As if two new Metal Gear titles at E3 weren’t enough, Sony’s now bringing the undisputed champ of the Metal Gear Series to PlayStation Network. Starting today, you can grab the PS1 classic, Metal Gear Solid, for $9.99. You can even get it for your PSP!

As usual, there’s a lot of other stuff in the update. Some of it is interesting, like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter for the PSP. Some of it is mindless, like Qore (Seriously, does anyone actually watch that?).

You can also choose the demo for EA Sports’ NCAA Football 10, as well as the usual weekly song downloads for Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Rock Band gets Spinal Tap this week, something guaranteed to make people my age smile with nostalgia.

If you want to see a full list of what’s available this week, it’s available after the break.

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So every week for awhile the writers all over the new looking for a simple quick movie to plug into their gaming news site flocked like rabid sheep over to online game magazine The Escapist for the witty and acerbic commentary put to film by Internet personality and slapdash game designer Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw. Yahtzee’s weekly poke, jab and lancing of the festering boils of gaming left no game unscathed and is still one of the more enjoyable forms of critique out there.

The Escapist choose to expand their video offerings with a few new segments, one of these - Unskippable - is a tribute to the classic overdubbing comedy of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 gang - except their subject matter is video game cut scenes and trailers instead of horribly bad B-movies like Ator the Fighting Eagle.

Unskippable is a little hit or miss but anyone who enjoys making fun of this wonderful hobby of ours will soon find that you’re not the the only person out there who talks back at the screen during an interminable Metal Gear Solid Expositional Cut Scene. This week the Unskippable guys take a crack at three E3 trailers.. Final Fantasy XIV Online, Edge of Twilight and long in development online FPS Huxley.

Put on your Octo-cam suit and revisit Shadow Moses as Old Snake on Metal Gear Online. The new map Icebound Inferno is adapted directly from the original Metal Gear Solid Shadow Moses map. The new content for the free PS3 exclusive multiplayer game that came with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is available with the SCENE expansion pack at the MGO in-game store and Konami’s online store. Get more details on the new content from Konami’s press release following the break.
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Hideo Kojima made an appearance at Sony’s press conference to introduce a big Metal Gear Solid game for its new pocket size portable. The new PSP Go has Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in the works. This full Solid Snake game takes place in 1974, ten years after MGS3 making it a true successor.

With E3 2009 in full swing Gaming Today is swimming in trailers for so many awesome games, you’ll forget how slow the first five months of 2009 were. I’ll try to fire off as many as I can in short bursts. Enjoy the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker E3 trailer after the break.
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The Sony press conference for E3 2009 is set to prepare gamers for the return of a juggernaut. Sony’s had a tough year for its PS3 console, but things are looking up. This is Sony’s year to make the most expensive console on the market profitable. With God of War III, Heavy Rain, Batman Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2 and MAG on the horizon, this year’s E3 press conference promises to give gamers a reason to pick up a PS3. I’ll be blogging live as Sony wows gamers with 364 new PS3, PSP and PS2 titles. Check out the running commentary after the break.

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As Ron pointed out the other day, a new splash screen over at Kojima Productions’ website featured a grassy field with distant lightning pulsing every once in a while to briefly reveal an image of a ‘5′ or ‘S’.

That countdown has ended, and we are now being teased with yet another countdown. As of this writing, the new countdown reads 102 hours remaining (just over 4 days).

Additionally, a random sequence of four flashing digits or letters are now being pulsed in the same fashion as before. My crude transcription skills read them out to be (in no particular order): ‘E3e5′

While this doesn’t exactly help clarify things, it sure does add fuel to the already blazing speculation fire. The letters ‘E3′ would obviously mean reference to the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo taking place June 2nd through the 4th.

So what do the other two letters mean? The first thing that came in my mind was ‘Se’ = ‘Snake Eater’. A port? A sequel to the prequel? A prequel to the prequel? Argh!

Or could it just simply mean ‘e5′ = ‘episode 5′? Double Argh!

Damn you, Kojima! *shakes fist* Damn youuuu!

Expect more countdowns, teasing, and overall sneakiness until our collective heads explode.

Over at the Konami website, there’s a shiny new countdown page (seen in the screenshot above). There’s no word on exactly what it’s a teaser for just yet, but if you visit the site, you’ll see it’s located in the Kojima Productions directory of the Konami site.

Each time the lightning flashes in the Flash driven countdown page, it reveals the outline of the number five. Whether this refers to Metal Gear Solid 5, or some other title, we’ll just have to wait and see. Maybe E3 will bring all the answers we seek.

Let’s just hope that if it is MGS5, it’s not featuring Raiden. I just don’t think I could take that.

Brand new footage from Naughty Dog’s action adventure sequel Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has been released. Clocking in at just under six minutes, the footage shows off more of the game’s single player aspect.

By jumping over walls, flipping over objects, etc., we can see from the video that not only is the game’s protagonist, Nathan Drake, able to interact with the environment, but the enemy AI will do so as well. Uncharted 2’s departure from Tomb Raider-esque jungles to a war torn urban setting certainly gives the game an eerily resemblance to Metal Gear Solid 4.

Most notably, as we watch Nathan zig-zag throughout the city rubble as the enemy patrols the area, the possibilities of stealth play become apparent. And just like the original, the sequel will certainly be delivering in the eye candy department again.

My favorite part of the video has to be the riot shield interception shown towards the end. I laughed.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is slated to arrive this fall for the Playstation 3 console.

According to a report by ps3fanboy and showing up on NeoGAF, the trophies for the Metal Gear Solid
pack for LittleBigPlanet. On top of that, Media Molecule has said that upcoming level packs will include new gameplay elements: “I don’t think that people are expecting what it’s going to be and I’m so excited by that,” said Evans of the Metal Gear pack. “The surprise element is just a big part of it.”

The costumes hitting December 23 will cost you $1.99 each or get you can get all 4 for the price of 3 at $5.99. Player-creators also have the option to get the Metal Gear Solid Premium Level Pack for $5.99 which fills your Pop-it tool with MGS-themed “Create” materials plus objects, stickers and other goodies. All are listed below:

• A 5th Sackboy costume…the Gurlokovich Soldier
• 72 New Stickers
• 12 New Materials
• 10 New Decorations
• 18 New objects
• New background music track
• 3 new interactive music tracks
• New Metal Gear Solid themed ‘sound object’
• New Plasma Ball ‘danger element’
• New Laser Sight ‘gadget’
• New functioning Searchlight lamp
• 12 new Trophies to unlock
• THE PAINTINATOR and Paint Switch

With the THE PAINTINATOR you’ll be able to splatter anything that comes between you and the end of any level. Shoot paintballs with the R1 button and using the right stick to aim. Paintballs will hit very weak slap. Shoot ‘Brains’ from a safe distances now and progress thru levels much easier. The Paint Switch, so you can attach it to any object and set it to destruct after being splattered with enough paint.

Now if you don’t buy it, no worries, you’ll still be able to enjoy the MGS fun! Non-MGS Level Pack owners can PLAY the MGS Story Levels by joining a “host” who owns the pack and play the levels online together. You won’t be able to keep any objects, but you can experience the new features. MGS Level Pack owners will also be able to CREATE levels with any of these items (including the Paintinator) and SHARE them online for everyone to play.

Sounds like fun! Thanks NeoGaf for posting this info from the LittleBigWorkshop. If you hit that link, you can also view a trailer. More screens are posted below.

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Taking a cue from the Metal Gear Solid folks, Capcom has decided to re-issue the first three Onimusha games together in one package. The “Onimusha Essentials” pack will bundle the three games together for the budget price of $30. All three were great games — though the first couple might be a little dated by today’s standards — but if you want to see essentially the precursor to God of War, then here it is. Now we just need publishers to make this even easier on us and start issuing them for the next-gen consoles, preferably as a download.