Despite the many, many instances where Hideo Kojima promised he was finished with the Metal Gear Solid series, he’s always returned to it one more time, and it looks like the pattern will continue. Konami has confirmed to Shacknews that Kojima will “continue working on Metal Gear Solid games,” following comments from Metal Gear Solid: Rising’s producer that suggest Kojima may be planning to make a new MGS already.

The comments of interest came during an E3 2010 roundtable discussion last week, when Rising producer Shigenobu Matsuyama was asked where this new game fits into the MGS series. “I’ve been asked a lot, ‘Is this going to be a side-story or spin-off to the MGS series?’” Matsyama responded through a translator, “but what I’m positioning is that there will be a Hideo Kojima game that is MGS, but what we are planning as Kojima Productions is have this Raiden Rising as almost as a standard so that there’s an MGS and the Rising going back-and-forth in the future.”

It’s hard to tell exactly what Matsuyama meant due to the awkward wording of the translation, but it sure sounds like he’s saying Kojima plans to make a new MGS game, and seemingly that’ll it come in-between entries in the Rising franchise (which also, incidentally, seems to suggest Kojima Productions is positioning Rising as its own franchise that’ll get its own sequels).

When Shacknews contacted Konami for clarification, that’s when they issued a terse comment saying that “Hideo Kojima will continue working on Metal Gear Solid games.” Although that didn’t really clarify Matsuyama’s comments much, at least it does confirm Kojima isn’t really finished with MGS after all.

There’s been a lot of hints and speculation about what Kojima’s next game will be, but the latest rumor has it we’ll find out for sure at Tokyo Game Show in September.

At E3 today Konami showed the first trailer of its next Silent Hill game, with the working title of Silent Hill 8.

The game is scheduled to launch in 2011 on the PS3 and Xbox 360, and promises to be “a next generation horror game that fans truly deserve,” according to a statement released today by Konami.

The game stars prison inmate Murphy Pendleton, who escapes from a prison transport vehicle and finds himself stranded in Silent Hill. From the glimpses we’ve seen in the trailer, Pendleton will have to deal both with the supernatural horrors of Silent Hill and with the cops, who are on his trail.

We should have more substantial details soon, but for now check out these first screenshots from the trailer, which we should have available on the 1UP later today.