RPGs: Stop Making Bad First Impressions 
Is Hitman's Next Target Assassin's Creed? 
Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land This week’s Famitsu has an interview with Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear Solid Touch producer Yasuyo Watanabe. The headline for the story is very careful to accentuate that Watanabe is female. How careful, you ask?
Hideo Kojima just cannot quit the Metal Gear franchise. Yes, he’s said he’s quitting about a billion-million times, but if that were true, he wouldn’t be already working on concepts for Metal Gear Solid 5 now, would he?
I have three concepts for MGS5 already. What would be ideal for me with MGS5, though, is that we don’t do those. If the team picks one of those concepts, I have to get involved again, which I don’t want to do. There are already so many good ideas from the staff, so if we select one of those, that would be really good. At that point I could really rely on them and take the step back to be the producer, which is the ideal situation, I think.
Whatevs. We all know what’s really going to happen! Those three concepts will be cobbled together to form one large, unwieldy concept, and you’ll carry on as producer, complaining the whole time that MGS5 will be your last MGS game. Hideo Kojima MGS4 Afterthoughts [1UP]
As someone who fumbled about with 3D Studio Max for a good year, ultimately spitting out some crude robots, the majority of Softimage’s “Making of Metal Gear Solid 4″ case study flies many miles over my head. Regardless of my inability to be good with computer, the incredibly detailed technical aspects of modelling, animating, texturing and lighting still make for fascinating reading.
Okay, “looking” may be a better word, as the combination of artistry and technical know-how required to do a last minute fitting of Altair’s Assassin’s Creed outfit for Old Snake — shown in video form — is full of gee-whiz.
Even if you have little interest in reading thinly veiled marketing literature or 3D animation techniques from the Kojima Productions masters, the behind the scenes look at Metal Gear Solid 4 is worth your internet time. There’s some cool Yoji Shinkawa concept art, effect-free in-game screen shots and very private pictures of Snake, naked without his textures.
The Making of Metal Gear Solid 4 [SoftImage - thanks, Mark!]
I’m really fond of the Brainy Gamer, mostly because Michael Abbott’s posts almost always live up to the title of the blog; this week, he tackled the question of ‘genius’ and auteurs, amongst a lot of MGS 4 talk (especially in reference to Citizen Kane). Abbott looks at the parallels between D.W. Griffith (director of Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, among a lot of others) and Kojima Hideo of Metal Gear fame. Leaving aside the question of whether Kojima ‘is’ a genius (at the very least, he is an auteur), Abbott draws parallels between the two, especially in terms of a ‘blind spot’:
[The following article discusses the themes of Metal Gear Solid 4 and contextualizes them with Hideo Kojima's directorship. It contains no plot spoilers, but nonetheless those wishing to avoid all thematic details should steer clear.]
“War has changed.”
That’s one of the main themes of Metal Gear Solid 4, and from the beginning, it forms a major thread that runs through Hideo Kojima’s hallmark marriage of gameplay and narrative.
Even if one were to skip the game’s introductory cinema, it’s evident something has changed from the first moment of gameplay. The silent tranquiliser gun, a fixture of the Metal Gear Solid series, has historically been the key weapon in a game that prefers the player be stealthy rather than confrontational, pragmatic rather than murderous. As the symbolic lynchpin in that approach, it’s usually one of the earliest pieces of equipment the player obtains.
Earlier this morning Ashcraft attended a press event in Japan for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where Kojima himself played through the game for about 40 minutes. Game Videos was kind (or evil) enough to commit the first 10 minutes of said gameplay to video, essentially capturing the experience of starting up MGS 4 for the first time.
Now, I know how some of you are about spoilers, so I am posting this after the jump. You do not have to look. You can move along right now and forget that this post even exists. Completely up to you. Me? I’m not looking, but I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t at least draw your attention to it.
Enjoy the extremely difficult choice.
Another week means one thing: More Metal Gear Online mess-ups! In today’s extra special clusterfuck, Konami errors persist. We’re getting word that even though the servers are live, but many are getting network errors up the whazoo or this message: “The GAME ID or password is incorrect. Unable to log into server.(0911:00000003).” Keep in mind, these folks are entering their correct user names and ids. Konami’s running regular updates on the Japanese Metal Gear Online homepage about how the servers are getting overloaded and how sorry it is for the hassle.
Another thing to keep in mind: The Beta starts today! Hooray!! For those unable to log in, here’s the online manual. You can read it and imagine the fun you’d be having. That is, if Konami hadn’t dropped the ball and then kicked it across the room. We’re sure Konami will figure out this internet thing sometime today, tomorrow or maybe even before the game goes on sale this June.
Thanks to all who sent this in.
Let’s cut to the chase:
Title: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Rating: M Content: Blood, Crude Humour, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence Platforms: PlayStation 3
Any surprises here? Nope! Though, we’re not sure if punching enemies in the nuts is “Crude Humour” or “Violence” or “Suggestive Themes.” Search Here [ESRB via PlayStation.com Forums via Akayuki]
