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'Death Stranding' update will fix tiny, hard-to-read text
One of the more prevalent criticisms of Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding is that the onscreen text is often pretty small and difficult to read. Kojima Productions has been working on a fix for the issue, and you'll be able to increase the font size.
'Metal Gear' mastermind Hideo Kojima will be a Hall-of-Famer
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will induct Hideo Kojima, father of the Metal Gear franchise, into its Hall of Fame at the 19th DICE Awards on Thursday, February 18th in Las Vegas. To put this honor in perspective, the AIAS is like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the organization behind the Oscars), but for video games. Kojima is the Academy's 21st Hall of Fame inductee, joining Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Valve Software founder Gabe Newell and Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney, among other notable figures.
Hideo Kojima's first independent game is a PS4 exclusive
Konami's loss is PlayStation's gain: Tonight Sony announced an exclusive collaboration with legendary game developer Hideo Kojima, the auteur responsible for the Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders franchises. In the announcement video from PlayStation below, Kojima says that he's making a new franchise that'll be console-exclusive to the PlayStation 4. Sitting alongside him, PlayStation president Andrew House said that Sony will offer its "full support" on Kojima's new project. And really, aside from the shiny new Kojima Productions logo, that's about it in terms of details.
'Metal Gear' creator Hideo Kojima leaves Konami after 29 years
Hideo Kojima, creator of the wildly successful Metal Gear franchise, has officially left Konami, the studio that defined his career -- though it could be argued that, over 29 years, Kojima instead defined Konami. Confirmation of his departure comes via The New Yorker, which notes that Kojima's final day was October 9th. Kojima's resignation also means that he's no longer with Kojima Productions, the Konami-owned studio that he started in 2005. It's been long-rumored that Kojima would leave Konami after the launch of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Earlier this year, Konami canceled Silent Hills, a hotly anticipated project from Kojima and horror director Guillermo del Toro, and in July, Kojima's name quietly disappeared from the Metal Gear Solid V box art. We've reached out to Konami for comment on today's report.
'Metal Gear Solid V' was supposed to have a third chapter
Many will tell you that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain comes across as rushed at times. While there's a lot to do, it's light on story -- a sharp contrast with earlier Metal Gear games, which are notorious for their epic-length cutscenes. However, there's now evidence suggesting that the original plan was for a much larger, more substantial game. Players on the Facepunch forums have discovered files in the PC version of MGSV which show that the title was supposed to have not only more prominent characters (such as The Boss), but an entire third chapter. It's not clear exactly how much is missing, but the released game's abrupt end hints that the third section was going to bring the story to a proper conclusion.
'Metal Gear Solid' creator Kojima rumored to be leaving Konami
The creator behind the Metal Gear Solid game series, Hideo Kojima, may not be sticking around Konami for much longer... depending on who you ask. GameSpot sources claim that there has been a "fallout" between Kojima's studio and Konami that will have both the famed developer and his senior staff leaving after their contracts end in December, or a few months after Metal Gear Solid V ships. Supposedly, there have been "power struggles" that led to Konami reducing Kojima Productions staff to contractors, limiting their corporate contact options and giving them fewer chances to promote MGSV.
The first limited edition PS4 is a regular PS4 with a gold emblem
Despite Japan's rich gaming culture, the new consoles that've taken pride of place in your living room are still considered next-gen in the Land of the Rising Sun. While Microsoft still hasn't offered a firm date for the Xbox One's arrival, Sony's PlayStation 4 makes its Japanese debut this coming weekend. Now, as reparations for the three-month delay, Sony and the snake-charmers (read: game devs) at Kojima Productions have partnered on the first limited edition PS4 console that'll launch exclusively in Japan on March 20th. This "Fox Edition" PS4 has been crafted to celebrate the launch of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, a copy of which'll be bundled with the console for 46,980 yen (around $462) -- the regular console will retail for 41,979 yen (around $413) sans game, since you asked. Unfortunately, this first limited run PS4 is less impressive re-skinning effort, and more, well, boring emblem.
Metal Gear Solid Rising getting re-done graphics engine
Like a case of bad allergies, Metal Gear Solid 4's graphics left us rubbing our eyes. That said, when it comes to developing the recently unveiled Metal Gear Solid Rising, the latest sequel's eye candy is not nearly sweet enough. According to Kojima Productions assistant producer Sean Eyestone, the team is remaking Rising's engine "from scratch" to make it look better than MGS4. Speaking during a recent Kojima Productions podcast, Eyestone describes the multiplatform project as "a big project like Metal Gear Solid 4," adding that the team "team is serious about making it look as good as possible on every platform." Let's just hope our meager eyes can take it.[Via 1UP]
Joystiq hands-on: Metal Gear Solid 4 - the finished game
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/playstation/Hands_on_with_final_version_of_Metal_Gear_Solid_4'; The moment we'd been awaiting for ever since Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots was announced at E3 2005 came on Wednesday evening, when we walked up to a PS3 running the final, ready-for-retail build of the game and ever so slowly pressed "start" with quivering thumbs. We were whisked from the title screen – a real-time scene showing a suit-wearing Old Snake in the graveyard from previous trailers – to the Middle East, where after only a few minutes we realized that Kojima has done it again: he's taken MGS in a new direction, with wild ambition, while still keeping sneaking the No. 1 priority. No spoilers here; we're just as set as you are on having as little of the game ruined for us before we get to sit down and play it, good and proper. That said, make with the clicking and read our tale of 40-odd minutes with what will surely be a system-seller for PS3 after the break!%Gallery-23093%
MGS4 screens show new terrain, hint at flashbacks
The Metal Gear Solid 4 hype machine seems to have kicked into full gear these past couple of days. MGS4 news has seemingly plastered our blogging wall daily with flash games, peripherals, and more gameplay news. This time, we're continuing the coverage with these new screenshots that look distinctly different from what we've seen before.Most of the previous MGS4 screenshots depict the center of wasted Middle Eastern city. These new screens, however, show a bit of grassland and rocky terrain as well as some indoor shots, too. There's even a shot of Snake controlling Mk. II with a DualShock 3. The picture above suggests you'll be tracking down your stats such as Headshots and CQC take downs. Most interesting is the "flashbacks viewed" stat. Does this mean there will be several playable flashbacks to previous MGS games ... like this one of Shadow Moses?
New Metal Gear game hinted at
Did you really think the flood of Metal Gear news had already ended for today? Well, it hasn't. As the MGS4 Completion Ceremony came to a close in Japan, one final audio clip of Ocelot on the phone suggests that plans for a new Metal Gear game are already underway. 1Up translated Ocelot's phone call monologue and wrote down the Russian triple-spy's exact lines: "By the way, what should we do about The Project?" and "It's about the sequel."1Up suggests that the new title may be MGS5; however, we think that with Solid Snake out of the picture, the Metal Gear series will continue with a whole new moniker. Metal Gear Raiden anyone? Perhaps Metal Gear La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo?
Metal Gear Online beta gameplay footage for the uncoded masses
We're guessing that you missed your chance to grab an entry code for the Metal Gear Online beta, or you'd probably be too busy spending your Saturday afternoon brushing up on your CQC to read our humble gaming news site. Well, wipe away those tears of regret, little one, and we'll make you a deal -- check out this radical gameplay footage from the beta (including a very satisfying conclusion involving a dude launcher) to slake your thirst for Kojima's sneaky-creepy multiplayer outing, and we'll take you out for Chuck E. Cheese's. Sure, it won't do much to dull your regret, but you'll be too busy wondering why this restaurant elected to have a rat for a mascot to worry about all the online stealth action you're missing out on.
Reminder: You can still win our Metal Gear Online beta code
Are you so adamantly against the practice of video game reservation that you refused to drop the five dollars on a Metal Gear Solid 4 pre-order to secure a Metal Gear Online beta access code? Or, rather, did you place said pre-order, only to receive a hobbled, impartial code? Don't forget, there's still a chance that your kind uncle Joystiq can secure your ticket -- just drop a comment on our contest thread (don't forget to check out those legally airtight rules and regulations) by noon tomorrow, and you could be snapping, cracking, and popping stranger's necks before you know it.Update: Locked comments in this thread. You can't win here, you'll have to go back to the old page.
Konami replacing botched Metal Gear Online beta codes
Fans of Kojima's genre-defining stealth action series only have to wait two more days until Konami flings wide the floodgates of the Metal Gear Online beta, giving North Americans with a pre-order bonus access code fourteen days to hide in cardboard boxes or perform questionable chiropractic procedures to their heart's content. Unfortunately, there are a number of Snakes-in-training who dropped a Lincoln to secure an incomplete beta code, due to a printing error at Konami HQ.Konami Support requests that those that are missing digits shoot them an email with the partial code and a return email address so that they can respond with a functioning code. With less than 48 hours until the beta launch, we suggest they step on it -- with the rising costs of torches and pitchforks, we're not sure the gaming populous could afford another Halo 3 beta delay debacle.[Via PS3F]
MGS4 pre-order DVDs shipping with MGO beta keys, beta to begin April 21
Those who are truly anticipating the further adventures of the now mustachioed, raisin-wrinkled Solid Snake have no doubt hesitantly slid a five-dollar bill across the counter of their nearest brick-and-mortar, trying not to meet the crisp, judgmental eyes of Abraham Lincoln as they fulfill the reservation fee for Metal Gear Solid 4. Well, at least your shame before The Great Emancipator wasn't endured in vain -- copies of Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2, complete with beta access keys for Metal Gear Online, are currently shipping to retailers to be distributed to loyal pre-orderers.The DVD includes backstory on the major characters in the Metal Gear franchise, as well as a few trailers for MGS4, but the real treasure in this early bird bonus is the access code which will allow you to download the MGO beta on April 17, and play the fourquel's online counterpart from April 21 until May 5 -- at which point bleary-eyed FOXHOUND fanatics will emerge from their houses to an unfamiliar world; one where cowbots don't roam the streets, and neck-snapping is almost universally frowned upon.
MGS4 Japanese box art unveiled
With all the MGS4 news flying around this week, unveiling the game's official Japanese box art was only the natural next step. You could even say it had "no place to hide." Oh my, enough of the horrible puns. The Japanese box art seems a little bit drab compared to it's predecessors; we wonder if the US box art is going to be a whole lot snazzier. A headshot of Snake is nice, but we'd love to see Liquid Ocelot too; and of course, Raiden -- because we just know how much you all love Raiden. But seriously, this artwork is a nice way to salute the aged Snake ... or maybe it's just a fun way to show off his saucy mustache.
MGS Portable Ops+ gets dated, no MGS4 PSN demo
Do you remember when your fake ID couldn't fool the bouncer, leaving you outside sober, cold, and distanced from the girl you were looking to at least play ball with? That's kind of how we're feeling right now, after learning on the latest Kojima Productions podcast that there are no plans to bring a demo of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to the PlayStation Store prior to launch.Host Ryan Payton stated: "I can tell you, as of right now, we don't have any plans of uploading this demo on the PlayStation Store." And definitely, he added, no plans of "uploading [on PSN] next week." His statements were echoed by Konami's new flak master, Michael Shelling, adding "[E for All] is going to be your one chance to actually play it prior to it launching next year."Yeah, while this news is certainly a crushing blow to the Metal Gear Solid fan base (many of which help run Joystiq), there was at least a little positive news: Shelling revealed that Konami has gone gold with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops+, and is planning to release the game on November 13. That's a little antiseptic to the wound, no?
LGC07: Metal Gear Solid Press Conference Q&A with Kojima
The Kojima Productions Press conference at Leipzig today ended with a Q&A session between the press and Kojima-san and his cohorts. The following is a summary of the questions and responses and covers Metal Gear Online, Metal Gear Solid 4 plans for the 360 and more.Will Metal Gear Online be separate from MGS4 or will it be included?Hard to explain. When you play story mode you will be able to go online and it will have extra stuff at the end.Haven't decided whether it will be separate or not, but if you buy MGS4 you can play a portion of online at least. The worlds of MGS4 and MGO are very similar and they want consistencies between them. Final discussions haven't been made yet.
Metal Gear Solid 4 follow-up with Konami's Ryan Payton
Speaking to GameTrailers at the Metal Gear Solid 20th Anniversary shindig a few weeks back, assistant producer at Kojima Productions, Ryan Payton, answers some of of the pressing questions in this post-demonstration world that we live in. Questions like, "How does octocam work on Snake's head?"Even if you've analyzed the E3 trailer frame-by-frame, this interview does warrant a look, if not to see Ryan answer the age old question of, "Is this truly the end of the Metal Gear series?" Well, of course it isn't but that hasn't stopped Kojima from saying so ... again. Ryan offers up a much more likely outcome, saying, "It's far from over but as far as Solid Snake's story? Yeah, we're going to wrap it up with Metal Gear Solid 4."
New MGS4 trailer debuting at E3, Sony and Konami keynotes
The Kojima Report podcast -- one of our favorite 'casts by the by -- has confirmed the not terribly surprising news that a new Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer will debut during the Sony and Konami E3 keynotes next week. Since Sony's keynote is chronologically first -- next Wednesday at 2:30pm Pacific -- we'll just count down the minutes until then. About 7-1/2 minutes in, host Ryan Payton starts talking about the "brand-new" trailer which will, for the first time, be available in English. Of course, Konami also showed off new trailers for Snake's latest adventure at last year's E3 and TGS expos (both conveniently embedded after the break) so we're not entirely shocked. We suppose the lack of a Microsoft conference screening shouldn't come as a surprise either ... but we're still not convinced.[Via NeoGAF]
