COULD! I say COULD! Not will. So relax. You cool? Then we cool. While chatting with the 1UP crew, Kojima Production's Ryan Payton has said "There are some misunderstandings that this is the final Metal Gear game. But it's really the final chapter of the Solid Snake story. That's all". Care to elaborate? Well, right before that, he said there's "still a lot of room for filling in the gaps as far as Big Boss is concerned". Make of that what you will. My favourite part of the interview, though, doesn't even concern Metal Gear. After he's asked whether Japanese devs should start adopting Western control methods in order to improve their games, Payton says: "If other Japanese publishers want to improve their controls, I wouldn't say they need to adopt western ideas, but rather that they simply need to improve them". Too true.

Metal Gear Solid 5 Could Be a Prequel [1UP]

Halo 2 Available on HBO

Halo.Bungie.org (HBO) has just finished uploading all Halo 2 cutscenes to their servers in gloriously trendy high definition. Halo fans and machinima enthusiasts take note: all of the assets are available for standalone download (none of this embedded crap) and ready to be edited as you see fit.

We'll be putting Master Chief's exploits to Crecente's latest hip hop single (as soon as he cuts it, hides it in his brush collection and some very committed Kotaku reader leaks it to Bittorrent).

Halo 2 Cutscene Library [HBO via Xbox360Fanboy]

Bioware Affirms Mass Effect Is Trilogy Worthy

Denis Dyack didn't break a sweat justifying the priorly planned Too Human trilogy, but could Bioware justify their plan for three Mass Effects beyond wanting to make three times as much money? Bioware co-founder Ray Muzyka had this to say on the matter:

Great science fiction arcs often occur in trilogies. It seems like it's sort of the way of it. Maybe it's a convenient number. But it allows you to have different pacing in parts of the story.

Mass Effect PC DLC May Be Different

We're asked if we're going to do Bring Down the Sky for PC, and it's a consideration. We're looking in to exactly what we want to do; maybe we'll do something different, because the PC offers some different potentials.

Metal Gear Solid Re-Release Is A PS2 "Port"

In April 2007, we saw this Metal Gear Solid papercraft. It was adorable! Now, in February 2008, courtesy of Kotakuite Kai-Hung "Chilli Coke" Chuang, we get more of it. This is not adorable. It is mighty. How mighty? Dude's only gone and made a 1:1 scale version of the papercraft. I'd say more, but being speechless and all, that's a little tough at the moment.

While Microsoft snagging Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi may not have set the Japanese market on fire, we're still interested to see the games that he's creating for the platform. Lost Odyssey is his studio Mistwalker's latest attempt to make the Xbox 360 an RPG system as classic as predecessors from Nintendo or Sony.

So how did the critics like Lost Odyssey? Hit the jump for our Frankenreview to find out—an edition so good you may never need to read another review again.

Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection Now Available for Pre-Order at GameStop

Last weekend I told you about the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection and its availability for pre-order on PlayAsia. Now it seems the pre-order is coming stateside as Gamestop/EB Games now has a page for the collection as well. Listed at $29.99, it is a bit cheaper than the $34.90 that PlayAsia was charging and I imagine the shipping will be a similar 4 - 5 bucks depending on where you are. The collection includes the original Metal Gear Solid as well as the directors cut of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and will be available for the PS2.

Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection [GameStop]
[Thanks, A_Zombie]

Dreams Of Halo Wars PC, Shot Down, Trampled, Exploded

Halo Wars" is being developed from the bottom up for the Xbox 360 and its control scheme to ensure that we deliver a groundbreaking console RTS experience. Given that, we have no plans to develop "Halo Wars" for Windows Vista at this time.

Don't Forget To Download Undertow

This is just a friendly reminder to Xbox LIVE subscribers that Undertow is free until Sunday. Microsoft is apologizing for the issues with their online service via this free XBLA download. And if you miss it, well, it's the equivalent to completely forgetting to water those roses that Crecente got his wife after that time she came home early and found him walking around in her high heels. In other words, if you want a proper apology, you've got to get when the getting's good. And for those who already own Undertow, we'd recommend you cash in on those 800 free points this week as well.

BioWare Wants You To Dance, Fools

Anyone who has played Mass Effect remembers the Flux night club...and the horridly asynchronous butt contortions that your otherwise smooth-operating character would engage in at said locale following the mistimed touch of a button. Now BioWare wants to bring that fun to the small screen with user-submitted videos. You tape yourself doing the "Flux dance" and—if you "win"—you score some sweet swag. Note that we put "win" in the quotes only because, well, you're embarrassing yourself on the internet for a few bucks of gear. But at least this time you'll (hopefully) have your clothes on.

Do The Flux [bioware] Thanks masterkeyes2!

Mass Effect T-Shirt Back In Stock

In news that may not matter to anyone but me, the Commander Shepard N7 armor t-shirt, originally created solely for the Mass Effect development team, has been out of stock since the game's launch. A quick visit to the Bioware store today and what do I find? Back in stock, baby.

Yes, the shirt may be the geekiest piece of apparel I've ever ordered, and no offense to the makers of the game or t-shirt, but I really wish that it were done without the Bioware or Mass Effect logos for a tad more subtlety/street cred. Still, fans who love the game as much as I do may enjoy this splurge purchase that only runs about $20 shipped.

N7 shirt [bioware]

Shadowrun Forums Say Farewell

Looking back at my gaming stats of 2007, I logged a shameless amount of hours playing Shadowrun. I always liked the game, even if the final product lacked the polish or additional content a lot of people were looking for. Now, a few months after FASA's closing, the game will end its forum support as well.

If you frequented the official Shadowrun forums, they are planning a new place where people can meet in an off-Microsoft type property. Honestly, given that most games have digressed to a chaotic free-for-all (with a fair share of team killing to boot), and troll katana has become absurdly unbalanced, it pains me to say that you might be better off just saying bye for good.

Announcement: Forums Closing Soon [via n4g]

Zero Punctuation on Mass Effect

As a self=proclaimed Mass Effect fanboy AND Zero Punctuation cult worshipper, I feared the viewing of this clip would either:

a. Make my head explode
or
b. Make my head explode AND cause a chain reaction leading to the destruction of the galaxy, then Universe and then space/time continuum

For whatever reason, both my head and the Universe are still intact. Maybe because this week Yahtzee has upgraded his metaphors to bacon filled sandwiches as opposed to the...less enticing prospects of weeks gone by.

Zero Punctuation [theescapist]

Mass Effect Mega FAQ, Answered

Mass Effect Limited Collector's Edition, Mass Unboxing

On a rainy, dreary day that's atypically warm for a Midwest November afternoon, our doorbell rang for what we were sure to be another political petition or overzealous neighbor worried about the state of our gutters. But instead we received our Limited Collector's Edition review copy of Mass Effect. Here are the details:

Mass Effect Special Coming to SCI FI One Day Late

Until Mass Effect is released on Nov. 20th and faces our impossibly high geek expectations, we can only comb over press releases for nuggets of missed goodness. That's how we realized that we'd completely missed the announcement that SCI FI, who has partnered like crazy with the game already, will be airing the 30-minute special Sci vs. Fi: Mass Effect on launch day. As we willingly inject ourselves with advertisement for a game we could otherwise be playing, we'll see:

...more in-depth information about the game, exclusive interviews and exciting behind-the scenes footage.

Mass Effect on SCI FI [scifi]

David Hayter Confirms He Will Voice Snake in SSBB

Kotakuite and avid YouTube comment reader Hunter, found this little juicy tidbit within the comments on Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter's YouTube page. A few months back, Hayter put together a rather funny video to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Metal Gear Solid and posted it on YouTube. Hayter seems to do a good job of answering back to his fans and buried beneath the "OMG are you really David Hayter?!?!" and "Will you sign my covers if I send them to you" comments, ArchdukeChocula01 posed this question:

Hello David Hayter! I have to say that you are one of the greatest voice actors ever, and you do a great job as snake. I was wondering, are you going to voice Snake in Super smash bros. brawl?

To which Hayter eagerly replied:

Archduke Chocula,

I am indeed voicing Snake in "Smash Bros." I've recorded it already, and I believe that fans of both games are going to be extremely happy. It's very cool. That's all I can say.

DH

And before you ask, yes, I have confirmed that this YouTube page belongs to Mr. Hayter as it is linked from the video section of his official website. And if you haven't yet seen the MGS tribute video, you can check it out here.