Here's what the eminent games designer had to say:

President Obama, who declared 'A World Without Nuclear Weapons' in Prague, has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Has the era at last started shifting? The start of the Peace Walker plan? I hope that comes to be.

'Peace will not walk to you'

'You must both walk towards one another.'

Pretty bold plug of one's game, I'd say.

ノーベル平和賞 [Kojima Productions via Go Nintendo]

Peace Walker takes place 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3, chronicling the rise of Outer Heaven in Costa Rico. The game is not a side story or spin-off, but a full game written and produced by Kojima himself. The game seems to star Solid Snake, though at one point there were four different versions of Snake on the screen, including a rather disturbing scene featuring 2 Snakes, 1 Box. The trailer featured a great deal of classic Snake sneaking about, so expect this to be more tranditional that say, Guns of the Patriots.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is due out in 2010. We'll have more info later in the show!

Of course, to get answers, PSW wants you to come back and buy next month's issue." Konami has been busy hinting at what the Metal Gear Solid 4 developer will do next. Well we know," they write. "And all will be revealed next issue!" Mmm-kay.

CVG tries to answer things now. They point out the silhouette resembles the big burly lead character in the Konami title Lords of Shadow, announced last year. MercurySteam is the developer of that game, billed as an action-adventure title in a fantasy setting.

So, is that the big reveal? Guess we won't know until Kojima's countdown concludes, or the next issue of PSW gets out.

Kojima's Next Game ... Lords of Shadow? [CVG, thanks Deniz and others]

So careful that, literally, the headline reads: "Interview with Metal Gear Solid Touch creators Hideo Kojima and its first-timer FEMALE producer".

The red font is not just our emphasis. Look at that photo. Those two kanji, in red, are "josei", meaning "female".

Let's back up and go over this again: the Cliff's Notes version of the title of the article is basically "New Game Made by a Man Named Hideo Kojima and a Woman Whose Name We Will Mention in the Story Itself, Though Not in this Title".

Is this the, uhh, nicest way to report this? Probably not. Maybe they could approach it a bit differently, say "Interview with Hideo Kojima and Some n00b Producer", and then in the article, it could just come out naturally that she's a woman. I mean, there's a photo of her in there, and everything.

Famitsu is typically read by schoolboys in convenient stores before school on Friday. Is this kind of nigh-subliminal sexism really the kind of thing we should be exposing them to? And thus open a thousand avenues to discussion of Japanese society.

[via Famitsu]

The New York Times tackles MGS 4 in brief — discussing both the story ('What does it mean?') and people's reactions to the game, including a couple of choice quotes from our very own Leigh Alexander. Several other game writers weigh in on MGS 4's story and execution:

Even as gamers ponder what this symbolism means (an allegory of war in the era of Blackwater Worldwide and stateless enemy combatants?), they are also debating whether the story of Metal Gear Solid 4 is a satisfying one, and if its storytelling techniques are used effectively.

“You get so caught up in just figuring out, Does this story need to be here?” said Stephen Totilo, an MTV News reporter who covers video games. “That’s not a question you wind up asking yourself when you’re reading a novel. Of course the story needs to be there! Otherwise you don’t have a novel.”

Players like Shawn Elliott, the senior executive editor of the gaming Web site 1up.com, have criticized the game for its preachiness, and for its reliance on lengthy cinematic interludes that can run 30 minutes or longer.

“It can basically become a movie for long stretches,” Mr. Elliott said. “It’s not necessarily a game catching up with movies, but a game kind of cheating and using a language that isn’t native to its own medium.”

Leigh is even described as an "unrepentant fan." Since the article is mostly taken up with quotes from people who know what they're talking about, it's not as eye rollingly bad as many NYT gaming-related articles can be ...

The Shootout Over Hidden Meanings in a Video Game [NYT]

I'm really fond of the Brainy Gamer, mostly because Michael Abbott's posts almost always live up to the title of the blog; this week, he tackled the question of 'genius' and auteurs, amongst a lot of MGS 4 talk (especially in reference to Citizen Kane). Abbott looks at the parallels between D.W. Griffith (director of Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, among a lot of others) and Kojima Hideo of Metal Gear fame. Leaving aside the question of whether Kojima 'is' a genius (at the very least, he is an auteur), Abbott draws parallels between the two, especially in terms of a 'blind spot':

His theater training may have impaired him in some ways, but Griffith always hired interesting, talented people. Lillian Gish almost single-handedly rescues several of Griffith's films from the ham-fisted performances of most of the other actors.

Similarly, Kojima's reliance on cutscenes can be tiresome, but he is a fine and gifted filmmaker. One can easily track his maturation from the original MGS. Unlike other so-called cinematic games like Mass Effect, the filmmaking in MGS4 is visually creative, high-caliber stuff. As with Lillian Gish, it's almost enough to make you forget the blind spots.

So how to account for it? Arrogance? Stubbornness? Or is it really just a blind spot? A certain inability to see the strangling grip of an old mode on a new one. An infatuation with the pretty girl who won't love you back. If the very thing that limits the artist is also the artist's primary mechanism for delivering content - as it is for both Griffith and Kojima - that blind spot is a very pernicious thing.

No one's perfect, of course — but Abbott's musings are thought provoking, especially considering the overabundance of film/game discussions.

The genius blind spot [The Brainy Gamer]

One of the team responsible for creating the limited edition dropped us a line to let us know that Gamestation accidentally put it up for order before the big announcement, so this would be an excellent time to order one before the rush. At £99.99 it makes an excellent gift for any member of the American gaming press sitting at their computer desk drooling over a watch.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Exclusive Watch [Gamestation Preorder Page - Thanks Dan!]

“War has changed.”

That’s one of the main themes of Metal Gear Solid 4, and from the beginning, it forms a major thread that runs through Hideo Kojima’s hallmark marriage of gameplay and narrative.

Even if one were to skip the game’s introductory cinema, it’s evident something has changed from the first moment of gameplay. The silent tranquilizer gun, a fixture of the Metal Gear Solid series, has historically been the key weapon in a game that prefers the player be stealthy rather than confrontational, pragmatic rather than murderous. As the symbolic lynchpin in that approach, it’s usually one of the earliest pieces of equipment the player obtains.

At the beginning of MGS 4, though, as soon as gameplay begins, your first look at your weapons inventory reveals that instead of the seminal, suppressed tranquilizer gun, you start off with a real one.

Though the game takes place across several different locations, it opens in the Middle East, where local rebels are at war with the soldiers of a private military company (PMC). Instead of Snake’s customary subtle insertion into the outliers of a guarded facility, you’re in the thick of war when the game begins. Stealth is much, much harder now, and cutting through enemy soldier lines against the desert backdrop or carrying an assault rifle amid tanks and grenades evokes moments of feeling just as if you’re playing a typical war title.

War has changed for the MGS universe - and the experience of approaching the series has changed for the player.

Within the game, though, the reason for the evolution in war is explained largely in two parts: First is the privatization of war, waged by corporate platoons-for-hire rather than national armies, and second is the proliferation of nanomachine technology.

The nanomachines prevent soldiers from experiencing fear or feeling much pain, and a digital ID system prohibits them from using unapproved weapons or taking inappropriate actions on the battlefield. The overall effect renders these PMCs little more than remote-control humans, without allegiances, loyalty or personal reasons to fight, and their wars are just business.

This new value set for war stands in direct contrast with the one with which we became acquainted in the original Metal Gear Solid, whose theme could be summed up in a single question: “What are you fighting for?”

In fact, the entire MGS 4 continuously recalls the narrative structure, cinematic arrangement and other key elements from the first game, emphasizing the contrast. The series’ past themes of the necessity of war, battlefield values and personal ideals are put to the test along with the gameplay’s core tenet of intelligent non-confrontation.

MGS 4’s antagonist is overtly once again Snake’s twin, Liquid. But the larger conflict is with this corruption of core ideals - the game presents a world where Snake’s core values, and by extension, the franchise’s, no longer mean anything.

Perhaps that’s the reason behind the decision to prematurely age Snake so severely – that state of affairs actually required some reaching outside of previously-known information to explain. But his advanced age emphasizes his status as a relic in this digitized battlefield, creating player empathy for his loss of relevance and highlighting his heroism when he continues to stand and fight against such overwhelming odds.

Snake, of course, directly contradicts the labeling of himself as “hero” – several times throughout the game, when he’s asked why he still goes into battle, he responds simply that he “still has things left to do.” Simple as that.

The question is, could Metal Gear Solid 4 be a larger metaphor for Kojima’s career and the evolution of the game industry, where high-powered, mindless-slaughter FPS titles set in explosive warzones now dominate, and both creativity and individual vision are minimized against the high-risk “arms race” of the video game console war?

In MGS 4, war has become a financially-driven corporate industry, and the “war economy,” in which PMCs wage war for profit, is another key theme. The game world is bereft of all value except the financial – and even that fluctuates regularly depending on the tide of the war. It looks a lot like a depressing interpretation of the game industry, come to think of it.

MGS 4 was also promoted with the tagline “No Place To Hide,” frequently punned as “No Place For Hideo.” It’s entirely possible that MGS 4’s themes are an expression of Kojima’s own sentiment that the industry has lost its values, glutted itself on war titles, relegated personal strength and creativity to near-extinction, and become entirely focused on money – leaving “no place for Hideo” after all.

Kojima has actually mentioned numerous times that he’s finished with the franchise, often before making a new Metal Gear game – just as, at the end of every game, Snake attempts to retire from war.

Snake is always drawn back in when he’s needed, though, notably led by people who tend to manipulate and lie to him. Even when he’s aware of this, though, Snake, a mercenary who follows orders because of his own values and not because of allegiance to a larger organization, fulfills his objectives for the sake of finishing things.

Maybe Kojima felt he “still had things to do,” just like the rapidly-declining Snake. MGS 4 wraps up all of the loose ends in the series’ plot; whatever Snake has left to do, he’ll finish it at last. And maybe this time Kojima is truly finished, too.

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.

Okay, but you asked for it.

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.

Hit the jump for more.

I am Japanese, so I try to be modest. I'm an especially modest person. I dont wish to brag about it to say "I am the amazing Metal Gear guy" or to say "This is the best one", just like how Americans brag stuff like this... That's why i interview in Japanese, and Mr. Sai (translator) translates my side of the inteviews very well in English. Westerners do not have a tradition of modesty. And so, the statements are translated correctly, but the original meaning is totally different. And those statements are on a totally different website and the meaning totally changes. Regarding my recent comment about my disappointment with MGS4, the comments derived from the article "MGS4, Inside The Biggest PS3 Game" to the post "Hideo Disappointed with MGS4." It's become totally different. This was in English, and here's where it gets strange. Japanese readers then translated that in Japanese and put it on their websites, writing things like "Oh, the PS3 is dead." Then that spread through the internet and now people are writing things like "Hideo Kojima Is Making MGS4 on the PS3." This is no good... It's funny how others think "Did Hideo really say that?" then ask me, and my answer is obviously "No" but then... I guess I am responsible for all of the articles...

Now I'm going to say what I really wanted to say, and this is what I told those 15 reporters:

Let's say this developer is making hardware, in this case a game, and that hardware is at the level of a car. And when looking at the specs, the developer claims the car is able to fly. Now there is no stopping when you say, "This is a car that can fly." When you claim that it can fly, the speculation grows from "oh so it can FLY?!!!" And the developer would set his goals higher. The specualtion is that if the car flies, then it should reach a MACH speed...but it doesnt stop there...it'd go beyond the specualtion of then "it should go into space!" with all the excitement around, and the developer would go deeply into making the car going into space... however, he'll come up to the public and say the car reaches the MACH speed, but it fails to go into the space. But he shouldn't give up, because for a car to even reach a mach speed and go into air is revolutionary. I wished to convey my thoughts like that, but I guess it didn't work very well.

Recently I've been thinking about not giving interviews. That's not my job. My job is making games... The next time I interview in America, I will just say "MGS4 is the best, the end." It's not cool for a Japanese to speak so blatantly, and I don't want to say that. But if I don't, things like this [above] can happen... If you look at MGS4, I think you'll understand... MGS4 isn't exactly my property, so I don't have a total control over it and sometimes I get confused with it. Some may be disappointed the way I say things, but I do release the game with confidence. In fact that what I have been doing, not just this PS3 game, but my previous PS2 titles. I always reached for the higher goal and I try to go for it... Things like this often happen with Japanese newspapers. Where they take only the choice quotes. They don't change what you say, but the meaning's different, and the meaning changes. I'm always careful while giving interviews. Even in my company, im learning a lot about media training, but I wanted to do more than just that and here i am with the interview, but if things like above keep happening, I won't do anymore interviews. I don't get paid for these interviews at all. [jokingly] I won't do them anymore! I've decided! I'll stop doing my podcast! Like that.

It's not like we were looking at some shit Babelfish translation of a Famitsu interview. It was from EDGE magazine, and you can read the original quotes and see the original magazine page here. Also, keep in mind, EDGE's comment that Kojima was "being modest" OR Fahey's original comments:

Personally I think the man is being a bit hard on himself, but that's what great minds do.

So there was certainly progress made, but not enough progress...or more specifically, not enough power for progress. Apparently the team overestimated what the PlayStation 3 was capable of.

Now Kojima is a well-known perfectionist, but it is a bit disturbing to see him voice his dissatisfaction with what is supposed to be the masterpiece of the franchise.

If you stick your foot in it and screw up, it's always easier to shift the blame, pull the You-Don't-Understand-Us-Japanese card or gloss over important details like, you know, reading. This wasn't a cultural misunderstanding or blowing things out of proportion, this was a PR disaster. Granted, maybe Kojima, after all these years, really isn't that savvy about dealing with the Western press. Maybe, he expects people to understand that he only uses double talk and metaphors — because those are much easier for everyone to grasp. When in Rome, don't do as the Romans do!

This really begs the question: We understand why Kojima might be humble about his own game (fair enough!), but why be "humble" or make excuses for the PLAYSTATION 3? Last we checked, Kojima doesn't work for Sony.
Kojima Addresses The Issue [Konami via PlayStation Boards Thanks, Re-I!]

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.

The violence is generally undetailed. At 15 BBFC Guidelines state that 'Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury'. It is possible for the player to progress stealthily through the game, avoiding violent confrontations where possible.

The game also features one use of strong language and references to suicide and an implied child rape.

Eds Note: We contacted Kojima Productions' Ryan Payton, who offered this insight: "There is no mention of rape in the game. There is mention of child trauma, which is probably why they added 'implied.'"

MGS4 Spolier Alert [BBFC Thanks, Henry!]

Thanks to all who sent this in.

Title: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Rating: M
Content: Blood, Crude Humor, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Platforms: PlayStation 3

By all means, check it out, and the screen grabs, and the gameplay movies. Following the overblown, knocked-down Gears of War 2 debacle, I'm not thrilled to be touting GamePro with the first crack at it. But this isn't like the days at the Rocky Horror Mountain News, when The Denver Post would beat us on something and our editors would pretend it didn't exist. GamePro did get the exclusive, and you want to know about it. So here we are:

Hands-On: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [GamePro]

And folks, I want to apologize for purely fucking up the publication of this story, if you saw it on the site and then it vanished. My first big screwup.

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

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - February 5, 2008 - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today confirmed speculation that Metal Gear Solid ®: the Essential Collection is currently planned for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. Now Metal Gear Solid fans have the final chance to fully immerse themselves in the Metal Gear Solid universe before the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

"Since its inception, the Metal Gear Solid franchise has been one of the most successful game series in the history of video games, receiving worldwide recognition and praise," said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. "Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection represents a great value for gamers, bringing together three must-have classic titles which pioneered the stealth action genre."

Metal Gear Solid: the Essential Collection includes the original Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation game console, the director's cut of Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 in a commemorative package with artwork by renowned Metal Gear Solid artist Yoji Shinkawa.

Metal Gear Solid: the Essential Collection is rated M for Mature by the ESRB and sells for a suggested retail price of $29.99. For more information visit the website at www.konami.com.