So where does Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain fit into the Metal Gear timeline for Solid Snake?

When you create the egg, then create the chicken, what happens in between? That's a tough scenario that Hideo Kojima is having to face with his latest brainchild Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. Having taken place a few years after Peace Walker, but before Guns of the Patriots, just after the Vietnam war ended one can understand how it can be hard to fill in the blanks for a game that takes place "in between Metal Gear stories". Kojima made a few statements in recent interviews about explaining how evolving the Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain has been for him and his team.

"When you try to write something that was supposed to be in the middle there will be some inconsistencies when you go into very small details. "The most important part is writing something that is fun, something that is impressive, something that is better than it was before. So sometimes in the interest of doing this, of having a better experience, we sacrifice some consistencies in the story."

Also, in case you've been out of the loop for a while, both PS4 and Xbox One versions will be getting exclusive content for Ground Zeroes. Classic Solid Snake from the first Metal Gear Solid for PS1 will be a playable character, a low polygon style with a low polygon playing area. Kind of takes you back to a golden year doesn't it?

The Xbox One version exclusive content will be there, but it's not known right now as to what that will be. More classic content?, who is to say. As far as a release date for Phantom Pain, Kojima wants to wait until the PS4 has taken a much better foothold in the gaming community before releasing it. Not to mention the time needed to finish developing a game that is 200 times the size of Ground Zeroes. That should explain why GZ is being released so much earlier, since the prologue is necessary to get fans into the act of learning the mechanics and storyline for TPP. Fans also want a taste right now of the new Metal Gear game, so it only makes sense.

Ground Zeroes will be releasing in Spring time next year on the Xbox One, PS4, PS3, and Xbox 360 respectively. Next generation consoles will see a higher resolution than current ones, according to Kojima. Can't wait to get a taste of that Solid Snake action in a few months myself.

Newtown Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter had an obsession with Dance Dance Revolution, but also played violent games

This is the saddest post I've ever written, and I've just completed 1,200 posts after over 5 years of doing this. I hate it when video games become somehow involved in crimes. But even Dance Dance Revolution can't seem to stay out of the picture, as is the case with the Newtown Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting by Adam Lanza. Someone who is extremely disturbed and obsessed with video games. Usually the ones of the violent 1st or 3rd person shooter nature. But how in the world does Dance Dance Revolution fit into this? Adam had spent nearly four to ten hours at a time playing DDR at a local theater, going there almost every Friday through Sunday.

While we are at it, let's for once take a look into the mind of Adam Lanza and find out what made this guy tick. According to the official report, Adam had "significant mental health issues" and was also diagnosed with a mental condition known as Asperger’s disorder, also lacking empathy toward other people. But Asperger's disorder is said to be an autism-like disorder that is not associated with violence, so what was it that drove this maniac to kill 27 people, 20 of which were only children? The answer might shock you from what the report states, but also says it is still not crystal clear what made him do it.

A GPS belonging to the shooter revealed that he had went repeatedly to the theater to play DDR, and also had digital media at home showing him playing it. Two days before the shooting occurred, some anonymous user posted online that he would commit suicide, thereby making national news from it. From the relatives of Adam, they stated that he showed no signs of hostility that he would ever commit such acts of violence, but that he spent long periods not going anywhere, even though they lived in the same house and only contacted them by email.

Adam did have a hard drive that officials tried to extract data from to get more information, but the drive had been smashed by Adam to the point that they may never get data from it. An acquaintance of the shooter said that they played DDR a lot, and had conversations that didn't really involved any motives of violence, including being bullied in the past, but did state that Adam talked somewhat about expressing an interest in mass murders and serial killings. Not a frequent topic, but one that was brought up on occasion. There was also a bottle with the shooters name on it that had the name "acetaminophen with codeine" stated upon it, which was in the mother's bathroom and also a part of the master bedroom.

A number of weapons were also found which included knives, swords, spears, and so on. Now let's get to the part about where video games seem to fit into all of this. Besides Dance Dance Revolution, which to me seems to be something that he just played on the side and might not have had any real significance to violence, but then again I'm not a psychiatrist. Perhaps he used DDR to let off some steam or to relax aggressions within him.

There were also a large number of various video games in the basement or game room, some of which were listed in a report below.

-“Left for Dead”
-“Metal Gear Solid”
-“Dead Rising”
-“Half Life”
-“Battlefield”
-“Call of Duty”
-“Grand Theft Auto”
-“Shin Megami Tensei”
-“Dynasty Warriors”
-“Vice City”
-“Team Fortress”
-“Doom”

That's quite a list isn't it? This is also only a partial list, but one that shows what kind of games he played, including ones that involved content of a violent and mature nature. The report goes on to reveal something even more shocking. Among the topics and items seized were the following.

- Bookmarks pertaining to firearms, military, politics, mass murder, video games, music,
books, Army Ranger, computers and programs, ammunition, candy, economic books
- Two videos showing suicide by gunshot
- Commercial movies depicting mass shootings
- The computer game titled “School Shooting” where the player controls a character who
enters a school and shoots at students
- Screen shots (172) of the online game “Combat Arms”
- “Dance Dance Revolution” (DDR) game screen shots
- Videos of shooter playing DDR
- Images of the shooter holding a handgun to his head
- Images of the shooter holding a rifle to his head
- Five-second video (dramatization) depicting children being shot
- Images of shooter with a rifle, shotgun and numerous magazines in his pockets
-A document written showing the prerequisites for a mass murder spreadsheet
- A spreadsheet listing mass murders by name and information about the incident
- Materials regarding the topic of pedophilia and advocating for rights for pedophiles (not child pornography)42
- Large amount of materials relating to Columbine shootings and documents on mass murders
- Large amount of materials on firearms
- Comedy videos
- Images of hamsters
-Images of Lego creations

Yes, you saw right, "A computer game called "School Shooting", where a player controls the character to carry out a shooting in a school. Beats me what maniac would create such a thing, but there it is. There is more where this came from, but I wanted to share this with you in hopes you would share it with others. Also feel free to leave your thoughts and comments in the section below. Your feedback and feelings are always welcome. Perhaps you could add some of your own wisdom to such as senseless act. In the meantime, my heart goes out to the victims of the shooter. You can see their photos below. May their souls rest in peace.

There is a one minute video for you to watch from the Boston report link below. I suggest you take a look at it if you can stomach it. Each link also has more information than I've posted here.

Source for Dance Dance Revolution Report (Boston)
Source for Boston Report (extended)
Full Sandy Hook PDF Report

Group shot of Hideo Kojima along with other staff members from the Los Angeles and Tokyo divisons

Always enjoying tweets like this one from Hideo Kojima. It gives you and I a better insight into the inner sanctum of Konami and what the crew and setting looks like. Here you can see in the first picture which is of Kojima in the front row, followed by a combination of staff from the Los Angeles division of Konami that just opened up a short while back to do work on Metal Gear games, along with others from the Tokyo department. The second is taken within Yoji's booth, one of Kojima's big helping hands in the Metal Gear Solid art department, among other things. Yoji's handy work extends back years with MG, and earlier this year had an art contest to see who can draw the best!

The third is another meeting setting. Kojima moves around a lot, and is constantly taking pictures of his travels, where he goes, what he is currently doing, and even sometimes what he's eating? Talk about dedication to Tweeting! You can follow Kojima to keep up with his events and what is currently going on with the latest Metal Gear game. Ground Zeroes is the current topic as usual, but it won't be long until The Phantom Pain, which is the big daddy to GZ is the main topic. You can follow his English account, or his Japanese account depending on your needs.

Remote play might be a possibility on the PSVita, in which Konami is running tests on Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain

If you're trying to make one of the most anticipated games ever created, then you're going to want to squeeze out as much options as you possibly can. The same holds true for Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, as Hideo Kojima has confirmed that his team is *running tests* to see if the PSVita is a viable platform to run remote play. Much like the Wii-U, the PSVita has a number of games that support remote play, such as Diablo 3 which Blizzard stated that Reaper of Souls will have PSVita remote support.

In a recent interview with Playstation Blog, Hideo Kojima confirmed a few things for GZ and TPP.

"We’re still trying to put together how much we can fit into the next game. We’re running tests, and Remote Play is impressive and I like it. So we’re running tests and still working on the game."

In the interview, Kojima was asked the question of why he chose to release Ground Zeroes separate from The Phantom Pain. He answered by stating that TPP is a very massive scale game, and development is taking a lot longer. Also adding that playing Ground Zeroes now will give the players an opportunity to be introduced to not only how the story line is unfolding, but also how the game itself plays and feels. He also added that an eagerly awaiting fan base for Metal Gear games wants to get in on the action now, so releasing GZ long before TPP will give them a good taste and keep them occupied until The Phantom Pain finishes development. Good call.

When also asked about taking advantage of the PS4's Duel Shock 4 capabilities, Kojima stated that he does want to make good use of it, but not to the point of having too different of an experience compared to the PS3 version.

"We are trying to take advantage of as many things as we can, but we also want to focus on keeping the experience as close as possible on both platforms, between PS3 and PS4." More than that, I would recommend that people who are looking forward to the next generation having a tablet next to them, taking advantage of those capabilities. I think there are things that people will enjoy there."

By the way, if  you haven't done so yet, check out the updated 12 minute narrated English video below for the special mission in GZ below. It will help explain a few of those things you might have been pondering about for a while now. 

You can look forward to some elite Solid Snake action with Ground Zeroes this coming spring. Spring what? Just spring, as no exact date for GZ has been given yet, but it will be launched for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Interview with Kojima

It looks like these tactical cosplay creation characters are ready for some new Metal Gear action

More cosplay on the front, as these folks have posted another cosplay performance for the public eye. This time it's more than one, as it's a whole family of Metal Gear Solid characters! Doing cosplay acts such as these are never tiresome, just make for some quality entertainment. I'm not sure where the most action is coming from, Silent Hill, Castlevania, or Metal Gear. Likely MGS as of late, since Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain have been getting so much attention these days. After all, the worlds first open world Metal Gear has gotten many wanting more and more!

Keep the performances coming boys, or rather in this case, boys and three ladies. How about a quick Metal Gear trivia? See if you can guess which character is which and name all or at least some of them. Starting from left to right.

Don't forget at 11pm EST time Spike TV kicks off the video footage for the new Metal Gear Solid game

As I write this, we have just about an hour in my time zone before Spike TV kicks off the footage for the new Metal Gear Solid game Ground Zeroes. As stated in a previous post, Hideo Kojima was in New York recently and was demonstrating some new info on his latest brainchild. In the process he also mentioned that the Playstation version of GZ would have exclusive content. This isn't the first time the Xbox has missed the boat, as Guns of the Patriots didn't even get a version at all, due to the limited disc capacity.

11PM ET/ 11PM PT standard cable and 11pm ET/8pm PT for DirecTV customers on Spike TV.

Will Konami reveal the special content for PS3 and PS4, you'll know as soon as the video trailer is posted online. Check back soon.

Kelly Jean speaks her mind directly to Konami, and reveals the magic behind her sniper Quiet cosplay performance

 
Yes, she is getting some serious attention. Kelly Jean and her recent cosplay performance for the Metal Gear Solid character known as sniper Quiet have turned some heads, and bulged the eyes of many a male gamer out there. Quiet is the mute character from The Phantom Pain, and was featured in the E3 electronic show trailer last summer. Recently, KonamiUK themselves have taken notice of Kelly's hard work and decided to have a one on one interview with her. In the interview she talks about the controversy surrounding the photos she made, along with her reaction to it and what it took to get those shots just right. Here is a sample of the interview.

What made you want to replicate that shoot – and what was the motivation behind it? Was there any messages that you wanted to get across?

“Honestly? The internet. And by internet I mean trolls. One said that Quiet looked like me holding in a fart and I was really amused. A few people then started to leave me comments on my page. I am a fan of the series, but it wasn’t actually an immediate thought to do it. But I had always wanted to attempt replicating a video game image in a photo, so it was also a good opportunity to do that.”

It's a fairly long interview and quite informative, if you want to know the personality and mindset of Kelly and what she is like. Her goal for producing these photos was to raise money to help those who want to get into gaming, but can't due to physical disabilities. You can follow Kelly Jean on Twitter if you like, and check out her FaceBook page as well. Most importantly, if you want to help with her charity cause, you can do so by purchasing photos from her own personal store page here. Samples of her work are below. You might want to look over your shoulder before scrolling down, you know, if you are in a sensitive area like an office cubical.

Stefanie Joosten is the actual actor who played the original role of sniper Quiet for Konami. You can check out a video below with her posing for image capturing and rendering. Again, NSFW. OK, I warned you, now enjoy yourself!

Full interview with Kelly Jean
Kelly on Twitter
Kelly on Facebook
Her Artist Store

Here is what will determine how soon Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain is released

With all of the available footage of Ground Zeroes hovering over our heads, one can't help but wonder when Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain will be released. Well, that depends on a couple of issues. The first one is based on Ground Zeroes itself and how well it will be accepted and sell upon its release. Metal Gear has taken a big change in not only the way it looks, but how it plays.

Yes the same stealth based action is still there, but there have been a few new elements added in the process. Bullet time, enemy tagging, (which can be turned off, but not advisable) and a few other odds and ends. Since no one can guarantee the actions of the fans of past MG games, Konami is waiting to see how things play out for GZ.

Number two on the list, is based on the PS4 and Xbox One. In just five days time, The Playstation 4 launches, while the Xbox One will follow on November 22nd. Even though expected sales are supposed to reach about 5 million by the end of this coming March, Konami is waiting to see the results of said sales as it will also impact the release time for The Phantom Pain. So what is the final verdict? 2014 or 2015. Vague?, yes. and the anticipation is a bit hard to handle. Ground Zeroes and next generation console sales are the key right now. Good luck to Kojima's latest handywork.

Original report Explosion

Digital downloads for Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes will be ten bucks cheaper on current generation consoles

As we start to see the beginning of the Xbox 360 and PS3 fade ever so slowly away, there is still a breath of life left in them yet. Next spring Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes will make its way to both next generation, and current generation systems. There is one slight difference between the two however. Besides the Xbox One and PS4 having higher resolutions than their other counterparts, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be ten bucks cheaper. $30 for the next gen digital downloads, and $20 for current gen downloads. Recently Hideo Kojima also made a few comments about Ground Zeroes I'd like to share with you.

“The advanced capabilities of the FOX Engine are allowing me to express the story of Metal Gear Solid in a new way. There will be a significant difference in what Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain brings to the series, so we want to ease players into the new open world environment and its potential, allowing them to fully benefit from all that the new game offers. As such, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes has been designed to introduce key elements, while setting up the events of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.”

Ground Zeroes has been looked upon as being something of a diagram for gamers, sort of preparing them for "The Phantom Pain". Even if it is, it certainly looks like an incredible one. Konami has yet to give a specific or even general time frame as to when The Phantom Pain will land in our living rooms. Kojima is expecting it to be 300 times the size of Ground Zeroes though. Who knows, with a game that size, maybe gaming has gotten to the point where some games do need a prologue game to prepare them for a much bigger one. Although the concept is a bit odd. If you missed the post I did with the new images released for GZ, check them out if you like here.

 

What exactly does it mean to have an "open world game", at least when it comes to Metal Gear Solid?

Kojima has been spilling the beans somewhat with famous Japanese site Famitsu recently, and upon the questions he's been asked, one of them has to do with what it means to have an open world game. His latest Metal Gear Solid brainchild has been getting an army of questions, so let's go over a few of the most important ones based on his response from the interview.

"I think the term 'open world' has taken on a life of its own and caused misunderstandings. Of course it's not going to be a game where Snake fishes all day or changes jobs and pursues a different life. The game map is an open world and you have freedom in that way, but in MGS5, it's clear what you're doing. That may be 'I have to help someone' or 'Destroy this thing' or 'Go gather intelligence at this spot'. Some missions will have time limits, too."

"With MGS up to now, we could only build the interior of wherever you were infiltrating. How you got there was shown in a cut scene, and the player would just suddenly be in front of the entrance. Once you finished the mission, there would be another cut scene, a helicopter or whatever would come by, and you'd escape. It's not that linear games are bad ...but really, it'd be fun if you were the one thinking about how and where to infiltrate, what sort of equipment to bring, and how to get out of there."

The interview went on to ask Kojima has it would be in the new Metal Gear to have an open world experience, based on the fact that in past titles, you either sneak, or kill your enemies. So how would it work this time around he was asked. Kojima responded......

"That's true, I think the way that MGS is combined with an open world here is something that we haven't really communicated very well yet. In particular, with this game, we're building the control system and working the visual expressions for a global market to meet the needs of the North American market; that may have an impact on things too. But once you try it out, you should be able to feel like 'Yes, this is MGS.' I feel that games are interactive media, and the rush comes in being able to use what you're given freely to play. Open worlds create that for you, and I think the future of gaming lies in them."

Even though Kojima released a Phantom Pain trailer at the E3 show this summer, which showcased what an open world Metal Gear Solid game looks like, at the Tokyo Game Show he wanted to focus on its prologue, Ground Zeroes. GZ was a demonstration of how to interact and deal with enemies. It also showed us the enemy tagging, and bullet time elements that were introduced this time around. Even though those concepts were controversial with some players, Kojima stated that they were very necessary to dealing with the challenges of taking out enemies and sneaking around.

Also when asked about getting some sort of demo to play to try out Ground Zeroes before its release, Kojima responded "wait just a little longer". How much longer is any person's guess, but after what we've seen last month with Solid Snake in action, a little longer is far better than much longer.

Source Famitsu

The Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphical Novel by Ashely Wood is almost like watching a real movie, which is what many fans are already waiting for

After well over a year of controversy around a "post production" Metal Gear Solid movie, you can bet your Solid Snake cosplay outfit that you're going to wait for at least another 3 years. This according to producer Avi Arad. Arad who you may or may not know is famous for those Marvel based movies he's been involved in, such as X-Men. But while we are getting gray hair waiting for a Metal Gear movie to grace our box office big screen, you can accommodate yourself right now with the Digital Graphical Novel, produced by the beloved Ashely Wood who can conjure up some incredible Metal Gear art to boot.

The Legacy Collection that launched this past summer, contains the Digital Graphic Novel and it lasts a whopping 2 hours and 10 minutes, while the 2nd in the series is 3 hours long! Plenty of time to tell a good long story from your favorite Metal Gear games. I spent the time sitting down to watch this puppy, and have enjoyed every second of it. I even plan to go back an watch it a second time, as soon as I can break away from actually playing the games themselves, as well as stop doing posts about Konami games in general on this blog.

I invite you to do the same if you haven't yet taken the time to watch it yet. You're eyes will thank you, and Ashley Wood's work will have gone that much less in vein. You can catch it below right now if you have a couple of hours to kill. Let me know what you think of it afterwards, or right now if you've already seen it.

It looks like some individuals are already into the cosplay role of making their own Metal Gear Solid video for the world to see

Don't you just love it when people dress up as their favorite (and your favorite) game characters? They actually have the kind of bravery and willpower to do that which you and I would never be caught dead doing. Unless we got paid to do it of course. But nevertheless, I thought I would point out yet another fantastic Metal Gear Solid cosplay video showing a fellow who really takes the time and effort to get into the act of playing the role of Solid Snake. He does a remarkable job at it too, so are you listening to or watching this Hollywood? You just might get some decent insight as to who should play the role of Snake in your movie, which by they way, won't release for another 3 years according to producer Avi Arad who is working on it.

The video only lasts for 6 minutes, but gives you some quality entertainment and is yet another demonstration of how dedicated a lot of the fans are to the Metal Gear series. I say keep them coming, as you can never have too much cosplay photos or self made game based movies out there. Perhaps they should make some sort of Emmy award for "made for Internet films" such as these. After watching it, tell me what you think about it in the comment section below. I'd like to hear your feedback about it.

Metal Gear Solid has found a new home in Playa del Rey, where Solid Snake will continue to develop new tactical espionage action

Where art thou, Solid Snake? Oh, it looks like he's  taking in some well deserved sunshine in Los Angeles, California. Playa del Ray to be exact. Konami has opened up a splendid new studio, where they will continue to develop their flagship hit series, Metal Gear Solid. Perhaps the series has gotten so popular, it now needs a place of its own. Kind of like getting away from your parents and getting your own apartment.

Hideo Kojima stated that it's only natural to expand their operations across the globe. Also adding to the mix that.....“And since Los Angeles is ground zero for the best studios, facilities and world-class talent, we are leaning on of these local resources to build an incredible team to create gaming experiences that are just as compelling as any film or television show."

The photos below showcase what the inside of their brand spanking new studio looks like, courtesy of Konami for allowing a few folks inside to walk around and realize some amazement. The future of Metal Gear has found a new home to develop, and now I have just one question to ask.

When can I move in?