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Hideo Kojima Talks Metal Gear Solid 5 in Upcoming Interview

Justin Carter — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:45:54 +0000

It’s been over three years since Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots hit stores, and fans have been waiting for a fifth numbered entry in the series ever since. If you’re a fan of Hideo Kojima and his work, you’ll be pleased to hear that he’s taking full charge of development on Metal Gear Solid 5, if there is a Metal Gear Solid 5.

First details about what Kojima-san is working on will be revealed in Official Playstation Magazine UK’s upcoming issue. Kojima’s got the cover front and center and will be talking MGS 5 and Project Ogre, a recently teased…well, project, obviously.

The issue will be out on November 29, but if you can’t wait that long, interview excerpts should be hitting the internet sometime next week. Stay tuned to RipTen to see what Kojima’s got to say.

Via [OPM]

Kojima-San Will Sign Your Tits (and Games) at Comic Con for Two Hours Only!

Dave Oshry — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:00:22 +0000

Ok, well maybe he won’t sign your tits, but he will probably sign your copy of MGS3 or whatever else you bring with you.

Here’s the rundown:

Event: Kojima Productions Signing Event

Date: Thursday, July 21, 2011

Time: 1:30 pm to 3:30pm

Location: San Diego Convention Center Meeting rooms 16 AB

**No line ups before 11am **

Hideo Kojima, Executive Vice President of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., Director of Kojima Productions and creator of the METAL GEAR SOLID franchise, will be on hand to sign autographs for fans attending Comic- Con 2011. Mr. Kojima will not be alone, as fans will be able to meet and greet Yoji Shinkawa, Art Director of Kojima Productions and Yumi Kikuchi, the popular Japanese actress and the voice of Raging Raven (METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS) and Strangelove (METAL GEAR SOLD: PEACE WALKER).

Good luck, you’re gonna need it.

Kojima Productions Hiring for “Next Generation” Metal Gear Solid?

Sam Naylor — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:40:22 +0000

Kojima Productions have posted a job listing for a “Next Generation Metal Gear Solid Series Production Staff,” implying even more future entries in the series.

The listing seeks “general planners, level designers and scripters,” along with programming jobs in “graphics, network, plug-ins, audio and game character.” Other jobs include “concept art, 3D character modeling, 3D stage modeling, 3D character motion design, event scene production, effect production and interface design.”

Interestingly the platforms mentioned aren’t just PS3 and Xbox 360, but PC as well. Perhaps we could be seeing Metal Gear coming to the high-powered world of home computing?

So, nothing solid, but some promising things coming from this job listing, especially for die-hard fans of Kojima’s epic series. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Via Shacknews

Kojima’s New Castlevania: Lords of Shadow TGS Trailer is Awesome

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:45:54 +0000

Wow!! I need someone to teach me to say Awesome in Japanese. The new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Trailer is just that.

Thank God for Kojima-san and may he and Mercury Steam bring 3D Castlevania back from the dead! I certainly can’t wait for it.

Watch the epic new trailer below:

If you haven’t already, check out Ripten’s epic preview of Lords of Shadow that includes new footage and an in-depth interview with producer David Cox!!

Live and Let Live in Metal Gear Solid Rising

David Oxford — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:00:52 +0000

Since the dawn of video games, there has been but one goal set before players everywhere: kill everything in sight.

Oh, sure, some may argue that Pong wasn’t about killing, but they clearly never spent a Friday night in the 70′s playing a round in a bar as the other guy managed to slip the ball past their paddle for the game-winning shot.

Okay, I’ll admit it: I never did, either. But I’ve heard things.

The point remains, however, that killing and video games tend to go together like peanut butter and jelly, spread with a knife fresh from the butcher’s shop. From Space Invaders to Modern Warfare 2, the most prevalent mindset has been to get them before they get you.

Along the way, however, a few games have managed to avoid this killing tradition. And we aren’t just talking sports games or Tetris, but actual action-adventure games.

One such game was Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear, in which players were encouraged to use their wits more than their weapons to get past overwhelming enemy odds. Sure, you still had to kill some guys along the way, but it wasn’t always the way to proceed. And around the time the series added “Solid” to its moniker, it would be possible to get through the entire game without killing anyone… well, save for some bosses, perhaps.

At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Hideo Kojima revealed to the masses the latest title to bear the name, Metal Gear Solid: Rising. And clearly, there would be plenty of opportunity for bloodshed, as this title placed a new emphasis on being able to use a finely-crafted sword to bisect, trisect, and otherwise dismember your foes from virtually any angle.

And yet, it too can be cleared without the need for enormous body counts.

Producer Shigenobu Matsuyama recently told Kotaku that he is trying to mix things up with Rising, perhaps allowing the franchise to branch off into two types of stealth action: the patient style of Snake, and the high-speed style of Raiden. He believes that it will be “easier to understand for first-time users,” thus potentially attracting new fans to the franchise.

However, what he won’t change is the ability for players to keep their hands free of blood:

“I believe that MGS has a key stealth element in not trying to kill anyone. You could actually have a no-kill completion [in Rising]. There will be a lot of mechs and cyborgs, but if you slice them up, that will be considered as a no-kill as well. You’ll have the freedom of killing humans, of course, but you can proceed through the game without killing a human being, but slicing up mechs and cyborgs.”

While the likes of Mega Man and Optimus Prime might take issue with the idea that decimating robots does not count as “killing,” it appears that fans of hack-and-slash who do not wish to apply the practice to humans will be able to have their cake and eat it, too (after cutting it into as many slices as they wish, of course).

Even if you opt not to slaughter your fellow man, you won’t be left defenseless. Matsuyama spoke of the ability to cut weapons and bullets apart, rendering the enemy defenseless. And such an impressive display might even be enough to scare other foes away, leaving them to reconsider their day jobs.

But even with that said…

“You could maybe accidentally cut human enemies,” he noted. “We have to think about the violence and the morals behind it. I would like to add the expression of the pain [enemies feel] as well… not just make a slice ‘em up, dice ‘em up.”

Matsuyama added that the “expression of pain” wasn’t to guilt players into laying off the humans, but rather, it would be to illustrate the reality of their actions. And while adhering to the guidelines of entities such as the Entertainment Software Ratings Board might make the proposition difficult, in terms of graphic displays of violence, he says “I don’t feel its correct that if we only change the color of blood or blur the scene” to mask it.

“I will put the essence of the beauty of the no-kill. I want to emphasize that I will never reward a player for killing human beings in the game. I won’t make it easier to clear the game [that way]. I will probably make it more difficult.”

A game which becomes more difficult to clear with the more enemies you kill? That is certainly something different from the Snake-style of operating.

What Isn’t Kojima Working On? Lots! But He May Make MGS5

David Oxford — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:03:15 +0000

Though Metal Gear series creator and head of Kojima Productions, Hideo Kojima, may have his name attached to numerous projects right now, he has revealed in a recent interview with Japan’s Weekly Famitsu magazine that he isn’t as involved with them as some people may believe.

As it turns out, he isn’t working directly on either Metal Gear Solid: Rising or Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. In the case of the former, he notes:

“I’m not making it. As executive producer, I’m leaving it up to the youngsters. Although, even though I call them youngsters, they’re of good age.”

Longtime Metal Gear fans need not panic, however, for Kojima clarified that he has left Rising in the capable hands of Producer Shigenobu Matsuyama, who has been working with him as far back as 1991, and Director Mineshi Kimura, who has been with the team since the latter part of the first Metal Gear Solid.

“Everything is being made by Kojima Productions staff,” Kojima said. “For Rising, we’ve developed new technology for ‘cutting anything you want,’ and we’re seeing how game designers will put this to use. It’s a mainstream European and North American-style game. So, I feel that it doesn’t matter if it lacks the message aspect of a MGS game I’d make.”

As for the game’s plot, it seems to detail the transformation of Raiden into the cyborg ninja seen in Metal Gear Solid 4. Asked about this, Kojima responded:

“That’s what they’re saying, but I’m of the stance, ‘do as you please.’”

But though Kojima isn’t deeply involved in the production of Rising, he did instruct his team at the last minute to include one element of the trailer seen at E3, the watermelon scene. The staff were opposed, but obliged… but only to a certain degree:

“I actually wanted a bunch of kids to approach the scene after the watermelons were cut, but because time was short, I was told ‘we can’t do the modeling.’ So, we put in just the kids cheering.”

As for Castlevania:

“We’re advising them in a variety of ways, but are of the stance that Dave [Cox] and Mercury Steam have the final say.”

“It’s definitely not ‘A Hideo Kojima Game,’” remarked the interviewer and Chief Executive Officer of Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, Hirokazu Hamamura.

“Castlevania is different,” Kojima responded.

So, what else isn’t he working on? Would you believe the 3DS Metal Gear Solid title? While Kojima did direct the demo seen at last month’s E3, he says of the actual project itself that “what will happen from here on out is not set.”

Again, however, this isn’t as bad as it seems… particularly if you enjoyed the PlayStation Portable’s recent release, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The 3DS demo was made by that very same team upon their completion of the PSP title, managing “to push the 3DS hardware quite far, upping the detail on backgrounds and characters over the PS2 original.”

Kojima offered the following about the character models seen in the 3DS demo:

“The high level models are about the same quality as the stuff we made on the PlayStation 3, although it’s tough to see this. If we’d had a bit more time, we could have made something better.”

He gave further insight into what they have in mind for the title, which is to keep the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater story, while adding the co-op play seen in Peace Walker, 3D effects, and “portable-like elements.” The development time should not take very long, according to his estimates, but should arrive within a year of the launch of the 3DS.

If that wasn’t enough, it also appears that Kojima isn’t working on Zone of Enders 3 presently, either. However, he insists that it is coming– just not quite yet:

“As for ZOE and the rest, I’m sorry, but that kind of got pushed to the back burner. It’s not that I’m at a loss for what to do — it’ll definitely be a console game, and it’ll be the sort of big-budget project where I’m dead if we screw it up. No matter which way we go, we’ve got the engine all set for it; the technical side is going along smoothly.”

So, with all of that out of the way, what is he working on? Konami USA had said previously that he was still working on Metal Gear; could it be Metal Gear Solid 5, then? Maybe… but then again, maybe not:

“I only have two choices for what to make: MGS5, or an original game. …We’re going slowly and carefully with my console game, but at the same time, we don’t have three years to give to the project. Japanese companies spend that sort of time on projects, but you don’t see that with overseas studios. They just put out an Assassin’s Creed game, but they already announced another one at E3, right? I really don’t see any way we can spend more than two years or so on this.”

“The next project is amazing. The plan is pretty much solidified.”

In addition to the maybe/maybe-not-a-sequel, a follow-up to Peace Walker is in the works:

“The follow-up to Peace Walker is really something,” he said. “It’s a revolution, game system-wise. We’re able to do what we couldn’t do with Peace Walker.” Like what? “You’ll find out.”

Sources: IGN, 1UP, Andriasang

Kojima Productions E3 2010 Special Site Is Especially Strange

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:44:31 +0000

And what would an E3 be without a surprise from the man who made exclamation branded head gear fashionable? It would be less tactical, less comical, and less cryptic-ical? Alright, that last one’s not a word, but seriously — what the hell is with the imagery on Hideo Kojima’s newly launched E3 2010 countdown site?

The whole thing went live this morning, and if you have any clue what the heck that stuff means, feel free to shoot me an email or comment below. Because I have no idea what a cucumber, braided rope, an orange, bread, cake, meat, a lemon, a kid’s haircut, slicing a fish, lettuce, a turkey, an onion, clamping a wire, trimming sheets of paper, prepping sushi, gathering grapes, lumber, cutting through metal, chainsaws, grooming grass with a hedge clipper, and a fresh tomato have to do with anything.

If you want to see all the things I just described above in action, head on over to the Kojima Productions E3 2010 Special Site. It’s a real hoot.

New Metal Gear Solid: Rising Box Art Hits Xbox Live Marketplace

Chad Lakkis — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:13:10 +0000

If you make it a habit to check the Xbox Live Marketplace page’s for updates on your most anticipated titles, and one of those happens to be Metal Gear Solid: Rising, then you would have been treated to some fancy new box art this morning.

I have no idea if this is final, however it sure as heck looks cool enough to fly off shelves. The only thing I’d change is the tag line. It should read “lightning bolt action-packed buns of steel workout video.”

More almost certain to come on this bad boy in just a few short days.

GDC09: ‘The Next MGS’ Awaits Us, May Star Raiden

Sal Romano — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:03:16 +0000

Hideo Kojima, creator of the famed Metal Gear Solid series, held a keynote at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today. Towards the end of the conference, he revealed his next mission: ‘The Next MGS’.

In the image, we see a person who looks like it’s definitely Raiden turning his back towards the text. So the next Metal Gear Solid awaits us, and Raiden may be the star this time around.

Source

MGS4 Demo on the PlayStation Store

Patrick Steen — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:04:00 +0000

It’s been a long time coming, but finally there’s a demo of Kojima Production’s Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns of the Patriots on the PlayStation Store. The Japanese PlayStation Store that is.

We’ve had a history reporting on the possibility of a Metal Gear Solid 4 demo here at Ripten. PSW announced a demo to be released in February, despite the games Assistant Producer denying its existence a month beforehand and we were quick to correct PSW a week later. Everyone makes mistakes. At least that’s what we thought…

Konami have now released a beefy demo of Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Japanese PlayStation Store, weighing in at approximately 1400mb. For PlayStation 3 owners who haven’t bought the game, give it a whirl. For Westerners who missed out on the joys of the Japanese voice acting, why not give it a spin too.

As is outlined in my review, the game comes highly recommended.

[UPDATE] – The demo is also on European PlayStation Stores, so the probability of it making its way to the US is reasonably high.

[UPDATE 2] – The Official PlayStation Blog has confirmed that the same Metal Gear Solid 4 demo will be available on the US PlayStation Store.

Ryan Payton Leaves Kojima Productions to be Closer to Family, Drops Hint at MGS5

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:16:50 +0000

In an interview with Kotaku, Assistant Producer on Metal Gear Solid 4, Ryan Payton, announced that he is leaving Kojima Productions and heading back to North America in order to be closer to his family who lives in Washington.

When asked about what he will miss, Ryan said:

“It’ll be hard not being involved in MGS5, but I’ve got the utmost confidence that Hideo Kojima, Ken Imaizumi, and our amazing team will put together another blockbuster game. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines.”

So while rest and relaxation seem like the current plan for Ryan Payton, it appears that Kojima may be hard at work on another solid sequel.

Having been away from my family for nearly ten years, I can empathize with Ryan, and fully expect to see him resume his role as plaid wearing producer when he feels the time is right. Until then, he has left us all with a nice little nugget to chew on.

Check out the full interview over at Kotaku.

Kojima Talks MGS4, Wishes It Was On PC

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:57:04 +0000

In an interview published today with Eurogamer, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima (who just turned 45) stated that he is tired of people asking him about the PS3/360 hardware, and wishes people would just focus on the game. He went on to say:

“Sometimes I even feel like [Metal Gear Solid 4] should be on a PC so that people don’t ask me about hardware and platforms,”

Kojima added that in the near future he hopes that people stop asking him about formats and instead ask about their company and future projects.

Despite his statements, Eurogamer pressed for an answer regarding PS3 exclusivity, to which he stated that “MGS4 was optimized for the PS3″ and that in part, he felt the modern day success of the game was closely linked the PS3 console itself.

Source: Eurogamer

Metal Gear Solid 4 Review

Patrick Steen — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:28:19 +0000

In the not too distant future, videogames have become routine. The marketplace is controlled by commercial enterprises, publishing the same fast paced action year on year. FPS game follows FPS game, bald space marines give birth to bald space marines, EA merges with Ubisoft.

Yes, in the not too distant future, videogames haven’t changed at all. What’s worse? We’re none the wiser. Feeding off of these adrenaline pumping experiences, we praise them for their apparent innovation, their direct and exciting plot, their “next-gen” graphics. We’ll feel happy with the cards we’ve been dealt, comfortable in our past time, but for all our contentment we’ll never know how it could have been. Never know how it should and would have been if we had taken notice of Solid Snake.

Our only hope to free ourselves from cookie-cutter experiences pumped out by profit driven companies, is to learn the lessons of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and build a safer future for interactive entertainment.

Although Solid Snake is inexplicably aged in this final mission, MGS4 takes place only 5 years after MGS2′s Big Shell incident. His façade in distinct contrast to his contemporaries, sOLiD Snake is thrust onto a Middle Eastern battlefield. Like Haze’s attempted portrayal, the world’s wars are infected by Private Military Companies. Price-tagged PMC soldiers fight other PMC’s –- aimless battles seek only to support a self-sufficient war economy that has graduated from the Oil economy’s downturn.

Enhanced by nano-machines and trained by FPS videogames, post-modern PMC soldiers sign up to avenge the death of their loved ones, but without political or patriotic goals, they compete as if they’re still playing a videogame. And whoever controls the game, controls the battlefield. And whoever controls the battlefield, controls the world.

The man with his fingers on the trigger is Liquid Ocelot. As head of Outer Heaven, the mother PMC company, he has achieved total real-time battlefield control, puppeteering PMC’s by manipulating the life numbing nano-machines injected into their bodies. Disguised as one of the opposing militia’s hired PMC operatives, Snake enters this “cleaner, safer battlefield” with the aim to assassinate Liquid Ocelot and end his insurrection.

The ride to reach this point portrays a presentation significantly ahead of its contemporaries. Indeed, it was apt to call videogames “interactive entertainment” when discussing MGS4. As I’m sure you’re aware, the game has its fair share of cinematic cutscenes. These are expertly directed, containing some of the most impressively choreographed combat sections you’re likely to see in any cinematic medium.

What’s particularly stunning is the way cutscenes transition seamlessly into gameplay, using clever pans and real-time rendered cinematics. Other techniques are used to make sure you’re never taken out of the game world: playing through mission briefings with the Mk.II, Snake’s health bar is shown at pivotal moments, brief flashbacks occur when you press X, you can regress Octocamo to its default state by shaking the controller, in addition to more refreshing and original methods which I’ll leave for you to discover.

Yes, you’ll always feel part of the game world even though there are a staggering 9.5 hours of cutsceness. However, contrary to the popular exaggeration, this isn’t more than spent in gameplay. There is more gameplay than cutscenes –- for me around 15 hours gameplay, the longest in the series.

Versatile, expansive and varied would be the best way to describe MGS4′s gameplay. In fact, add fine-tuned and engaging, and you might be closer to an accurate portrayal. If you ever had a criticism of previous iterations, it would be control complexity and the birds-eye camera that would top the list. With age comes wisdom and Snake’s maturity certainly signifies solutions. The camera is now set behind Snake, with L1 providing an over-the-shoulder view for more accurate aiming, triangle to look down the sight, and R1 to shoot.

Even with a generous helping of CQC (Close Quarters Combat, which you can learn by watching the embedded video), the controls remain relatively simple. It may at first feel counter-intuitive to use both L1 and R1 to shoot, where other games automatically enter an over-the-shoulder view during combat, but the control system makes the best of unpredictable player actions and will certainly become second nature as the game develops.

New gear enters Metal Gear Solid with more velocity this time around, increasing the gameplay’s depth exponentially. Expanding on Naked Snake’s camouflage in MGS3, Otacon has created something more competent than dressing up mid-mission — a Stealth Camo Suit that dynamically “morphs” to the texture, pattern and colour of the surface you’re pressed against. The ease with which this can be performed is somewhat of an overlooked gem — without it the game would reduce to shadow jumping, as opposed to dynamic hide-and-seek.

MGS4 discards the closed corridors of MGS1 and MGS2, forgoes the tight forest walks of MGS3, and places you in a wide, brightly lit battlefield. The Camo Suit transforms every inch of this environment into your hiding place — at 90% camouflaged you can even survive a PMC’s close stalking as his feet brush past your head.

Another new piece of kit is a robot created by Otacon and Sunny –- the Mark II. Full of character, this little beauty can be used by Snake to shock enemies, defuse traps, and collect weapons during even the busiest proxy battle, thanks to its inbuilt stealth camo.

Rangebar’s Take

9.8

Let me get straight to the point. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the best game on the Playstation 3, hands down. If you don’t have a PS3 yet, this is your number one excuse to finally get one.

With an incredible story, graphics that go above and beyond, cut-scenes that make some movies look bad, and action packed gameplay, MGS4 is one of the best games I’ve played. And I’m not even a huge fan of the series. Even without playing MGS3 and only half of MGS2, I still found an inner passion for this game. I’m not sure what it was, but MGS4 kept pulling me in and I kept coming back.

One of my favorite things about the game is its attempt to tell the story of the MGS series all the way from the Philosophers, to the Patriots, Big Boss and Solid Snake himself. Even without playing the previous games, MGS4 does an excellent job of explaining what the heck’s going on.

It’s sad to see the series come to an end like this, when I just fell in love with it, but if there isn’t a fifth installment I’ll just have to enjoy the past ones.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is truly a special game and a must own for any gamer.

Once you really get to grips with the controls, the stealth battlefield experience is quite the revelation. Of course you could, despite Otacon’s advice, blast your way through. Yes, it’s advisable to stay stealthy, but with the new reformed control system an action orientated play-through is certainly possible. But take note, the more combat, the more Snake will stress, thus reducing his Psyche. This will actively slow him down, lower his aiming accuracy and even responsiveness. Take a break, sit in a box, or use a pick-me-up item to gradually return his abilities.

Rather than going all out action or being stealth exclusive, I personally chose a pick’n'mix approach. In fact, since any direction you take feels natural, you may be unaware of all the options available to you: befriend the Militia and battle by their side; snipe the streets from higher ground; crawl through the shadows and tranq. your enemies; or rambo it out using a combination of heavy shooting and CQC.

The variety of gameplay that has been so prominent in the series has now migrated into every moment of the game; you have the tools and the moves to create your own variety whenever you like. This could backfire for action-orientated gamers, since their experience may shorten to create an unhealthy balance of cutscenes to gameplay. Then again, these gamers might just spend a lot of time choosing and modifying their weaponry.

Unlike previous iterations where weapons were discovered gradually, Snake is now on a battlefield littered with weapons from downed soldiers. Problematically, each weapon is ID-Tagged — if your Tag doesn’t match the weapon’s ID, it’ll be locked from use. You’d think this would be a clever way for Kojima Productions to limit Snake’s weapon use, but instead he can collect ID-tagged weapons and pass them over to the gun-launderer Drebin for modding.

Moreover, if you already own the weapon picked up, you can sell it to Drebin for currency to buy from a selection of over 70 modifiable weapons. Now each battle has a myriad of possibilities for every play style.

It is MGS4′s choice that may at first intimidate, but it is ultimately what makes this game trump its predecessors. Once you discover your style of play, experimentation can overtake, pushing the want to replay the game from start to finish. And, thankfully, you can skip the cutscenes.

Geoff’s Take

My disappointment with Metal Gear Solid 4 is that it has an end. Not only an end in and of itself, but an end to Metal Gear Solid. This disappointment I freely accept, because of what is gained—a wonderful, truly amazing experience and closure.

Metal Gear is an anomaly. I cannot imagine how I would react to any other game doing what Metal Gear does, but Metal Gear is unique. The story is more than just a quasi sci-fi, anime, film-inspired drama. There are ideas and emotions that are palpable and important: War, violence, technology, control; the human struggle to achieve, to be remembered, to find peace and personal happiness; the passing of knowledge and memory from one generation to the next, their dissemination throughout society; the pressures we feel, our potential. Never has the game’s emotional impact and connections to its characters been more poignant. Passive only if you don’t consider thought to be an activity.

The core Metal Gear sneaking gameplay is immensely satisfying, but never before has there been so much diversity and depth. The resolution of the story belies its often previously perceived incomprehensibility, and while it does so with tidy ease, it is satisfying.

Play MGS4. Give it a chance, and if it does not win a part of your heart as a game that tries more than most, then at least you can see its technical achievements and be educated about what it attempts—even if you think it fails.

One of the most wonderful experiences I’ve had with a videogame. All the sweeter to savor in its finality, and the variety of its many parts.

As if this wasn’t enough, MGS4 is a visual feast, leading the way on the PS3 in art direction and graphics. Artistically the game shines with a variety of visually distinct environments, including the stark and bright middle-eastern battlefield, and a real-time night to daytime transition (some might call it a “sunrise”) as you climb through an Amazonian landscape.

When the art is peppered with beautifully crafted character models, billowing smoke effects, dust/blood settling on the camera lens, and impressive lighting and shadowing, it’s hard to ignore how stunning the game is in its visual fidelity. Although you’ll find higher resolution textures in other games, it’s the subtleties and attention to detail that will impress.

MGS4 will visually exceed your expectations for a console game. In fact, ignoring the gorgeously rendered cutscenes challenging Hollywood CGI in its presentation, there are some latter gameplay sections that will knock you off your sofa with the technical achievement, making it incredibly hard not to crown MGS4 the graphical king.

The sound design similarly impresses, with 5.1 warzones making love to your speakers — the distant whirring of a helicopter is joined by the popping shots of your P90, the overwhelming screams of PMC’s and Militias in combat, a Gekko’s demented mooing, the sound of a rocket whooshing past your head, let alone the blockbuster soundtrack that makes every scene so emotive. Paired with great voice performances from David Hayter (Snake), Debi Maye West (Meryl), Patric Zimmerman (Liquid Ocelot), and Lee Meriwether (Big Mama), to name but a few, it’ll be easier to ignore some of the less exceptional voice acting.

What do you have to suffer to enjoy this presentation? A large initial install and 3 minute installs after every Act. However, these hardly affect your enjoyment. A 4.6GB install is understandable for a 50GB game, and due to good data management it only takes 10 minutes to complete. Moreover, the install is actually enjoyable, consisting of a witty and ironic harking to cinema warnings.

Act installs occur after such meaty gameplay and cinematics that an interval is warranted. However, MGS4 can get away with this due to its moderate stealth pacing and cinematic core, and is thus inadvisable for the fast-paced action game. Where loading does affect MGS4 is in short 5 second loading screens during gameplay transitions, or more damningly, chase scenes. This should have been ironed out, since the pace and excitement of these scenes can be somewhat dampened.

Thus, Metal Gear Solid 4 isn’t perfect. It has its failings, and the narrative could disorientate new series players. If, however, they embed themselves in the folklore and background of the series past, MGS4 will thoroughly reward them. Each character is fully fleshed out, explored and taken to their magnificent end.

What extends MGS4 to an ambitious and original result is that the game is a tragedy involving a character stepping ever closer to his death. For long time fans this is almost unbearable. As Snake’s place in the world continuously becomes more hopeless, you’re always wondering if the next Act is his last. The impact with which this tragedy is delivered is due to MGS4 taking full advantage of a videogame’s virtue to immerse players in a virtual world. This results in some truly heart-wrenchingly beautiful and tragically inspired combinations of cutscene and gameplay.

Moreover, as you’ll discover, what has always been Metal Gear Solid’s overriding success is that no character is evil or morally good. There are no clearly defined villains. Uncommon to most filmic narratives, not a single character can be rooted to one end of the moral spectrum. Solid Snake may be the traditional Hero, but MGS4′s magnifying glass shows that even the most villainous characters are trying to be the Hero. All are attempting to live up to their interpreted ideals of The Boss. That you can find Hero’s in the most unlikely places is MGS4′s legacy to future narratives.

You may have noticed that I have refrained from mentioning the online portion of the game. The fact that MGO is even included on the disc is a gift. Its certainly not as perfect as its cinematic brethren, but when it shines, it shines bright — modes such as Sneaking Mission and Team Sneaking top the experience. MGO is the perfect place to show off the skills you mastered as Snake.

As Solid Snake’s final mission comes to a close, MGS4 fights its way to the top of this generation’s offerings. The polish is undeniable, from the art direction and graphics, to the gameplay and cinematics. What the game ends up being is a masterful example of what the videogaming medium can achieve — if ever there were a case for videogames being art, MGS4 is it. This fact and the vast list of successes, drowns out the negatives to result in an overwhelming experience.

Solid Snake’s conclusion ushers us to forget about his exploits, to move on from the history within the Metal Gear Solid universe. We can no longer yearn for a sequel to fill in the gaps. MGS4 gives you the conclusion and completes the cycle. It’s time to live for yourself.

What does this score mean? Check out our review scoring breakdown.

Costly MGS4 Must Sell 1 Million on Day One

Cavin Smith — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:10:55 +0000

All of you PS3 hold-outs better be ready to pony up the cash when Metal Gear Solid 4 finally hits shelves next year, because Kojima Productions needs your support to continue working exclusively on Sony’s next-gen platform.

Assistant Producer Ryan Payton told Reuters that they’d need to sell over a million copies on launch day to justify development costs, showing that the Playstation brand isn’t merely suffering from the cost of the new console, but the cost of doing business.

Though it might seem silly to expect as many sales right off the bat, keep in mind that many games sell the majority of their copies during the first few days after release. In other words, a million would trend well enough for the rest of MGS4′s lifetime to justify the amount of money that’s already been poured into its production.

G4TV commentator Adam Sessler was quoted in the article as saying:

“No, ‘Metal Gear Solid 4′ isn’t the killer app. People who already own a PS3 will likely get it. But it doesn’t have that kind of broad-based appeal.”

It begs the question of whether or not gamers really care about such franchises as much as they once did. Looking at sales of such huge platform releases as Ratchet and Clank Future (only 75,000 in October), we might find that a majority of people are trending away from the series that built up the Playstation brand in the first place.

Sure, plenty of core gamers have been waiting for Solid Snake’s latest to hit before jumping on the PS3 bandwagon, but general public perception could be that the franchise is as old and tired as its geriatric hero. The last outing, Metal Gear Solid 3, only moved around 3.7 million copies. Impressive, but only about half that of its predecessor (MGS2, 7 million).

Kojima Productions remains bullish on the Playstation 3′s capabilities, but if their flagship title’s sales don’t live up to expectations, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see it appear on other platforms down the line and it almost certainly bodes poorly for any future exclusives.

Source: [Reuters]

Konami Pushes Metal Gear Solid 4 Back Again – Spring 2008 Expected Release

Chad Lakkis — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 02:16:43 +0000

Snake and the gang have nothing but time to kill, for now…

The title many of us have been waiting for has been pushed back yet again, and while the delays may be frustrating, if the end result ultimately adds up to a flawless finale for a treasured franchise, it will have been well worth the wait. Press release after the jump.

METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS Release Update
October 31, 2007

KONAMI announced today that “METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS”, the latest in the METAL GEAR series, is scheduled to be released in the second quarter of calendar year 2008.

KONAMI had initially intended to release “METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS” this winter and has been working on the production of the title. KONAMI has decided to delay the title’s release in order to make further improvements to the quality of the game and provide even greater enjoyment for more customers worldwide.

KONAMI will continue its efforts to make “METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS” meet everyone’s expectations.

Further information regarding the release date will be announced as soon as possible.

Title: “METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS”
Expected Release Date: the second quarter of 2008
Genre: Action
Platform: “PLAYSTATION 3″

“PLAYSTATION” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

E for All Interview: Ryan Payton, Assistant Producer on MGS4

Andrew Podolsky — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:10:50 +0000

We sit down with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots’ Assistant Producer, Ryan Payton and pick his brain about his contributions to the long standing series, accessibility to newcomers, enhancements in gameplay, competition, the movie, and more. Have at it after the jump.

Q: What has your involvement been with the Metal Gear series?
A: My involvement in the Metal Gear series started with Portable Ops on PSP, where I helped design part of that game and helped with the script. That was my first title where I was actually involved with the design process, from inception to the time when we hand-carried it to Sony in time for Christmas. So that was a very hectic year… what was that, last year? Hard to believe.

So that’s where I really cut my teeth on game design and integrated a lot of Western game design ideas into the titles. For example, giving people multiple paths to get to their objectives, being able to recruit comrades and equip them with the items you want, create your own unique units, basically giving people more freedom to play it.

So I’m bringing some of that to the MGS4 development, with Metal Gear Online in particular, where we now allow players to equip their own skills, so everyone has their own unique skill set, and you can level up your characters with experience, so that as you get better your character gets better too.

Q: How did Konami take to your ideas?
They’re pretty receptive. Mr. Kojima recognizes that until now they’ve always had a 100% Japanese team. So it’s inherent that their game’s going to be more appealing to the Japanese, or feel better in terms of control and game balance. So that’s one of the reasons he brought me on two and a half years ago, to give the studio and the team a different perspective.

“… Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think I’m going to keep my job.”

I’m lucky that he’s given me so much power and leeway in terms of what I want to do. As far as the control scheme in MGS4, I’ve been telling people that there are no sacred cows. We’ve been reworking the control scheme since the inception of the game. So no more bird’s eye view, the gunplay finally feels good, it’s never felt good in an MGS game. So we’re incorporating a lot of game ideas and I’m really lucky that Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think I’m going to keep my job.

Q: Have you had any involvement with the story?
A: Yeah, I’ve been working on the story since day one, and I’m also in charge of editing the script and also directing the voice overs. We did six months of voice over work in Hollywood. So I helped direct that along with Kris Zimmerman, she’s been there since the beginning, we always hire her to direct our VO work.

That was a huge project, making sure that not only does it sound good, but it reads good. It’s the first Metal Gear, I think, that doesn’t read and sound like an anime. And that’s a good thing in my opinion. So making sure the story makes sense, getting people up to date with the story, because we have literally twenty years of fiction we have to cover.

Q: How are you making MGS4 accessible to newcomers?
A: That’s a tough challenge, because hardcore gamers have these expectations that they want us to fulfill. I get emails every day asking, is there going to be a European Extreme mode, is there going to be this and that. We’re working pretty hard to keep the hardcore happy, we’re including these flashback scenes in the cutscenes.

We’re actually tying up every loose end in the story in MGS4, going back to Portable Ops, and Snake Eater, MGS1 and MGS2. Pretty much everything you’re wondering about and you might have complained before about Mr. Kojima’s script, that this doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t Vamp die, or why is Raiden like this, or who is Naomi, really, why is she double crossing and triple crossing people. All of that stuff is answered in MGS4.

In that sense it’s going to keep the hardcore happy, but on the other hand I realize that this is a mainstream title, and I’m not interested in just selling 800,000 units to the hardcore, I want this to sell 3-4 million copies worldwide. Which is why we’re giving players the option to explore the backstory, you know we have these flashback scenes, if you want to watch them it’s your choice.

We also have an encyclopedia in the game, if you want you can bring it up and go into the history, if you want to, but it’s not required. You can just watch the story from start to finish. There’s a clear villain-it’s Liquid Ocelot, there’s a clear objective. So even for people who haven’t played any Metal Gears up to this point, I think they’ll get a lot out of it.

Q: Do you think the gameplay is moving more towards Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six gameplay style, or is it still Metal Gear?
A: Not really. We call it “Tactical Espionage Action”, but I don’t think it’s that tactical still. Ghost Recon, they do a great job in that genre, and we’re not looking to intrude on them at all, because they do great at what they do. Our gameplay is not so much that strategic element of moving around your unit. Snake’s solo, he’s on a solo sneaking mission, you don’t have to worry about giving other people commands.

“…with this demo … gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight.”

And that’s one thing we’ve run into with this demo, and the demo at TGS, is that the gun gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight. And that’s not really a Metal Gear Solid game, because if they keep killing people, obviously we’re going to keep throwing enemies at them until Snake’s dead, or Snake hides, and then it goes back to normal mode.

With that said, we’re also opening up the gameplay to these warzones, these battlefield areas. So how I like to describe it is a waveform gameplay. The beginning is a sneaking section, and obviously you have to get to your point, like rendezvous with Otacon for example, that’s a sneaking part. But then we lead you onto the battlefield, where you can use these cool weapons without worry about being found. So you can unload on the PMCs, you can join with the militia men, you can kind of change the tide of war to how you see fit.

So that’s a cool way of releasing all that tension that you built up during all the sneaking parts. Then we take you back to a sneaking part, then back to a battlefield. It’s a way of keeping the player’s attention. So obviously that’s different from what Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon does.

Q: This is a very cinematic game. How much of the time is spent watching cutscenes?
A: At first, Hideo and I were talking about keeping the cinematics pretty short for MGS4. Because we felt pressure, complaints that the cinematics were too long. But I think that’s only a very vocal minority. I think people actually enjoy the cutscenes, just based on how popular the trailers are. And so what ended up happening was, we kept adding more and more cool scenes til we got to the point where I know we’re going longer than Snake Eater in terms of cinematics, and that game had four hours of cinematics.

I won’t say how many hours of cinematics we have in MGS4, but I will say it’s impressive. If people don’t want to watch they can skip it, so we’re giving people that option. Using our next-gen graphics engine, really incredible sound… I hate to sound cocky, but I think we’re going to win awards for our sound design this time. It’s really incredible. And people are going to be missing out if they skip those cutscenes.

Like I said, the script actually sounds cool. Maybe that was a problem before, is that the story was so convoluted and it sounded like it was coming from Japan, literally translated into English, and this time it feels like a Hollywood movie. It’s entertaining, the dialogue is witty. So yeah, you might be putting down your controller and watching some cinematics, but it’s going to be entertaining, I guarantee it.

Q: You guys have one of the biggest games at E for All. When did you make the decision to attend, and has it paid off in terms of fan reaction?
A: We made this decision without really knowing how many other vendors were going to be here. We like the idea of having a consumer-only event. We always support big shows like this, we’ve visited Leipzig and GDC, TGS, E3, even GO3 in Australia. So we’re very supportive of these consumer and press shows.

But with that said, are we happy we showed up? Of course. We’ve filled every seat we’ve had since we opened the doors on Thursday. We have literally hundreds of people playing the game every day. Some people are giving this show a Doomsday prophecy, like it’s not going to be around next year, that this is the first and last E for All. But I beg to differ, and I’m not just saying this because I’m here at the show and I want people to come.

I would be curious to see a ratio of attendees per booth compared to E3, compared to E for All, because we have people lined up around the booth to play MGS4. Smash Brothers has a huge line, and so does Galaxy. I’m wondering if publishers are regretting the fact that they didn’t show up, like Capcom, Sony, and Microsoft. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ratio of attendees is higher than it was at E3. So I’m hoping this is just the beginning of something really cool.

Q: How do you think you can sell millions of copies of MGS4 with all the competition?
A: I’m not worried about the competition, really. I think we’re the leading title coming out on PS3 next year. We’re not looking for a big bang, to sell a couple million copies in two weeks and then just trickle out throughout the year. I think we’re going to sell consistently, we’re going to own the majority of 2008 I think.

“I’m not worried about the competition … we’re going to own the majority of 2008…”

Especially with the online mode we’re including is going to keep people coming back. And we’re just going to keep updating Metal Gear Online. So I’m thinking we’re going to have steady sales all the way through to Christmas 2008. And maybe you think I’m being too bullish, or too cocky, but I have a lot of confidence that this game is going to be the system seller, that people have been looking forward to for the last year and a half.

Q: One last question, how about the Metal Gear movie?
A: The movie is still in pre-production. We’re having meetings next week. It’s still really early. I’m not as interested in the movie, I’m more interested in making games. I didn’t join this industry to make a Metal Gear movie, even though I know a lot of people are excited about it.

***

Check out our hands-on preview of the game here.

Kojima Productions: No More MGS4 Trailers

Chad Lakkis — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 01:13:02 +0000

“Coast is clear, looks like those damn camera men are finally gone”

With an English demo currently under development, we are pretty sure nine demos will be enough to hold fans of the series over for a while. Kojima Productions Assistant Producer Ryan Payton in an interview with MTV Games said that the video shown at this years Tokyo Game Show “could be the last trailer.”

“The pressure is really on to finish work on the game, and we have decided not to be sidetracked by any more promotional work,” said Ryan.

Below is a complete run down of all 9 trailers for those that want to play catch up…

E3 2005
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCqzqynfJC8[/youtube]

TGS 2005
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcWoDVfH5xQ[/youtube]

GC 2006
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SDGkdT7mb8[/youtube]

TGS 2006
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKcfigB2xI0[/youtube]

E3 2006 (Part 1)
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-FbWCN-HUo[/youtube]

E3 2006 (Part 2)
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0e2ZLX_SNU[/youtube]

E3 2007
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3xdzi6F1lg[/youtube]

GC 2007
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJhxU0POKxk[/youtube]

TGS 2007
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T95tD3Cz9LA[/youtube]

Alright, nothing left to do now but sit tight and wait for the English demo. Stay tuned for more information as we will be following this game closely in the months to come.