A new listing on the Entertainment Software Rating Board's website indicates that a new title in Konami's long-running Castlevania series is heading to the Nintendo DS.

Entitled Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, the title was also recently discovered in an entry in the US Patent and Trademark Office's database which revealed the game's title and logo.

Previous Castlevania appearances on the Nintendo DS platform include Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, released in 2005 and 2006, respectively. A third title in the 2D adventure series was confirmed as in development by series producer Koji Igarashi last year.

Shacknews has reached Konami for confirmation, but has not heard back as of this writing.

This latest April Fools' Day gag comes as a collaborative effort between Konami and Ubisoft, who unveiled a video showcasing the epic crossover of Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed (PC, PS3, X360) and Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3).

Essentially a clip of Solid Snake lurking about a battlefield wearing the robes of Assassin's Creed lead Altair, the gag reel also unveils new gameplay footage of MGS4 in which Snake battles the Gekko, a bipedal tank.

Metal Gear Solid 4 will hit North American retailers on June 12.

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Konami confirmed today that Kojima Productions' upcoming tactical stealth action title Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) will hit retail shelves in North America on June 12 of this year.

The announcement confirms Konami's previous mention of a late second quarter release window for the anticipated sequel.

The company also revealed that consumers who pre-order the title from participating retailers will receive a limited edition Metal Gear Saga 2.0 DVD, which contains a series retrospective, character bios and a collection of trailers. The DVD will also contain a download code for the Metal Gear Online (PS3) beta test, set to go live in late April.

As previously confirmed, Metal Gear Solid 4 will include a "starter pack" version of Metal Gear Online, featuring five different maps and supporting up to 16 players in online matches.

Konami has announced Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection for the PlayStation 2, confirming a March 18 release with Shacknews.

Covering the entirety of the series' PSX and PS2 appearances, the collection includes the original Metal Gear Solid and the director's cuts of its PS2 sequels Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.

Selling for $29.99--well below the titles' current aftermarket prices--the games will be bundled in a special edition box with new commemorative artwork by series character designer Yoji Shinkawa. The inclusion of Metal Gear Solid marks the first retail release of a PSX title in more than three years.

Hudson Soft has announced that the internally-developed PSP and DS editions of Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of the Ancient Arts are currently in manufacturing and will be in stores February 12. To celebrate the feat, the studio sent along box art of the PSP rendition and the DS iteration.

While both editions of the isometric action RPG share the same name and expand upon Atlus' original Dungeon Explorer for the TurboGrafx-16, they feature different storylines and character abilities. The PSP version (pictured left), which supports three-person local wireless multiplayer, has players hunting down a legendary kingdom and battling demonic foes.

The DS edition (pictured right), meanwhile, is set centuries later and pits gamers against legions of the undead. It also sports three-person online multiplayer in addition to local wireless play.

Published by Hudson and distributed by Konami, each version will sell for $29.99.

Confirming recent rumors, Konami today announced that a PlayStation 2 version of the former PSP-exclusive Silent Hill Origins is in development.

Released on PSP last fall, Silent Hill Origins details the exploits of hallucinating trucker Travis Gordy as he explores the creepy-as-hell town of Silent Hill. Konami mentioned that the game would sport updated controls, through no further details, such as a release date or developer, were provided. It is believed that Climax Studios, which handled the PSP edition, is behind the PS2 version.

"Console gamers can now expect the same chilling, suspenseful and fear-filled experience that handheld gamers encountered when we released Silent Hill Origins on the PSP system," said Konami marketing VP Anthony Crouts.

Silent Hill Origins marks the latest PSP title to be ported to the PS2, following in the footsteps of such former exclusives as Rockstar Leeds' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, Tecmo's Tokobot, Sony Bend's Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, and High Impact Games' Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. A PS2 port of Ready at Dawn's upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) is heavily rumored as well.

Owing to retailer listings featuring release dates and box art, rumors are circulating that Climax Studios' Silent Hill: Origins (PSP) might be making an appearance on the PS2.

While both sites feature the same official-looking box art, they differ on release date. Amazon lists the PS2 version's release as March 4, 2008, whereas GameFly has it down for March 31.

Porting marquee PSP releases is a rising trend of late, with Sony Bend's Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Rockstar Leeds' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories having already made the jump to the PlayStation 2. Ports of High Impact Games' Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters and Ready at Dawn's upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus have also been rumored.

Both Climax Studios and Konami were reached for comment on the rumor. A representative of Konami responded but was unable to issue an official statement, while Climax has yet to respond.

With Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) delayed out of its 2007 release period last October and given a new Q2 2008 projection, little official word has been released regarding the game's status. Now, on the weekly Kojima Productions Report podcast, assistant producer Ryan Payton revealed that the game is in its "last push"--it is playable from start to finish and is about to enter the bug testing phase.

"Mr. Kojima of all people is really committed to [the date] because he really hates to disappoint people, and I know he is embarrassed by what happened with the 2007 slip into 2008," said Payton. Some features may be added, but "for the majority of the team, this is the end."

Konami has been vague about the Q2 date, which has so far only been officially announced by the company's Japanese arm; Payton stated that Metal Gear Solid 4 will ship worldwide basically simultaneously, with territories likely falling within a few days of one another.

Despite a passing mention of questions about Metal Gear Solid 4 coming to Xbox 360, Payton did not address the issue.

Kojima Productions plans what Payton called an impending "emergence day," referring to the Gears of War marketing line, when the studio will release a deluge of information, including its release date, packaging content, and various game details.

Combining arcade-style light-gun action with hyper-patriotic terrorist hunting, Target: Terror was a throwback to Area 51 and games of its ilk when it came to arcades in 2004. Based on an updated version called Target: Terror Gold, Target: Terror is now being ported to the Wii with Zapper support, publisher Konami announced today.

Created by Eugene Jarvis, designer of arcade classics like Defender and Robotron, Target: Terror (Wii) charges gamers with defending the Eagle-strewn soil of America from savage terrorists in all-American locations like San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge or Los Alamos.

The addition of Justice Mode allows ambitious players to dual wield Wii Zappers when taking on terrorists desecrating the sanctity of the American homestead. Leviathan Games will handle the port, which is expected to arrive sometime in the first quarter of this year.

Konami has once again denied the long-circling rumors that Kojima Production's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will be released on Xbox 360.

"For the record, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a PlayStation 3 exclusive and there are no plans to develop an Xbox 360 version of the game," a Konami representative informed The Game Reviews.

The latest round of speculation regarding an eventual Xbox 360 version emerged earlier this week, with little-known fansite XboxFamily claiming it obtained the information directly from an unnamed Konami representative.

Reporter Freeze later claimed that he is so confident in the information that he will shut down the website if Metal Gear Solid 4 does not release on Xbox 360 12-14 months after the PlayStation 3 version arrives.

An Xbox 360 version of Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is reportedly in development and will be released 12 to 14 months after the PlayStation 3 edition, according to XboxFamily.

Correspondent Freeze claims he wrestled this information out of an unnamed Konami representative at a distribution meeting and, upon contacting Microsoft, received a lengthy though non-committal response.

Bundled with a "starter pack" of the multiplayer-enabled Metal Gear Online, Metal Gear Solid 4 is slated to released on PlayStation 3 between April 1 and June 30, 2008.

While an Xbox 360 edition of Metal Gear Solid 4 has long been rumored, Konami and Sony have long maintained that the much-anticipated title is a PlayStation 3 exclusive.

That said, Konami has repeatedly hinted at an inevitable Xbox 360 version. Last year, Kojima Productions employee Ryan Payton noted that an Xbox 360 edition would not compromise or limit the PlayStatiion 3 edition.

Konami CEO Kazumi Kitaue later said the company "might have to take some steps" to ensure a profit on the game, with Payton recently commenting that the title needs to sell in excess of one million copies on its first day to justify its high development costs.

While we did announce the winner of the Shacknews Holiday Contest of Doom yesterday, what we didn't announce were those who took away spoils in the sweepstakes from submitting an entry. Picking one winner wasn't easy, so with the assistance of my buddy the random number generator we came up with the answers. Those results follow:

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - MoreVespeneGas (PS3), Jamiejme (PS3), Troz (PC)
• Quake Wars: Enemy Territory: Collectors Edition (PC) - Wormmeat, liqker
• Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Wii) - kallanta, ieGod
• Bee Movie: The Game (Wii) - the stickboy, c_man_tmt
• Spiderman: Friend or Foe - helvetica (PC), bettycocker (PC), aeg1x (PSP)
• Signed Team Fortress 2 poster - itsjeff9
• Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP) - tiberius bill
• Silent Hill Origins (PSP) - nitaib
• Coded Arms: Contagion (PSP) - ohhjebus
• Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel (PSP) - MajorGun
• The Witcher (PC) - filthysock, ajax, grayscale, RomSteady, gonnabechef
• TotalGaming.net memberships with tokens for Galactic Civilizations 2 (PC) and Sins of a Solar Empire (PC) - Yoonix, WARLORD48, Reavers!, cool_canuck, rustified
• Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition - T-900 (PS3), TShandy (PC), Daggoth (PS3), Trips (PC), Hidden Key (360), Gibolas1234 (360)
• Shadowrun (360) - Redfield, exigence7
• Mass Effect (360) - Lawgiver, fuji-juice
• Prey: Collectors Edition (360) with a custom Xbox 360 faceplate and mousepad - BlackCat
• The ultimate mystery Bag of (Gaming) Crap - shortbuscaptain

Thanks to everyone who participated and to the companies that generously submitted prizes such as Activision, Konami, Valve, Microsoft, Stardock, Atari, Bethesda Softworks and 3DRealms. Stay tuned for more contests in the new year.

Games are what bring us together, and the holidays are what hopefully give us a nice end and new start to the year. Here at Shacknews, we too wish to acknowledge the festive gaiety of the season with a whole slew of prizes and a contest worthy of your time. We're asking you to recreate your favorite scene from a game and to give it a holiday theme. Interpret this directive as objectively or abstractly as you like, but humor, cleverness and skill should be the key ingredients of your entry.

We're going to give you a full week for this contest, accepting entries until December 26th at 11:59 CST, giving people that day after Christmas to submit a decent entry. Why so much time, you ask? Well I think we expect some pretty great entries since the first prize for this contest will be an Xbox 360 Elite edition game system.

Intimidated by the notion of making something? You shouldn't be, because just submitting something will enter you in our game sweepstakes. For this, we have a wide array of prizes such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (PS3 and PC), the collectors edition of Quake Wars: Enemy Territory (PC), Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Wii), Bee Movie: The Game (Wii), Spiderman: Friend or Foe (PC and PSP), a signed Team Fortress 2 poster, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP), Silent Hill Origins (PSP), Coded Arms: Contagion (PSP), Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel (PSP), The Witcher (PC), TotalGaming.net memberships with tokens for Galactic Civilizations 2 (PC) and Sins of a Solar Empire (PC), Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition (360, PS3), Shadowrun (360), Mass Effect (360), the collectors edition of Prey (360) with a custom Prey 360 faceplate and mousepad, a plethora of t-shirts, an ultimate mystery Bag of (gaming) Crap and more just for submitting an entry, courtesy of Activision, Konami, Valve, Microsoft, Stardock, Atari, Bethesda Software, 3DRealms and Shacknews.

When submitting, post your entry in the comments to this article and please indicate if you own a PC, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 or PSP. If you need tools, check out Splashup or Paint.net and image hosting can be found at EasyScreens, Photobucket and ImageShack. As many submissions can be made as you like, but quality will always win out over quantity. Worldwide entries will be accepted, however only North American residents are eligible for the Xbox 360.

Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) and its multiplayer side project Metal Gear Online (PS3) will be bundled together as one release, PlayStation: The Official Magazine has confirmed.

The report indicates that a "starter pack" version of the online game, featuring five different maps, will be bundled alongside MSG4. Though it was previously known that MGS4 would include some version of the online title, publisher Konami had yet to specify any concrete details.

With support for up to 16 players, Metal Gear Online is said to place a heavy emphasis on character customization. Much like Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, PS3, X360), players will be able to level up based on their combat experience, as well as assign their characters special abilities. It is believed that extra maps will be sold through Sony's online PlayStation Store.

The PlayStation 3-exclusive MGS4-MGO bundle is currently expected to release in Q2 2008. For more on Metal Gear Online and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, scope out Nick Breckon's Tokyo Game Show coverage of both titles.

Known for developing games like Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-AM (PS2), Creat Studios has been given approval by Sony to publish its own downloadable games on PSN as well as those of other studios.

"We are very excited to become a PlayStation Network publisher," said Creat CEO Vladimir Starzhevsky in the announcement. "Digital distribution is a key component in our strategy of becoming a global leader in creating and providing interactive entertainment."

Details of the studio's first PSN title will be revealed shortly, according to the Canton, Massachusetts-based studio's website. Creat also developed the sequel to Konami's Coded Arms PSP shooter, called Coded Arms: Contagion (PSP).

A new Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 patch is now available, updating Konami's football sim to v1.20. The patch addresses some Windows Vista issues.

A tally of the past four weeks of Japanese hardware sales shows that Sony's PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo's Wii for the first time, according to magazine publisher and marketing data provider Enterbrain.

The figures, as reported by Reuters, show that the PS3 sold 183,217 units throughout November, whereas the Wii only sold 159,193.

The strong sales of the PlayStation 3 are attributed to this month's releases of Konami's soccer title Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2, PS3, X360) and Omega Force's slash 'em up Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3). Both series are extremely popular in Japan, and tracking firm Media Create states they were the two best-selling PS3 games between November 19 and 25.

In terms of overall software sales, Winning Eleven 2008 was the third best-selling title of that time, topped only by the PS2 edition of the game and Square Enix's DS remake of Dragon Quest IV. Dynasty Warriors 6, which debuted earlier this month, came in at #13, with only two Wii games--Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy and Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympics--outselling it.

Update: Hudson Entertainment has released an official statement confirming the layoffs. Several of the mobile division's Q&A and porting staff were let go, according to the statement, and their duties will be performed through "a more cost effective outsourced solution."

"It is always a difficult decision to layoff staff members, but it was important that we realign our mobile games business to ensure that we can move forward," said Hudson CEO John Greiner in the statement.

Other than the outsourced positions, the mobile division will continue business as usual, and other Hudson Entertainment divisions remain unaffected.

Original Story: A source inside Hudson Entertainment revealed to Next-Gen and other outlets that the Bay Area-based subsidiary of Japanese game company Hudson Soft laid off about half of its employees recently. The 25 to 35 laid off staffers worked in the company's mobile division, but it's unknown if this division has been shut down entirely or just drastically minimized.

The source told Next-Gen the move was based on the mobile division's poor performance due to marketing and management mistakes. "Their mobile division has not been profitable for about the last year-and-a-half or so," the source said.

According to the source, the laid off employees received two-weeks severance pay. Several of the remaining Hudson employees have been discouraged by the downsizing. "It seemed like it caught everyone off guard," the source continued. "They didn't see it coming."

Hudson Entertainment parent company Hudson Soft is a further subsidiary of Tokyo-headquartered game company Konami, who bought a majority stake in the company in 2005. Shacknews contacted Hudson's U.S. offices for comment, but has not yet received a response.

Nintendo is celebrating sports, gambling, and wildlife conservation with today's additions to the online Wii Virtual Console. All three games will be available at 9 a.m. PST/12 p.m. EST.

Double Dribble, Konami's much-loved NES basketball simulation for one or two players, arrives on the download service at 500 Wii Points ($5). Ecco Jr., Sega's child-friendly Genesis expose on the antics of young dolphins, sells for 800 Wii Points ($8).

Vegas Stakes, meanwhile, comes from Kirby developer HAL Laboratory. The Super Nintendo title offers blackjack, slots, poker, craps, and roulette for up to four players, along with the occasional encounter with another gambler, which, depending on your actions, can end in profit, loss, or everyone thinking you're a jerk. To stay on the table, you'll need to chip in 800 Wii Points ($8).

The three titles slated to hit North America's Wii Virtual Console today call to mind the days of sitting in school, listening to an eco-friendly lecture while sketching spaceships and ogling volleyball players.

Widely considered to be one of the best 2D shooters on the Super Nintendo, Konami's Axelay has players defending a planet against an alien force and their resource-sucking ways. Ship customization and multiple weapons help the 800 Wii Point ($8) shooter stand out in the online store, where such titles have become rather commonplace.

Following an insectarian named Blue, Blue's Journey likewise features a nature-oriented theme. As players explore the once-beautiful planet of Raguy, they use a leaf and other items to combat the evil, polluting enemies of Alpha Denshi's NeoGeo action title, which sells for 900 Wii Points ($9).

Volleyball, one of Nintendo's early NES sports titles, allows players to compete in men's and women's volleyball at the price of 500 Wii Points ($5). All three titles will be available today at 9AM PST, the equivalent of 11AM CST or 12 PM EST.