According to Siobhan Reddy from LBP developer Media Molecule, "In fact, when we were in the US late last year we were introduced to Kojima and he told one of the level designers that he loved the design of the Metal Gear Solid pack."

It's official, LBP Metal Gear pack has the Hideo Kojima seal of approval.

Media Darlings [Develop via PS3 Center]

Characters include two versions of Old Snake, Raiden, Liquid Ocelot, Otacon and the exclamation mark. Voice samples include Old Snake saying "This is Snake. Can you hear me?" The exclamation mark, of course, makes the MGS exclamation mark noise — something to annoy your friends with! Endless fun.

The keychains are actually capsule toys and available through capsule machines in Japan. It is possible to pre-order a full set for import if you like. If not, well, then don't.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Ration Sound Keychain Series 2 [NCSX via GameSetWatch]

Konami's profit dropped 40.7 percent to ¥10.87 billion. According to Konami, the company's health and fitness segment faced depreciation. (Konami owns a chain of gyms in Japan.)

Though, its game division was healthy in an unhealthy economy. "In spite of this backdrop, Konami's Digital Entertainment segment recorded steady sales of METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS," the company stated, "which was released simultaneously around the world in June 2008."

For the next financial year, Konami forecasts net profit to increase 47.1 percent and sales to inch up 0.1 percent.

[Pic]

Hideo Kojima's swan song for Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, will be released on Sony Computer Entertainment's "PLAYSTATION 3 the Best" line on June 18 for ¥3,990 (US$41).

MGS4 went on sale June 12, 2008. Even though it's one of the biggest selling PS3 titles in Japan, MGS4 still hasn't reached the million copies sold benchmark in The Land of the Rising Sun.

By the end of last year, the game sold had 4.5 million copies worldwide.

Dubbed Dark Hero Studios, the company will focus on sci-fi genre film, TV, internet and video games projects. According to Carver, "David will create, write and direct movies and TV series for the company, but he'll also be a magnet for other writers and directors to work with us."

Hayter is gearing up to direct his first feature Straughter's Road, which is a werewolf thriller. After that, he's slated to do Demonology, which he wrote and plans to direct.

"It's about an American kid who goes to one of these schools in Belgium," says Hayter, "but it brings my own horrible experiences of school to life."

Hayter most recently wrote the big screen version of graphic novel Watchmen. He has been announced as the screenwriter for the Lost Planet movie.

Hayter, Carver form Dark Hero [Variety]

As revealed last week, Metal Gear Solid Touch basically retells the story of Metal Gear Solid 4 from a different perspective, with an over-the-shoulder view of Solid Snake's mullet as you tap the screen to take out enemies. I suppose it will be nice for those who want a quick synopsis of the story without have to sit through all of the cutscenes, but beyond that it doesn't look all that exciting.

Having said that, it will sell millions.

Kojima has teamed up with video rental shop Tsutaya and wants to recommend 15 flicks that influenced the Metal Gear Solid series.

The campaign is taking place at Tsutayas in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Sapporo as well as though Tsutaya Online. There's also a giveaway.

Here is Kojima's list of 15 motion pictures that have influenced MGS:

The Guns of Navarone
The Great Escape
Goldfinger
2001
Planet of the Apes
The Deer Hunter
Dawn of the Dead
Full Metal Jacket
Die Hard
Heat
Predator
Black Hawk Down
Children of Men
The Bourne Identity
Casino Royale

Why these movies? Kojima explains on the Tsutaya Online site how each of these influenced MGS. Here's a sample:

• The game's basic "infiltration mission" concept is from The Guns of Navarone.

• Otacon's real name ("Hal") is a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• Snake's bandana is from Deer Hunter — not Rambo.

• Planet of the Apes influenced MGS in that it showed how a message for society could be placed in an entertaining work.

• MGS4's ocotocamo was inspired by Predator.

• The mood and the lighting of MGS4's Middle Eastern strife was inspired by Black Hawk Down.

•The biggest influence on Metal Gear is the 007 series — especially Sean Connery's Bond.

MGS4 Cinema [TSUTAYA via Famitsu]

Kojima mentions that he plans to "start from zero" this year in hopes of competing globally. The game creator says that his company Kojima Productions is undergoing heavy internal review to forge "a team that can challenge foreign creators and software houses." Adds the Metal Gear developer:

I've thought a lot about how Western games have been winning, looking it from a global perspective, and there are things that I've noticed...

I've come to understand that the way we've made games up until now won't translate globally, and I've come to think that I need to make Kojima Productions a team that can compete alongside the rest of the world.

That's nice and all, but didn't Metal Gear Solid 4 do better abroad than domestically? Quick, somebody inform Kojima!

Kojima Productions 'starting from zero' for 2009 [Develop]

Some users are complaining that, after purchasing the Metal Gear content, their singleplayer progress through the pack was erased. Sucky, but surmountable. Other users, however, are complaining of having their user-generated content erased by the DLC. That's...less surmountable.

This being the silly season, Media Molecule are off being silly like the rest of us, so a comment/solution/acknowledgement of this issue probably won't be with us for a day or two.

LittleBigWorkshop : The Pod : General Discussion : Metal Gear Solid Level Pack Glitch [LBP, via PS3F]

Initial sales were strong, and while MGS4 is the biggest selling PS3 title in Japan, it topped off at 600,000 and still hasn't reached a the million copies sold watermark.

But today, yes today, the game is actually sold out at the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera. We're not sure why! But, even though the game hit the bargain bins a couple months after release, here it is: Sold Out.

Akihabara is where all the Japanese otaku go (or, well, used to go) and Yodobashi Camera is an enormous store. So good show MGS4, keep on truckin', we're impressed! Slightly baffled, too.

【PS3】『メタルギアソリッド４』ヨドバシカメラ秋葉原店で品切れ中 [my game news flash]

The "Metal Gear Solid 4 Costume Pack" - as first spotted the other day - will be available to Japanese PlayStation 3 owners with working internet connections and the patience to have actually set up a PlayStation Network account on next Thursday, December 25th, 2008.

The four costumes in the pack are Old Snake, Raiden (aka "The Original Sack Boy"), Meryl, and Screaming Mantis.

The costumes can be purchased in a pack for 600 yen, or individually for 200 yen each. Hey, this calculator must be broken, because it's telling me that a Japanese company is giving me a bargain.

That's not all — for just 800 yen more, you can get a "Metal Gear Solid 4 Stage Pack", containing "more than 60" stickers, "more than 10" objects, "more than 10" create materials, and "3" (no "more than") BGM tracks.

Hey, that's not bad! Now you can make a Metal Gear Solid 4-themed LittleBigPlanet level, turn your Imagination Hat on, and pretend that you're playing Metal Gear Solid 4 instead of LittleBigPlanet! Just make sure to not include any of the award-winning Metal Gear Solid 4 dialogue in your text boxes, because that could get you moderated into oblivion.

Cynical as I may be re: all this, man, I kinda want that Old Snake. I mean, not as "DLC" — I kinda want him for real. I'd sit him on my lap and ride the bus all the way around town.

[Dengeki Online]

While Alt is enjoying MGS4, he's also puzzled by the game — especially the Otacon-Sunny relationship. He is by no means the first person to point out the odd relationship between the computer whiz and the little girl, he does do a good job at putting it all in context. Otaku context. Writes Alt:

The relationship between introverted computer genius Hal "Otacon" Emmerich and his charge Sunny (seen above) is a diamond-polished window into the soul of the young men who work for Japanese game companies. A doe-eyed nine- or ten-year-old who resembles a child less than she does a scaled-down maid café waitress, she waits on her guardian hand and foot, cleaning, assisting with programming, and serving meals. The pair live as virtual hikikomori shut-ins on a high-tech aircraft that serves as a mobile base for the game's protagonist.

Ah, the ever-changing face of otaku wish fulfillment. Once upon a time otaku dreamed of being international ladykillers like Lupin the Third, giant robot pilots like Gundam's Char Aznable, and invulnerable martial artists like the Fist of the North Star. Now it appears the ideal lifestyle is one of a digital hermit set squarely in front of a computer monitor with an elementary schoolgirl in fetishwear at his beck and call.

Oh ho ho. So by Alt's assertions, there's more afoot than simple creepy dynamics. There's creepy shut-in otaku dynamics.

Otacon/Lolicon [AltJapan]

That's the same price as the standard 80 GB model PS3 that Sony's offering sans packed-in game and $100 less than the new 160 GB SKU bundled with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Quantities may actually be genuinely limited this time and the offer appears to be online only, so if you're feeling froggy, we'd recommend jumpin'.

PlayStation 3 40GB Limited Edition Kojima Silver Bundle w/ Metal Gear Solid 4 [Walmart - thanks, Shaun!]

Considering Konami announced that MGS4 had already moved 3.94 million, we'd say sales have tapered off considerably from its launch quarter.

Konami might say it differently, noting in its quarterly earnings report that the game "continued to sell well."

PlayStation 3 software accounted for an impressive 38% of the company's "digital entertainment" sales, which totaled 11.75 million games. Konami also released Hellboy, Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 and Silent Hill: Homecoming on the platform during the period.

Profit for the six month period was $232.8 million, with Konami's video game business doing a healthy $268 million in operating income.

While MGS4 is the biggest selling PS3 title in Japan, the title hasn't yet reached the one million seller domestic benchmark, instead moving over 600,000 copies. Maybe this demo, months later, will help Konami finally reach that feat in Japan. One day. Maybe.

スネーク、『MGS4』体験版の無料配信が今日から始まったぞ！ [Dengeki Online]

"No Plans" For MGS4 Expansion [CVG]

Let's all genuinely hope that the winning bidder, eBay member "charles_is_on_welfare," is ironically named.

Playstation 3 PS3 Metal Gear Solid 4 Mod Signed Kojima [eBay]

I’m certainly in the fan club that would love to see Kojima-san’s masterpiece come our way. It would be wonderful to play Metal Gear Solid on the Xbox. It could become another of the many franchises that started their life on another console that are now coming our way.

I can’t speak on behalf of Konami, but I can shed more light on the fact that we definitely have the power to run MGS4.

There are a lot of recent examples that are in true high-def on our platform and aren’t on PS3. We’ve got an amazing amount of horsepower and graphics power.

WHEN WILL THIS END?! Guess when MGS4 is on the Xbox 360, that's when. Ungh.

360 can handle MGS4, says Microsoft [MCVUK]

While in Tokyo for TGS, game site Siliconera tried gauging lasting retail shop interest in MGS4: Shinjuku shop Tsutaya is offering ¥500 (US$4.88). There's one word for that and that is "ouch". For comparison sake, the same store is paying ¥3,800 ($37.07) for Cross Edge, ¥1,200 ($11.71) for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, and ¥2,500 ($24.39) for the almost three-year-old Animal Crossing: Wild World.

Image after the jump.

No One Wants Your Used Metal Gear Solid 4 In Japan [Siliconera]

Machined visor, lighted LEDs on the headpiece, fits-like-a-glove chin strap, picture perfect wig — we can't even begin to comprehend the starting point on this one or how much it ultimately cost. Unless this is some off the shelf contraption that how somehow escaped us, this is an amazing piece of work. Consider us humbled.