Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Gameplay Trailer Looks Foxy

On the heels of the announcement of the long-rumored Metal Gear Solid movie, series creator Hideo Kojima also announced a new Metal Gear Solid game titled Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes.  Today, Konami and Kojima showed off gameplay footage of the (open-world!) title and its new Fox Engine.

The Fox Engine looks pretty nice for starters.  When you first see the footage, it looks next-gen, and while Kojima said the demo was running on PC, MGS:GZ will be releasing of PS3 and 360.  The demo didn’t show us a whole lot about the game though, other than it stars Big Boss (aka the Snake from MGS3 and Peace Walker) and a villain with a serious dermatological issue.  It also looks to feature characters from MGS: Peace Walker, as Paz was talked about as featuring prominently in what I can gather from the plot.

This is the Metal Gear game I have been wanting.  Whether or not Metal Gear Rising is great (I haven’t played it yet) will be unknown until the game releases next year, but to me it’s not a true Metal Gear title.  The extremely brief actual gameplay footage they showed appeared to be the familiar stealth action style MGS fans know all too well.  Check out the lengthy trailer below and let us know what you think about it!

SNAAAAAKKKKKE!!! Metal Gear Movie Announced By Super-Producer Avi Arad

Yup, it’s official. At Konami’s Metal Gear 25th Anniversary event, it was announced that a Metal Gear movie is finally in the works at Columbia Pictures. Avi Arad, nerd movie producer extraordinaire (Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, etc) will be producing the film, and was on hand at the event to make the special announcement.

So now the fun part begins – casting rumors! Who’s gonna play Snake? I think they should just throw David Hayter in front of the camera and be done with it.

Who would you like to see join the cast? Confab below!

Konami Does Right By Their Customers; Offers Free Game to SIlent Hill HD Owners

We didn’t report on it, but recently, Konami made the decision they will not be issuing bug fix patches for the Xbox 360 version of the Silent Hill HD Collection, which has a few frame rate and audio issues they fixed up for the PS3 version.  The situation got Konami a bit of backlash from upset buyers, and it mirrored a recent story where Fez developer Polytron Entertainment made a similar decision for their Xbox Live title.  Unlike Polytron though, Konami has decided to make it up to their fans by giving them a free game of their choice.

Anyone who emailed or called in a complaint about the lack of bug fixes for Silent Hill HD will be eligible to receive a free game courtesy of Konami until October 7.  Of course, you need to prove you purchased the title from a retailer before August 8th, but if you do, you can choose a free game in the current generation Konami catalog on any system, not just Xbox 360.

I’m giving Konami a standing ovation right now.  Unlike what Polytron did with Fez (their response to the Fez issue hs essentially been: shit happens, suck it up and deal with it, and it’s all Microsoft’s fault), Konami is showing how to do the best you can in fixing a bad situation.  It’s not a perfect solution; I’m sure there are more than a few Silent Hill buyers who have no clue where their receipts are 4 months after the fact.  Still, it’s better than shrugging your shoulders and doing nothing, and after how I beat up Polytron a few weeks ago, I felt it necessary to acknowledge Konami for attempting to do right by its consumers.  It’s the kind of thing that makes me want to continue supporting Konami.  If only they would publish a game I care about anytime soon…maybe Lords of Shadow 2 when that releases.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Getting Patched for Trophies

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released in June of 2008, right before Sony unveiled Trophies, the PlayStation’s unique achievement system.  Many games released earlier that year, like Burnout Paradies and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, received a patch to support the new Trophy system.  Some of the most ardent fan demand came to see a similar outcome for MGS4, but Konami expressed no interest to add in trophy support after the fact.

Until today, that is.  It was reported by Andriasang, by way of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, that Metal Gear Solid 4 will (finally!) be receiving a long-awaited trophy patch.  A date was not given, but a budget version of MGS4 is releasing in Japan on August 30, so one would think the timing will coincide with that release.

That same day, Konami will be holding an event for Metal Gear Solid’s 25th anniversary, and series creator Hideo Kojima will have an announcement to make, the content of which is yet to be known.

I’m a little conflicted about this news.  I certainly was one of the voices pushing for a MGS4 patch…but that was 4 years ago.  I don’t know if the same demand exists for it today.  Trophies sent out this way aren’t retroactive, meaning an already-created save file won’t unlock them; if you want the trophies, you’ll have to start a new game from scratch.

On the plus side, it will give me an excuse to go back through Metal Gear Solid 4, which I haven’t done since the game first released.  It’s the only game in the series I haven’t played to completion multiple times, and it will be nice to re-visit Solid Snake’s only PS3 outing.

Source: Andriasang