RipTen Videogame Blog » Geoff Haugan

MGO Expands With “GENE”: An Analysis

Geoff Haugan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:03:53 +0000

The recent additions of Team Sneaking and Headshot Only modes to Metal Gear Online is just the beginning, since the first of the expected expansion packs is only a few days away. Let’s talk about what’s included, how it indicates some promising MGO evolution and why maybe the price (if it can’t be free) isn’t as bad as it could be.

Originally, Metal Gear Online was possibly going to be a separate game. Thankfully, Kojima Productions wisely gave everyone who purchased MGS4 a good taste of the basics that MGO had to offer in the form of the starter pack—touting coming expansions packs that would add lots more content for those wanting it.

Information on the first of these expansion packs, entitled GENE, has been posted by Konami. As they previously discussed, they look to be hitting all categories with this expansion by adding new characters, maps, a play mode, new customizability and an extra character slot.

Maps

Coppertown Conflict/City of Sorrow: Brown Town? YES! While I can’t be sure, this map almost surely looks like the reappearance of Brown Town from MGO: Subsistence, one of my favorite maps from that game. Hopefully it will find its own personality in the new MGO, as Midtown Maelstrom does hark back to its design with a wide-open street on one edge and more intimate alleyways on the other. I think there’s absolutely room for both.

Tomb of Tubes/Underground Waterway: Reminiscent of the underground Groznyj Grad sewers Snake escapes through in Snake Eater, Tomb of Tubes appears a darker, more intimate indoor affair.

Virtuous Vista/South American Power Station: Adapted from Snake’s latest adventure (MGS4), specifically the South American jungle of Act II. I get a Svyatogornyj East vibe from this one, though likely larger, which would be fantastic.

Characters

One of the things I missed most about MGO: Subsistence was the unique characters leading each squad and the fun, variety and tactics this brought to the game.

I had hoped unique characters might return and it looks like Kojima Productions had the same thing in mind.

Meryl Silverburgh: Meryl’s skills revolve around her role as a team leader.

Enemies she attacks and enemies that attack her will be displayed through SOP (perhaps something akin to Monomania and Narc at level 3).

Allies near her will regain Psyche faster, though as far as I know there’s no way to regain Psyche in MGO so perhaps she will enable this within certain proximity.

She can wake teammates quicker than usual and excels at handgun use (probably Handgun+ at level 3).

Whether or not she’ll be able to use the Desert Eagle, as she carries in MGS4, by default or by choice I’m curious to see.

Johnny (Akiba): Like Meryl, Johnny’s abilities seem tied to his in-game MGS4 persona. He’s an expert at traps.

He can see all traps in a stage and can disarm them in a special way, by pressing triangle, to turn them into items.

While he may be equipped with some special weapons or skills at using traps too, he may be less easily used given that I don’t see many trap users out there in MGO. It’s a shame because I not only had some great fun, but also success, when playing around with the likes of C4 and sleep gas mines. Most hosts sadly turn off many of the weapons.

It’s also possible that Johnny is meant as a weaker character, in-line with at least his early-game persona in MGS4 and his appearance as Johnny Sasaki in all the other MGS games. This would make him similar to Sokolov in Subsistence, who was controlled by the worst scoring player on his squad and who only had a weaker version of the optical camo to aid him.

Konami has added a note that these characters are not freely selectable, meaning that they should function similarly to the “leader” characters in Subsistence. Konami claims they’ll be assigned randomly, which would be a change, as previously the special characters were controlled by the best or worst scoring player on a given squad. To give more people a chance to play as these guys, randomizing it sounds like a good idea.

A similar change was made when deciding who becomes the next Snake in sneaking mode. No longer does the soldier who killed Snake take over his role, alleviating at least some competition within teams.

Customizability

The expansion adds the ability to create female soldiers, and with it adds a new character slot so that you can create and save a second character without having to purchase the atrocious extra character slot add-on for $7.99USD (includes 3 character slots.) You only really need one character I suppose, but still…

The total number of characters you can buy slots for now is apparently eight, if you want to waste money.

New items for your character will also be available in the Reward Shop for purchase with Reward Points.

Survival Mode and Reward Shop

I’m really curious about Survival Mode, but details are scarce. Presumably it revolves around staying alive and will probably be another fairly unique mode, very welcome in MGO. Reward Points can be earned in Survival that can be spent on items in the Reward Shop to further customize your characters. These items can be used in modes other than Survival as well.

Could Survival be a single player or perhaps cooperative experience as opposed to team vs. team? It’s an interesting possibility. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Release Date

You won’t have to wait long though as the Metal Gear Online GENE Expansion will be available for download on July 17, 2008. It will be available through the MGO shop, which probably elicits a groan throughout the world, as Konami has insisted on using their own proprietary online system for their games as opposed to the PlayStation Store.

Not easy to use through the PS3 itself, the MGO Shop is simply a barebones webpage. While only the overpriced character slot and codec pack add-on have been available up until now, the expansion should be its first real test. If possible, try accessing the store via PC and making your purchase that way. I admit though that I do not even know exactly how that works and you may still be required to access the shop to at least start the download on your PS3.

Price

Priced at 9.99EUR for Europe, there has been no revelation yet for North Americans even days ahead of release. That figure is likely to translate directly to $9.99USD, or so I’d hope. If that will be the price, then all I can think is that it could be worse. With three extra character slot running $7.99USD on the MGO Shop, I worried how much an expansion might run if it included stuff that was actually worth getting.

$10 is certainly more reasonable than $15 or $20, but it’s probably the highest price I would consider acceptable. Given the price I paid for MGS4 already and the reliance on Konami’s servers to enjoy MGO, it still gives me pause for thought. Map packs tend to run around $5. There’s more here and it’s interesting content, but Survival mode is still a mystery and with more expansions on the way, the cost of the “full” experience could get pricey.

While I’m not privy to all the intricacies of the industry’s business model, look at what Criterion is doing with Burnout Paradise. There’s a precedent for this stuff to be free, and MGS4 is a full retail game. Clearly a huge amount of work went into it, but are they nickel and diming us with the online portion?

It’s impossible to say, since we don’t know what else the future will bring. I don’t know how many hosts out there will be using the expansion, but Konami is raising the danger that the already niche MGO userbase will be splintered. Of course prices could come down or expansions could be bundled, but the price already seems to be adding up.

Maybe it’s not fair to expect this kind of stuff for free, but as a big Metal Gear Online fan this is giving me pause for thought. And that’s something Konami should be concerned about.

Other companies are releasing impressive add-on content for free, so take notice Konami. It’s in your interest to keep the community strong.

Sources: Konami, Strategy Informer

The Real Yakuza 3 On The Way

Geoff Haugan — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:26:11 +0000

It appears that the recently released (in Japan) Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! is a side story to the Ryu ga Gotoku series, known as Yakuza in North America. The true third part in the series is on its way— and sooner than you’d think.

Ryu ga Gotoku was a gamble. It was expensive and attempted to recreate a real-life locale authentically. It was a decent hit in Japan, but when it came to North America touting an expensive voice cast it failed to capture much attention from gamers.

In Japan the series saw a sequel on the PS2 and then another game on the PS3 called Kenzan!, just released in March of 2008. Kenzan! unexpectedly moves the action from modern day Tokyo to Japan’s Edo period, complete with sword fighting, while still largely retaining the same cast of characters.

It turns out this is a fun but temporary departure for the series, and that the real third installment is well underway and will appear on the PS3 in Japan in Spring of 2009.

While exciting for those of us who enjoyed the first game, this is kind of funny considering we’re still waiting for not only Yakuza Kenzan!, but also Yakuza 2 here in North America. Thankfully it appears Sega has not given up on releasing these titles outside Japan.

While nothing has been said about Kenzan! specifically as far as a date, 2008 doesn’t seem out of the question, and Yakuza 2 looks slated to appear on the PS2 this September—this time lacking the costly English voice cast in favor of subtitles and the authentic Japanese voice work, which is reportedly quite excellent. That is a very smart choice.

It’s been quite a delay getting Yakuza and Yakuza 2 here, but there are heavy dialog and localization issues with these titles. Hopefully PS3 owners will be seeing Kenzan! a little closer to its Japanese release than we have with the first two games, and that Yakuza 3 follows suit.

The first Yakuza was visceral, atmospheric and enjoyable. Hopefully Yakuza 2 and Kenzan! will see more success here and not give Sega any excuses to leave the series Japan-only.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on these games as the year progresses. I urge anyone out there remotely interested to check out the first game.

Source: Neogaf via Famitsu

The New Metal Gear Online and What I Miss About Subsistence

Geoff Haugan — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:55:44 +0000

As I began to play the new Metal Gear Online the other day, I found myself frustrated. I began to write down some things that have changed since Subsistence and that are bugging me. As I played more I found myself adapting and finding options to better handle the frustrating situations, but there are a few things that I think bear discussion.

Lock-on vs. Over-the-shoulder

Rarely in Subsistence online did I use the two first person views to aim my weapons. The really good players were excellent at this, while I tended to favor taking people by surprise and utilizing the lock-on to get in that first shot and keep them from returning fire.

This is no longer possible in MGO. Auto aim has been weakened tremendously when using assault rifles, which is essentially the most versatile weapon class available to you. No longer does stealth pay off as reliably when you sneak up on someone from medium distance or the like.

Unless you’re extremely close and can use CQC, you must rely on the over-the-shoulder (OTS) aim to take down enemies. If you want to do so quickly and cleanly, getting that headshot on a moving opponent with their back to you can be frustrating. More often than not I would end up in my targets crosshairs after giving away my position.

Shooting skills are rewarded more now than before, where the playing field was kind of level thanks to the lock-on. If you had trouble aiming with the controller like in an FPS you could still have success.

This also makes the outcome of even lopsided encounters—say, you and a teammate against one guy—far from certain. Your teammate may get in the way, causing your weapon to lock; the other guy may simply headshot both of you with a single bullet; or mow you down while you’re trying to pick a shot. High level weapon skills make this worse as well.

More time with the handguns and submachine guns, both of which possess far better lock-on range, is needed, but I have doubts about how effective they might be against rifle users with heavy trigger fingers (something higher weapon skills lets you get away with). Switching weapons and auto aim on and off constantly is quite cumbersome. I feel compelled to have my handgun in the second slot instead of the knife, which makes me less efficient with CQC too.

While the OTS view is an excellent addition, I dislike seeing MGO turn in to a more standard shooter. It won’t appeal to that crowd for other reasons and it’s not playing to Metal Gear’s unique strengths. While I appreciate the OTS at longer ranges, close range has been turning in to a frustrating mess for me if I can’t land a grab.

Not being able to take out a sitting duck right in front of you half the time because they’re just running around in circles is horrible.

Versatile Sniper Rifles

In Subsistence, if you chose to equip a sniper rifle you had to really play the game differently—like using traps, and having a spotter or backup to assist you. That is no longer the case and it seems like the checks and balance of having a weapon very accurate and deadly at long range (but not so mobile) is gone.

I mentioned that the assault rifles are the most versatile weapon class. Given that they do have some limited auto aim functionality and CQC that may still be true, but sniper rifles look to be giving them a run for their money.

Theoretically being able to fire sniper rifles on the move and from OTS is perfectly fine with me, and it does change things a lot. This is apparent when looking at the M14, which is fully automatic, and the DSR-1, bolt-action but fatal even with a body shot. The SVD is quite effective also.

Time will tell. I enjoy the versatility, but it may make sniper rifles the new assault rifles.

Weapon Skills

The inclusion of skills is not surprising. Games like Call of Duty 4, Battlefield, and others have popularized this incentive to play and ability to customize not only how your character looks but how it plays.

A lot of the skills in MGO are really neat, involving close range fighting abilities and advantages attained through the SOP system. The weapon skills, however, are troubling. The playing field is no longer even and if two people are firing at each other, the person with a level two or level three assault rifle skill has a substantial advantage. In fact, even in close with the disorienting OTS aim, many seem much deadlier with the assault rifles than someone perhaps more fittingly trying to utilizing a short range handgun or SMG, auto aim, or CQC.

It’s up to play style, but I dislike frantically and inaccurately trying to aim OTS at that range with a primary weapon. It’s unreliable and frustrating. Against someone forcing you in to that situation though, you really have no choice but to try to get lucky with a headshot yourself before you go down. If they have a higher weapon skill they’re nearly certain to win just by holding the trigger down.

Most people may not find this an issue once they’ve raised their own weapon skill, but what if you’re interested in utilizing more CQC, SOP effects, or other tactics? You only have four skill points available to you, are you going to feel forced to use three of those just for a primary weapon just so you feel you can compete?

Again, it’s early to make a judgment and overall I like the variety of skills available—I just want to use some of them and not get dead. An even playing field, at least as far as weapon stats go, might end up being preferable.

Squad Character

While MGO allows you to create and customize your soldier, it’s hard to notice those details on the battlefield and everyone ends up looking kind of nondescript and similar. It’s bland and teams can’t really tell each other apart aside from the ubiquitous floating name tags that can be difficult sometimes to pick out in a cluster.

I loved the character and style that each of the GRU, KGB and Spetznaz squads had in Subsistence and their leaders. You could always identify them and their leading scorer. Those were really fun and unusual elements, bringing that unique Metal Gear character online. You had the option to turn leaders off if their special skills weren’t welcome, but no matter what your team had a uniform character.

There’s been mention of new characters among many other things in store for the upcoming expansions. Perhaps we’ll see leaders, special characters and new uniforms added. I hope so, but unless you’re playing with your clan or an entire squad of friends no one will really be coordinated. Still, it would be welcome.

A small thing, but I really miss it.

Keep an eye out for more on MGO as I continue to play, including some special tactics to deal with those tricky close range confrontations and other situations.

New GTA4 Patch for PS3 and 360

Geoff Haugan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:00:23 +0000

Rockstar has released a patch for both the PS3 and 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV today, addressing specific issues on each platform and in the game’s multiplayer modes. The full list of changes is as follows.

1. Fixed an issue where players were unable to enter or exit vehicles in GTA Race.
2. Fixed an issue where scripted vehicles were causing games to unexpectedly crash.
3. Improved reliability and frequency of PS3 online leaderboard updates.
4. Fixed a rare hang some players encountered when moving from a Race or GTA Race lobby into gameplay.
5. Fixed a hang that would occur when players were switching teams during the countdown in the lobby.
6. Fixed an issue where players were able to get ridiculously high scores from Cops ‘n Crooks matches.
7. Changed GTA Race and Race so that the last player remaining always receives a reward of $250.
8. Fixed an issue where spectating players would prevent the game from finishing.
9. Fixed an issue where players were unable to spectate in Round 2 of Cops ‘n Crooks games.
10. Changed countdown timer in lobby so that it no longer resets when new players join a game.
11. Changed the kick option so that kicked players are no longer brought back to single player.

Some of these issues sound fairly significant, glad to hear Rockstar has taken care of them. Given the success of GTAIV and this being its first entry into the multiplayer realm, it’ll be interesting to watch how the experience continues to grow. While these are merely fixes, hopefully the future will bring other additions.

For all you out there in the wilds of Liberty City online, let us know how the experience is treating you.

Source: Rockstar

Final Fantasy Versus XIII Still A Ways Off

Geoff Haugan — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:18:21 +0000

Announcing games extremely early has always seemed unnecessary and a bit torturous for fans. When multiple Final Fantasy XIII titles were announced at E3 2006 gamers were understandably excited, but two years later little more is known about the games.

A recent issue of Famitsu reports that the wait looks set to continue for quite awhile.

At E3 2006 Square Enix surprised fans and gamers by announcing Final Fantasy XIII hot on the heels of Final Fantasy XII’s release. What’s more, it wasn’t just Final Fantasy XIII that was on the way, but also Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII.

While various trailers have surfaced and Agito was revealed as a mobile title, we’ve heard little more about the projects. Now, Famitsu has revealed that the majority of the Final Fantasy Versus XIII team has been pulled off the title and reassigned to Final Fantasy XIII itself. Agito XIII is also said to still be in early production and story development.

Such a move does not bode well for the possibility of seeing the game any time soon, let alone its spin-offs.

In the case of Final Fantasy it’s a given that more games are on the way. That’s not always the case, but is there really any benefit (for game developers anyway) to such early announcements? Square certainly should have known it was unnecessary with Final Fantasy. At least wait until there’s something to show.

While the end of 2009 is the earliest Final Fantasy XIII proper is expected to make an appearance, that’s still a long way off. Live in the now, enjoy what’s out there and for the sanity of everyone just forget about Square Enix’s megaseries for the time being.

You’ll be happier for it.

Source: Game|Life

Vehicles to Play a Big Role in New Banjo Kazooie

Geoff Haugan — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:35:32 +0000

It looks like Rare is interested in shaking up the Banjo formula with the next game in the franchise for the Xbox 360. Titled Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, vehicle creation and component collection will play big roles.

Rare may be aiming for a more open-world, sandbox style of play for the new Banjo Kazooie. A large part of gameplay will revolve around the creation of vehicles from 1,600 parts throughout the game’s six levels. These parts include weapons and can create various things from gliders to monster trucks and bikes that have multiple uses and abilities. Some possible creations can be seen in the following gallery:

Traditional platforming will still play a role, as will the collection of puzzle pieces and musical notes. Notes in particular will be used to buy blueprints for vehicles.

Levels themselves sound substantially larger than before, with the first area called Showdown Town being described as 16 times larger than anything Rare has done before.

Information on multiplayer is scarce, but Gamereactor experienced a few duels at Rare’s recent press day:

The first was a kind of ‘King of the Hill’ where we had to keep inside a circle that constantly moved. Two others were races, [the last being] some sumo-wrestling, where we had to push each other out of a ring. After we first had played the games only using the pre-made vehicles, we then were given the opportunity to create our machines, our own ultimate weapons, in an attempt to win the levels.

Seemingly headed for a release this year, it shouldn’t be long before we start hearing a lot more about a game that Microsoft will surely want attention for.

Source: Game Informer (June 2008) via Neogaf, Gamereactor via Videogaming247

Fable 2 Shaping Up

Geoff Haugan — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:32:54 +0000

With Microsoft’s Gamers’ Day at hand, embargos are lifting and information is seeping out. Fable 2 is one of the bigger titles recently shown to the press and we’ve got some interesting new details for you on one of Microsoft’s biggest games of this year.

The game’s director, Peter Molyneaux, sees GTAIV as a real benchmark in how games can handle storytelling. Story is very important in Fable 2 and Molyneaux wants players to feel the repercussions of their actions.

However, what may garner the most interest, for better or worse, is that the developers wanted to include a minigame that involved sexual intercourse—but had to drop the content. Something remains though, that may or may not involve a black screen, some moaning and a choice as to whether or not the act involves protection.

Next-gen indeed.

Some other changes and additions have been made to the game since it was last displayed:

1. The mini-map is gone. Players will instead receive directions from an on-screen indicator, described as a “bread crumb trail” that appears as a golden line, which will function a bit like an auto-navigation system to direct you around the world.

2. The magic system will be comprised of eight spells that can be used to target individuals or attack from a distance. With five levels to your attacks, further abilities will be amassed over time.

3. Real estate plays an important role in Fable 2. Any house in the game can be bought and will unlock something if owned: quests, items or skills.

4. Weather is dynamic and will change as time passes. Expanding on the idea of a day-and-night cycle, seasons will also pass. Even your character will age over time.

The game is supposedly 20-30 times larger than Fable 1 and is now feature complete, needing only extensive testing before release this Christmas.

Source: Vinterbird of Neogaf Forums

More MGS4 Bundles for Japan

Geoff Haugan — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:28:50 +0000

Sony wants you to buy a PlayStation 3 for Metal Gear Solid 4, so they’re trying to make it as easy as possible. Aside from the bundles already announced in Japan and North America, Sony is adding three more to tempt Japanese gamers. Come see the pretty colors!

Going for 49,800 Yen, the new PS3/MGS4 bundles include the Dualshock 3 controller, a copy of MGS4 and the 40GB PS3 hardware in one of three colors: Clear Black, Ceramic White and Satin Silver.

The package is invitingly titled “Welcome Box”.

Now, Konami, how about you let us know in North America how we’re going to get the bundles you’ve announced for us and what’s up with the special edition hardware? It’s not often we get special colors over here and all anyone will tell me is that EB doesn’t take pre-orders for hardware.

This could get messy.

Source and pics: Watch.Impress.co.jp

Canadian Prices on PlayStation Store Adjusted

Geoff Haugan — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:05:00 +0000

For some time now, the gap between the US and Canadian dollar has been fairly small, with the two being more or less equivalent—the Canadian dollar at times even on top. Hardware and software prices have generally shifted to match this fact in the last year, but the PS Store was slow to change. Not anymore.

Grace Chen, Senior Manager at the PlayStation Store wants Canadian PlayStation users to know they can expect to see content prices on the PS Store being adjusted to match the current exchange rate as we approach this week’s store update on Thursday, May 1.

The prices will be updated in stages, but all should be fixed by today’s update–just in time for the release of Echochrome.

Source: Playstation Blog

Echochrome Available Today

Geoff Haugan — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:28:18 +0000

Today’s PlayStation Store update includes the release of both the PS3 and PSP versions of Echochrome. If you’ve been awaiting this charming and mysterious little title, that’s probably all you need to know, but the versions differ slightly, so check out the details.

The PSP version of Echochrome will not be receiving a retail release as it did in Japan. It will only be available for download from the PlayStation PC store, as the PS3 version will be from the PS Network. The upside to this is a lower price.

Echochrome will cost $9.99 on both platforms and will consist of 112 unique levels, 56 of which are included in the PS3 version and 56 of which are included in the PSP version.

Aside from the various play modes, Canvas mode will also be included. Canvas allows users to create their own puzzles to play and share with others. The PS3 version will have the ability to download the top user-made levels each week for free.

If you’re not sure Echochrome is for you, the demo is still available.

Source: Playstation Blog

PS3 Users Have To Wait Longer For Home

Geoff Haugan — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:47:14 +0000

Home was revealed some time ago now, but the vast majority of users haven’t been able to experience the ambitious virtual environment yet. Those eagerly awaiting the opportunity will have to wait a bit longer still, says Sony.

Home has been running in a closed beta environment for some time and now officially the open beta has been scheduled for the fall of 2008.

For those interested in getting involved as soon as possible, the closed beta will be expanding this summer. More PS3 users will be invited to take part, but details on registration and expansion dates will be provided at a later time.

Home is taking its time to materialize and it’s disappointing to hear that optimism for a summer release, at least of a public beta, has been dashed.

Kaz Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, admitted that they were asking users to wait longer but added this to reassure them, “Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on Playstation Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition.”

Large-scale online projects like this are certainly major undertakings. Fall 2008 is a firm date at least, and there are many worthwhile games out there right now to make the wait more bearable.

Register Now for Metal Gear Online Beta (North America Only)

Geoff Haugan — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:00:26 +0000

Anyone who is interested in the Metal Gear Online beta, isn’t a lucky European, or hasn’t yet been able to secure a download code via pre-order, should be happy to hear Konami is offering a chance to register for a code online. Move fast while you have the chance!

Konami has commenced “Metal Gear Mondays” on the Playstation Blog, a weekly taste of Metal Gear info. This week brings some details on the arrival of the Metal Gear Online beta, plus a small window of opportunity. North American’s can register online for a chance to win a code for the beta, starting this Thursday, April 17th. The beta will be playable from April 21st – May 5th.

Those wanting codes hustle over to http://www.onlineregister.com/konami/mgops/ and give it a shot.

If you don’t make it in right now don’t despair, as Konami is planning to offer more opportunities to enter before the beta ends.

Konami also provides some story details for MGO, a description of what to expect when you login for the first time, and what will be included in the beta–maps, modes and weapon loadouts.

When logging in at first you’ll be tasked with creating a soldier for yourself, but also with signing up for a Konami ID and a Game ID–separate from your PSN details.

Hopefully the reason for this is a good one and won’t hamper communication with friends or the rest of the network. The process of signing up for the other IDs isn’t complicated, but will take a few moments. The upside of this is that you’ll be able to create a player name specific to MGO.

The beta will include the maps Blood Bath and Groznyj Grad, the modes deathmatch, team deathmatch, base mission and capture mission, and quite a number of weapons both familiar and unfamiliar.

Standard loadout will include a trusty cardboard box and a set of binoculars, while you’ll have a choice of primary, secondary and support weapons. Pistols, rifles, automatic weapons, suppressors and grenades are all present and accounted for.

Close Quarters Combat, knife fighting, quickness, alertness, heavy weapon mastery, demolition, and sniper mastery are some skill sets to choose from. Players can choose four to augment their soldier with.

The most notorious inclusion is the catapult, which will allow soldiers to shoot themselves across the battlefield for sneak attacks or quick travel. The revamped MGS controls have taken cues from modern western-developed games, and the catapult seems like a product of similar osmosis.

Its effect will have to be judged in play, but its wackiness doesn’t seem irrelevant to the MGS universe–though I’m not quite sure I like it, just yet.

Source: Playstation Blog

MGS4 Final Box Art Revealed, Limited Edition Hardware Coming to North America

Geoff Haugan — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:41:51 +0000

In a mega-post today, Konami has revealed further details about the numerous Metal Gear Solid 4 software and hardware packages—including box art for both the standard and limited editions of MGS4 and the standard edition PS3 hardware bundle. Why call it a standard edition hardware bundle? Well, because there’s going to be a not-so-standard one too. Kojima, you torture us. The “gunmetal grey” PS3, seen as part of the MGS4 hardware bundle in Japan, is going to be making it to North America in what is called a “very, very limited edition” offering.

For sure the “gunmetal” PS3 will only be available in this package, and a similarly colored Dualshock 3 along with it, but whether or not the MGS4 Limited Edition will also be included is unknown. It seems a logical expectation.

How much more might this package cost? That is being kept under wraps, but with the LE costing $25 more than the standard edition of MGS4 I’d expect that, plus something for the special system—say, $550 total—if the LE is included. Any more than that seems unwarranted, but final judgment will have to wait.

Standard Edition Box Art

Limited Edition Box Art

No box art for this package was shown and the contents beyond the hardware were withheld as well, though everything else about the other packages has been laid bare.

The standard edition will have an extreme close-up of Solid Snake as its cover, while the limited edition will sport a much snazzier piece of Yoji Shinkawa artwork featuring Liquid Ocelot and Solid Snake, as well as the bonus content. Those who care will definitely be drawn to the LE on appearance alone. The LE will also only be available through GameStop.

If you’re feeling crazed and feverish over the limited edition hardware, we’ll have more details as soon as humanly possible.

Konami has a “special surprise” scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2008, but aren’t saying more than that.

Source: blog.us.playstation.com

Metal Gear Online Makes Drastic Changes to Sneaking Mission

Geoff Haugan — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:11:26 +0000

The unique and enjoyable Sneaking Mission mode that debuted with Metal Gear Solid: Subsistence is returning in the new Metal Gear Online, due out with MGS4 on June 12th. Kojima Productions has taken the unique and enjoyable mode and revamped it, making some extensive changes to improve it further.

With the MGO beta nearly upon us now (along with the re-launch of the online PlayStation Store, the release of the Dualshock 3 controller and the arrival of the Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2 DVDs), a few more details on Metal Gear Online have begun to seep out.

While the two-week beta will be limited to a couple of stages, Ryan Payton has revealed during the Kojima Production’s Podcast that the Sneaking Mission from MGS: Subsistence will be returning with some exciting changes for the full release.

In Subsistence, the Sneaking Mission was a lot of fun and a very fitting mode for Metal Gear’s multiplayer debut. It was also quite unique among multiplayer online offerings, Behind Enemy Lines from the original Call of Duty being the closest comparison.

However, things often deteriorated into Snake being able to sprint for his goal if the opposing team was even slightly unorganized, or the opposite, with Snake being systematically hunted and shutdown fairly easily if the guards communicated and combined firepower. The new Sneaking mode looks to address some of these issues and add layers of complexity.

First of all, Snake’s ultimatum will no longer be to reach a set location alive; instead, he will be responsible for collecting a set number of dog tags. The number needed for Snake’s victory can be altered, but he will always attain the tags by incapacitating enemy soldiers controlled by other players. In turn, the enemies will be trying to kill Snake, needing to do so three times to succeed. The real twist though, is that there will be more than one enemy team hunting Snake.

Two teams will compete against each other to be the first to eliminate him and win the match, no doubt creating a nice backdrop of chaos for Snake to fade into—attempting always to complete his own objective. If no team eliminates Snake, the side that did the most damage to the opposing team will come out on top.

It seems Snake is chosen at random, which should help alleviate the tendency among players to compete against each other for the kill instead of working together to make sure their team is victorious as a whole.

Snake will of course have special tools at his disposal, including his Octocam. If the game is well-populated, someone can even control the Metal Gear Mk.II to support Snake. It will be fascinating to see how this scenario plays out—kudos to the guys at KP for continuing to be inventive with the Metal Gear universe.

MGO will also feature online matchmaking, so you can more easily find players of your skill level to play with.

Payton reiterated that more content will be coming for MGO in the future. He spoke of expansion packs including not only new levels, but new game modes, weapons and characters as well. No pricing has been mentioned, but let’s be thankful we’re getting the starter pack with MGS4 itself, which will include 5 maps.

Nostalgia should be in full effect with MGO, so here’s hoping for some fun stuff down the line. For those who feel they can’t wait, you better get out to pre-order MGS4 and hope you can snag a beta code while they might still be available.

I, for one, am lamenting the impossibility of going back and playing Subsistence some more. June 12th isn’t so far off!

Source: Konami

Sony Ships Dualshock 3 Early

Geoff Haugan — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:07:26 +0000

Dualshock 3 controllers are now shipping to major retailers for the PlayStation 3 console. Announced back in February for North America, the DS3 should be in stores by next week—ahead of its original April 15th date. Check out what titles will support rumble for its return.

The Dualshock 3 will introduce rumbling pressure sensors, while retaining the Sixaxis motion control and Bluetooth wireless technology. It will sell for the originally announced MSRP of $54.99— steep, but in line with the current high cost of PS3, 360 and Wii (remote and nunchuck) controllers.

Whether or not PS3 hardware will begin to come packaged with the DS3 controller is uncertain, but the DS3 will be included in the Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 hardware bundle.

Sony has posted a list of games that will be compatible with rumble, not including future releases. That list includes some big titles, like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Ratchet and Clank Future, Burnout: Paradise, Condemned 2, Devil May Cry 4 and MLB ’08: The Show.

It also includes certain titles— Resistance: Fall of Man, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, among others— that will support rumble, but will require a patch to do so. This patch will be automatically downloaded if your PS3 is online. Sony seems to have something planned for those offline, but it looks like you’re going to have a harder time taking advantage of the feature.

Assassin’s Creed, Unreal Tournament III, Dark Sector and The Darkness seem to be a few notable absentees.

Check out Sony’s official announcement for the full list of currently available compatible games.

In the future, this image will be present on all software releases that support rumble. MGS4 has already been said to include this support, and it can certainly be expected that Grand Theft Auto IV and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue will as well.

Playstation Store Redesigned: No Mouse Pointer, Dynamic Changes

Geoff Haugan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:53:07 +0000

Over the next couple of weeks things will function as usual on the PlayStation Store, but no new downloads will be made available as Sony is in the middle of updating the store’s interface.

Due to arrive in mid-April, the store’s new design is intended to make navigation of content easier by adding more categories and allowing more space per page to list items.

In addition, the store will lose its previous web interface, embedding itself into the Playstation 3 for faster loading. Noel Silvia lets us in on some other goodies on the Playstation Blog, telling us that the store will dynamically change each time you enter, though the background will currently remain the same. Moreover, the mouse pointer is on its way out. Navigating the new store will now be more like scrolling through a menu.

The downside to new design is that no new content will be made available for the next two weeks while changes are being made.

When the store re-opens it will be accompanied by firmware update 2.30 that will allow users to access the new store, and the Thursday content releases will be resumed.

What can we expect on the day the new store arrives? Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror, the Metal Gear Online Beta, and if this is to be believed, a new Lair pack and the first trailer of Resistance 2.

The PlayStation.Blog promises a closer look at the new design soon, including a video walkthrough. For now we have these four images:

XBLA Rejected Cave Shooters

Geoff Haugan — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:22:51 +0000

At the beginning of the month I was puzzled why 5pb, in bringing Cave shooters Ketsui and DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label to the Xbox 360 in Japan, would choose retail as their distribution medium when digital download seems so much more fitting. As it turns out, they were given no choice… by Microsoft.

Famitsu magazine included some words from Masaki Sakari of 5pb recently. 5pb are responsible for the ports of the two Cave shooters. He revealed that they had a plan to port many popular arcade titles to Xbox Live Arcade and even convinced many of the original developers to grant them licenses to do so, only to be shot down by Microsoft.

Sakari had this to say of their transaction with the company:

We secured these licenses, and finally talked with Microsoft. There they rejected all of our proposals saying, ‘We are going to cut down faithful arcade ports.’ We felt so frustrated. We wanted to show them that their decision was wrong. So we switched our two most promising projects into retail.

If that’s how Microsoft feels it’s certainly unlikely we’ll ever see these games available in North America, as a retail release here of such niche titles would probably be completely overlooked and require too high a price point.

It’s too bad Microsoft would turn down more choice for its online users on the download front, but perhaps they feel they have their bases covered and these titles wouldn’t garner enough interest, in either region, to be worth the bother.

Seeing complete re-imaginings like Super Street Fighter II HD and Bionic Commando Rearmed, as well as a number of original high-quality downloads on PS3, may have Microsoft wanting to up the ante on what makes it on to their online service.

Hopefully, as many quality, hard-to-find, niche and independent games as possible can find greater audience and preservation on XBLA and PSN. Perhaps the quality of these titles just wasn’t there in Microsoft’s opinion. After all ,Ikaruga is still set to appear on XBLA sometime very soon.

Source: Neogaf via Xblah

GTA 4: Everyone’s A Rat

Geoff Haugan — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:01:20 +0000

A fourth (and fantastic looking!) GTA IV trailer is now available if you aren’t already begging for its release April 29th, and Rockstar has announced a new online social club for Xbox Live and PSN that will track all kinds of usage data surrounding the game– plus more in the future.

GTA IV’s release is imminent. The new trailer is as exciting and dramatic as ever, and launching just ahead of the game’s release is the Rockstar Social Club.

Registration for the website is set to begin April 15 and will be open to both Xbox and PlayStation users. The future looks to bring more competitions and awards, but at first the site will track a lot of single-player related statistics as well as multiplayer leaderboards.

The press release details some features of the site:

LCPD Police Blotter – A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players – showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

The Story Gang – This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic’s main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV – The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it’s taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

The 100% Club – Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100% of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100% will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative ‘key to the city’ to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100% Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100% of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

The Hall of Fame — This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

The Liberty City Marathon — A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game – from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam – to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.

Sources: Rockstar, 1up News

Famitsu DVD Features Resident Evil 5

Geoff Haugan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:52:20 +0000

Japan’s Famitsu magazine carries within it some long-awaited Resident Evil 5 info this week. Could this be the first indication of the title’s big reveal?

At the beginning of this year, conservatives seemed to think that it was unlikely RE5 would make it out in 2008. However, murmurs have begun to rumor that it will make a surprise appearance…this fall.

The new info isn’t extensive, but there is a video on the Capcom 25th Anniversary DVD included with the magazine that has a brief interview and shows the game up and running in a few short clips. You can even watch it here:

The featured gameplay takes place in a bright village locale– thought to be Africa– and looks to be based closely on RE4. Melee and context specific actions will return.

The game is definitely looking sharp and Capcom, in a slick move, may be sneaking up on us with this one.

Source: 1UP

MGS4 Limited Edition Info

Geoff Haugan — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:06:33 +0000

EB Games is now accepting pre-orders for a limited edition of Metal Gear Solid 4. Separate from the pre-order bonuses already announced for the game, the LE will have even more extra stuff for the discerning fan.

The MGS4 Limited Edition will come in a metal box and contain a Blu-ray with two behind the scenes documentaries on the production of MGS4, four chapters of the MGS graphic novel and an imported Metal Gear soundtrack CD. EB is going to throw in a Metal Gear art book as well, and since you’re pre-ordering MGS4 you should also be eligible for the Metal Gear Saga 2.0 DVD, which includes the beta key to get a taste of Metal Gear Online a bit before release.

At $84.99 (USD) the price is a bit steep, but if you’re interested in those extras it isn’t bad. Given that the MGS4 “Steel” PS3 package is already sold out in Japan through pre-orders, and the restrictive numbers of the Subsistence LE a couple years ago, you may want to get on this sooner rather than later. When Kojima Productions says limited, they mean it.

You have several options if you’re thinking about picking up MGS4, and even a PS3 to go along with it. The MGS4 PS3 bundle is also a good value for someone without a PS3, given the inclusion of the game, the DUALSHOCK3 controller and a mostly backwards compatible 80GB PS3.

MGS4, in whatever form you buy it, is going to be lighting up the PS3 come June 12, 2008. If you’re interested in catching up on the excellence of MGS, Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (containing MGS1-3) was just released on March 18 for the bargain price of $29.99

Source: ebgames.com via kotaku.com and metalgearsolid.org