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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Collector's Edition costs $50, includes 'exclusive artbook'
Nothing quite says "Metal Gear Solid" like a collector's edition. Whether it's a PS3 bundle or a camouflage PSP, we've come to expect a certain level of collectability from Kojima Productions' main moneymaker, which is why we're unsurprised to see a listing pop up on GameStop for a Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker "Collector's Edition" -- with a $50 price tag and an "exclusive artbook." Sure, it might not include the ability to play PSP games while hiding in the jungle, but hey, that exclusive artbook could be really, really neat. For ten bucks, we certainly hope it's one of the neatest artbooks we've ever seen.
Hideo Kojima envisions a platform-free future
In the future, games will no longer be bound by platforms. At least, that's what Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima told the press at a conference for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Since the inception of the medium, games have largely been bound to a specific device. "Gamers should be able to take the experience with them in their living rooms, on the go, when they travel -- wherever they are and whenever they want to play. It should be the same software and the same experience," he said, according to Reuters. As with movies and music, consumers have come to expect increased portability with their media. Whereas a decade ago, movies were largely viewed at home, now they can be watched on a computer, in a car, or even on a phone. Even now, Sony and Apple are offering some cross-platform gaming opportunities, with interoperability between the PSP and PS3, iPhone and iPad. With the advent of cloud computing services, like OnLive and Gaikai, it seems we may not be too far off from Kojima's predicted future. Until then, though, you'll only be able to play Kojima's latest game on one platform -- the PSP.
Ten minutes of co-op sneaking exposed in Peace Walker video
Though we don't possess the thorough comprehension of the Japanese language required to understand what's happening in the video posted above, we know that we like what we see. If you've got some time to kill, check out the ten minute co-op demonstration of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker at the top of this post. It shows of a few of the game's neat multiplayer tactics, including an invisibility gun and the increasingly iconic "four-legged tank maneuver." Judging by those two alone, it certainly looks like Peace Walker's capacity for hijinks is going to be near-limitless.
Hideo Kojima's Twitter feed goes bilingual, now in English
Given our limited comprehension of the Japanese language, we were free to imagine Hideo Kojima's Twitter feed to be an outlet for the idiosyncratic developer's most outlandish, puzzling statements. However, an English-language version of his Twitter page is now up and running, revealing that Kojima is just an ordinary dude. Whod've thunk it? Take, for example, this recent Tweet: "My stomach hurts, nose's running, and my hair is getting long." And then, following that, a picture of his hair. See? He's just like you or us, only when he's done posting self-shot pictures of himself on the internet, he gets back to making Metal Gear Solid games.
MGS: Peace Walker Japanese pre-order items are the best
[Famitsu] Here's your daily dose of Japan envy, as Famitsu reveals a set of pretty sweet pre-order bonuses for Kojima's upcoming PSP game, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The first item is a jigsaw puzzle appropriately called "Love & Piece," while the other pun-tastic item is the plastic "Peace Water" bottle -- an aluminum water bottle/comically large key chain that kinda looks like a grenade. Some days you go through the rain and some days you want to drink from an appropriately-themed liquid transportation device, right? Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is set to debut in Japan on April 29, while US gamers will be forced to wait until May 25. [Thanks, Fintan]
Alert! Hideo Kojima joins Twitter
So you've played all of the Metal Gear Solid games, you can draw the SSBB Snake stage from memory, and you've watched the G4 Icons special on Hideo Kojima so often you can lip sync along with it. But can you really be a Kojima superfan if you don't know that meetings make his stomach hurt, or that he's been feeling a little under the weather lately? We didn't think so. Fortunately, there is a way to know all of the things you probably shouldn't about the rock star game designer: He's now on Twitter. At least we think it's him -- our Japanese isn't the best, but a Google translation of the page appears to verify it's Kojima (he's been tweeting his lunch and the view outside of his office window). So, even though Twitter has yet to approve "Kojima_Hideo" as a "verified account," we're geeking out over the tweets anyway. We were at first surprised to see that he's been watching Olympic curling, but then we thought about his games, and it just makes so much sense.
Kojima considers Japanese MGS: Peace Walker delay a 'crime'
Listen, Kojima knows that he disappointed a lot of people by delaying the release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in Japan, and believe us, he feels bad about it. In fact, we'd argue that he's probably being just a bit too hard on himself. Writing on the Kojima Productions blog (as translated by Andriasang) Kojima wrote, "I always preach to the staff, 'You must not have a delay after a release date has been announced. There is no greater crime as a game developer.'" We appreciate the sentiment, but we think Mr. Kojima might have temporarily forgotten some other heinous crimes: box puzzles; not having "Continue" as the first menu option; letting the game timer run while it's paused; horse armor; limited installs; ruining the A.I. director; and being on Facebook.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was mostly Kojima's idea
Most prominent figures in the video game industry usually recoil when they're given all the credit for coming up with the idea for one of their studio's games. The same apparently can't be said for Hideo Kojima -- according to CVG, the mind behind Metal Gear Solid recently explained the origins of some of the concepts in Peace Walker during an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine: "Well it's strange, but not so many ideas come from the other staff," Kojima humbly stated. The idiosyncratic developer also pointed out, "Co-op Ring, Love Box - the names and the ideas come from myself," later adding "I am taking charge of the overall game design." We're pretty excited by this fact. It sounds like more than any other Metal Gear game that came before it, Peace Walker will be a direct window into Kojima's convoluted thinkmeat.
Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops bundle delivers Snake, Snake, Snaaaaake
If given one adjective to describe Metal Gear Solid's eyepatched protagonist, Solid Snake, most people would probably use the word "stealthy." While appropriate, we prefer to think of him as "efficient" -- after all, if he wastes his precious rations, tranquilizer darts or porno mags, he's just as good as dead. If you want to be like Snake in every aspect of your life, we suggest adopting his efficiency when purchasing video games. You could start with the Metal Gear Solid PSP bundle which includes Portable Ops, Portable Ops Plus and MGS: Digital Graphic Novel for the reasonable price of $29.99. With that, you won't waste any time adding a bunch of games to an intangible check-out cart. Just one thing -- boom -- and then you're ready to do other Snake-ish things. Like blowing up tankers! Or swallowing gravel.
MGS: Peace Walker site says 'Piece Walker' is coming soon
Kojima's at it again, teasing something very odd: Piece Walker. The teaser image above comes from a page linked on the Japanese Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker site, which either confirms something entirely new is "coming soon" or one of Kojima's web people is in desperate need of a Webster's. We're leaning towards the former. And that's pretty much it. There's really only an image to go on right now, but, personally, we're crossing our fingers for some kind of KFC tie-in. Can you imagine every 10 piece meal coming with a neat little cardboard box with a Snake action figurine hiding inside it? Sure, it could be another iPhone game or something, but we think our idea is way better. [Via Siliconera]
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker character art's got style
Click to sneak through the full gallery Though we still don't know much about Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's cast of characters, Konami sent out a batch of glamour shots for a few of the assumed super spies you'll be cavorting with during your time with the game. Our personal favorite? Definitely Chico. It takes a special breed of man to pull off an Ascot that expertly. Check out all the portraits, as well as a bunch of new screenshots, in the gallery below. %Gallery-79646%
New MGS: Peace Walker demo on Japanese PSN this Sunday
Some days you feed on a tree frog ... and some days you get a new Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker demo! Kojima's official blog brings word that a new demo will drop on the Japanese PSN this Sunday, November 1st. It's not quite the same as the one we got our hands on -- this one will be a tweaked version of the demo that was available exclusively in a special section of Konami's booth at the Tokyo Game Show. Kojima Productions has modified the controls based on player feedback, adding an unlockable third control scheme on top of the original two. The developer also improved the enemy AI and behavior, and changed the CQC system a tad, all in an effort to make the game easier to play. Kojima explains that this process of releasing demos is a game of "catch ball" with the players and that he's looking for more input after they've tried this second demo. Sharing is caring, after all. [Via andriasang]
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker English voice cast announced
With fingers crossed, we turned to the latest Kojima Productions podcast, hoping beyond hope that the studio had taken our recommendation to refresh the voice of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's bearded protagonist. Our nominee for Solid Snake's new pipes? Bobcat Goldthwait. Sure, Mr. Goldthwait would likely take the series in an unexpected direction -- but what unsuspecting player wouldn't be swept up in an exploration of Snake's rarely discussed history as a rabid, nigh-incomprehensible stand-up comic? Now there's a 90-minute cutscene we can get behind. Alas, Konami's recently announced voice cast for Peace Walker is actually (gasp!) sans-Goldthwait. Of course David Hayter will reprise the role for, like, the hundredth time. The rest of the totally unsurprising list can be found after the jump -- but why not watch this beautiful excerpt of the Peace Walker that could have been instead? [Via Kotaku]
MGS: Peace Walker to feature Vocaloid, interactive cutscenes ... and a surprise that'll make you buy a PSP?
Ever the consummate hype man, Hideo Kojima is fluffing up Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker by teasing an apparent system-selling feature. "I haven't announced this yet, but there's another feature in [Peace Walker] that will surprise people, to the point where they'll want to go out and buy a PSP right now!" Kojima blabbed in the latest issue of Famitsu (as translated by 1UP). Short of some sort of in-game subliminal advertising (hey, these guys like to experiment), we're thinking The Two-Hundred-and-Forty-Nine-Ninety-Nine-Dollar Feature -- or maybe it's just "The Buck-Seventy Feature" -- could get lost in translation. After all, the two Peace Walker features that have been newly revealed seem distinctly Japanese in their appeal.Also plucked from the pages of Famitsu, is the revelation that Peace Walker will feature Yamaha's Vocaloid software. (Yeah, we'd never heard of it either -- just wikipedia it.) If we understand it correctly, Vocaloid will allow certain weapons in the game to sing and scream. Mm-hmm, sounds incredibly annoying.Also revealed: Those 2D-illustrated cut scenes? Yep, like this one. Well, they're interactive. "For example, if you zoom in on the scene where you first meet Paz, you can see the uniform she has on under her coat, and then what's under that," art director Yoji Shinkawa explained ... rather creepily. "It's an idea I came up with while thinking about what makes games different from movies or animation. I think it's pretty interactive." Hopefully, not too interactive.
Kojima cryptically gives opinion on Obama's Nobel Prize
If you thought the writing on the cutscene-friendly Metal Gear Solid franchise was confusing, the reason for that should be crystal clear when you read the personal blog of the series' creator, Hideo Kojima. The blog's latest update imparted the enigmatic developer's feelings on President Barack Obama's recent, unexpected reception of the Nobel Peace Prize: "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.' From the gym." Not only does this entry reveal that Kojima writes like William Shatner speaks, but it also exposes a grim truth of the Metal Gear series -- it's all real. The GW construct. The Philosophers' Legacy. The Patriots. FoxDie. And, of course, somewhere there exists a real-life Metal Gear. Based on this post, we're guessing it's in a gym. [Via Andriasang]
TGS 2009: The Recap Post
Last week, the Tokyo Game Show brought in over 100 posts worth of news, previews, interviews, galleries, and videos. Clearly, a lot happened. If you're looking for a comprehensive list of all the goings-on during TGS 2009, Joystiq has you covered -- and organized! Click on a platform below to scan the highlights: (On the far right: that's "News" and "Culture" on the top and bottom, respectively)
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker demo available now
If you weren't able to make the trip to Japan for the Tokyo Game Show this year, don't fret -- not only do we have you covered on the hot news scoop front, but IGN managed to snag a downloadable copy of the co-op enabled, TGS-exclusive (well, formerly TGS-exclusive, we guess) Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker demo for the PSP. Just make sure you've got the latest firmware, download the file from the acronymed gaming news site, unzip it and place it in your PSP's "Game" folder, and enjoy. If, while enjoying, you also happen to kick ass, you might even get a high enough ranking to unlock a special wallpaper for your Sony handheld. Finally, we have incentive to do something other than make cardboard box fortresses.
Kojima finally explains his wacky countdown site
Remember when Kojima's countdown ended ... and started another countdown? Man, that was fun! The creator of the Metal Gear series seemingly had a big laugh as he teased gamers all the way to his E3 announcements: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for PSP, Metal Gear Solid: Rising for PS3 and Xbox 360, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.As the countdown continued, the site featured a number of symbols that flashed on the screen. Many of you attempted to break the code ... but were you successful? Kojima just revealed what each of those symbols was supposed to mean: 5 = it is an MGS5 class game S = Snake 巳＝snake in Kanji E = E3 R = Raiden 3 = 3 from 360 and E3 6 = 6 from 360 P and S = PSP and adding 3 makes it PS3 Once again, Kojima asks gamers: "Did you like it?" We think we can speak for most gamers when we say ... "no."
Kojima Productions in 'support role' for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Hideo Kojima has further reiterated his supporting role in Castlevania: Lord of Shadow in a new interview with Weekly Famitsu, reports 1UP. "This has become a big project, one with the idea that we needed to make a Castlevania which had that same kind of feverish Western support, and that's why Kojima Productions came in to help," Kojima told the Japanese publication.With his Metal Gear Solid games beloved by everyone the world over (everyone with taste, anyway), Kojima's the right man for the job. But seeing as how this game is being developed by Madrid-based Mercury Steam Entertainment, Kojima obviously won't be on-site to aid in development. Instead, the team comes up with concepts to run by Kojima and he has them "fix things based on my objective viewpoint." An example given is the initial model for the hero's face, which Kojima had them redesign to be, well, more heroic looking. See, people, this is the kind of thing only Kojima can bring to the table!
Kojima says MGS: Peace Walker is his MGS5, calls Rising a 'different kind of action' game
Despite stating that he would be more hands-off with the Metal Gear Solid games after the fourth installment, Kojima has decided to once again roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Speaking with Japanese mag Famitsu (via PSPHyper), the gaming icon has said that Peace Walker will pretty much be his MGS5 -- something that will likely be excellent news to every Genome soldier reading this very post -- and that the MGS4 team will be working on it. (For some new Peace Walker screens, fresh out of Kojima Productions, check out our gallery embedded below). Moving on to Metal Gear Solid Rising, Kojima says the game will include "a completely different kind of action than what has appeared in the series so far," though we're not sure if that's a good or bad thing. He also mentioned that he will be involved with the project "more deeply" than a normal producer which, considering the expectations and the new engine involved, makes sense. The implicit bad news here: With all this Metal Gear stuff taking up Kojima's time (not to mention Castlevania: Lords of Shadow), we're unlikely to see that rumored Snatcher and/or Zone of the Enders and/or Something Else title anytime soon.Source - Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker detailsSource - Kojima discusses Metal Gear Solid Rising [via Eurogamer] %Gallery-66010%
