normal story format, but with Palm Pre, Apple iPhone/Macbook/Pro news out of the way, we get back to our roots and tackle a ton of hilarious stories backed up in the queue. Time for some spring cleaning!

Starting this Saturday, June 13, Facebook will roll out a service called "Facebook Vanity" that lets users choose a specific username that will make it easier to direct friends to their profile address. For example, our friend Richard Topping can choose to assign his username and point people to "facebook.com/richardtopping" instead of just a string of random numbers. It's a great idea and makes pimping yourself out a lot easier, but be sure to wake up early on Friday night to be the first to register your own name. That is, unless your name is Wilson Tang--who the hell would want that awful handle?

Next in the lineup are two Twitter services that show you who are, and more importantly who ARE NOT your true friends. FriendorFollow tells you who you are following that isn't following you back in return. Sorry to open up the floodgates on this one, but beware the angry tweets directed your way that'll read something like, "WTF?! @Malusbrutus stopped following me, that SOB! I'm so not signing your yearbook!"

Or, if you're really desperate, you can sign up for Useqwitter and the site will e-mail you immediately when one of your friends stops following you on Twitter, and it'll also tell you exactly which of your tweets caused their departure. For example, a message you receive from Qwitter could look like this:

Justin Yu (malusbrutus) stopped following you on Twitter after you posted this tweet:

OMG this Dave Matthews Band concert surreausly rulez0rZ, I luvvv the way Davey can't seem to open his whole mouth when he sings! Creed is performing next, I'm in muzik HEAVEN!

Announced at E3 2009 and coming in 2010, the Hideo Kojima-written and produced Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is a true sequel in the main Metal Gear Solid series, and looks like the portable Metal Gear experience fans have been looking for. Set in Latin America in the 1970s, it takes place years after events in Metal Gear Solid 3.

Check out the gallery of screenshots below.

If you've ever wondered what it would take for Wilson to finally snap, well...it's today. After getting a load of flack for "spoiling" the "Star Trek" movie on last Friday's show, Wilson retaliates. You gotta hear this. We also take a crack at the Guitar Hero reality show, Disneyland noodies, chatting with strangers, and wolf shirts guaranteed to give you magic powers!

After forcing Wilson to bite his tongue re: "Star Trek" spoilers, we talk about Disney laying off employees in charge of screening mid-ride pictures for nudity before they're displayed and sold to the parkgoers. Larger men are particularly excited about this because it means that they can finally let their moobs fly free, but something tells me parents won't appreciate the sneak peek.

We go into detail about why this might be a bad idea, although I had no idea they even employed people for this specific job in the first place. What do you even call that? Nude-person-picture-watcher-outer? Get a real job, Grouch.

Well, well, wellllll--look who decided to join the Konami code party: FACEBOOK. Literally weeks after ESPN used the code for its unicornery, Facebook comes along and does it to its site too, but on a much smaller and more irritating level.

Now, when you enter in the famous code (I shouldn't have to tell you what it is), a couple of cheesy colored orbs pop up on the screen and follow your cursor around like an annoying little mutt. Granted, I don't know how they could have topped UNICORNS and RAINBOWS, but they could've at least tried.

Here's where it gets ugly. Calls From the Public today is sponsored by Wilson freaking out on everyone for getting mad at him about spoiling a certain cameo...actually two. We got several voicemails and countless e-mails about our Tang-a-lang, but when we give Wilson a chance to apologize to our beloved fans, he lashes out and says a few things that might rile you all up.

Now we all know that Wilson gets a lot of hate on the show, but it was a joke! That said, listen to today's show and let us know what you think. Leave us a voicemail at 1-866-404CNET or e-mail us at the404[at]CNET{dot}com!

Cooley needs a cigarette after a personal moment related to the wonder of band printers and the glory of dot-matrix. Who knew? We also have a good long talk about how soon physical papers will disappear and teach Rafe all about the Konami Code.

Murdoch: Web sites to charge for content http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/05/07/murdoch.web.content/

Analyst: AT&T likely to cut $69 iPhone service plan by $10 http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10235782-94.html

AT&T, VZW are no longer immune to the recession – … Read more