The next Castlevania is going to be released sometime rather-sort-of-not-really soon, so I thought I'd give you a little rundown.

Castlevania: Lord of Shadows has been announced for the 360, being the first 3D Castlevania in a long time. Although the others were crap, this one looks promising. The main reason to get excited/disappointed is that this Castlevania is looking back past Symphony of the Night for its inspiration, and instead looking at the NES trilogy. This means little to no RPG elements, a Belmont for once, and perhaps most astonishing, a return to the linear level format.

This is going to make some fans mad, there's no doubting that. But seeing as I, and many others, got hooked on the [S]NES versions, this is one heck of a pleasant surprise.

There is doubt, though, over whether 3D will really work with a Castlevania game. Looking back again, the N64 3D games had awkward graphics and camera, and had game-killing bugs. Plus using a whip in 3D isn't easy either. The producers of this game, however [please excuse the lack of names, I can't find them] have full confidence in this project working.

If this failed to get you excited, perhaps this will. Not only is the soundtrack promised to retain it's Castlevania awesomness, the whole project is being supervised by Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series.

That's all I can say for now, as details are not completely leaked out yet. For more details, you can look up the Wiki, or find info in most gaming magazines such as EGM and GamePro.