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Metal Gear Solid's Hideo Kojima was the weirdest gaming-related Twitter account we'd seen -- until we saw Sam Fisher's account. Yes, the green-eyed spy guy is now on Twitter, which we know thanks to a picture we were sent from a Ubisoft email address that implored us to "Don't Believe What You Hear; My Mission Is One of Justice," combined with the plug above.

So far, he's only been whining about using "rogue resources" and posting 140 characters at a time of mysterious nonsense like "when you believe, it's easy to sacrifice." Because of course when you're a rogue operative and you need to get secret messages out into the world, a fully public Twitter account is the best way to do so. To be honest, we're a little disappointed -- Sam Fisher's got an interesting life, and we'd like to follow him and get a look at the man behind the Cell. What's he doing with his time off? What bars is he checking in from? And what does Sam Fisher eat for lunch every day? You know, important Twitter stuff.

Last week, we brought you the incredibly exciting news that a Splinter Cell: Conviction demo was confirmed for release on Xbox Live. That thrilling news just got too awesome to bear: the demo will be out this week. March 18, in fact, according to a new Inside Xbox video.

If you're not worried about spoiling the demo for yourself (which, we suppose, would lead to spoiling a very tiny portion of the game by extension), you can see some of the gameplay the demo covers in the video. Or you can wait until you get to put yourself into Sam's goggles for yourself. Oh, did we say Sam's in it? And that there would be goggles? Whoops, spoilers!

[Thanks, Daniel!]

In a video answering fan questions, Splinter Cell Conviction Creative Director Maxime Béland revealed the existence of a demo for the highly anticipated sneaking-guy game. "Yes, there will be one. I can't tell you what map or when it's going to be released yet. My lips are sealed." Warning us in advance of the demo's release date would run counter to the whole 'stealth' theme, we suppose.

We first heard of a demo for Conviction from an Ubi employee known only as "Adam," and before that had only a guess that there would be one based on the common-sense fact that it's a really popular game. Splinter Cell: Conviction is currently due for release April 13.

Forced to surrender, Sam's put on a plane and "brought home" for questioning about a plot to bring down Washington, DC with an EMP attack. Handling the transport is Black Arrow, a private military contractor, and it's this outfit's private airbase that serves as the setting for the game's second level. It presented me with new challenges, specifically staying out of site in some really wide-open spaces. I was reminded of Metal Gear Solid more than once, what with patrolling guards, stacked crates and roaming flood lights to negotiate.

Michael Ironside is like one of those dudes you respect so much, he could show up at your house, eat the last of your Nilla Wafers, break your Solid Snake figurine collection while tracking mud all over the house and you'd still love him afterward. He's got unlimited clout and his job as the voice of Sam Fisher, protagonist in Splinter Cell: Conviction, is just one of the many respectable bullet points the man has on his resume.

In that vein, we thought it appropriate to point out the brief video interview with Mr. Ironside above, which discusses coming back to the character for the fifth time and how this time around, the dialogue was "emotionally richer" than what he's used to. Frankly, we don't buy that. We were a mess when Lt. Rasczak bought the farm in Starship Troopers -- a performance that was about as emotionally rich as they come.

As was foretold, Microsoft has announced a special Splinter Cell: Conviction Xbox 360 bundle set to arrive this April in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The bundle will retail for $399 and will include two controllers, a standard edition copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction and a 250GB hard drive. We should remind readers that, unlike the one offered in the Final Fantasy XIII bundle, the second controller will actually be useful in Splinter Cell: Conviction, thanks to its split-screen co-op modes.

Check out hi-res images of the bundle in the gallery below.

Assassin's Creed 2 has yet to even arrive on PC, but ever since PC Gamer got an early hands-on with the final retail version, Ubisoft's ... somewhat cumbersome (to be very polite) internet-based DRM has caused a bit of a worry for some gamers. As it would seem, regardless of consumer complaint, the publisher is allegedly moving ahead with plans to implement the anti-piracy software in many of its upcoming titles.

Softpedia reports that an Ubi rep (speaking with PC Gamer) has confirmed Splinter Cell: Conviction, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic, and the recently announced Ghost Recon: Future Soldier to employ the DRM tools. The publisher also specifically pointed out that different titles handle the loss of data differently -- for instance, AC2 depends on checkpoints and The Settlers 7 saves wherever you last were -- though PC Gamer supposedly pressed for an answer to the question on all our minds: Will every PC game from Ubisoft in the future have this DRM?

Cryptically, the publisher replied, "It's hard for us to say, yes, from now until the day that we all die all of our games are going to include this but most will." While we can appreciate the efforts of publishers to diminish piracy of their games, we can't help but wonder what the logic is in seemingly frustrating your already dwindling legitimate consumer base with measures targeting the folks who probably wouldn't purchase games anyway.

[Via Shacknews]

If you were hoping to infiltrate this post about Splinter Cell Conviction and find anything short of three trailers, then prepare to be totally satisfied. Ubisoft's established a correspondence with Joystiq, deploying three fresh new videos from April's Badass: The Game -- and like that totally accurate and brief description, these videos will bash your face against a mirror and leave you bleeding for dead on a men's room floor. OK, not really, but we're painting a picture, so work with us here. A picture with words.

Above, you'll find a brief overview of how the co-op game fits into the story and the four additional gameplay modes, but you'll need to sneak on past the break for the next two pieces of intel: one video is a closer look at Deniable Ops, while the other documents Persistent Elite Creation, the special series of challenges within the single-player and multiplayer framework. Basically, it's a fancy way of saying "unlockable junk for your stuff."

Sam Fisher's been tossed into some fairly unenviable scenarios in previous games, but if this new trailer is any indication, Splinter Cell: Conviction might just place the former spy into his most precarious mission to date. Between knife fighting dudes in bathrooms, holding off home invaders and generally being rude to receptionists, Fisher's going to great lengths to prove his bad-assitude. (Little does Sam know, he already proved it during the original Splinter Cell's opening credits.)

Additionally, the trailer provides a bit more of the backstory leading up to Conviction, as well as some of the events we can anticipate in the game. Apparently, Sam's going to be storming the White House after an EMP blast devastates Washington. We wonder if he'll pass the Modern Warfare 2 guys while he's in there?

If you appreciated the handiwork of the National Entertainment Collectibles Association on the BioShock 2 props revealed a couple weeks ago, then you'll be pleased to know the company has revealed that additional video game-themed products are in the works. According to a Figures forum post, five franchises will receive replicas by early 2011: BioShock 2, Street Fighter, Gears of War, Dante's Inferno and Dead Space 2. Three other projects were mentioned, but not detailed: Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction and Borderlands (which includes an "articulated Claptrap with sound effects").

You can find a full list of the characters that the company will toy-ify on the Figures forum. Most of them are based on the aforementioned franchises' nightmarish enemies -- but hey, if you feel like lining your desk with Necromorphs and Unbaptized Babies, that's your prerogative.

[Via Big Download]

Thanks to a hush-hush covert op, we've extracted a handful of new Splinter Cell: Conviction screenshots to whet your appetite. Oh, okay. They were just given to us during the X10 event in San Fransisco -- but we can dream, can't we?

With Splinter Cell: Conviction (finally) hitting stores this April, these images only serve to anger us at the game's numerous delays. Also, these images are so crisp, we're not even sure they are real. If they are, someone needs to do something about that that horrific green couch (above). That is so last year.

We're devoted fans of the Ars Technica mole, who has nailed big stories like the PS3 Slim and the Resident Evil 5 bundle. As a result, we feel pretty comfortable getting excited about two new Xbox 360 bundles Ars highlights today. The first, a Splinter Cell: Conviction-themed bundle, will reportedly include a not-in-any-way-branded system packing a 250GB hard drive, two black controllers and the game, all for $400. The other bundle will, according to Ars, have all the same specs except with Final Fantasy XIII and white controllers.

Considering the the mole's track record, we wouldn't be surprised to see an official announcement any day now.

Word around the campfire is that Splinter Cell: Conviction has a release date. No, for real this time. Those other two times were just to test your resolve. According to IGN, Ubisoft has announced Sam Fisher's latest adventure will hit the Xbox 360 and PC on April 13, 2010. Poking fun at itself, Ubisoft evidently delivered a rock with the new date etched on one side to the site. Get it? The date is set in stone! Oh, those crazy French-Canadians!

If you're asking yourself, "Where's Joystiq's rock?," the answer is simple: Had Ubisoft delivered one to us, we'd use it to break the windows at the Ubisoft Montreal offices for making us wait this long for Badass: The Game. This way is just safer.

Along with yesterday's news of ninja dog pre-orders and a snazzy "noir style" graphics filter, Dead to Rights: Retribution has been given a release date of April 13 and April 16th for North America and Europe (respectively). That means you've got just under three months to start preparing for the reboot to the Dead to Rights series -- and three-ish months to prepare for some hard choices.

In case you'd forgotten, April is the month that brings us the much delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction, Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV and Monster Hunter Tri, as well as Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption. And yes, again, this is the busiest Q1 ever. Good luck!