quote:

Raiden Appears in New Metal Gear
Hideo Kojima directing and designing new title.

by John Tanaka

May 26, 2009 - While the Kojima Productions teaser site is still teasing away in anticipation of what will presumably be a big E3 unveil for the Metal Gear studio's next project, leaks from this week's Famitsu appear to have spoiled the surprise.

The magazine has an interview with Metal Gear series father Hideo Kojima who says that he's serving as director and designer on the new game, which the magazine confirms to be a new Metal Gear Solid title. While not giving away the title, Kojima does say that it's a proper entry series.

The big reveal from the last teaser site update was an image of Big Boss. The Famitsu report also shows an image of Raiden. We presume this image will appear at the site when the new countdown strikes zero on Monday.

As for the actual content of the interview, it's a bit difficult to make out what's said as Famitsu censored the text by covering up key characters with white circles.

Here's what happens when we translate some of the text while keeping the circles in place (replaced with Xs):

Famitsu: Is the generation XXX?

Kojima: No, it's XXX. If I were to say it all, perhaps XXXXX. I'm currently doing the game design and direction.

Famitsu: Really!

Kojima: I believe Japan will be the focus, but it will be sold throughout the world. Within me, this is XXXX. I won't say it's X, but I am making a proper story, and it is being made by the MGS4 staff.

Famitsu: Really! That's amazing.

Elsewhere, the interview touches a bit upon the content of the game:

Kojima: The mark on the old man's hat is very important

Famitsu: This mark is different from a fox. It's like a world map.

Kojima: Not just the mark, but the game systems are also new.

Famitsu: Is it XX-XXXXXXXXXX?

Kojima: Yes. We'll be doing stuff that one would expect of XXXXXXX. XXXX and so-forth are obvious, so those will be included. Uh-oh... I said stuff that was unplanned (laughs)

Famitsu also asked Kojima about the setting. "The setting is XXXXXXX," responded Kojima. Apparently, something called "XXXXXXXXX" happened in this location, leaving it as a "XXXXX" country.

Confused? That's probably the point!

If we have any sudden revelations about all those Xs, or if other areas of the interview yeild anything newsworthy, we'll let you know.

quote:

Metal Gear Next Update
The censors win this round.

by John Tanaka

May 27, 2009 - We already provided a few details on Hideo Kojima's latest interview in this week's Famitsu. Now that we've managed to get a closer look at the interview, we're back with a follow up.

As detailed in our initial report, the interview is as much a tease as the KojimaProductions teaser site, with the juicy bits censored like a Nixon transcript. This makes it pretty much impossible to understand what's actually being said.

Surprisingly, the opening of the interview lacked the censorship but was still too vague to offer any valuable details. During the opening, Kojima and interviewer Hirokazu Hamamura (Enterbrain's CEO) discussed the teaser site itself.

We'd suggest skipping the following if you actually enjoy being teased by Kojima Productions.

Currently, the teaser site has S (or possibly 5), 3, e, P, E and R. Based on images in the magazine, a future update will see the following added: the letter O or the numeral 0, C, and 6.

Kojima toyed with Hamamura as Hamamura attempted to make some sense out of the numbers. Hamamura pointed to an image from the site and said that it was a "5." To which Kojima responded, "Eh? That looks like a 5?" This could suggest that it's actually an S.

Hamamura also tried to order the number and letter appearances, saying that the countdown starts with a 5 (or S, as it may be), then goes to an E and a 3. Kojima wouldn't confirm that E is actually an E. He did say that the "e" is a lower case letter, suggesting that it is indeed an "e" instead of an "@" symbol or a kanji snake symbol as some have theorized.

This is where the censoring started. Hamamura started a discussion of the P, but most of what he said was blocked off.

Moving on to the first image that appeared at the site, which everyone and their mom assumed to be Big Boss, Kojima noted that the way the teaser site character wears his "XX" is different.

The XX in the above is one of the censored phrases. The magazine actually uses white circles to block individual characters. Here, the two Xs mean that the blocked phrase consists of two characters. They could be numbers, roman characters, Japanese alphabetic characters, or kanji.

To perhaps help clarify, Kojima reminded Hamamura about the time that Hamamura had asked him, "Won't you make Metal Gear?" Kojima recalled having replied at the time, "I won't make XXXX." Here, he noted, "XXXXXX has become XXXX." He also added, "When I told my son that Metal Gear Solid was finished, I was told, 'If XXXXXXXXXXX, it will be really funny. At least don't do that.' (laughter)."

Changing the subject, Kojima became the interviewer and asked Hamamura what expected to be announced at E3.

Hamamura: I think it will be the announcement of "We will do Metal Gear XXXXXXX."

Kojima: Not quite.

Hamamura: Really!?

Kojima: It's just as I'd planned.

Hamamura: Really!? Because, when the thunder sounded and the screen lit up, "5"...

Kojima: It's X.

[remember, "X" is a censored character]

Hamamura: X!? It's different from 5?

Kojima: No. It is XXX. Oh, I might as well say everything. XXX will appear.

Hamamura: Really!

The circle characters become really abundant from this point on, making it almost impossible to translate to English without placing some sort of unintended meaning in the words. Even translated to English, it would probably be impossible to figure out the meaning of anything.

As an example of how bad things get, here's the little passage about the meaning of the teaser site's P:

Kojima: What do you think the P is?

Hamamura: XXXXXXXXXX's XXXXXX?

Kojima: But XXXXXXXXX. It's XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Hamamura: Oh! Of course!

The Famitsu interview with Kojima has four pages of this, with the third and fourth pages being particularly packed with the circle characters. We read through the whole thing over and over again and picked up a number of little bits, like Kojima comparing something about the game to being like Western game development and Kojima suggesting that the game's release won't be too far off. But without the full context, we'll avoid making "solid" statements.

Next week's issue promises the full interview minus all the circles. By then, the teases at the teaser site will have hopefully come to an end, and we'll know the true identity of Hideo Kojima's latest.

quote:

June 1, 2009 - Over the weekend, Qore inadvertently let it slip that the PSP Go was real and coming out this fall and that a new Metal Gear was coming to Sony's portable platform. Today, it looks like that game might have gotten a name -- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Over on Games Press, a site for industry professionals that gathers press releases and gaming assets, the list of games that Konami Digital Entertainment is showing at E3 now promotes Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP with a release date of 2010.

(please log in to view the image)

As if that news wasn't exciting enough, the posting also states that Metal Gear Solid: Rising -- which was announced at Microsoft's E3 press conference this morning -- is coming to the PlayStation 3 and PC as well as the Xbox 360. Hopefully, Sony's E3 press conference tomorrow morning will shed some light on this whole situation.

Remember, you can watch the Sony conference as it happens tomorrow in HD-quality right here on IGN.

quote:

E3 2009: Metal Gear Solid PSN Hands-on
Sony and Konami still haven't confirmed it, but Greg's played it.

June 2, 2009 - Since Sony announced that the PlayStation Network would feature downloadable PSone games, the IGN PlayStation Team has been screaming that it wants the original Metal Gear Solid in downloadable form. The game's already out in Japan and it's been given a Mature rating here by the ESRB, but Konami and Sony still aren't saying anything about it. Is a U.S. version project even real?

The answer is "yes." I know because I found Metal Gear Solid on a PSPgo today.

Yup, after whining that I hadn't seen a white PSPgo yet, one of Sony's finest handed me a white slidey screen from a private area of the show floor and left me alone with it. I popped down on the XMB to see what games were on the 16 GB device, saw current stuff such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo 3, and then ran into Metal Gear Solid in a little PSone Classics box.

The game started without issue, I skipped the opening cinema, and I began choking people out with Square like I was back in my parents' basement. Rather than run in forced widescreen, the game was showing in a 4:3 box in the middle of the PSPgo's screen. The load times were nonexistent, and the game looked pretty good. Basically, I can't fricking wait for this game to get its crap together and get on the PlayStation Network. Thankfully, this thing looked all-but-final and had the descriptions and assets that made it look like a retail PSN release, so it shouldn't be too far off… right?

quote:

(3:29:18 PM): Lights went down for a brand new trailer for the second game. Looks decidedly grim with lots of nuclear war imagery. Viet Nam bombing runs. We're hearing some Cold War intrigue, too. And now we're hearing about the rise of Outer Heaven in Costa Rica in 1974.

(3:30:48 PM): Big men. Big guns. Big robot airship-like things. Dudes hiding under boxes. That's what you can expect from Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker.


(3:31:41 PM): Looks like two people can get under cardboard boxes in Peace Walker. SAUCY!

(3:33:00 PM): The main character is Naked Snake. It is set after MGS3. It should be considered a true sequel. Hope you still have an appetitie for eating snakes. Kojima says he is doing all of the the writing himself. The MGS4 team is heavily involved.

quote:

June 3, 2009 - Kojima took the stage at Konami's press conference at E3 and had even more Metal Gear announcements for fans.

Kojima kicked things off with a surprising reveal. One of his newest Metal Gear projects is officially called 'Metal Gear Arcade.'

Built on the Playstation 3 Metal Gear Solid online game, the arcade cabinet will feature special 3D goggles, a unique interface, and the ability to network with other cabinets, so players at different arcades can play competitively.

Kojima also said the arcade game will be released in Japan this year. No word on a US release.