During Konami"s E3 press conference today, the company finally answered no less than three lines of rumor and speculation that have been swirling for a couple of weeks with a single announcement: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Yes, it"s a retrofitting of Lords of Shadow -- an action game that was revealed at Games Convention 2008 -- to fit into the Castlevania series. Yes, Hideo Kojima is involved in its development. And yes, this is the game that was connected to the mask image in Kojima Production"s maddening countdown clock.

It"s an action/adventure game being developed by Madrid-based MercurySteam, with Kojima Productions providing assistance. "Castlevania as you know was created in Japan, and it was great. But to keep it more appealing in the future, we thought about making it this way," Kojima said. He also proclaimed that this title "gives birth to the new Castlevania."

The true extent of Kojima"s involvement remains a little unclear, although it seems to be a supportive role, with MercurySteam and Konami Europe"s David Cox leading the game"s development. "You might ask, what"s my role? I want them to create it. I"m going to help them give birth to this Castlevania," Kojima explained.