kojima
Latest
MGO update brings new map, game mode
So by now you probably know your way around Blood Bath and Gronznyj Grad like the back of your hand and you're starting to want more from your Metal Gear Online experience. The European beta has now been updated with a third map and a new gameplay mode. The new map, Midtown Maelstrom, is a medium size level set on the street of a war-stricken town. Hence the name. As for the new gameplay mode, we expect the Sneaking Mission to be incredibly popular for the sole reason that Snake is a playable character. One player takes on his role, complete with OctoCamo, Solid Eye and other handy items (how does he carry so much stuff while sneaking around?). The aim is to move silently around the map trying to collect dog tags by defeating other players. If more than ten people are playing then another player takes the role of Metal Gear Mk II in order to help out Snake. Meanwhile two teams battle it out as usual.So far we're loving the beta and an entire new map and game mode just three days in makes us go all a-tingle. This content should arrive for America after the maintenance work on the servers which will be occurring later.
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]
Konami will replace broken beta codes
Brandon Laurino of Konami Online has written another post on the PlayStation.Blog to address a number of questions people have had about the Metal Gear Online beta. The most pressing query being about a number of Metal Gear Online beta keys missing digits and, therefore, being unusable. People who are affected by this are advised to contact Konami Support, making sure to include your broken code and a return email address.Laurino continues to answer more questions from users. While he does so we find out that Konami representatives will be participating in the beta themselves and that we should "stay tuned" for more info. This is also the case if you are after more details on the "gunmetal PS3" bundle which was announced last week. Funnily enough, though, no mention has been made of the fact that it is currently impossible to get a Konami ID from the website. The beta starts on Monday, so we're hoping that will be fixed before then. Otherwise Konami could have a lot of angry PS3 owners on their hands.
PS3 Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle at SonyStyle, no pre-order in sight
Sony, you tease! You go and finally put the 80 GB PS3 / Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle up at SonyStyle, complete with a SKU and price point, but you're not taking pre-orders? We just get to look at the thing? Can we touch it? Just for a second? We won't tell. Anyway, as expected, the PS3 / MGS4 bundle will be available in June at $499.99 complete with a DUALSHOCK3 wireless controller. Let's hope that "notify me" button says "add to cart" some time soon.[Thanks, David]
PSP audience is 'important and new' for MGS director Kojima
Hideo Kojima, revered director of the Metal Gear series, recently talked about the PSP in an interview with IGN. He noted the success Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops has had, especially with the younger demographic. He notes that teens in Japan love the PSP: "middle school students, from 13 to 15, are really fanatical with the machine itself -- look at Monster Hunter Portable, for instance."The rampant fervor of the teenage PSP audience is what helped drive the Monster Hunter series into millions of units sold. This is obviously an audience that Kojima would love to capture: "I would like to continue with this, to aim at those middle school students because they are so interested with MPO right now. I would continue to try to reach them."He gives an anecdote about his son. "He has always criticized it: 'Oh, Metal Gear is such a s****y game.' Until the point I released Portable Ops." From the sounds of it, Kojima certainly wouldn't want to disappoint his son, and it appears that a new PSP game from Kojima Productions is inevitable: "My son is really into Portable Ops as well: the use of the WiFi, the ability to play anywhere, bring it to school, etc ... It might not be the Metal Gear series, but I would like to consider this audience because it's very important and new."
Hideo Kojima wants, needs Snake to die
Hideo Kojima is adamant about making Metal Gear Solid 4 the last real MGS game he'll direct. "I really don't want to say that this the final game or this is the wrap up," he told IGN. "But if I don't say it, people will make me create MGS again!" While we don't think the fans would mind, it's clear that Kojima wants to work on new things. "So I have to say, 'Die, Snake,' and really end it so I can move on to something else!"Of course, there's life after Snake. "Actually, it's a game, so even if Snake dies, the game can live on." In fact, the Metal Gear franchise may continue its life as anything but a game. "Maybe it'll be a novel or a comic – I do have some ideas." Don't expect Kojima to be hands-on with the process, though. "However, I have to say that I'm not going to do everything if we were to create it. Maybe I'll just produce or maybe design the game and just act on that role, so I won't be the total creator of that series if it happens."Read IGN's full interview to find out more about the PSP, and developing Metal Gear Online.
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.
MGS movie producer targets possible writer/director
Film adaptations of video games are fickle mistresses. You don't need us to tell you that most of the ones that make it into theatres are horrid, while the ones with some potential usually get canned before seeing the light of day. Most of us would probably fit the Metal Gear Solid movie into that latter category -- after all, it's been nearly two years since the initial announcement of the film, and details have been sparse at best. That is, until a recent red carpet interview with the film's producer, Michael De Luca, dropped a Metal Gear REX-sized bomb on the entertainment industry.Okay, we're exaggerating bit -- all he did was state his interest in getting Kurt Wimmer to write and possibly direct the film. Wimmer's primary writing/directing credit is the 2002 quazi-cult classic "Equilibrium", whose 35% aggregate rating on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't exactly fill us with confidence -- unless compared to the works of a particularly infamous game-to-movie adapter, whose 4% career average reminds us that Columbia Pictures could do much, much worse.
Kojima working on next project
Konami president Fumiaki Tanaka tells Japan's Nikkei BP that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima's next project is outside the Metal Gear universe. Tanaka informs that no announcement will be made this year and we shouldn't expect anything until after MGS 4 and Metal Gear Online have been given room to breathe.Tanaka reveals that he expects sales of MGS 4 to be comparable to past titles in the series and he believes many people are waiting to buy a PS3 until MGS 4 is released. Outside of the MGS 4 business, Tanaka says Konami will release more remakes of classic games in the future and he alludes to Wii Ware being part of the plan.
Kojima: MGS4 too big for 50 GB Blu-ray disc
It's not much of a shocker to learn the latest (and final) installment in the Metal Gear Solid series is a sizable one -- MGS games have a history of being big (and beautiful). However, a recent interview with series creator Hideo Kojima revealed a startling fact about MGS4 -- Kojima complained that a few features had to be cut from the game so it would fit on a Blu-ray disc. As format fanatics already know, that means the game takes up nearly 50 gigabytes of space. If true, this is bad news for anyone who hoped to see anthropomorphic cow-bots on the 360 (unless that data was divided between about five dual-layer DVDs), but it could also mean a painfully long installation time for PS3 owners as well. We can only imagine that 49 of those gigabytes are taken up by thousands of variations on just three lines of dialogue -- "Snake? SNAKE? SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!?"[Thanks, Beau Kebodeaux]
US/Euro MGS4 lacks Japanese voice over tracks
Go figure. There really is a limit to the once-unfathomable expanse of the Blu-rays. Speaking on the latest Kojima Productions Report session, Metal Gear Solid 4 producer Ryan Payton confirmed that the game's chatter will be as indulgent and convoluted as ever -- even more so than past entries. Meaning: "Unfortunately because of disc space, we don't have the space to include other languages, other voice over files for the respective versions. So the Japanese version's not gonna have English VO, and the North American and European versions won't have Japanese VO." Hayter it is then!
Metal Gear Online beta in April, MGS4 pre-order secures access
Those looking forward to snapping the necks of complete strangers (in a game) should be pleased to learn that a Metal Gear Online "Starter Pack" is due to launch alongside Metal Gear Solid 4 in Q2 2008. Sony has announced that a beta test for the multiplayer sneak-em-up will start in late April, with pre-orders of Metal Gear Solid 4 giving gamers "guaranteed access." It's a great incentive, though given the anticipated nature of Hideo Kojima's latest opus, we feel a bit like donkeys wandering into a vast forest of carrots.
Rumor: Nintendo still hurt about RE4, reason why Capcom doesn't have a Brawler
There's a rumor floating around that the lack of a playable character from Camp Capcom is due to a little game by the name of Resident Evil 4. You see, before it ended up on the PC and PS2, along with the Wii, it was meant to be entirely a GameCube exclusive. That didn't last that long, however.With the inclusion of Sega's Sonic and Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid line of games, the inclusion of one of Capcom's characters (oh, let's say ... Mega Man) quite possibly would've been too much for this blogger's weak little heart. The rest of the world, however, probably would've liked to see one of Capcom's characters make it into the already overstuffed line-up of playable brawlers. What Capcom character would you have liked to see in Brawl?
Konami (once again) confirms there will be no MGS4 demo
When it comes to Metal Gear Solid 4, there are two rumors that will just not die. First up, of course, is the zombie-rumor that the game is going over to the Xbox 360. Second only to that though, is the often denied rumor that there will be a MGS4 demo coming out prior to the game's release. Now, Konami has gone on the record a number of times to say that it is not happening, but yet still fans hold out hope.Unfortunately, PSX Extreme reports that once again Ryan Payton has denied the reports of an upcoming PSN demo in his regular Kojima Production Report podcast. While it's annoying we won't be able to get a taste of MGS4 until this Summer, it's important to remember that demos aren't always a good way to really sample a game (think about Heavenly Sword's demo). Instead take solace in the fact that all the development cycles that are involved in making a demo are instead focused towards making MGS4 one of the top exclusive PS3 games of 2008.
Metal Gear Solid 4 in 'last push' for Q2 release
The Kojima Productions Report podcast says Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is in its "last push" and moving into bug testing. ShackNews listened to the whole podcast and reports that MGS4's Q2 release date is still nebulous, but that the game will ship worldwide to various territories within days of each other.Kojima Productions Report podcast host Ryan Payton says that MGS4 will have an "emergence day" where they'll give information like a release date, packaging content and other game details. This emergence date wasn't given and issues regarding the undying rumors of MGS4 on Xbox 360 were mentioned but not addressed.
Metal Gear Solid 4 limited edition box a possibility
This Metal Gear Solid 4 video from Gamespot contains a few interesting tidbits of info regarding the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. First, the release is confirmed, set, cemented and on target for Q2 2008. Honest. There are also discussions within the Konami marketing department regarding a limited edition box for the game - though we're hoping it won't really contain a live alligator or a gun. Metal Gear Online is once again reiterated as being a pack-in starter pack with MGS4. There's no word yet on whether a full release will be on shelves along with MGS4, or whether the non-starter content will only be made available via the PSN Store. Finally, there's some more in-game footage from the first level of the game. You know, the one you've watched about a hundred times already.
Rumor: BioShock on PS3, new Metal Gear on PSP
Got a crazy craving for that sweet ADAM flavor that all the kids are talking about, but only own a PS3? According to 1UP's Quartermann's Nostradamian prediction you might be able to get your BioShock fix soon. In the latest rotation of EGM's rumor mill, the exclusivity of the underseas fiasco has been brought into question, and PS3 owners could find themselves frolicking through Rapture sometime in 2008. However, this report contradicts the statement of BioShock's lead designer Ken Levine that the game is not PS3 bound. 2K Games, would you kindly confirm or deny this rumor?Quartermann also has great news for the feverish fans of FOXHOUND who were upset by the recent MGS4 delay - a new Metal Gear game for the PSP is on it's way, ready to heal those wounds. Reportedly, Kojima Productions is working on the title right now, which will "take Snake back to the early days of his career." Not his career as a master of espionage, mind you, but his first career as a pastry chef in a small Rhode Island bistro.Also rumored: Sega isn't letting the lukewarm reception of their two first next-gen Sonic games break their stride, as they're apparently hard at work on a new, "real" Sonic game. We don't know whether "real" means a return to the game's classic platforming roots, or if we can expect more creepy interspecies make-out sessions.
Metal Gear Solid 4 has over 200 developers
How much manpower is Hideo Kojima throwing at Metal Gear Solid 4 to ensure quality? Over 200, according to Kojima Productions' Ryan Payton. In an interview with Gamasutra, Payton noted how important the game is to Sony, remarking that "the way things are turning out, this could be the first 'must have' PlayStation 3 title on store shelves. Or, if not the first, then the second or the third."For clarification, Payton said that the massive team are all working in the same location on the same title, making the size all the more impressive. He did note, however, that following the release of MGS4 the team size will likely get "a little bit leaner and meaner."Although not confirmed, we suspect Kojima Productions currently has the following quote written above its front doors: "No retreat, no surrender. That is Kojima law. And by Kojima law, we will stand and fight...and die. A new age has begun: an age of freedom. And all will know, that 200 developers, gave their last breath to defend it!"
