Zero Punctuation Wades Through MGS4

Zero Punctuation The Escapist]

There's a lot riding on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In the real world, it's the game that many PlayStation devotees have looked to as system savior, a console exclusive showcase that hopes to rekindle Metal Gear mania on par with Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for the PlayStation 3's forerunners. In-game, Solid Snake's fate and, naturally, the fate of the world are at stake as the covert operative, a literal product of the Cold War, struggles to survive in a postmodern world in which war has been commoditized and computerized.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is Kojima Productions' series swan song, an epic denouement that's dripping with metaphor and complex narrative, one that will most likely leave you ultimately satisfied rather than thoroughly confused. Getting to that point, we found, was a hell of a ride.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is finally upon us. The game that launched a million PlayStation 3 consoles has reached the eager hands of gamers and reviewers all over the worlds. Solid Snake's swan song, Kojima's masterpiece...call it what you will, there's no doubt that MGS 4 is one of the most important titles in the PS3's short history, and will set the bar for action adventure games on the console for years to come.

Now, as millions of gamers all over the world immerse themselves in Snake's final adventures, we take a look at how the game fared in the hands of the reviewing public.

GameStop's MGS4 Launch Event Details

You knew that GameStop wouldn't let something as big as the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots launch go by without burning the midnight oil to get PlayStation 3 owners the game as soon as humanly possible. The games retailer has announced that over 1,500 stores will be hosting special launch day events tomorrow, featuring trivia contests, a Big Boss costume contest, and special sneak-peaks at the game leading up to the 12:01 AM release.

Seeing as 1,500 stores is less than half of the stores located in the United States (GTA IV events were held at over 3,500 locations), I'd highly suggest that you call ahead (or check this list) before showing up at your local locations dressed as Big Boss, as your sad story of standing in a parking lot alone in an eyepatch and trench coat would make us cry, and we hate one-eyed people crying.

So What's Our Metal Gear Solid 4 Surprise?

So Kojima Productions has responded to the review limitation problems regarding Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and that's nice and all, but did you guys catch the top paragraph of Assistant Producer Ryan Payton's e-mail?

Believe it or not, I've been so busy working on a special surprise for MGS4 buyers (that not even those who have leaked copies of the game can spoil! Haha!), that I haven't had time to catch up on most of the pre-launch excitement.

A special surprise? I love surprises! What ever could it be? It's something that people with leaked copies of the game can't spoil, meaning probably DLC of some sort to kick things off? A special outfit? A new weapon? A cutscene only available through download?

Or is this one of those special surprises like Michael Scott from The Office would come up with? There's no way that folks with leaked copies could ruin ice cream sandwiches.

I suppose that in the interest of more accurate speculation we should stick to the DLC idea. You guys throw out your ideas while I rush to my local grocer's freezer.

Earlier this morning Ashcraft attended a press event in Japan for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where Kojima himself played through the game for about 40 minutes. Game Videos was kind (or evil) enough to commit the first 10 minutes of said gameplay to video, essentially capturing the experience of starting up MGS 4 for the first time.

Now, I know how some of you are about spoilers, so I am posting this after the jump. You do not have to look. You can move along right now and forget that this post even exists. Completely up to you. Me? I'm not looking, but I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't at least draw your attention to it.

Enjoy the extremely difficult choice.

Europe Getting MGS4 Bundle After All

New MGS 4 Gameplay Footage Airs Tonight

X-Play's going to be showing off some "never-before-seen" gameplay footage from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 tonight.

The folks over at the G4 show promise no teaser trailers, no cinematics, just 100 percent brand new in-game footage. If you're up for that sort of thing make sure to catch it tonight at 8 p.m. on G4. They show will also have some new gameplay of Silicon Knight’s Too Human for the Xbox 360 and hands-on with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Xbox 360.

Kojima Disappointed With Metal Gear Solid 4

Looks like Kojima Jr. isn't the only one disappointed with Metal Gear Solid. The latest issue of the UK's Edge magazine contains an interview with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, who expresses disappointment with the latest game in the series, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It isn't so much the gameplay itself as it is the graphics.

"Game-wise, it's pretty close to the original vision: you sneak into the battlefield and can choose whether to do a stealth game or interfere with the battle more directly. But the graphic, side things like motion-blending and the size of the map, totally was not accomplished to my original vision - to my satisfaction.

While the big Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots news today might seem like the details of the standard and limited editions of the games and their price, the real news seems to be that as of today Konami is planning on selling the Limited Edition version of the game only through GameStop.

That's right, no Wal-Mart, no Target, no Best Buy, no GameCrazy.

This backs up tips we received late last week that GameCrazy stores have been canceling their limited edition MGS preorders.

While the release is pretty straight forward about this, saying the game will only be available in North America on June 12 through GameStop, I actually called to verify and was told that as of right now they have no plans on selling it anywhere else.. in North America. ever.

The release does also detail that the standard edition of Metal Gear Solid 4 will sell for $60, while the Limited Edition, which includes exclusive artwork by Yoji Shinkawa and a bevy of other goodies, will sell for $85, Konami announced today. Both go on sale on June 12.

Konami also announced their pre-order program, which will give customers who pre-order the game at select stories a copy of the Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2 DVD while supplies last.

"As the most anticipated game to be released for the PLAYSTATION®3 system this year, we wanted to make sure that no fan of Metal Gear Solid would be disappointed with the amount of content and gameplay at their disposal," said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.

Hit the jump for the break down of each version:

Metal Gear Online Beta Coming To Europe

Fear not, brave Europe! The Metal Gear Online beta isn't lost to you. Konami has been in contact with several popular European gaming websites today, letting them know that there will indeed be a beta test for the online component of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Are you ready for the details? Well so are we, only we don't have them yet. According to our friends at Eurogamer, the information is slated to arrive shortly. We'll keep an eye out for the details, but at least now we know, and knowing is half the battle. You can probably fill in the rest yourselves.

Europe will get Metal Gear Online beta [Eurogamer]

For the record, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a PlayStation 3 exclusive and there are no plans to develop an Xbox 360 version of the game.

XboxFamily today reports that they have received word directly from a Konami distribution representative that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the Xbox 360 has been in development since early last year, with a release slated for 12-14 months after the PlayStation 3 version of the highly anticipated game. XboxFamily's Freeze felt so confident in his sources that he emailed Microsoft's John Porcaro for verification, receiving back a rather lengthy reply that touches on the more salient points of posting rumors before eventually devolving into a standard "no comment."

This of course is probably one of the most highly debated rumors of the past year, now spilling over into 2008, and while we'd generally take it with a grain of salt, we've heard rumblings over the past few months that lend support to the notion that Solid Snake's epic could eventually see the light of day on the 360.

"We understand publishers are needing to recoup their investment," said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony. "From our perspective, as long as the games aren't going exclusive to other platforms, PS3 gamers are not actually losing anything."

Well E for All just got a nice little surge in attendance. In the latest podcast over at the Kojima Productions website, Ryan Payton revealed that the English version of the TGS demo for Metal Gear Solid 4 will be playable this weekend at the consumer gaming event. The Konami booth will have 12 kiosks running the demo, which has been slightly tweaked from the TGS build based on input received by visitors to the Japanese trade show. Also on hand will be Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Plus running on two lonely kiosks somewhere amidst the sea of hopeful MGS4 fans. Great news for fans and the E for All show as a whole, but I'm still not going. I'd sooner swim shark-infested, chum-filled waters than navigate a show floor filled with MGS fans and a playable MGS4 demo.

The KP Report Session 061 [Kojima Productions - Thanks David!]

HMV Admits MGS4 360 Boo Boo

Hell, sometimes even we get confused about the current status of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the Xbox 360 (no status at all), so far be it for us to scold some simple data entry clerk at UK retail giant HMV for posting a pre-order listing for the game during a bout of what the company labels as over enthusiasm.

"In his enthusiasm, one of our online games team indicated that hmv.co.uk would start taking pre-orders for MGS4 on Xbox 360, when, in fact, he simply meant to ask customers if they wished to receive an alert in the event of this title one day coming out on this platform," admitted the retailer to GamesIndustry.biz

'MGS4 for Xbox 360' a mistake, admits HMV [GamesIndustry.biz]

MGS4 Voice Cast Announced