Just when we think we’ve got the Hideo Kojima secret game-thing sussed he throws us a curveball. Curses...

Okay, update time and it’s T-minus just less than seven hours before the countdown clock at http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/index.html runs out and the next update is installed. Previously the storm clouds at Kojima’s site were interrupted by a series of letters hinting that something would be revealed at E3, and, perhaps most telling, the looming visage of the ‘Big Boss’ character from the Metal Gear series. Fools that we were, we put two and two together to make five. Metal Gear Solid Five, that is.

Today we’re not quite so sure. The big storm has dissipated – indeed, the sun has got his hat on. Big Boss has left the building too, and all that we’re left with is a stylised figure 8 which fades in and out of view every few seconds. But take a look at the Kojima Productions logo in the bottom-right of the screen. Notice how it keeps morphing into an eyeless face?

Is it a woman, or an alien? It looks a bit like that female robot from Fritz Lang’s sci-fi classic, Metropolis. More intriguing, when you click on the face you’re taken to a separate site where it can be seen larger, flickering and accompanied by a soothing orchestral score. Meanwhile the URL actually lists the word ‘mask’. What could it be? Whatever it is it doesn’t really have the feel of anything belonging to the Metal Gear franchise.

Maybe we’ll find out in around seven hours time. Funnily enough, that more or less times with the conclusion Microsoft’s keynote speech at the E3. Now, that has to be significant. Surely...?