Just a scant hour ago I made the trek down to the Powell Street GameStop to take in the midnight launch of Metal Gear Solid 4. Upon arrival, I was greeted with a line that went halfway down the block and around the corner. Roughly seventy five to a hundred and people waited patiently for the doors to open so they could once again get their hands on their beloved Solid Snake. First in line was lucky Kiattikhun Ratanatharathorn, known as “Bank” to his friends (pictured after the jump) who had been waiting for his prize since 6pm. He was accompanied by his friend James Demonico who wasn’t actually there for the game but he owed “Bank” money so he came along for the ride (now I guess we know why they call him “Bank”).
Metal Gear Solid 4 the game wasn’t the only MGS thingy that went on sale today. Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo also put its MGS shirts up for sale. Writes reader Christian:
They didnt look as good as I’d hoped, but found two designs that I’d wear.
Better than finding two designs you wouldn’t wear!
Having played a bit of MGS4, I’d say the most impressive thing has got to be the game’s new active camo system. The above clip does a neat job of showing that off, as Snake crawls around a plaza shifting his camo to fit his surrounds, staying suitably disguised. OH. Wait, no. That’s the second-most impressive thing. The most impressive thing is how, at his age, Snake can keep his buns so tight.
In the midst of a bunch of people talking/getting excited about a Turok movie, Variety’s Ben Fritz makes a very valid point: just because people are talking about it, doesn’t mean it’s getting made. As anyone who’s followed the fortunes of, say, Watchmen, or Halo will know, turning a movie from an idea into, well, a movie, is a lot harder than it looks. As Fritz says, “only a fraction of [meetings]turn into good scripts and a fraction of those actually get made as movies”. And that goes double for ones based on a Disney property that Disney have nothing to do with, as is the case with this current “project”.
Disney not making Turok movie [Variety]
This was the scene outside the Metal Gear Solid 4 midnight launch at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, New York City. The epic crowds were here to get their brand-new copy of the game signed by Hideo Kojima, who was in attendance with the lovely Yumi Kikuchi, the voice and model for the “Beauty” Raging Raven.
The real madness took place inside, of course. Hit the jump for full details.
Compared to Tokyo’s Metal Gear Solid 4 launch, the Osaka one seemed more low-key. Above is the line at the Sofmap in Den-Den Town (Osaka’s version of Akihabara) a few minutes before the store opened. The line was about 13 or 14 people long. To see the other side of the truck, hit the jump.
Yeah, as a concept, these have been done before. Most notably that still-funny Governator one. But soundboard prank calls based on videogame characters? That’s new. And what better way to kick off the trend than with Shenmue’s Ryo Hazuki doing what he does best: asking deadpan, stupid questions.
This morning, Metal Gear Solid 4 launched in Tokyo, Japan. According to Famitsu, there was a line of twenty or so in front of the Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku at 8:30 this morning. By 9:15am, the line grew to about 50 people, and swelled to around 100 thirty minutes before the store opened.
Unless you’ve seen Happy Feet, you probably haven’t heard of Animal Logic. The company is a digital animation studio based in Fox Studios in Sydney. It’s also worked on 300, 28 Weeks Later and the Oz flick The Black Balloon. Excluding the hunk of aborted crap that was 28 Weeks, it’s a excellent portfolio.
Now AL wants to do games. Games! Here’s what CEO Zareh Nalbandian had to say:
“As production values for games increase exponentially, so do the opportunities at the convergence of high end digital film making and game creation. ALI is uniquely poised to lead this convergence with its commitment to visual innovation, quality, talent and great ideas”.
Hey, if Ninja Theory reckons it can do decent, realistic 3D movies on the cheap, then there’s nothing stopping Animal Logic from doing the same for games.
My only question: Why open the damn thing up over in LA? Oh, that’s right, the government still sucks at supporting developers in Australia.
Press release after the jump.
Nestled gently at the bottom of one of his most recent blog posts, David Jaffe has spoken a little on a topic that I’ve always found interesting as hell: the previous/working titles of some of his games. Something about how a different name can alter your entire perception of a title…anyways. Some of them are really interesting! Like the fact one of God of War’s possible names was Ω. Just the symbol. And the fact Kratos was for a long time going to be called the much-cheesier (especially with ham and pineapple) Dominus. And that one of Twisted Metal’s original names was the brilliantly evocative Cars and Rockets, which Jaffe said “nobody else” liked. Nobody? Oh Sony.
Why the do we even try? [Jaffe's Blog]
