Tag Archives: metal gear solid 4

Speaking to Techradar, Future mag editors Jon Hicks and Dan Dawkins have expressed little shock at potential Konami plans to being MGS4 to 360.

“After the massive success of GTA IV on Xbox 360, and the recent announcement of previously Playstation exclusives Final Fantasy and Tekken 6 coming to the platform, it’d be no surprise for Konami to follow suit,” said OXM editor Hicks.

“The huge install base of the console, particularly in the US, means it’s missing out on lots of customers by sticking to the PS3. Of course, Konami has ported MGS for other platforms before – the real news would be if it launched the next game in the series on the Xbox as well as the PS3.”

PSM3 editor Dawkins added: “Capcom have already sounded the death knell for third-party exclusives, since the rising costs of next-gen development, and the relatively small user bases of both consoles, mean they make no financial sense.

“Will MGS4 go to Xbox 360? If pressed, I’d say yes, almost certainly ,” says the PlayStation mag Editor, “though Konami may release it as a ‘vanilla’ port with zero enhancements at the same time as they confirm the extended edition for PS3, a bit like MGS3 Subsistence.”

More through the link.

Japanese investment research firm MorningStar has published a paper from TGS quoting a Konami rep saying the firm is looking at moving MGS4 to 360.

We did actually tell you about this in July, but there we are.

“We’re actively looking into a release for the Xbox 360,” the spokesperson apparently said.

Obviously, this sort of flies in the face of Hideo Kojima’s constant claims that the game isn’t possible on the Microsoft machine because it doesn’t have Blu-ray.

We’ll put it another way: “Would you like $500 million, Konami and Microsoft?”

More on IGN.

Ex-Metal Gear 4 associate producer Ryan Payton – and all his hats – has been confirmed as a hire to the internal Microsoft Halo team by Phil Spencer, Edge reports.

Spencer’s also confirmed that Corrine Yu, formerly of Gearbox Software, and her husband, former id artist Kenneth Scott are definitely on the crew.

The exec said in a statement, “Microsoft Game Studios is thrilled to have such talented people working to develop new and exciting projects within the Halo universe and supporting existing projects from studios like Bungie and Ensemble.”

More through the link.

Speaking to Videogamer, Bionic Commando producer Ben Judd said that Hideo Kojima should limit his cut-scenes to 30 minutes. You tell him, Ben.

“I liked Metal Gear Solid 4, with the exception of the story,” he said.

“I like Kojima’s stories, but they keep getting longer and longer. He needs to put the clamps on himself and only give himself 30 minutes. If he did that I’m sure they’d be fantastic.”

More through the link.

There’s a feature on SoftImage’s website detailing how the software was used to animate Snake and friends in Metal Gear Solid 4. It’s fascinating stuff, if pretty hardcore, and has pretty pictures to boot.

Perfect coffee fodder. Thanks, Kotaku.

Both Kotaku and Shacknews are rumouring that MGS4 producer Ryan Payton has been signed as creative director on Halo Chronicles, the Peter Jackson-developed Halo title.

Payton recently left Kojima Productions to return to the US, citing family issues.

Hit the links for more.

MGS4 assistant producer Ryan Payton’s spilled a pretty big can of beans in this 1UP interview, saying that the MGS trilogy on PS2 was never meant to be continued.

“The stories of MGS2 and MGS3 were truly written without any backup measures if the series continued, leaving dozens of confusing and unexplained plot elements in the wake,” he told the site.

“The fact that we were able to tie up all the loose ends with MGS4 was nothing short of a miracle.”

Payton left Kojima Productions after the launch of MGS4, citing family reasons.

Heaps more through there. Even on a cursory glance, it appears to contain a huge amount of spoilers, so be warned.

Speaking on Konami’s Japanese site, Hideo Kojima has said that big business is knocking this shit out of creative games development. Which is probably a bit of a shame.

“The creativity of video games is now on the verge of crisis,” he said.

“Massive advertising campaigns are executed for games before their entertainment values are put into consideration all too often, resulting in sell-off tactics happening without hesitation.”

You go, Hideo. Um. Didn’t MGS4 have a giant ad campaign?

Thanks to Kotaku for the translation.

Ryan Payton, formerly of Kojima Productions, now unemployed in Seattle, thinks the sun is setting on high-end game development in The Land Of The Rising Sun.

“The Japanese public seems to be disinterested in next-gen and high definition gaming,” he told Kotaku. “There is a stigma still attached to western technology there.”

“There have been a lot of good mainstream games built for the Japanese Xbox 360,” he continued. “But they only sold a small number of copies. I think that kind of drained a lot of expectations.”

Most telling, however, are the panicked reactions of those who hedged their bets on “next-gen” gaming.

“It’s apparent, everyone knows it in Japan,” he said. “The developers here feel the pressure. They’re starting to develop more with the West in mind and the tech is in the West now. I’m surprised at how many titles have been produced on the Unreal 3 Engine.”

More poignant commentary, along something about hobos, through the link.

By Nathan Grayson

Speaking to Eurogamer at Games Convention, Hideo Kojima said he’s had enough of people asking about MGS4 on 360. Not entirely surprising, really.

“I’ve been doing a lot of interviews and stage shows, and half the questions are like ‘Will MGS4 be coming out on 360 or other formats?’, and in the near future I hope they’ll ask me about Metal Gear, about us, about our future projects, and will stop caring about the hardware,” he said.

Pressed on MGS4′s exclusivity and the possibility of an Xbox 360 port, Kojima reiterated that the PS3 had been chosen because he believed that the series’ success had been entwined with PlayStation’s, and admitted that “because MGS4 was optimised for the PS3 it is probably not possible”.

“But, you know, what kind of disturbs me sometimes, because a lot of people ask me about this PS3/360 question, is that it’s not about the hardware – I want people to look at the game itself. Sometimes I even feel like it should be on a PC so that people don’t ask me about hardware and platforms,” he said.

MGS5 CONFIRMED FOR PC. There’s a full interview here.

According to this Kotaku post, Metal Gear assistant producer Ryan Payton has quit Kojima Productions, citing family reasons.

“Back when I joined Kojima Productions in 2005, I hit the ground running and didn’t stop until we shipped Metal Gear Solid 4,” he said. “Then, for the first time in three years, I wasn’t working on any games and I had a three month vacation ahead of me.

“I went back home to my family’s place in Washington state and literally three weeks after MGS4 launched we were hit with some pretty heavy news concerning my mom. I don’t think I need to go into details, but all of this has reminded me about how important family is. So this past month I decided to leave Kojima Productions and look to continue my career working closer to my family in North America.

“It’s not easy leaving my other family (the MGS team), but with everybody taking time off and not having any other big projects to shift focus to, it feels like this is how it’s supposed to be. It’s fate.”

And yes, he does mention MGS5 over there. We salute you, Ryan. Best of luck.

Speaking to Kikizo at E3, Konami creative legend Hideo Kojima admitted that he may well end up producing a fifth Metal Gear game. Never saw that coming.

“When we look ten years into the future, maybe yes, I may well end up spending more time on the Metal Gear series,” he said.

“I always intend to stay true to these statements; I do always say what I actually feel at that time, after each Metal Gear, when I say I am going to move on to the next project.

“But it’s like when Hayao Miyazaki says he is not going to do more, and then always ends up doing it.”

There’s a full interview here.

We all expected Snake’s final adventure to be a smash hit, but now we have numbers, kinda. According to PSU, by way of a Konami sales report, Metal Gear Solid 4 has shipped 3.94 million units worldwide.

However, don’t confuse “shipped” with “sold.” PSU did note that “about one out of every four or five PS3 owners has purchased Metal Gear Solid 4,” but Konami didn’t go into specifics.

We’re not entirely sure how this fits into the 3 million shipped figure Konami gave earlier this week, but we’re just the messenger. So don’t shoot us.

Regardless, it’s always good to see a quality game succeed. Congrats, Kojima and co.

By Nathan Grayson

According to this NintendoEverything piece, Metal Gear dev star Hideo Kojima will return to Germany for Games Convention this year, after demoing MGS4 to press at the event in 2007.

Other stuff the publisher’s looking to air:

Games

• PES 2009
• Silent Hill Homecoming (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Castlevania Judgement (Wii)
• Dancing Stage
• Rock Revolution
• Lost in Blue (Wii, NDS)
• Eledees: The Adventures of Kai and Zero (NDS)

Stage shows and presentations

• Hideo Kojima (Will discuss Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Online plans)
• Koji “IGA” Igarashi provides insight into the Castlevania series
• Thomas Hulett (Associate Producer) talks about Silent Hill Homecoming
• Rock Revolution presentation with Associate Producer Niais Taylor
• Dave Cox, responsible for product planning at Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, own future developments in Konami Europe

We’ll be there. For some of it, anyway.

Speaking to the BBC, Hideo Kojima has spoken about how Metal Gear 4′s life started as a consultation with Sony on the birth of PlayStation 3 itself.

“We started to work on Metal Gear Solid 4 four years ago, after finishing work on Metal Gear Solid 3,” he said. “At that time we really didn’t know what the PS3 was going to be like, so the first two years was all about experimenting, developing and trial and error.

“In the last two years, we’ve know what the PS3 is capable of, the specifications of it and how we can utilise it… PS3 is a monster machine. That’s why it took so much time to create Metal Gear Solid 4.

“Since we’re developing only for the Sony format, Sony has given us a lot of advantage before the actual release of the hardware. So we had many meetings with them to discuss the specifications. We analysed this black box before it was released, and we experimented with it and we gave Sony a lot of feedback, like, ‘Can we do this and can we do that.’”

Watch the full thing through the link. There’s future-gazing stuff there about leaves. We love you, Hideo.

Surprisingly no one, NPD data for JUne has shown that Metal Gear Solid 4 was by far the bestselling game in the US last month, but a shock comes with Guitar Hero On Tour at number two with over 400,000 units sold. There’s no accounting for taste. Figures below.

1. PS3 METAL GEAR SOLID 4 774.6K (Does not include bundles with PS3 hardware)
2. NDS GUITAR HERO ON TOUR 422.3K
3. 360 NINJA GAIDEN II 372.7K
4. WII FIT W/BALANCE BOARD 372.7K
5. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE 359.1K
6. 360 BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY346.8K
7. WII MARIO KART W/WHEEL 322.4K
8. WII LEGO INDIANA JONES: 294.5K
9. NDS LEGO INDIANA JONES: 267.8K
10. PS2 LEGO INDIANA JONES: 260.3K

Missed this in the rush last night. SCEA boss Jack Tretton said in the Sony E3 press conference that MGS4 would not be possible on any other machine than PS3, partly because of the console’s Blu-ray drive.

His comment came after a source told VG247 yesterday that the game’s transition to the Microsoft hardware was “inevitable” in the wake of the company’s coup in grabbing a 360 version of FFXIII earlier this week.

Thanks, MCV.

Following last night’s shock news that Final Fantasy XIII will release on Xbox 360, VG247 has been told be a very senior UK industry source that an 360 version of Metal Gear Solid 4 is “inevitable”.

“There’s only MGS left now: for a few months at least,” said the mole. “It’s inevitable. Konami knows how many million they’d sell in the US alone. If FFXIII can make it to 360 when Sony owns nine percent of Square, Metal Gear’s a slam dunk.”

Kojima has constantly said that the game isn’t transferable to 360 as the Microsoft console uses DVD as opposed to Blu-ray.

Money, as everyone’s mother used to say, talks.

Konami’s put out two new camo suits for Snake in MGS4, according to this PS3F piece, namely “Laughing Camo” and “Raging Camo”.

If you approach enemies wearing either one, they laugh or “rage,” as you’d expect. Both suits are free. It’s a slow Friday, OK?

Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots has taken pole in the Spanish and German software charts for week ending June 22, GI reports.

According to figures from Media-Control GfK International, Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core is straight in at number three in both territories.

The full chart listings for both countries are through the link.

By Mike Bowden