Konami Talks PS3/PSP 'Transfarring', MGS, ZOE

E3 2011 doesn't officially start until Tuesday June 7th, but Konami held a special pre-E3 event that blew the lid off of a slew of new titles to be released in 2011 and 2012.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo officially starts on June 7th, but Konami simply couldn't wait that long to take the wraps off this year's lineup. Ten miles west of the LA Convention Center - where E3 is held every year - the Japanese publisher held a pre-E3 event at Sony Pictures Studios to give press and fans alike a first look at what's to come over the next week.

We might as well get to the best part first: Konami had several announcements regarding the Metal Gear universe and Kojima Productions, most notably the announcement of a new, proprietary game engine called Fox Engine. Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders franchises, stressed that Fox was a multiplatform technology, and that Kojima Productions was moving toward releasing its future titles on more than just Sony consoles. This engine would also come with dev tools that will allow other game makers to properly utilize the technology.

Another new piece of tech has been dubbed "Transfarring," and no that's not a typo. This feature allows you to transfer save files between your PS3 and PSP, so when Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is released on the PS3 later this year, you'll be able to play at home on your PS3, transfer the save to your PSP via a USB cable, and take your specific save file on the go. Transfarring will be present in every new or re-released Metal Gear Solid game on the Sony consoles, and the feature will be present on the PS3, PSP and NGP platforms.

Transfarring will even work on the just-announced Metal Gear Solid HD collection when it comes out in September. Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater are all coming to the PS3 and PSP, remastered in 1080p hotness. Kojima is also remastering his wildly popular Zone of the Enders games, which will come Transfarring-ready sometime in 2012. As for other Metal Gear titles, it's old news; MGS Snake Eater is 3DS-bound, while MGS Rising is still under wraps, and will stay that way until later this year or 2012.

At the very end of the video presentation, Konami also teased a new Contra game. All that could be seen was the flaming C logo from Contra titles of the past, so this game is definitely in the early stages of development.

Konami had some other games on display as well, including...

• Silent Hill: Downpour: A new chapter in the series, focusing on an escaped convict trapped in the haunted town we all know and love.
• Silent Hill 2 and 3: Remastered in HD
• NeverDead: Bryce is an immortal demon hunter, whose limbs cam be blown off and re-attached. Crawling around with no legs can be advantageous, however.
• BurgerTime World Tour: A new take on the 1982 arcade classic (XBLA, PSN, Wii).
• Puddle: A GDC award-winnin student project turned Konami-backed physics game (PSN, XBLA).
• Skull Girls: A new fighting game based on the Marvel vs Capcom fighting system (PS3).
• Jimmie Johnson's Anything With An Engine: A racing game when you strap giant engines to household objects and compete MarioKart-style.

...and of course this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our E3 coverage. Tom's will be covering every facet of this year's confab, including the Big Three press conferences, convention floor updates and developer interviews. Stay tuned!