Kojima to unwrap Wii project at E3?

The official story: "No comment on the postcard."--Konami rep.

What we heard: Late last year, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima sat down with Famitsu, Japan's leading game magazine. In it, he revealed he was developing an upcoming game for the Nintendo Revolution. He explained to the publication that he wanted the game to be drastically different from the stealth action series that made him famous. He also hinted that he might be targeting female gamers specifically.

While it caused a bit of a stir at the time, Kojima's Revolution revelation faded into the background, thanks to a drought of new information about the project. But that will likely end in two weeks, if the hints on the Konami E3 press conference invitation are to be taken at face value.

The invitation, which arrived in GameSpot editors' mailboxes today, has a gray front with the Kojima Productions logo in the background. In the foreground are six words in all-caps: "RETURN," "REARM," "REGALE," "REBIRTH," "RESPECT," "REFINE." In each of the words, the letters "RE" are conspicuously offset in red. On the back is an even less subtle hint. "The REVOLT begins, Tuesday, May 9. It's the battle for E3," reads the card before giving the details of the event.

Plainly, Konami is hinting that there will be a major announcement at its press conference that has to do with something starting in "Re." But while the Revolution references may have made sense last week, this week everything changed when Nintendo revealed its console's new name: "Wii." Why would Konami send out a teaser postcard for a Revolution game when it knew a name change was in the works?

The answer is on the postcard, which bears a postmark of Wednesday, April 26--one day before the Wii name was revealed. Given that it was sent before the Wii announcement--which many diehard Nintendans are now claiming is a massive hoax--Konami must have stuck with the Revolution name just to not blow Nintendo's cover. That and it would be wii-ly hard to make a cool-sounding teaser with the console's new moniker. (Painful, we know.)

Bogus or not bogus?: Looking not bogus--expect official confirmation at E3.