Pre-E3 06: Konami press conference reveals diverse lineup

We're going to assume you already know the biggest bombshells from the Konami press conference - Metal Gear Solid 4 for PS3 and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops for PSP. And you may even know all about Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel - a sort of animated comic retelling of the original Metal Gear Solid with original art by Ashley Wood. But there were a ton of non-MGS games vying for the attention of gamers as well, and appearing on nearly every console known to modern man.

Two new PS3 games were announced; a Hellboy game based upon the comic will also appear on 360 and PSP, and will be joined by Coded Arms Assault. It's a first person shooter set in a virtual world, it featured some interesting visual style, creatively designed enemies (including one boss composed of the bodies of smaller enemies) and a mysterious female with tight clothes and a gigantic gun. There's also a second PSP Coded Arms, this time with the subtitle Contagion. Eight-player multiplay via ad-hoc and infrastructure modes is the big draw here, though we hope the Konami has found some way to make fps games control well on PSP.

Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 will be kicking its way onto Xbox 360, PS2, PSP, DS, and PC - much to the delight of soccer fans everywhere. And for those who prefer graves to goals, Castlevania: Portait of Ruin looks to reward DS owners with another solid action title, and players on PSP, DS, and PC will all be able to enjoy Marvel Trading Card, a video variation on Upper Deck's super-hero trading card game.

Silent Hill Origins was originally rumored to be a remake of the original Silent Hill game, but in fact, the PSP game is a prequel to even the very first Silent Hill. Truck driver Travis O'Grady finds himself trapped in a misty town that isn't just sleepy - it's nightmarish. Cue the meat monsters.

Music games and television are merging in a big way for Konami as well. Not only is Karaoke Revolution: American Idol going to give PS2 users a taste of how it feels to be savaged by Idol judges, but the three Dance, Dance, Revolution games on the way (Universe for 360, Ultramix 4 for Xbox, Supernova for PS2) will benefit from a Saturday morning TV dance show later this year.

The Death, Jr. franchise gets a double-dose of undeath. Death, Jr. 2: Root of Evil is the PSP title, which will feature a new playable character: the whip-wielding Pandora. Then comes Death, Jr. 2: Science Fair of Doom on DS. Little was revealed about this game, but one hint was enough to pique our interest: one of the very first missions has you, as a spiritual verion of the freshly-dead Pandora, trying to get your body into a meat locker so it doesn't rot.

Much less gnarly-sounding, but equally mysterious is Elebits, Konami's first Wii game. It takes place in a world where the Elebits, tiny, cutesy critters a couple inches tall, are the soul source of power, replacing coal, nuclear plants, etc. the trouble is, they go on strike and it's up to you to find them and put them back to work.

Back to the scary stuff, "first-person dater" Brooktown High Senior Year brings the dating genre to PSP. Your created character meets other students of various stereotypes: nerd, jock, preps, rebels... and must do his or her best to find true love.

A clip reel revealed even more: Rengoku 2 (PSP), Xiaolin Showdown (PSP and DS), Online Chess Kingdoms (PSP), a newYu-Gi-Oh! (PSP), Go Pets (DS), Steel Horizon (PSP), My Frogger Toy Trials (DS), Gradius Collection (PSP), Bomberman: Act Zero (Xbox 360), a more simply-titled Bomberman (PSP) and ... more Winx Club games. Keep your eyes glued to GamesRadar for further coverage of all of Konami's games - you're going to want to play at least some of these.

I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.