The excitement that coursed through the LA Convention Center when Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was (re-)revealed at Konami's press conference was palpable. "The entire conference hall trembled," as Weekly Famitsu put it. "That's no exaggeration at all. The crowd's intense cheer was enough to send a massive shiver through the air. You definitely want to see this moment for yourself, when the unimaginable truth -- Kojima Productions rebooting the Castlevania series -- was first revealed."
Of course, the story behind Lords of Shadow is a bit more complex than that. Originally announced last year without the "Castlevania" prefix, the game is under development by Madrid-based MercurySteam Entertainment, under the production of Konami Digital Entertainment Europe's Dave Cox. It's not really a Japanese production at all, actually. So what's Hideo Kojima and his studio doing, then?

"Kojima Productions is playing more of a support role," Kojima explained to Famitsu this week. "Castlevania is one of Konami's most important brands, one that's seen many releases since the original, and they've all been received warmly, but there's never been a Castlevania created to really satisfy Western gamers. People like Dave were influenced by Castlevania to become game designers, and now they're making titles like God of War. This has become a big project, one with the idea that we needed to make a Castlevania which had that same kind of feverish Western support, and that's why Kojima Productions came in to help."

In the interview, Kojima describes his role as that more of an advisor than anything else, "leaving things to Dave and the developers at Mercury Steam" and "having them fix things based on my objective viewpoint." Among the fixes he's suggested so far: A reworking of the hero's face, which Kojima said needed to be more "heroic" when Cox showed him the first cut of the trailer.

Lords of Shadow isn't due out for the PS3 and 360 until next year, but already Kojima is optimistic. "I think it's safe to look forward to this title both as a Castlevania game and as an action game," he said, adding with a laugh that "it's got great gameplay and great action, and the graphics are good even to Japanese eyes."