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TGS07: Snake in Smash Bros Brawl
Konami invited some lucky press folk who've been at TGS to sit in on a kind of Snake retrospective. Chronicling the career of the big guy, they even took some time to chat about his upcoming foray into the world of smashing. Kojima showed off Snake traversing some of the levels in Smash Bros. Brawl, as well as utilizing some of the game's unique items.We can't wait until his dojo update ...[Via Go Nintendo]
MGS: Portable Ops + (plus) trailer, translation required
We have no idea what's being said in this trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops +, but it's a Saturday, we're sure somebody else has the time to translate. MGS: PO fans can probably deduce what's going on for the most part and we do have some basic information from the original announcement. You know, like we know it comes out on Sept. 20 in Japan, no word beyond that. What we do know is that there are a lot of multiplayer elements added and old Snake from MGS4.Sure it took a few years, but the PSP has become a dandy little handheld with some solid games and some exciting future titles -- despite the anti-homebrew message. Sure, Sony kinda released the PSP-2000 all stealth this week instead of giving it the fanfare it deserved (a point made very clear in our podcast), but we're still hoping the best for the system. Now we just need an English version of this trailer.
Four different controller options for Super Smash Bros.
Today's Smash Bros. blog update provided two things we've all been waiting for since the countdown went up: New information of any kind The controller the game will use. Those of you who said they'd adapt the game to Wiimote/Nunchuk play were right. Those of you who said they'd keep the Gamecube controller compatibility: you were right. Those of you who said it would use the Classic Controller: you were also right. Those of you who said you could play the game with a Wiimote turned on its side: if you existed, you would have been right as well.We had cooled on the subject of Smash Bros., but now we're as excited as we were when we saw Snake pop out of that box. Not only is this going to extend the life of the game (by allowing players to master four different methods of control) but it is also going to allow for different styles of play, and therefore more variety in strategy and technique.
Have PSP? Will trade for python
This is quite possibly the strangest tip we've ever received on PSP Fanboy. A Brooklyn native is looking to purchase a PSP. In exchange, he's offering his 4-foot long python. The snake is "very friendly" and even "comes w/ tank." What a steal! He's even willing to take a broken system! To take advantage of this lucrative deal and get your very own snake, click here.[Thanks, TJ!]
SickSack robotic snake slithers through RoboCup
Although DARwin looked to be a fine effort from the US of A, Aske Olsson and Lars Pontoppidan's entry relied on a more down-low approach to taking care of business. Their SickSack robotic snake chose to crawl rather than run, but the uniqueness of the creature's movement most definitely deserve props. Gearing up a series of rollers to blast across the raceway isn't all that impressive, but the SickSack's use of passive wheels combined with mechanics that enabled lateral undulation made this thing about as beastly as a metal-clad bot can get. It also featured eight Futaba servos, a microcontroller, and a good bit of wiring and programming for its locomotion, and it (rightfully) took home the award for best design / effects at RoboCup 2007. Click on through for the creepy crawly videos.[Via Lars' Electric Endeavors]
Snakeball, Super Stardust HD en route to PSN
Sony has officially announced the impending arrival of two more PlayStation Network titles, each of them boasting hyper-rainbow visuals that are likely to induce a mental state similar to that following ingestion of a hallucinogenic substance. Not that we have any experience with that sort of thing. We do have some familiarity with Snake though, which you may remember as that slithering self-extension exercise available on every electronic device known to man. In Snakeball, you pilot a "bizarre hoversnake" across an "outlandishly dazzling disco floor," all the while devouring delicious spheres, blasting other players and whacking them with your bizarre hoversnake tail. The game supports online multiplayer, as well as the newly announced PlayStation Eye camera, ideal for plastering a face over your bizarre hoversnake pilot. Three Speech expects the game to arrive in July. %Gallery-2812% Super Stardust HD, to which the Sony blog gives a 15 June release date in Europe, is an arcade shooter built around the high concept of blasting defenseless asteroids to smithereens. A two-player co-op mode (it's unclear if this is local, online, or both), online rankings, 1080p resolution and a "seriously catchy soundtrack" are mentioned in the game's list of features. No word yet on what it costs to shoot at space rocks or pilot bizarre hoversnakes. %Gallery-2813%
Wii Warm Up: Snake's Revenge
Some slightly disparaging remarks were made recently on this blog about Metal Gear Solid's Solid Snake. While a certain contingent of our staff may doubt the fighting ability of the son of Big Boss, but we know the truth. Snake is hardcore. He may ask a lot of questions ("Metal Gear?" "A Hind-D?") and he may have a habit of hiding in boxes, but he definitely has the combat prowess required for Smash Bros., made evident by the fact that he smashed his own brother.This post is a big "!" for Snake fans. We can hear your thoughts. Come out of hiding and tell us how awesome Solid Snake is!
Kojima and Suda 51 tease Snatcher fans
Last Saturday, Suda 51's company Grasshopper Manufacture held the coolest event ever, at least for game nerds: Snake vs. Zombie vol. 2, a series of informal panel discussions by big names in the Japanese game industry, including Hideo Kojima, Shinji Mikami, ICO's Fumito Ueda, and Tetsuya Mizuguchi. There were also musical performances from Metal Gear Solid 3/Portable Ops soundtrack composer Norihiko Hibino and Silent Hill series producer and composer Akira Yamaoka.As if the mere existence of this event (and our non-attendance at said event) weren't causing us physical pain, now we have unbearable anticipation buzzing around in our heads. During a Kojima/Mikami panel hosted by Suda, Mikami, a man of taste, mentioned that his favorite Kojima game was Snatcher, to which the other two responded "Ah yes, Snatcher," followed by "Oh, should we announce it here?" To sum up, in italics, there is a possibility that Hideo Kojima and Suda 51 are collaborating on some kind of Snatcher game. We do not care if it is a sequel, a remake, a port, an action figure, or an official recipe for Neo Kobe Pizza. We want ten.
April Fool's Alert #8: VG Cats gets a makeover ... Metal GEAR?!
Scott Ramsoomair's VG Cats has a new page: a Metal Gear Solid MySpace profile for "David" Snake (screen name solidsnake34). Some of the jokes are subtle; we recommend a viewing or two of Metal Gear Awesome for some clarity. (MGA may in fact not help at all, but we still recommend viewing it for a few chortles.) In case you're wondering and are too lazy to do some minor investigation, every link on the page directs you to VG Cats' real index. If you're viewing this after April 1, the page may be gone; feel free to use this gallery below as a time capsule for the event.%Gallery-2382%
PSP Fan Art Fridays: Metal Gear
Do you want to share your PSP-related fan art? Send us an e-mail. A new piece of fan art will be shared every Friday. It's Friday and that means another night of Russian Roulette with my friends and that it's Fan Art Friday. This week we have a Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops art piece that depicts Null fighting Big Boss. It's brought to us from Edward. The look on Snake's face as he narrowly dodged that lunge is as frightened as that time I saw that site with the girl in the tub. Great work Edward, way to bring back those nightmares. No seriously, glad to have the fan art and good taste in games. I'm totally gay for Metal Gear. Leave your feedback on this art in the comments, check out Edward's deviant art account and see us back here next Friday!%Gallery-3450%
Metal Gear Solid 4 Snake figure
Konami gives us a peek at Japanese toymaker Medicom's Metal Gear Solid 4 Snake figure. Standing at 12-inches tall, the figure is imbued with Medicom's RAH 301 technology, making Snake posable in a variety of realistic body stances. Art director Yoji Shinkawa oversaw production of the figure, which is scheduled to ship in November. Just in time for the game's release, eh?Source - click on "Metal Gear series" tab, then "Goods Page" under MGS4.[Thanks, Aaron]%Gallery-1474%
Win up to $600 at Gamespot's MGS tournament
Think you're the best Snake on the web? Prove it. Gamespot is hosting Snake Wars: an exclusive subscriber-only tournament that allows you to compete for Best Buy gift certificates, valued up to $600. That could buy you a PS3!Gamespot subscribers can head over to the registration page to have a chance to enter. But, you'll have to hurry: only 48 players will be allowed to participate in this deathmatch royale.
PAL gets exclusive Metal Gear content
My mom always said "Good things come to those who wait" and my dad always said "You just wait around for good things to happen to you". Well because of Konami, I'm now going to ignore everything my dad ever said to me. IGN is reporting that PAL territories will be getting Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops content that neither Japan or the US got. The original game's content will be joined with twelve new characters, new maps and new missions. That's not all though, there will also be a Boss Battle mode which the point of should be fairly obvious. I only hope that at some point this content is made available as a download for current owners of Metal Gear. Check IGN for the more details.
Sonic confirmed for SSB: Brawl?
People have speculated for quite some time on what out-of-company characters would be joining Solid Snake in the upcoming Super Smash Bros: Brawl. Sonic was an obvious choice, of course, but check out the above picture, seen in the Swedish Nintendo mag +N.Yes, readers, we know, it's still quite dubious. Still, we can't resist such a beauty of a rumor. Now we just need a NiGHTs 2 confirmation, Goldeneye on the virtual console, and the ability for the Wii to hack into our brains and overwrite our senses with direct input from the game.
Konami really wants to do a Metal Gear PSP sequel
Back in November there was an IGN interview with Kojima Studios Ryan Payton in which he stated "If the response to MPO is as good as we're expecting, you can look forward to new chapters in the Big Boss legacy on PSP." Well, Ryan is at it again, this time on PSM's podcast saying "If it's successful on the retail level there will definitely be a sequel. ...that's something I really, really want to do." If the Japanese sales are any indication, Snake may be on another PSP sneaking mission very soon. Just to make sure, go out and buy five copies at your local retailer today to appease the Konami gods. The way I feel about it is, the PSP game library is like a bachelorette party; the more Snake the better. [Update 1: Fixed links.]
Hidden games in Mac OS X
Mac OS X uses emacs as a text editor, which contains a number of hidden games including Snake, Tetris, Pong and a whole slew of others. Follow the simple steps included here, and you could be playing a boatload of games that you didn't even know were on your Mac. Granted, the games pretty much suck (the graphics make the Wii look like Super High Definition 2160iii), but if you're trying to kill 30 minutes while sitting in the library, look no further. We're still exploring these and trying to figure out what the heck some of the games are.
Surgical snakebots crawl down your throat
The Johns Hopkins University must employ some seriously bright folks, as researchers at the school are unveiling yet another marvel to benefit mankind, and this time their creation is headed for the nooks and crannies within your body that surgeons have difficulty reaching unassisted. Sure, the diminutive locales within your guts have been explored by robotic creatures before, but these "snake-like robots" could enable surgeons, operating in the narrow throat region in particular, to make "incisions and tie sutures with greater dexterity and precision." The invention consists of two thin rods tipped with "tentaclelike tools" capable of moving with six degrees of freedom; during surgery, the doctor would utilize a 3D visualization system to watch, control, and dictate the robotic tubes. Moreover, the snakes are crafted from nonferrous metals so it can be used around magnetic imaging equipment, and considering its ability to "make up 100 adjustments per second," nimbleness is in its nature. But if you're not exactly fond of such slithering creatures, you've still got time to escape, as researchers estimate that there's still about "five more years" of lab testing before we see Snakes on a Hospital Bed.[Via Physorg]
MGS Portable Ops: the testing ground for MGS4
Kojima fans were shocked to find that Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops not only successfully emulates the console MGS experience on the handheld, but brings new things to the table. The folks of High Dynamic Range Lying detail how MGS:PO may actually be testing new ideas for MGS4, heading to the PS3. The new recruitment system, where Snake must capture enemies and convert them into allies might be a crucial aspect of the next-gen sequel:"In MGS4, there's no telling if Solid Snake himself will try to form his own fighting force. Otacon is heard in the E3 trailer, saying that Snake cannot do it alone, adding that he never had a chance. Could this be the catalyst that forces Snake to create a team capable of taking down the patriots, and stopping Liquid Ocelot? With MGS4 still in development for another year, the story of an old Snake single handedly silencing an entire army of mechs and soldiers seeming ridiculous, and little to none of the new allegiance system revealed, it seems more than likely that MPO may be more than a Snake Eater sequel."Sounds reasonable to me. For those of you that remember the original trailers for the game, there's "no place to hide" for Snake. With his body aging, and massive armored mechs walking around everywhere, Snake's going to need a lot of help.[Via digg]
Metareview: Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops
Are you happy to see me? Or is that just a Snake in your pants? Solid Snake goes portable in a big way. Get ready for the biggest non-shock of the year: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is good. Very good. In fact, it's THE killer app that Sony fans have been waiting for: 1UP (95/100) - "All this translates into a game that essentially pushes the PSP in all of its features: graphics, portability, Internet, extra hardware doohickeys, and multiplayer. Sure, it might have hiccups (occasional ghosting, quirky A.I., the one analog nub), but Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is not only a fine MGS title -- it's also a damn good showcase for the PSP.". IGN (90/100) - "It's been a long time coming, but this is what Metal Gear Solid fans, and indeed PSP fans have been waiting for: a title that demonstrates what the technology of the PSP can actually do, with a solid action title to boot. The GPS and WiFi scanning feature is excellently implemented, the online and single player modes are deep, and there are plenty of things to do by tracking down and recruiting new soldiers from various places. This is one of the games to add to your collection if you have the PSP.". Yahoo (80/100) - "This is one of the PSP's best multiplayer titles, giving you essentially a two-for-one experience. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops isn't a must-have for everyone, but most gamers recruited into its ranks will be satisfied." The game has shipped to retailers, so expect them in stores today or tomorrow. Rush in to your game store, and tell us what you think about the game!
IGN's weeklong MGS feature highlights [Update 1]
We told you IGN was going to make their Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops coverage a week-long event. However, some of you may have forgotten. Here are a few highlights from the week so far: As you may already know, the story begins with Snake thrown into a South American jail six years after the events of Snake Eater. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Russia abandoned many of its soldiers, leaving one military commander named Gene very sour. He plans on sabotaging the negotiations between Russia and the US by using nuclear technology stolen from both countries. Obviously, Snake will be in the middle of all of this. The character-generation system uses data from both the access point and PSP system information. You'll want to rotate characters in your party, as they'll suffer from exhaustion, and in the worst case scenario, fall unconscious during a mission. Let them heal their wounds. There's a lot to manage: "During your mission briefings, you'll be overseeing seven separate units for your army: Sneaking, Spy, Technical, Medical, Independent, Rookies and Prisoners." You can enter a unique Sleep mode which will transfer character data to any nearby PSP that's also in Portable Ops sleep mode. There's a mode called "Cyber-Survival," which is turn-based and similar to the Metal Gear Acid series. "Real Combat" is high stakes: if a character dies in multiplayer, they're dead in singleplayer as well. For obvious reasons, Snake can't partake in this mode. Is this too much info for you? Well, don't forget that these are just highlights. The real meat of the stories can be found on IGN. Prepare to never have a life again starting December 5th.[Update 1: MGS. Yes. That's what happens when Andrew-bot writes stories. Bad, evil things. Typo corrected!]
