Konami recently announced that they will be releasing an update titled “Scene Expansion” for Metal Gear Online. Inside will be a new map and an old face.

The new map is called “Icebound Inferno” and oddly resembles the Shadow Moses level from MGS4, and the old face is none other than Old Snake. Enjoy.

Source: Game Watch

Joystiq reports that the classic PS1 title Metal Gear Solid is coming to the PlayStation Network as a downloadable title. The game will be coming to the North American PSN on June 18 for just $9.99, but there’s no word on the European release just yet. Since Metal Gear Solid is pretty much the best game that was ever released for the PS1, this is a great chance for those of us who foolishly sold their MGS1 disc in their naive youth. Of course, that doesn’t apply to me. I live in Europe.

This coutndown page has sparked a lot of new speculation about Kojima’s next Metal gear project. As you can see it recently showed an image of what appears to be Big Boss. Famitsu have also shown the image, along with one of what appears to be Raiden.

I say “appears to be” because there are plenty of hints in the text with Kojima (see it after the jump) that it it not Big Boss or Raiden at all. Also mentioned is that the game may cover all time periods over the Saga’s chronology, and that “Raiden” may be Grey Fox and “Big Boss” may be another clone. Speculation has hit overdrive once again. Thanks a lot, Kojima.

Translation:

NOTE: The interview was censored in certain parts in the Famitsu issue, hence the X”s at some points.

“1. (The Big Boss image is posted above)

Interviewer: “Is that Big Boss?”

Kojima: It’s a little different from XX

(or XXX’s next form is a little different)

Interviewer: “Whaaaattt? Different???”

2.　

Kojima: I still can’t tell you what the title is, but this is the real
deal. Put it this way, it’s part of the orthodox “Metal Gear Saga”

(The text below was mostly blocked out, but it talked about what
timeframe the game is based in, and it appears that it’s across all
time periods)

3.

Kojima: I want the game’s core to be aimed towards Japan, and released globally. XXX… It’s being made by MGS4 staff

Interviewer: That’s awesome!

4.

Kojima: The symbol on the cap of the old man (he did not say Big Boss) will be important

Interviewer: This symbol is different from the fox, it looks like a world map

Kojima: No just the mark, but the system of the game will be new!

Note: Kojima uses “This old man” a lot through the interview rather than referring to Big Boss

5.

Interviewer: It sounds interesting, but do you think people will understand it at all?

Kojima: I think people will understand

Well… Tried my best to translate it, but it’s so hard with all the
blocked out text… bloody Kojima. That’s all I can do for now, maybe
I’ll give it another go later

Summary:

Interestingly the old man in the cap might not be Big Boss, the story will be part of the main MGS saga and it will go through different time periods. New game system, and it’s being made by the staff from MGS4

And yet another translation:

Famitsu: Is the generation XXX?

Kojima: No, it’s XXX. If I were to say it all, perhaps XXXXX. I’m currently doing the game design and direction.

Famitsu: Really!

Kojima: I believe Japan will be the focus, but it will be sold
throughout the world. Within me, this is XXXX. I won’t say it’s X, but
I am making a proper story, and it is being made by the MGS4 staff.

Famitsu: Really! That’s amazing.

Elsewhere, the interview touches a bit upon the content of the game:

Kojima: The mark on the old man’s hat is very important

Famitsu: This mark is different from a fox. It’s like a world map.

Kojima: Not just the mark, but the game systems are also new.

Famitsu: Is it XX-XXXXXXXXXX?

Kojima: Yes. We’ll be doing stuff that one would expect of
XXXXXXX. XXXX and so-forth are obvious, so those will be included.
Uh-oh… I said stuff that was unplanned (laughs)

Famitsu also asked Kojima about the setting. “The setting is
XXXXXXX,” responded Kojima. Apparently, something called “XXXXXXXXX”
happened in this location, leaving it as a “XXXXX” country.

That’s right, Contra is hitting the WiiWare old-school style! Konami has quietly announced that Contra Rebirth will be hitting the WiiWare next week, May 12, in Japan for 1000 Wii Points and with two-player co-op play.

It’s kind of odd how they managed to keep this title under wraps for this long and that it gets discovered on a Konami product page just a week before its release. It’s still unsure if the game is a remake or not, but Konami says it’s a new work. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Source: Joystiq via Siliconera

Sure, we already knew it was coming thanks to the leaked cover of May’s Nintendo Power, but today Konami sent out the press release for the newest Silent Hill game- the first for the Wii- Shattered Memories.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories seems to be more centered on puzzles this time around, as according to Destructoid, it has absolutely no combat. Nope- you just run away from enemies. On the plus side, it won’t have any load times. On the “I don’t know if this is good, bad, or just really stupid” side, the Wiimote will act as a cell phone anytime you get a call.

I’m sure this will excite many fans of the horror genre, or even just the Silent Hill franchise, but as Ripten’s resident scaredy cat (I still jump whenever I find the flashlight in the Highlights magazine search) I will staying far away from this game. Have fun with that game guys, I’ll be over here in the corner watching Noddy’s Toyland Adventure reruns. Hit the jump for the press release.

Konami Announces Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for Wii™, PlayStation®2 System and PSP® System

Popular Survival Horror Series Resurrects True Terror With
Debut on Wii

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – April 6, 2009 - Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. today unveiled the latest iteration in the popular Silent Hill franchise scheduled to launch this fall on Wii™,  PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. Featuring an interactive user interface, improved puzzle system, and a psych profile that changes the experience based on the players’ gameplay choices, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories conveys the most fluid and realistic gameplay of the series to date.

“Silent Hill: Shattered Memories returns to its roots in this re-imagining of the original Silent Hill with the most interactive and frightening installment of the decade-old series,” said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “With a deep storyline, eerie music and a psych profile that watches its players and evolves to expose their innermost fears throughout the game, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is sure to evoke fear in both franchise newcomers and longtime survival horror fans.”

In this terrifying survival horror experience with an all-new soundtrack by acclaimed series composer Akira Yamaoka, players follow Harry Mason, the maladroit protagonist who is searching for his missing daughter, Cheryl. While Harry wanders the snowy streets of Silent Hill searching for clues of her disappearance, he must face twisted creatures from the depths of his frozen nightmares.

In the Wii™ version, players will be drawn into the mysterious town using the Wii Remote™ as a flashlight and cell phone as they search for clues. The cell phone can also be used by players as a user interface which acts as a story telling device, map, camera and much more, providing seamless flow with no interruption in gameplay. Additionally, through a very unique feature in the game, an advanced psych profile watches and adapts to players’ actions to acclimatize Harry and the people he meets, the places he visits, and the enemies he encounters to create an intense and gripping experience like never before.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is scheduled to launch this fall for the Wii™ video game system from Nintendo, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.

Back in 2002, I first played Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil when my neighbor found a copy in the bargain bin at GameStop. We spent hours on end trying to get to the end of the game before dinnertime, and never actually did. But without a doubt, I can say that parts of the Klonoa series rank amongst my favorite games I’ve ever played- which is why it pains me to report that Klonoa’s return on the Wii may see Klonoa’s redesign. Kotaku put it best, describing it as the “poochied” version of Klonoa. Ouch. Hit the jump to see Klonoa’s purported redesign.

Konami revealed a next-gen Castlevania teaser trailer at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. We reported on it yesterday, and now have video footage of it, so you can view it yourself.

The video features an ominous Dracula Slayer complete with glowing red eyes and a flame laden sword. It also clearly states that the game is slated for release on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. No other information is known about the game or its format at this time, but if I had to guess, my money would be on a 3D format of some sort.

Watch it quickly, before the scary figure with the red eyes slays you.

At the Tokyo Game show today, Konami held a press event for the Castlevania franchise, announcing a new entry to the hit series for both the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Outside of a brief ten second clip showing a man wielding a lit red sword, not much else is known about the game, so it comes as no surprise that an actual release date is far from set.

Could this finally be a worthy 3-D Castlevania game? Let’s hope so, because the last one wasn’t all that.

Source: ps3.ign.com

Konami’s upcoming release of Silent Hill Homecoming has influenced the birth of a new little media widget to help you stay up to date with the game. Lucky for you, we decided to steal it and plop it on Ripten for your viewing pleasure. Just a word of warning: Silent Hill is a disturbing series, and the video I watched on this widget makes me want to beat my kids.

Harmonix, Neversoft, Konami, and Activision have all signed an agreement with Microsoft and Sony that guaranteed that all of the new peripherals coming out for the newest batch of music games would all be compatible with each other.

What this means is that any fake guitar, drum set, and microphone that you may purchase along with Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, or Rock Revolution would work in any of those games. You only need to buy one set of instruments to enjoy any and all of these pretend rock experiences.

Sony is supposedly working to get SingStar microphones to also be compatible, as well as getting the current Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band guitars to play nice together.

Source: Gamasutra via Gamerscore Blog

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

Castlevania gamers rejoiced when a new installment in the popular series was announced at this year’s E3. Fans then became less enthused when they learned that instead of a traditional action-adventure title like those the series is known for, the new Castlevania is going be a fighter for the Nintendo Wii.

In a recent interview with current Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi, Wired questioned the man on this bizarre transition, and his answers were a little worrying.
His first response to the change in format is that playing a traditional Castlevania game for hours on end could get a little tiring on the Wii, where you would use the Wii remote as a whip. This was his reason for wanting to create a game with a certain time limit.

However, certain parties don’t believe that that’s the full story. Jeremy Parish from 1up had this to say after experiencing the game at E3:

“The saddest thing is watching Koji Igarashi on the E3 show floor, hovering around the Castlevania Judgment kiosk for half an hour, knowing that everyone hates it, knowing that he knows they hate it, then realizing that it’s not the game he really wanted to make anyway because his publisher won’t give him two dimes to rub together to develop the really awesome games he does want to create.”

Later in the interview with Wired, Igarashi opened up more about the development.

“Wii is selling, but the ‘gamer’s games’ aren’t selling. That’s what I’m concerned about. I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible, the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer. I have to adapt to the times, but I can’t alienate the core fans.”

We all know that Nintendo is going after casual gamers in a huge way. The benefit is that more people are being drawn to video games. The downside is the worry that Nintendo – and video game developers in general – are paying less and less attention to hardcore gamers, which is a sentiment that has been echoed by many fans.

Igarashi’s comments definitely support the latter theory and it’s disheartening to think that even big name developers like Konami – who just recently gave us the phenomenal Metal Gear Solid 4 – may be putting less effort into traditional games. If they’re willing to water down a fan favorite franchise like Castlevania, what hope do we have?

Source: Game|Life

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	10
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.

We reported yesterday that Konami had filed a suit against the makes of Rock Band, claiming that Harmonix, MTV, and parent company Viacom, violated patents filed by Konami dating back to 2002 and 2003.

Today, Harmoix swung back at Konami, as a company spokesperson stated:

“Konami’s actions are extremely surprising. Unfortunately, successful products such as Rock Band can often become targets for baseless litigation … We have substantial defenses to this claim and intend to vigorously defend it.”

I smell a corporate rock off in the making! An epic battle, to be fought with plastic guitars and scaucer shaped drum kits! Extra points go to the first executive from either side that grows their hair out and adopts a “nothing but full body spandex will do” clothing policy.

Source: Game|Life

First off, lets recap the situation for those that are just joining us. Yesterday we (along with many sites) reported that a user (NiTiz) of the popular N4G gaming site posted an image on their forum. The image was supposedly a snapshot of a PS3 interface screen highlighting PS2 download capability.

The user on the N4G forum went on to say that the image was sent to him from an unnamed source within Sony and that his source told him the PS2 download feature would be announced for the PS3 at this years E3. Sony then came out and denied it stating that the screen was fake and that they had no plans for such a service.

Many sites (including ours) reported the Sony was denying the PS2 download rumor, but were also quick to add that this may be another case of corporate double talk on the part of Sony. The company did this a few months ago when rumors circulated regarding a price cut. They claimed to have no plans for it only to have the price cut take effect a few days later.

So we have one side screaming fake and the other side claiming to have an inside source within company. Who is telling the truth? I could have just waited for E3 to find out, but unfortunately I am not that patient.

I have been using Photoshop for over ten years as a web designer, so when I saw the screenshot in discussion I decided to take a closer look to see if I could sort through all the talk on both sides and find something tangible that we could all use as proof to end the speculation once and for all.

At first glance, the image looks pretty good and being that an image like this (if fake) would be created in an application such as Photoshop and then displayed onto a television, it would be nearly impossible to find evidence of tampering unless the individual made a glaring mistake. So with that in mind, any Photoshop detective work is pretty much thrown out the window.

At this point, it’s easy to see how many sites could be fooled by it, but as I was about to give up on the image I noticed something I thought was suspicious and decided to run a Google search against it. Once I found what I was looking for, it was obvious to me that this image was a fake.

Below is a magnified portion of the description text below Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the game that has been cued up for download in the screenshot. It clearly reads “radical new take on Hideo Kojima’s best-selling tale of stealth, heroism and double-crossing.”

This seemed odd to me, so I ran a search on Google for the words “Metal Gear Solid 2 is a radical new take” and clicked into the first result that popped up. Oddly enough, it was a link that pointed to Konami’s Official European website. I say “oddly” because N4G has a very large European following. The description, as you can see below, is nothing more than a modified version of the listed summary for Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance is a radical new take on Hideo Kojima’s best-selling tale of stealth, heroism and double-crossing. Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance retains the ground breaking stealth-based action of its predecessor, with players guiding a series of characters through key terrorist situations.

Top-secret weapons technology is being mysteriously transported under cover of an oil tanker to an unknown destination. It’s up to Snake to infiltrate the transport and keep this deadly weapon of mass destruction from falling into the wrong hands! Snake is back – are you ready?

So why would the person take all this time to fake this screen and then use the wrong description? Well, probably because it is not that easy to find the original description of MGS2 floating around on the web since most Google searches bring up the Substance version. The game description for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, according to Konami’s Official US site, reads:

Snake returns in the highly anticipated action title, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. Players take on the role of a one-man army determined to stop a deadly high-tech weapon from falling into the hands of a highly elite resistance group called Dead Cell. Players must utilize their skills in stealth, weaponry and counter-terrorism to fight off the competing powers and destroy the gigantic war machine, Metal Gear Ray.

Hope this helps to put the rumor to bed for good — although I doubt it will, and by pointing this out I have the sneaky suspicion I have just motivated attention hungry Photoshop fakers to up their game. Skeptics will argue that there is still a chance the screen is some early concept on the part of Sony, but frankly I doubt that is the case.

Update: I decided to change the headline of this story based on feedback recieved from readers. I also want to be clear that I am not claiming the PS3 console will never get the ability to download PS2 titles — I am however questioning the validity of the image.

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

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

Hideo Kojima may be done with Metal Gear, but he’s not done with video games. Fumiaki Tanaka, president of Konami, revealed that Kojima is in fact working on a new game concept that’s 100% Metal Gear free.

Tanaka couldn’t reveal any details other than this, also adding that we won’t see (or hear) a formal announcement in 2008.

Source: IGN

A handful of new Silent Hill 5 screens appeared on the official website today, and some of them are downright impressive while others are simply bland. Check them all out after the jump.

Some notable elements include the fog (featured in about half of these screens), the body bag, the bathroom floor, and the flashlight effects. Can the new U.S. developer do a good job with this series? Based just on these latest screens, my interest has actually just gone up.

Silent Hill 5 Images

8 Photos

 

News has been flip flopping over whether Metal Gear Online will be included with MGS4, or whether it will be purchased separately. In an interview with Gamespot, Konami’s director of marketing, puts the rumours to rest. A Metal Gear Online starter pack will be included in the shipped MGS4 game.

They haven’t yet disclosed how many maps there will be in the pack, but “there will be an element of the online component within Metal Gear 4, to capture that online experience.”

What does this imply? Does this mean the fully featured Metal Gear Online will be available separately, where MGS4 owners will own a fraction of this? It’s my belief that MGS4 will be the sole way to purchase Metal Gear Online, where the starter pack will then be fleshed out throughout 2008, adding new maps through downloadable content. If this is the case, then it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Getting a Metal Gears Solid game and an online component that will be further supported, is a dream come true. If the fully featured Metal Gear Online was available separately from the get go, it would make Metal Gear fans buy two games instead of one.

Konami’s director or marketing supports my suspicions that Metal Gear Online will only be purchasable through MGS4 in her following statement: “Within the rest of the year we will be stragically providing content.”

Kojima’s MGS4 is set for release in Q2 of this year.  The interview can be found here.

I gave in to my nerdish fetish and bought “YU-GI-OH: World Championship 2008.” Since I haven’t played the game for nearly a decade I decided to jump in feet first.

I modified my hair and my jacket then hopped into a ranked game with my starter deck. Once in, I continued to get my deck handed to me over and over again. I switched from Ranked to Practice Duel — same story different setting. I want to say that somewhere around 10 or 15 losses that in, I realized that I may be better off playing against the AI instead.

So I entered into the new “Duel World,” and began working my way through each NPC to gain what I thought, was enough Duelist Points to
buy the booster packs needed to buff up my deck above noob status, and immediately went online.

After several hours of deck whooping I realized why I stopped playing the original CCG — I suck.

That said, if you like the CCG games and the previous Yu-gi-oh games, then you probably already own YU-GI-OH: World Championship 2008.

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

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]

It’s hard to stay faithful! While this review may not be about fidelity issues, it is about the fact that Silent Hill: Origins stays true to what made the series great. It captures the whole Middle America town setting, while keeping faithful to the Point-and-Click elements which the genre is known for.

It’s frankly a surprise that the game was released at all. When we saw the first build of the game, it had bad Resident Evil 4 style combat and an art direction that seemed nothing like Silent Hill. This seemed kind of ironic, given the fact that the game is titled Origins. Regardless, the project was axed and handed over to UK development studio Climax.

Upon first booting up Origins, it prompts you to play in complete darkness while using headphones for the best experience. After playing the game with and without said circumstances, it is far more enjoyable playing in the dark with a decent pair of headphones. Although, to be fair, anything would be more immersive in the dark, where your imagination can run wild.

The environment that is Silent Hill still works after all these years. There’s something about the whole Middle America town vibe that resonates strongly, and when thinking about it further it became clear to me -we identify more with a setting we understand.

While the set pieces add up to some of the scariest I’ve seen, the same could also be said of the combat. Remember early Silent Hill/Resident Evil tank controls pre RE4? Yeah, they’re back with a vengeance.

I suppose given the fact that this is a mobile game; it might be too much to ask to have a redesigned combat system to go along with the RE4 inspired quick time events. Still, if the Silent Hill franchise hopes to compete in the modern day market, they need to do something about their control scheme.

Gameplay consists mostly of dodging monsters, looking at your map, and solving puzzles. While this admittedly doesn’t sound very fun, it has a certain unique feel to it that other survival horror games just don’t capture.

A prime example would be when you hear a banging throughout the whole level, it becomes almost rhythmic – you start to tune it out, dismissing it as background ambiance. Then as you make your way further the noise becomes steadily louder, until the climax where you open the door and see what’s making the racket. This approach to level design is something Silent Hill fans will recognize, and immediately fall in love with all over again.

In addition to background noises, the score composed by Akira Yamaoka makes Origins even creepier. There is something almost sinister in the modern guitar riffs and the moody piano solos. With all this work put into sound design, it’s no wonder they tell you to use headphones instead of the underwhelming PSP speakers.

It’s truly a shame the same level of care wasn’t put in the story. The character development ultimately leads nowhere, and the crossover between Origins and the Silent Hill movie doesn’t help matters.

With Silent Hill 5 on the distant horizon, Origins seeks to fill in the cracks in the series’ development cycle. While not quite on par with Silent Hill 2, it still offers an immersive adventure that’s not found too often in portable gaming. Origins won’t win any awards for intuitive controls, but it will offer a satisfying service for long time fans of the series and survival horror buffs alike.

In this months issue of EGM’s Rumor Mill, Quarterman reported that Konami is developing another Metal Gear game for the PSP. Apparently it isn’t going to be a spin off such as we’ve seen from Portable Ops. The new title is said to “Hearken back to the early days”.

Could this be a new business model for Konami? It seems the Japanese development house has taken a keen interest in portable development of late. With the launch of Portable Ops Plus, and Silent Hill Origins all in one month. It seems Konami seeks to fill in the gaps between their triple A titles with portable games.

Amazon.com has finally started their pre-orders for the highly anticipated PS3 exclusive, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. According to the site, it will be officially released on May 31st in Europe and then one month later in North America on June 30th.

We have yet to receive an official comment from Konami’s PR department, though we have left several messages. At this time, we have no further information details to report other than the amazon pre-order list.

One thing is for sure though, if this does hold true, we will see a lot of MGS4 copies leaving Europe and making their way overseas to North America in during that one month time gap.

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.

One of the nicest surprises of last weekend’s E for All show was Konami’s booth, which was filled with promising games. Enough has been said about MGS4, but on the handheld front, Konami was making waves with original versions of four of their most popular franchises.

It seems like a perfect combination–Castlevania, Contra, Metal Gear Solid, and Silent Hill. All are established franchises, some even dating back to the days of the NES. But there’s nothing old about these remakes and original titles. In fact, this lineup represents one of the most refreshing collections of handheld nostalgia available this year.

With Silent Hill: Origins for the PSP, Konami has created an original backstory for the creepiest town ever to grace a videogame. We didn’t get to see too much plot, though, because the level we played was set in a dark, abandoned hospital, where Silent Hill’s trademark freaky nurses were trying their best to stab our trucker hero.

The locations, while familiar, did show of the game’s surprisingly good light and shadow effects, and a bit of hammer and scalpel combat made even the nurses a tough challenge. Origins also added a few new quick-time events, like tapping x repeatedly to avoid a nurse’s attack. The graphics are somewhere between PS1 and PS2, and hopefully the rest of the game looks and plays as well as this creepy hospital did.

Nearby on the PSP was Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, an online-focused “special edition” of the last full-fledged portable MGS. Our hands-on time with this title was focused mainly on running around catwalks and hallways, targeting other players with Old Snake from MGS4 or Raiden from MGS2.

While Metal Gear isn’t best known for its fun multiplayer deathmatch, Ops Plus seems like good practice for when Metal Gear Online hits the PS3 next year. The graphics are surprisingly good for a PSP title, showing that Konami really knows its stuff when working with Sony hardware.

Rounding out the intellectual property bonanza on PSP was Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. As a remake of a PC Engine game that was never released in the U.S., this collection of one remake and two unchanged titles (Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night) is one of the best Christmas gifts for Castlevania nuts that Konami could have made.

The remake of Rondo, which is the only game unlocked from the start, is a slick-looking 3d throwback with some interesting boss-intro cutscenes and classic 2d gameplay. Even though Richter Belmont moves a bit slowly, the smooth animation and candle-whipping mechanics are really enjoyable. If you have any love for Castlevania, this is a must-play.

And finally, the DS will become the home to yet another beloved franchise–Contra 4, a return to form for a series that has been sidetracked with boring action-movie macho for too long. The original Contra was about one thing only–avoiding little glowing dots while wasting every pixely bad guy in sight.

Utilizing both screens but no touch-control, Contra 4 is standard stuff for those who remember the NES original. Bonus unlockables like a “museum” of old Contra games (don’t get too excited, they’re just screenshots and brief descriptions) and a new grapple hook move round out this highly enjoyable throwback.

It’s looking like a great holiday for old-school gaming, and if you consider yourself a gaming enthusiast there’s got to be at least one game in this lineup that interests you. Or if you’re like most hardcore gamers, every one of these titles holds an undeniably compelling appeal. For taking gaming back to its roots, we salute Konami’s legendary handheld lineup for this winter.

Two days is the amount of time we’ve spent here at E for All and frankly, that is more than enough time to view and play all the games at this expo. The Electronic Arts demo booth had plenty of playable video games, but when asked for some press material we were told, “ … we didn’t bring any because we thought the press wasn’t going to come here,” said an EA employee.

That was pretty harsh. The expo is for the consumers to play video games before they come out, but that just doesn’t seem like a valid enough excuse to NOT have any material ready for the media, and it wasn’t just EA that came unprepared, other companies also seemed to care less about the press in attendance.

This was a consumer expo, and memo went out months ago, however the only companies that seemed like they got it were Nintendo and Konami. Excluding those two, the layouts for booths were terrible and the representation was more or less non-existent.

The first thing I did when I arrived was interview the President & CEO of TN Games, Mark Ombrellaro. The company developed an innovative peripheral 3rd Space Vest, which allows the player of a 1st person shooter or racing game to feel impact throughout his or her upper torso.

Our group then had an informal sit down with Metal Gear Solid 4 Assistant Producer Ryan Payton. Konami’s MGS4 looks to be Playstation 3’s most anticipated game of 2008, and its expo presence reinforced that. Ryan was great, and Konami from an overall standpoint impressed us as well, as they showcased their products and made information about their company and games easily accessible to consumers as well as the media.

Next up we made our way to EA’s Rock Band stage where Anthony Niven, Andrew Podolsky, and I got to finally rock out to Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and Nirvana’s “In Bloom.” Great game, but it will undoubtedly be one of the most cumbersome setups in your living room’s history.

THQ and Namco represented, but didn’t pick up as much of the crowd as Nintendo or Konami. There were plenty of other exhibitors like Intel and HP showcasing the latest computer technology, but it wasn’t enough to convince me that it was time for a $5,000 upgrade.

Overall, the expo didn’t seem to make much of an impact on consumers, and was definitely not worth the price of a 4-day pass, as it took us less than two days to see everything the 1st time expo had to offer.

In closing, it was a great opportunity for the smaller companies and start-ups of the world to gain exposure (assuming they came prepared) but the big players, outside of those mentioned here, just didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass.

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.

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

A long line of gamers eagerly waiting to play Metal Gear Solid 4, perhaps their only chance before the game comes out early next year, snaked around an elaborate barbed-wire bunker booth at E for All.

Once inside, seated on sandbags, these demo testers got a quick walkthrough on the slightly different control scheme. Besides the controls, which emphasized one button aiming (L1) and one button firing (R1), the other major change from Tokyo Game Show is that this game was in English, with Snake once again voiced by David Hayter.

The demo started about 5-10 minutes into the final retail version of the game, with Snake in a “Middle East” location (sorry, it doesn’t get more specific than that). Revolver Ocelot is in the area, and Snake contacts Otacon on the Codec to determine where to rendezvous. There’s some interesting talk about Lizards and Gekkos as well—are these a new type of super-soldier to rival the legendary Snake?

Snake begins sneaking around outside a deserted street—deserted, except for a unit of private military contractors rolling along in a tank-like vehicle called a “Striker”. The Striker not only has a mounted machine gun, but also a roaming camera which can spot Snake and call in reinforcements. It’s the same camera evasion from previous MGS games, but this time it’s on wheels.

Konami’s MGS4 Booth at E For All

Yet another shot of Konami’s barbed-wire booth

Snake’s “threat ring” helps him identify the general location of such adversaries, but it’s a replacement for the radar that used to indicate that direction enemies were generally moving. Reading it feels like identifying seismic activity—a bump in one direction means you need to take cover, activate camouflage, or just run for your life.

The enemies, once they spot you, will follow you relentlessly. Peering into dark corners or following you through a series of rooms, the enemy AI is meticulous about tracking you down. Stealth is obviously the best way to move through the game, because even though your throat-slashing technique has improved, you are still too outnumbered and outgunned to take the balls-out action approach.

Those lucky gamers who had 15 minutes to play through this early level were also asked for their feedback on the game, and we’d estimate that most people were so happy to get an early look that they’d have hardly any criticisms. But if we had to point out a few problems, the camera work was a little confusing at times, being very sensitive and not framing the action very well. Also, the enemy animations took some time to recognize that, say, their buddy was just opened up by an aging superspy with a gray mullet. The reaction times could be a bit quicker to give this game a livelier feel.

There are still a few elements we haven’t understood yet—like why do you need to know the temperature, humidity, and wind speed of your environment? It’s not like Snake’s trying to drive a golfball through town. Also, the camo indicator in the corner tells Snake how well he’s disguised with the Octo-Camo, but we’d end up using that more than a visual confirmation, just to make sure that we really are hidden in plain sight.

Overall we can’t wait to see more of MGS4, though, so this hands on was a great (but brief) chance to check out the way the game plays. But besides the unique Kojima vibe, Snake is looking more and more like his Tom Clancy companions and less like his old self. Whether this is going to sit well with long time fans of the series is the biggest question we have about Metal Gear Solid 4 at this point.