As a relatively poor human being, I enjoy fantasizing about what I would do were I to suddenly become obscenely wealthy. As the Powerball jackpot has shot through the roof, to $1.3 billion for this coming Wednesdayās drawing, Iāve naturally been thinking about that a lot this week.
Hello! Iām Phil, and Iāve returned to Kotaku as your guest editor for this lovely Sunday. And Iāve got a very topical icebreaker to start the day off with.
While the overall jackpot right now is $1.3 billion, thatās only if you choose to be paid over 30 years. An up-front lump sum payment, however, will get you $806 million. Taxes will take about half that, leaving you with plenty more than enough money to pay to have the video game or movie or whatever of your dreams brought into existence.
So Iāve been talking with my friends about what weād pay for, and last night I suggested to someone that Iād go to Konami and buy creative control of Metal Gear. Those who know me know Iām not really fond of that franchise, so why would I do that? Well, itās because one of Kojimaās abandoned plans for Metal Gear Solid 5 sounded so incredible I would be sad if it were never brought to fruition.
That idea involves a game that focuses on the Cobras during World War II. If you played through MGS3, you know they were at Normandy on D-Day, and that The Boss was pregnant and gave birth to Revolver Ocelot on the battlefield. That plan was scrapped, obviously, but if I won Powerball Iād make it happen because thatās too amazing to not exist. And itās exactly the sort of dumb vanity project that would be appropriate for somebody like me to blow lottery winnings on.
Now, I wanna hear what game youād make happen if you suddenly had all that money. You can do anything you want! Go wild.
Phil Owen is a freelance entertainment journalist, and author of WTF Is Wrong With Video Games? Follow him on Twitter at @philrowen