No, not because Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is taking forever to be released. 2007 is the 20 year anniversary of the Metal Gear games, and Konami plans on re-releasing these games from its past:

• Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation, 1500 yen, $12.35)
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PlayStation 2, 1800 yen, $14.82)
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, (PlayStation 2, 2800 yen, $23.05)
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, (PSP, 2800 yen $23.05)

Konami will also release a Metal Gear Solid Collection bundle package that contains all four of the games above, for the price of 6900 yen ($56.80). Their new release dates will be July 26th, although for now Konami is only offering the re-releases to Japan.

CNet's Crave put together a list of the best five game controllers ever made, and while you might not agree with their rank, they hit all the important ones. Since their list charts the peaks of the controller's evolution, they disqualified the Wiimote and Sixaxis for being too new. Here's their picks and reasonings:

• #1: Atari 2600 joystick: Featuring a simple stick mechanism for moving around and a red button for firing. It's not technically a gamepad, but it's so crucial to gaming history there's no way we couldn't mention it.
• #2: SNES controller: This exercise in ergonomics is a curvy, multi-coloured, multi-buttoned evolution of the angular NES controller. This was the first controller to have shoulder buttons -- a revolution that made an arcade staple like Street Fighter II a viable proposition in the home.
• #3: Nintendo 64 controller: This is one of the most important joypads ever produced. Not only did the N64's controller feature an analogue joystick, which made playing games such as GoldenEye realistic and subtle, but it also featured a pistol-like trigger button underneath.
• #4: PS2 controller: Nintendo may have started the analogue-stick-on-a-pad idea but Sony really took it to the bank. For many gamers, the DualShock gamepad is the best gamepad ever made. ... Having two analogue sticks meant you could play games in a completely different way to anything available before.
• #5: Xbox 360 controller: It was the first wireless pad to come as standard. Its comfy, solid design offers dual analogue joysticks and two analogue trigger buttons underneath. There's also a built-in jack for connecting a headset.

I'm surprised GameCube didn't make the list, I know a ton of people who claim it's the best controller ever made for the way it curves around your hand. Although its lack of symmetrical design can be annoying depending on what games you throw at it. I thought the PS2 had the best design by far for its time, but now that others have had time to perfect it, I actually like the Xbox 360 controller slightly more than the DualShock. I still can't get used to Sixaxis's weird trigger setup, and the Xbox 360 controller's simple curves and ability to turn your console on and off makes it the industry standard in my opinion.

Looking back over all the controllers ever made, which would you pick as your favorite?

1PStart gets all the good press releases, ever since watching the movie Rat Race I've thought it would be a great idea for a comedy-carmageddon video game based on the movie. Finally, it's here:

Mr.Bean on PlayStation 2 will be made up of 3D levels avoiding tricky traps and problem solving along the way to find his missing Teddy with the help of Bean’s girlfriend Irma Gobb. 92% of children under 11 are great Mr.Bean fans and 67% of children under 11 watch the TV series regularly, according to Film Audience Research and the game will be developed to specifically target this younger audience.

Wait, just Mr. Bean? Are you serious? The least respected comedian of all time? I could sell more copies of Cooking Mama: Cattle Killer to Hindus, this game better not turn a profit. We live in a world with Wii motion sensitivity and DS stylus gameplay, yet a Bob Ross art game gets dropped and a Mr. Bean game gets pursued? This sounds as fun as playing Bill Cosby in a Kids Say The Darnedest Things game, at least there'd be free pudding involved.

And you said the PS2 was dead now that God of War 2 came out. Yeah you did, I saw you flirting with the PS3 finally, don't deny it. You want to take her Home, fold her up and give her all sorts of diseases. Here's one last game to sway your mind, I don't know why it isn't getting more press, since you can annihilate EVERYTHING. They even hired the best game trailer narrator of all time to describe it to us, he sounds like Lewis Black's 500 pound little brother: "The people. The creatures. Even the battle system itself. This game will let you annihilate everything. Coming 2007. It. Will. Destroy. Your. Life." (Cue shitty 2D anime RPG sprite we've seen ten thousand times before in other games).

No, the sprites aren't a let down, you just don't appreciate a good game when you see it. Did Squaresoft let you destroy even the battle system itself? Clearly we're dealing with the game of the year here, you can't compete with a game called Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, this must have been in development since the advent of anime games. You can steal from shops, or, you can steal from anyone. You can even gain 1,000 levels instantly. The industry isn't ready for what's coming. Kratos is OK, but the real fun begins when the PS2 peaks this fall with this game's release. What will you annihilate first? The title screen? The saving system? I'm going to annihilate the interface first, then work on the credits, and maybe go back and unlock some more bonus annihilation. How long do you think it will be until the PS3 also gets overrun with obscure sprite RPGs?

Yep, for sure this time. Someone just got God of War II sent to them early, and on the back of the manual (seen above) is an advertisement for a PSP God of War game coming in 2007. Will it be God of War II on PSP, or the first God of War, or a separate game altogether? No details are known for sure yet, but either way, this is another great reason to own a PSP. More details will probably pop up later today as the pictures continue to spread, so check back later for an update.

And here's a list of the things he found on the second disc that came with the game: Making of God of War II. Interviews with voice actors, musicians, and artists. Extra features containing trailers, environment artwork, creature art, game testing, Halloween?, press events,  how to play tutorials. And spoilers on creating Kratos, initial concept, lost levels, level design, creating Zeus, combat system, animations, cinematics, and boss concept art.

Not too long ago I wrote a good and bad news story about Sony, this time it's just one piece of news, but its amount of satisfaction depends on how you look at it. Last week Sony quietly mentioned that the European PS3 launch on March 23rd would only give Eurogamers limited backwards compatibility for PS2 games - since they gave the rumble feature the finger and proclaimed it as simply a last-gen feature, why not also give up backwards compatibility as a next generation must? The incessant PS3 haters only grew worse and Europe demanded answers. Sony's Phil Harrison has finally responded to complaints and assured us that "the situation is changing everyday, but on March 23, we expect the list to include over 1000 PS2 titles." Hmm, 1,000 is a lot, but when you scrutinize, it's technically only 1/8th of all the PS2 games that ever came out.

To be fair, Xbox 360 had a lot of must-have games that also escaped their initial launch list of backwards compatible games, but they also launched a whole damn year before the PS3 did. And hey, since we're being fair and all, I thought "the next generation of gaming" started when you said so, Sony? You still not ready for the future of the game industry? I mean we can wait if you forgot your toothbrush and want to go back for it, this isn't a serious issue or anything, just millions of dollars. Phil made it clear though that "we're working to introduce a resource to the Web to detail which titles will have backwards compatibility. And as we make firmware upgrades, we will be able to add to that list." Ok, I guess that's not terrible, but it's still not the good news I was looking for. Most of us have the holy PS2 anyways, so it shouldn't matter too much, but this is good or bad news depending on the person reading it.

Here's a new gameplay video of Kratos scaling Atlas in God of War 2. It starts off with him pulling a Spiderman as he swings from one chain to the next and risks falling to his death. Then he pulls an X-Men and pimps out the Icarus angel wings to maneuver around the level. It's video preview like this that let you know the sequel will be just as good as we hope - in this short clip we already see several different challenges and obstacles. It's a shame not many game companies are willing to take the time to create action adventure games filled with puzzles, I can't wait until the best game of the year awards come back for 2007, and God of War 2 is on it fearlessly facing PS3 and 360's best. The wait is almost over - God of War 2 comes out on March 13th for PlayStation 2. Do you guys plan on buying it right away?

Sony just gave out some new God of War II images - there's four new screenshots showing off Kratos with Icarus wings, and two pieces of concept art to go along with it. The character art looks as impressive as usual, but the environment design actually looks terrible in some places. You can see several spikes in the background Vertices Alps where the 3D terrain jags in random directions grotesquely. It still looks like a fun level to play through though, make sure you also check out the two dozen God of War II images from the past if you haven't seen them yet.

EvilAvatar just got ahold of 23 new high resolution photos of God of War 2. Half of the pictures are from the Colossus of Rhodes boss battle that we watched yesterday, but the rest are of Kratos grappling indoors and outdoors in combat. The textures are pretty nice for the PS2, but most of the geometry of objects looks simple - it'll be fun comparing this game's graphics to Final Fantasy XII. The Rhodes statue has some fugly fingers, but his under construction arm looks awesome when lightning is surging through it. If this is one of the early bosses then I can't wait to see how impressive the last boss is.

The 'hammer' teaser trailer came out last night and GameTrailers has the high quality version for us as usual. It's great to see companies other than Square Enix making the PS2 graphics looking borderline early PS3 graphics. A lot of the 360 and PS3 games actually bother me - they look shiny for no reason, giving everything a greasy feel. Parallax mapping can be cool, but games like Kameo just didn't always implement it very well. Everything in the God of War II trailer looks crisp and sleek though, and everything is way more epic than before. Kratos looks  more badass, the environments feel more real, and the bosses could take any of the Colossi in a bar fight. Ripping wings off of your enemies has never looked as good before as it will in March when this game finally comes out. I can't wait to jump into a temple sized crossbow and launch myself at the bosses. God of War II has kickass TheLastBoss written all over it.