Konami has launched it’s Tokyo Game Show website and on the site you can discover the games Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 and Winning Eleven Play Maker 2010 but also five unknown titles. Scrawl things two of these titles could be Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow but the other are as a big mystery to them as they are to us.

Keeps your eyes out from September 25th.

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Kotaku let know that website Gamekyo is claiming Konami is planning to dropping the Konami ID’s. The ID’s have been more annoying the past 2 years as players who wanted to play PES and Metal Gear Online needed to register. The process it self was a whole adventure as well if you tried to register during the Metal Gear Online Beta period.
So in the end you had three accounts, you console Game ID, Konami’s ID and a Konami Game ID (for each specific game)

That cries for changing this might have finally been heard.

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Metal Gear Online has been updated to version 1.33. Alot of things have been fixed and best of all a new map has been added.

Checkout the below information for full details.

The following problems have been fixed:

・In C.C.，W.W.，and O.O., shields can be penetrated and bullet holes can be made.
・In H.H., there is an area where the player cannot advance because Mk.II becomes stuck in a falling motion when the player tries to move Mk.II while it is on top of a chair that is next to the table.
・In H.H., the hallway of the 2nd floor is missing collision.
・In O.O., if a weapon, with the strength to penetrate, is used to shoot the top portion of a fluorescent light in the northernmost elevator hall on the 1st Floor, the shot will penetrate through to the 2nd Floor.
・In O.O., the ladder does not shine with ENVG.
・In O.O., the Shemagh Scarf(Gray) has a strange pattern when it is equipped.
・In R.R., if the lid of a dumpster is opened and a throwing weapon is attempted to be thrown into the dumpster, the weapon will float in midair when thrown.
・In R.R., when a shot is fired at a wooden wall or floor, the are many areas where the bullets penetrate only from one side.
・In R.R., when playing a Base Mission, a cameara at one of the blue team’s respawn points(5th one) is beyond the fence.
・In R.R., there are occasions where if a hit from a grenade or other explosive is taken while in the sewer, the character passes through the collision and gets stuck in a container in the upper area.
・In V.V., if another player is standing in front of a machine gun and you ready to fire the machine gun, there are occasions when the game becomes unsynchronized and on the other player’s screen it does not show that you are readying to fire the machine gun.
・A hang-up occurs if the object of Raiden and Vamp’s locked-on throwing knife attack withdraws from the game in the middle of the attack.
・A hang-up will occur if Raiden attacks Metal Gear Mk.II with the High Frequency Blade (HF.BLADE).
・The lock-on paramater display for the Raiden and Vamp specific weapons are not set.
・If you throw a throwing knife while in Raiden’s CQC hold, although you only throw 1 knife, the sound effect for 3 knives are played.
・When Raiden and Vamp have equipped the throwing knife (T.KNIFE) and move while their weapon is readied, Raiden and Vamp appear to be moving unnaturally on the other players’ screens.
・When using either Raiden or Vamp, if a specific, different motion is executed during the motion for the removal of the “T.KNIFE” from its holster, equipped weapons are no longer displayed.
・When Vamp executes a forward roll while a weapon has been readied, the motion is shakey and appears odd.
・The game becomes unsynchronized when Vamp performs his special forward-roll action or side-roll.
・Vamp’s howl is not played while he is a ghost.
・The crouching SE plays when Vamp is rolling.
・When using Liquid Ocelot, the reload motion for the MP5SD2, G3A3, SVD, M14EBR, VSS, and the DSR-1 are strange.
・Throwing knives do not hit players that are using the cardboard box to hide.
・If the preset codecs found in “GAMEPLAY OPTION” are played after using certain unique characters (Mei Ling and Vamp), the audio that is played differs from what is displayed on the screen.
・If “SCENE EXPANSION” is purchased after having created a host with the unique character settings set to random, then Raiden and Vamp will not appear.
・The display of the legs becomes strange if a team-change is executed during an elude.
・In spectator mode, when a player holding the target enters an area where the player is forced to use the elude motion or crouching motion, if you match the camera to the target, the camera goes inside objects or you can see outside of the map.
・When a spectator performs a team change to be a player, if the START Button Menu is closed before the Joinable/not Joinable decision is made, the action icon will not be displayed when the user becomes a player later on.
・When the view of the binoculars has been zoomed-up, the top-left and bottom-left corners of the darkened areas are missing.
・For only the client player, the time that is spent on the briefing screen is added to the play time for each rule.
・If someone chats during the Skill screen of the Briefing, the chat window opens, however the letters are not displayed.
・For the map result of Solo Capture mode, the player in 1st place does not sing the “Victory Song.”
・On the tournament lobby screen, if the log window is opened, maximized, and scrolled upwards, if you continue to scroll upwards after having reached the top, a sound effect will play continuously for 1 frame.
・There are occasions when the damage from vehicle explosions is not reflected.
・When a Type E female character equips the “Woodland” facepaint, the “Water” facepaint is displayed instead.
・The score of ï½¢Solo Trainingï½£ is a result of the rules that were used for the free battle that was played just prior to “Solitary Training”.
・When there are 16 participants in a vote, and all 16 select “YES”, “Your request has been denied.” is displayed.
If you get a bomb immediately after entering an Interval game in progress, the counter displayed on the screen of the player that just entered is out of sync.
・If a player executes CHARM in one location, while it is still in effect in another, when players who were caught in the effect cancel the motion, the CHARM effects will still continue.
・When a throwing knife (T.KNIFE) is held in readiness with TPS, the display indicating an obstacle between your desired direction is not displayed properly.
・While in the CQC capture stance you are able to move, become invisible, and also remotely set C4.
・The settings for Solo Capture cannot be set in Skill Preset.
・There are occasions when names that start with “#” are not displayed properly.
・The reload motion for the VSS appears strange when a female character is used.
・When a PC name or a team name uses “#”, the “#” and “1 character behind #” is not displayed on certain screens.
・There are occasions where the WAKE COUNT is not counted properly.
・The knife gauge is not replenished when ENVG is equipped.
・When ENVG is equipped, there are occasions where CQC cannot be executed when the primary weapon is an assault rifle, etcetera.
・”E.LOCATOR” is not available as a Weapon Restriction for Team Sneaking Missions.
・If the enemy is defeated during the first stages of the counter-throw using CQC-EX, the character will no longer be controllable.
・If a CQC throw is attempted on a CQC-EX player while he is using the binoculars, he will perform a counter-throw and throw the enemy, all the while still in the binocular motion.
・There are occasions when only the HEAD portion of the Ghillie Suit is displayed.
・There are occasions where the game will not start in Survival.
・The count for Withdrawls increases even during Training.
・The count for Withdrawls increases, even if personal stat logging is disabled.
・The (R) of the PlayStation(R)Store icon is not clear.
・The problem where experience for certain skills did not increase during official matches has been resolved.
・Fixed the bug in RACE/RES/TSNE where gameplay would freeze under certain conditions.

Specification Changes

・The copyright display for the title has been changed.
・Weapon parameters for the: Vz.83，P90，GSR，OPERATOR，G18C，Mk.23, and THOR.45-70 have been adjusted.
・Raiden’s High Frequency Blade can now destroy objects like window glass, etcetera.
・The calculation for guard score for Raiden’s High Frequency Blade has been changed.
・If the R1 button is held down during Raiden’s weapon-readying stance in stun mode, the resulting attack will now knock down the enemy.
・The Stealth Deathmatch award display has been changed from “Number of Consecutive Survivals” to “Number of Survivals.”
・The explanatory text for a portion of the emblems has been changed.
・A CQC counter using CQC-EX can no longer be executed during a Hold Up.
・Throwing knives(T.KNIFE) can now be thrown underwater.
・Throwing knives no longer stop at the surface of the water.
・Input via the pad has been adjusted to improve the controlability.
・The light is now off as a default for the Mk.23.
・Specification changes for CQC-EX.
* Damage for direct throws has been tuned.
* It has been changed so that the CQC counter will only be executed when CQC has been performed on the character from a forward 180 degrees.
* There has been no change to the CQC-EX up until now for Old Snake and Liquid Ocelot.
・The conditions used to judge “illegal suicides” during Rescue Missions and Team Sneaking games during an official match have been adjusted.

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Konami have announced the next Castlevania game, Lords of Shadow for next generation consoles and is in development by Mercury Steam and Kojima Productions.

The release date is set for 2010.

A new era begins in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Konami takes the Castlevania series in a bold, new direction as European Product Planning team unites with Mercury Steam and Kojima Productions to deliver an epic fantasy adventure!

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has used the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) event in Los Angeles to premiere the first footage of a brand new Castlevania title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Developed by Madrid-based Mercury Steam, the game also marks a ‘dream’ development collaboration with Konami’s lauded Kojima Productions studio, led by Hideo Kojima.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will be released in 2010 for PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360 and will open a new era for the Castlevania mythology. Konami has worked to take the long-running series in brave new directions with a fresh and radical re-imagining, and the result is an epic tale of love and loss that befits the series.

Shown previously as Lords of Shadow in summer 2008 with a short teaser, Konami has kept under wraps its intention to radically take the Castlevania myth in a bold new direction until now. Konami has used E3 to showcase what it considers one of its most ambitious and innovative titles to date and reveal how it will present Castlevania to a wider audience of players hungry for genre-defining entertainment.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow takes place at the end of days. The Earth’s alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a dark and malevolent force – the mysterious Lords of Shadow – darkness reigns the world. Across this shattered land, the souls of the dead wander unable to find peace, whilst creatures of evil roam free wreaking chaos and death upon the living.

Gabriel is a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend the innocent against the supernatural. His beloved wife was brutally murdered by the evil forces of darkness and her soul trapped for eternity. Neither living nor dead she realises the horrific truth of what is at stake and guides Gabriel to his destiny – and hopefully salvation for the world… but at what cost?

Thus, Gabriel must travel the destroyed world, defeating the evil tyrants in order to use their powers to bring balance back to the world. Armed with the versatile Combat Cross™ – the world’s last hope must encounter the three factions of the Lords of Shadow and end their unholy rule.

Mercury Steam has created a rich, open game world that traverses snowy mountain ranges, Gothic castles, and undead-strewn wastelands in a devastated Southern Europe during the Middle Ages. The production is being overseen by the European Product Planning office with advice and support from Kojima Productions. This multi-cultural dream collaboration will move the Castlevania brand to a whole new level, with rich storytelling, innovative gameplay and state-of-the-art technical elements brought together to form a revolutionary new direction for a modern 3D fantasy action epic.

Konami is premiering Castlevania: Lords of Shadow with a stunning trailer detailing the expansive nature of the game and its unique combat elements. It will also introduce the game’s stunning voice acting cast, with Gabriel voiced by Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks Later, Trainspotting, The Full Monty), and Patrick Stewart (X-Men, Star Trek: Next Generation) as the mysterious Zobek. Natasha McElhone (The Other Boleyn Girl, Californication, The Truman Show) and Jason Isaacs (Black Hawk Down, The Patriot, Harry Potter series) round off the talent.

“Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will take the Castlevania series into brave, uncharted territories, and is a breath-taking adventure that boasts stunning aesthetics, deep and challenging game play, and a truly inspirational voice cast to deliver the games dramatic depth”, commented Dave Cox, Producer on the title and Head of Product Planning for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “We are also delighted to be working with Kojima Productions who have supported the development of the game and our intended goals with their keen vision and expertise,” he added. “This is a world’s first! A dream team up between a western development studio and one of Japan’s most revered and innovative creators”.

“We at Mercury Steam are pushing the envelope of today’s technology. Our goal is to create an incredible piece that will answer many people’s hopes and desires of what a next generation Castlevania game should be.” Said Enric Alvarez, Studio Head at Mercury Steam.

“Kojima Productions had learned the differences of western development teams and Japanese studios” added Ken Imaizumi, Senior Producer of Kojima Productions. “Mercury Steam is definitely one of the most talented studios in the world. We quickly agreed that we should work together and exchange ideas and knowhow across the board. We have full trust that the next generation Castlevania experience will deliver a high quality intense experience worthy of the Kojima Productions name and we are proud that this title will mark a new global direction for Konami as a company dedicated to breaking new ground in digital entertainment.”

Visit the official website at www.konami.com/castlevania.

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We aren’t surprised but the Playstation 3 is the top earner in terms of software sales for Konami during fiscal 2008 and 2009.

The PS3 represented 28% of total software sold during that time, up 8% from the previous fiscal. Metal Gear Solid 4 was responsible for the bump up.

Take a look at how the rest did.

Playstation 3 – 28%
Nintendo Wii – 17%
Playstation 2 – 17%
Nintendo DS – 16%
PSP – 12%
Xbox 360 – 7%
PC – 2%

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Konami have announced that they don’t want to publish Six Days in Fallujah because of the reaction from the gaming industry. The game basically retells the story of a battle between U.S. forces and insurgents as they fought in the Iraqi town of Fallouja in November 2004.

After seeing the reaction to the videogame in the United States and hearing opinions sent through phone calls and e-mail, we decided several days ago not to sell it. We had intended to convey the reality of the battles to players so that they could feel what it was like to be there.

Atomic Games will now have to look for another publisher.

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The latest expansion for Metal Gear Online has been put online this morning. To get the patch we suggest you using the HTTP download method, as the P2P option took the same time to get to 3 percent, as it took me to download it via HTTP. The installation will take you half a minute to minute longer then the download.

You probably already know what the expansion is bringing you. But on the Official PlayStation Blog, they have posted something you haven’t. Those are the layout of the new maps.

There will also be some new Top Elite emblems in the SCENE Expansion. If you earn the emblems, you’ll receive a free in-game t-shirt! Here are two to check out, the Fighting Fish, which you can unlock by playing a series of Death matches, and Arctic Skua, which you can unlock by playing through a series of Solo Capture missions.

Except for these addition, there are also fixes.
Adjustments to weapon balance and player motion. Skills and rules are also adjusted. Friendly fire has been restored in Survival and Tournament. Game option settings for Free Battle added. Map can be checked at Lobby
Furthermore, in public “Survival” and “Tournament” matches using RES/TSNE, if you kill or stun more than half of your teammates (including yourself), your team will automatically be disqualified.
Voice expansion pack #2 implemented.

There is some bad news to the expansion. The PlayStation Network payment option is not yet available. They will bring out some information when (or if) this (still) will happen. Though you are able to enter the menu, you will get an error message.

I’m looking forward to play against the few of you who still play this game.

Konami won’t be walking away from the Metal Gear franchise anytime soon because they are advertising for a new Metal Gear developer.

>>> Staff wanted for a new development in the Metal Gear series!!<<<

The listing is for an experience programmer that mentions what you need etc. So there is a new Metal Gear game coming afterall?

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That’s how Konami is playing it by bundling two titles for 19.99 pounds.

Starting on March 27th your able to choose between include Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops and Silent Hill Origins or the Metal Gear Solid and Coded Arms bundle.

You pick or just take them both.

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Hideo Kojima has revealed that Konami plan to make a number of announcements before the Game Developers Conference.

With regard to Mr Kojima, we have to keep things tight-lipped for now,

We will be making some announcements closer to GDC, so stay tuned

GDC starts on the 23rd of March. I wonder what the creator of the Metal Gear series is going to announce?

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The last time we spoke about this game was back in September and it was about the game being delayed from September till November 28th.

Konami has now set an new release date. On the 27th of 2009 Silent Hill will make it’s release on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. This will be the first Silent Hill for the current generation of consoles.

Konami has announced that a playable demo of their football game Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 will be released on the 2nd of October. Looks like it will be added in the next Playstation Store update. In the demo you’ll be able to play a full five minute match with the following teams; Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Barcelona.

Also, there will be videos detailing the ‘Become a Legend’ and online ‘Legends’ modes.

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After starting up MGO I was confronted with an update. So I went to check the website and found out that they have fixed the following issues:

When a host leaves a game, the position of host is automatically forwarded to someone else. When someone else filled the free 16th slot, the player would be invisible to the new host.

The game would sometimes freeze if a player would invite a Clan Member while in Survival mode.

The day of the week of “Match Time” was not correctly displayed when viewing the rules in the Survival Lobby.

The following game specifications have been changed:

• The motion of reloading the shotgun cannot be cancelled by equipping a box or changing weapons.

Change of weapon specification:

• Saiga 12’s cost changed from 8000DP to 5000DP.
• G3A3’s cost changed from 5000DP to 4000DP.

Change of skill specification:

• “NARC” Lv2’s cost from 1 to 2
• “NARC” Lv3’s cost from 1 to 3

*With this change, all skills will be temporarily removed, but players will be able to put them on again with the existing skill points they have.

So what do you thing of these fixes, let us know.

Ryan Payton was the Assistant Producer for Metal Gear Solid 4 and has left Kojima Productions. Upon leaving, Ryan has let slip that Metal Gear Solid 5 is on it’s way. In a recent interview with Kotaku, he was asked if there is anything he wishe’s he could of done while at Kojima Productions but didn’t and here’s what he said:

It’ll be hard not being involved in MGS5, but I’ve got the utmost confidence that Hideo Kojima, Ken Imaizumi, and our amazing team will put together another blockbuster game. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines.

This pretty much confirms that Metal Gear Solid 5 is on the way and Ryan has said that he will miss being involved, “It’ll be hard not being involved in MGS5″.

Nice to know that he’ll be cheering for the game.

The Metal Gear Online servers have updated and this is what Konami has reported on the situation:

	[08-26-2008 02:00]
Maintenance completed on the 26/08/2008
The following changes were made during the maintenance: 1)Players will gain 5 reward points when they have finished a round in the automatching lobbies “SNAKE:EX”, “LIQUID:EX” and “SOLIDUS:EX”. *The lobbies “SNAKE:EX”, “LIQUID:EX” and “SOLIDUS:EX” are only available for users who have bought the “MGO GENE EXPANSION”. 2)A new Survival Lobby “MK2″ has been added.

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has told Eurogamer that he looks forward to a day when people stop asking him about Metal Gear Solid 4 being ported over to the Xbox 360.

Kojima said:

“I’ve been doing a lot of interviews and stage shows, and half the questions are like ‘Will MGS4 be coming out on 360 or other formats?’, and in the near future I hope they’ll ask me about Metal Gear, about us, about our future projects, and will stop caring about the hardware,”

Kojima has said that he has not chosen to port MGS4 over to the X360 because it is optimised  for the PS3 and is probably not possible on the 360.

“But, you know, what kind of disturbs me sometimes, because a lot of people ask me about this PS3/360 question, is that it’s not about the hardware – I want people to look at the game itself. Sometimes I even feel like it should be on a PC so that people don’t ask me about hardware and platforms,”

Hideo Kojima answered a question about his future titles and where they will belong.

“If we’re talking about the future – not MGS4, but my future titles, if we’re referring to that – if the hardware technology rises then obviously, you know, it won’t be based on the hardware anymore. Probably I will first create the software and then, um, it’s a strange word to say, but port to other hardware if that technological ability rises in all areas.”

could this mean that the PS3 could be the lead platform and then ported over to the Xbox 360?

Konami has announced that it will be remaking the 1996 arcade racing game GTI Club. They plan to release this on the Playstation Network in November under the name of GTI Club+. Will the game have changed and got a HD remake? Yes.

The graphics have all been redone in HD to make it look prettier. The game will also have a new mode and that mode is online for up to 9 players. No price has been stated yet.

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Amazon.com has stocked more Metal Gear Solid 4 bundles, as of this past Tuesday, the online retailer began offering additional stock of the Playstation 3 80GB with MGS4 bundle following a sellout of shipment scheduled for the 19th of August 2008.

Amazon is now offering a new shipment for sale which is scheduled to be in stock on the 21st of August 2008.

The MGS4 PS3 80GB SKU includes a copy of the Metal Gear Solid 4 game and a Dualshock 3 controller for $499.99.

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Konami has released their FY2009 1st Quarter Financial Results and their operating income has surged to ¥11.6 billion with Metal Gear Solid 4 selling more than 3 million units worldwide.

Here’s the statistics:

(Millions of Yen, except per share data)

Net Revenues 70,805 (+16.7%)
Operating Income 11,611 (+65.6%)
Net Income 5,664 (+46.6%)

-“Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of The Patriots” shipped over 3 million units worldwide.

-MGS Series had accounted for cumulative sales of more than 25 million units worldwide as of the end of June 2008.

- The METAL GEAR SOLID brand has continued to maintain its dynamic potential. Sales are still steadily increasing

FY2009 Q1

Unit Sales Platform Mix

Consoles

PS3 57.3 %
PS2 11.5 %
Wii 9.9 %
360 2.6 %

Handhelds

PSP 9.5 %
NDS 7.6 %
PC&Others 1.6%

Unit sales of video game software (Unit sales breakdown )

Geographic Areas (units in million)

Japan 1.93
North America 2.59
Europa 2.3
Asia 0.12

Total 6.94

Genre/Category (units in million)

Soccer 0.95
Baseball 0.36
TV Animated 0.3
Music 0.33
Metal Gear 3.94
Other 1.05

Total 6.94

Click here to view the report.

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Here is a trailer of PES (Pro Evolution Soccer ) 2009

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Many hope this is edition that would finally prove once and for all (on the next-gen console) that PES is the best football game out there. We’ll have to wait and see untill october.

Konami has readed their Leipzig line up and here’s the information:

Games
– PES 2009
– Silent Hill Coming Home (PS3, Xbox 360)
– Castlevania Judgement (Wii)
– Dancing Stage
– Rock Revolution
– Lost in Blue (Wii, NDS)
– Eledees: The Adventures of Kai and Zero (NDS)
– new releases

Stage shows + presentations
– Hideo Kojima (Will discuss Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Online plans)
– Koji “IGA” Igarashi provides insight into the Castlevania series
– Thomas Hulett (Associate Producer) talks about Silent Hill Homecoming
– Rock Revolution presentation with Associate Producer Niais Taylor
– Dave Cox, responsible for product planning at Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, own future developments in Konami Europe

I highly doubt we’ll be seeing any new major announcements, it’s too soon after Metal Gear Solid 4.

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Here’s a gameplay video of Mercenaries 2 from Comic Con 2008.

What does a merc do with a tank? Anything he wants

Mercenaries 2 Comic-Con 08: Tank Cam Gameplay

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So we posted some new about Need for Speed Undercover an hour ago, here’s the trailer we forgot to attach.

Need for Speed Undercover trailer

[youtube 6UWIO3-Udcg]

Here’s a developer walkthrough for Sony Online Entertainment’s DC Universe Online. Jeff Rubenstein, Social Media Manager managed to video and record Jens Andersen, Creative Director to give you the lowdown on the game.

If you’re planning on attending Comic-Con between now and Sunday, feel free to go drop by the SOE booth (#4319) to go hands on with DCUO.

Here’s some DC vs MK action.

Comic-Con ‘08: DC vs MK “Catwoman vs Shang Tsung” Gameplay.

Comic-Con ‘08: DC vs MK Gameplay

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