Konami has announced three opportunities for US fans of the MGS series to meet the creators and stars of the insta-classic Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots in person, beginning with the midnight launch of the game in NYC and Los Angeles. As an added bit of extra-coolness, Konami will be selling an undisclosed number of the limited edition MGS4 PS3 bundles regular MGS4 PS3 bundles at each event for $499.99. We've got the full schedule of events after the break.

[Update: The Gunmetal PS3 will not be sold at these launch events. Instead, the regular 80GB Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle will be offered. This includes a standard black 80GB system, a regular copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 and a DualShock 3 controller. We apologize for any confusion.]

Game industry types looking for yet another reason to flock to a central location and gab about the business while getting liquored up at the open bar should take a moment to block out some time for this summer's Ion Game Conference, taking place from May 13-15 in Seattle. Known as the Online Game Developers Conference in a previous life, organizers Evergreen Events note that the re-dubbed conference will feature an expanded focus, with panels covering topics such virtual worlds and social networking on home consoles.

While few details concerning specific panels have yet been revealed for this year's event, last year's topics included "Xbox LIVE on Windows and 360: Are Your Games Dead or LIVE?," "The Future of Games and Entertainment Resides Online," and "Dirty Secrets of Episodic Video Games," among others. Early registration for the Ion Game Conference is now open, and event organizers note that as they are expecting a considerable turnout by attendees across the globe. Those interested in taking part in the event should register early.

We're suckers for Bavaria, so if we can't go to Oktoberfest, we're going to enjoy "Brewfest" in World of Warcraft. So grab yourself some Löwenbräu, or Paulaner if you prefer, plop in front of your computer and get ready to eat some virtual pretzels and win some lederhosen.

You can check out WoW Insider for suggestions on how to get the most out of your Brewfest holiday. The general information is that the event runs from Oct. 2-16. There will be complimentary mugs to get your avatar nice and sloshed, then you can purchase "Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles" to find the perfect mate at the festival. There will also be ram racing, mystery hunts and you can even be hired to advertise the event in major cities. All of the events will net you tickets that you can trade in for the fabulous prizes above. Happy Brewfest to those in Azeroth!

[Via WoW Insider]

Mario and Sonic will soon put their bitter 16-bit rivalry aside, sharing screen time in Sega and Nintendo's 'Bizarro World' collabo, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. With the release for the Wii just a couple of months away, Sega has released details concerning the game's 20 authentic Olympic events, as detailed below:

• Fencing - Individual epée
• Archery
• Shooting - Skeet
• Gymnastics - Trampoline
• Gymnastics - Vault
• Field - High Jump
• Field - Pole Vault
• Field - Long Jump
• Field - Triple Jump
• Field - Javelin Throw
• Field - Hammer Throw
• Rowing - Single Sculls
• Table Tennis - Singles
• Aquatics - 100m Freestyle
• Aquatics - 4x100m Freestyle
• Track - 110m and 400m Hurdles
• Track - 4x100m Relay
• Track -100m and 400m

In addition, Sega has revealed that the game will include 16 different characters, 8 from Mario's universe, and 8 from Sonic's, and like in Mario Kart, the characters will each be broken up into different classes, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, Knuckles and Bowser will be part of the Power class, making them ideal for events requiring the kind of strength that only a anthropomorphic lizard and echidna can muster. As always, Mario will be balanced all around, as will Sonic's Amy, while Sonic himself will obviously dominate the Speed class alongside our dark horse prediction, Yoshi.

This October, the London Games Festival will be hitting the UK's capital with a whole bevy of gaming events. (If you're in the industry, or you want to be, that is.) First up, we have the European answer to GDC, GDC London, for the development types -- sessions range from the excitingly-titled-yet-probably-dull "Combat: The Ninja Way" through to a Molyneux special on design inspiration.

More a business sort? The Games Summit is up your street, with buzzword-compliant "hard-hitting business content" for all tastes, from ARGs to -- surprise! -- another Molyneux special, this one on Lionhead. The newly-announced Games Summit keynote will be given by Michael Denny of SCEE, focusing on the networked age and digital distribution, which should provoke some interesting thought.

Other events in the Games Festival lineup include the London Game Career Fair and the BAFTA Video Games awards (a British Academy Awards, for games, with more swearing). For those of us interested in playing games, celeb-spotting and the slightly offbeat, events throughout the week of the Festival -- 2-7 October -- will hopefully deliver, with a showcase at HMV's Oxford Street branch and a 'fringe' show which both look to be worth attending.

Those of us this side of the pond may have been reading the various Video Games Live tidbits with a detached air of mild interest, but finally we'll be able to get in on the musical action. The concert of videogame music will be hitting London's Hammersmith Apollo on November 25th, and tickets went on sale last week.

We'll be there, so watch out for the Joystiq t-shirt amidst the crowds; now, if only the concert would do a UK or European tour for those of us aware that London isn't the only city on this continent.

There's something about playing Guitar Hero that appeals to the exhibitionist in all of us. This year, the UK's Download Festival will cater to that by allowing Guitar Hero players to take to the Third Stage in between acts -- although there will be limited walk-up opportunities, they'd like you to register in advance.

This might not seem like quite such a good idea when fifteen consecutive rockers fail to finish Bark at the Moon on expert, as events like this often lead us to overstretch ourselves in an attempt to show off. However, it's a clever marketing move for RedOctane as well as a great chance to break some of gaming's stereotypes -- or at least the one about us all being self-conscious tone-deaf nerds.

While E3's keynotes were kicking off last week, several academics, developers and advocates of women in gaming gathered at UCLA to discuss girls, games and everything relating to the two. However, from Gamasutra's account of the event, nothing new was really discussed. Some of the key points brought up:

• Girls play games. (Well, duh.)
• Developers shouldn't try to focus on "girl game design" -- stereotyping game design by gender leads to missteps.
  
• Player-generated content is popular amongst girls, as is social gameplay.
  
• "Cuteness" in games, like anime and manga culture in Japan, encourages girls to get involved in gameplay.
  
• Women gamers and girl gamers are different; women and teenage girls have different demands on their time.
  
• Girls and women shouldn't just be gamers, but developers too.

Those of us heavily invested in massively multiplayer games are part of a community, just as FPS clans have a brotherhood borne out of hours of playing together. Events like BlizzCon provide an opportunity for MMO guilds and players to meet up -- for the unknown to meet the infamous.

E3 may have been over, but that didn't stop NCsoft arranging a player get-together last Saturday. Over 400 players signed up, some travelling from as far as Arizona for this one evening. While NCsoft had rented out a LAN centre for the event, players spent just as much time talking as they did playing, with a sizeable contingent of developers and community managers on hand to help the event along. NCsoft celebrities including Richard Garriott and Matt "Positron" Miller attended the event, showing a pleasing commitment to the player base.

At the Nintendo booth, people have been constantly queueing for Brain Age. Calculating by yourself is fun, but it doesn't come close to the competitive thrill of remembering your times tables faster than the next guy.

We're proud to say we won our tournament, coming in with the respectable (for day three of E3) time of 28 seconds. Interestingly, the runner-up (with a very close time) was also a girl, with the two guys taking over twice as long to finish -- draw what conclusions you will from that.

The agenda for the Sex in Videogames conference has been published, and there are some interesting topics up for debate in San Fran this June. From the cultural to the technological, the conference will cover such diverse topics as cybersex, emergent behaviour, technology for realistic simulation and MMOEGs.

This will definitely be one to watch; sex is becoming part of gaming as a specialist genre, as well as becoming integrated into our everyday gaming lives with emergent behaviour. As with other media before it, the human interest in sex is likely to fuel some interesting developments in games -- and not just in the field of "jiggle physics".

[Via Sex & Games]

The announcement of Valentine's Day events for both City of Heroes and World of Warcraft comes hot on the heels of a debate around virtual identity sparked off by a LGBT-friendly guild. The creation of in-game events that reflect popular world holidays is increasingly fashionable; it seems no week goes by without some new festival being celebrated in WoW's capital cities.

However, by first stamping out discussions of sexuality, and then opening up the floodgates by theming an event around love, what are Blizzard thinking? Will players be able to flirt with same-sex NPCs or will they be instantly banned for even venturing a hug? We hope that there will be some procedures in place to help stop harassment, as it can be difficult to throw off determined admirers at the best of times.

As for those gamers who prefer their MMOs with a dash of escapism, it seems to be a dying trend, especially amongst popular Western games.

[Image from the Alter Ego project]