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.
No, no, no! When Hideo Kojima said the MGS4 graphics on the PS3 weren't to his "satisfaction" or that he realized there were lots of "restrictions" the PS3 posed, he didn't mean it. He was just trying to be humble, you know! He's not disappointed with the PS3 at all. He is totally happy with it. The PS3 is awesome. Says Kojima:
On the internet, there's stuff saying "Hideo Kojima" isn't satisfied with the PS3. I'd like to talk about that today. I just got back from Paris and did 15 interviews and everyone asked me about it, did I say that. The meaning of what I said has totally been changed, made totally different. Today, I'd like to talk about that. Why did it turn into that? When I'm doing an interview, I answer in Japanese, and I can't control how the writer will interpret that into English... What I say is then translated in English, and the writer then changes that into their own words and writes that. So, right there, the meaning of what I say changes a lot.
Metal Gear Solid 4 violent? Let's hear what the British Board of Film Classification says:
METAL GEAR SOLID 4 is a third person tactical/stealth game. The player takes on the role of an aging soldier, Snake who can be armed with knives, guns and grenades. The game has been classified '15' for strong violence.
During battles enemy soldiers die with small puffs of blood. The weaponry includes petrol bombs, however there is no detailed portrayal of injuries. During cut scenes slightly more detailed violence is portrayed, such as enemy creatures spearing friendly soldiers and one protracted fist fight.
More BBFC-on-MGS4-violence after the jump! Some *might* consider this spoilers. Most will considered it effed up. More »
Another week means one thing: More Metal Gear Online mess-ups! In today's extra special clusterfuck, Konami errors persist. We're getting word that even though the servers are live, but many are getting network errors up the whazoo or this message: "The GAME ID or password is incorrect. Unable to log into server.(0911:00000003)." Keep in mind, these folks are entering their correct user names and ids. Konami's running regular updates on the Japanese Metal Gear Online homepage about how the servers are getting overloaded and how sorry it is for the hassle. Another thing to keep in mind: The Beta starts today! Hooray!! For those unable to log in, here's the online manual. You can read it and imagine the fun you'd be having. That is, if Konami hadn't dropped the ball and then kicked it across the room. We're sure Konami will figure out this internet thing sometime today, tomorrow or maybe even before the game goes on sale this June.
Latest by Candlejack: Ehh. Sadness. Sadness. Sadness.
Go away, Konami. Go away, until you get shit sorted out and don't rely on one bloody server located in Japan for Europe and U.S. :/ more »
Title: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Rating: M
Content: Blood, Crude Humor, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Platforms: PlayStation 3
Any surprises here? Nope! Though, we're not sure if punching enemies in the nuts is "Crude Humor" or "Violence" or "Suggestive Themes." Search Here [ESRB via PlayStation.com Forums via Akayuki]
GamePro got a hands-on with Metal Gear Solid 4, with some other "gaming insiders" (not us) at some Cheyenne Mountain-style hole-up for Konami and Kojima over in Japan. It's a comprehensive look at an A-list game for 2008, and I know a lot of you can't wait to get your hot little hands on it.
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Coming Soon had a chance to speak with producer Michael De Luca (21, Ghost Rider) and he passed along news that a Metal Gear Solid movie, based off the long-running hit espionage video game franchise,
is once again going ahead. The project has been in the very early
stages for sometime (see eerily similar Slashfilm post from Feb ‘07), and faced a set back from the writer’s strike. Moreover,
De Luca says that a meeting will take place in the “next few weeks”
with writer/director Kurt Wimmer about adapting a screenplay for the film.
Though De Luca didn’t directly state it, this probably means that
Wimmer is also up to direct the big budget affair, as his previous
films, Equilibrium starring Christian Bale and Ultraviolet starring Millo Jovovich, were similar fanboy-intensive, kinetic
action/genre flicks. Neither one of those films connected at the box
office, however, so MGS would be the director’s closest shot
at bagging a sure thing, the whole video game curse notwithstanding.
Wimmer’s next screenplay to hit the big screen will be April’s LAPD
thriller Street Kings with Keanu Reeves.
Video game synopsis: Metal Gear Solid follows Solid Snake,
a retired soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons disposal facility
to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special
forces unit.
Full Story at http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/03/15/kurt-wimmer-to-write-and-possibly-direct-metal-gear-solid-movie
While Kojima has already apparently moved on to other things, we haven't! Check out these new Metal Gear Solid 4 screenies. Looks like aqua green is the new brown! The game is out June 12th. Everywhere.
It's happened. The bundle we've all been waiting for will indeed be coming to store shelves. Sony is releasing a PlayStation 3 bundle for the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. It will include an 80GB system, the game and one Dual Shock 3 controller for $499. We assume that this bundle will hit June 12th alongside Metal Gear Solid 4. Expect slippery aisles, wet with fanboy...drool.
While we'd already seen the pre-order at places like Play Asia, Konami has confirmed their upcoming Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection for PS2. Retailing at $29.99, the package includes the original Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 (director's cut) and Metal Gear Solid 3. It's not as sweet as Japan's MGS Anniversary Collection—a purchase that I considered momentarily in Akihabara before realizing that something might be lost during those conversations with Otacon in my non-native tongue.
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Latest by Speedbag: Question!
I've got a 20 gig PS3. Will this work on it? I know it's backwards compatible but I've been trying to make sure and I can't find the answer anywhere!
Help! more »
Rumors that Metal Gear Solid 4 will make its way to the Xbox 360 have been repeatedly denied by a variety of sources whenever they surface. But, with all the back and forth between speculation and PR rumor control, you have to wonder—has the damage already been done? Does the public really believe that MGS4 will forever be PS3 exclusive? Or will a collective inkling of doubt keep those PS3s from flying off shelves when the game hits? More »
Latest by Vedlegion: *sigh* sorry to burst the bubble for everyone.. MGS4 won't be coming out for 360.. It's been confirmed by Konami.. here read this..
XboxFamily, the source of recent rumors- unfounded and true- has posted an interesting article that if not true, more »
Ubisoft's Jade Raymond recently interviewed Metal Gear god Hideo Kojima for a piece in Famitsu—yes, sounds like an interesting setup for an article, doesn't it? (Aside: please Jade, don't put us all out of our jobs). In the interview, Kojima had some harsh but fair points about violence in video games, and his perspective on the matter.:
I don't think there are many games that tackle violence head on...When you hit someone or inflict pain, faces get disfigured for example, and I want to make games that show that sort of thing.
Last generation was all about the PlayStation 2. (This generation is only sorta about the PS2, but w/e.) Sony isn't dominating like in year's past. Nintendo's come back from the dead and is posting very strong, early numbers. Meanwhile, Microsoft keeps forging ahead. Is it too early to call this gen's winner? Has the playing field leveled? Whenever I have questions like this, I wonder what Konami thinks. A statement from the company that Metal Gear and Pro Evolution Soccer built had these insights to offer:
Previously, a single home gaming platform [PS2] was the market leader worldwide, but that pattern has changed... Whichever platform best caters to users' preferences in a particular country or region, in terms of the games available to be played on it, is now the one that will dominate the local market.
Does that mean Konami is the new Capcom? PS3 exclusive MGS4 points to no. For now at least. Konami Talks This Gen [CVG]
Latest by questworld: If the PSP, PS1, and PS2 are good enough to get games like those of the Metal Gear Solid series, then the Wii is good enough as well... unless this is one of those "This gen will be totally fair, more »
As Luke reported last week, we now know three of the locations in Metal Gear Solid 4: the Middle East, South America and Eastern Europe. But there's more: When I was interviewing Ryan Payton for last week's Game Head at the E For All Expo, he also let slip that there are two other top-secret locations.
Any guesses as to the other two locales? Here's one comment from Ryan that didn't make the Game Head show: "The last location is a place you've been waiting to visit for 20 years."
Also, Ryan mentions that the opening sequence for the game will include live action footage mixed with CGI. It's being created by Logan, the design firm behind the iPod ads and the Metal Gear Solid 4 logo.
According to an interview with MeriStation.com, Europe Sony VP James Armstrong made a major announcement over a possible Sony/Konami bundle that just might have something to do with the most anticipated PS3 game in the short history of the platform. Here's the quote from the Spanish site, autotranslated roughly:
I am going to advance something to you; yes, we are working in pack of PlayStation 3 that includes Metal Gear 4 Solid and the new DualShock. We want that it is in the street before Easter and that is our fight at the moment.
An MGS4 bundle sounds like an absolutely wonderful and completely obvious way to sell some PS3s. But isn't it an odd circumstance when we've heard so many differing viewpoints from so many differing Sony execs for so long that we don't believe it until the information is on press release?
Hideo Kojima has gone on record that MGS4 would be his last Metal Gear game. But will that really be the case? In one word, "no," at least according to Konami marketing VP Anthony Crouts.
I'm sure he's never going to let go of Metal Gear Solid—trust me. [Snake's] a big character, so as a franchise I think he'll always hold it near and dear to his heart...In one capacity or another, he will always be involved in the Metal Gear franchise.
In one capacity or another, we've sort of stopped believing Kojima when he says he's done with Metal Gear. And apparently, so have his colleagues.
The Tokyo Game Show is over, but the t-shirt offers live on! That, that is a Konami Metal Gear Solid 4 TGS booth shirt worn by the Kojima Productions staffers. Not bad, eh? It says "Nice style" in Japanese on the back and has the MGS 20th Anniversary logo on the front. The shirt is available on the Konami site from October 5th to November 16th for ¥3,465 (US $30). I agree. Nice style, indeed! MGS4 [KonamiStyle via Famitsu]
On the show floor of Tokyo Game Show, Konami has 48 MGS4 booths setup. But to prep gamers for complex controls without unlimited play time, you first sit through a Disneyesque military briefing complete with big screens, fog machines and betrayals—all to entertain fans while they learn the fundamentals of playing MGS4. It's no one-on-one tutorial with Ryan Payton, but it's a close second.
Kotaku
