Yesterday, Konami live-streamed their pre-E3 press event on their official website.  I was late getting home to watch it and Twitter was already abuzz with some of the more exciting announcements.  Thankfully, Konami still has the whole event available to view on their site here.

The event was something of a Kojima sandwich, with the first and last announcements pertaining to his current projects.  First up was a rather impressive trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3DS:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have a hard time getting into all this 3D stuff, but this trailer had me interested at how the various features of the 3DS are utilized.  For instance, new cinematics take advantage of the 3D effects — yeah, that’s a given, but there is more.  Crossing bridges and climbing trees in the game will make use of the 3DS internal gyroscope, requiring the player to steady themselves just like Snake.  If you happen to frequent public transportation this could pertain to you…  Save before you get on the F train ’cause a sudden lurch could drop Snake right into the mouth of a hungry water-gator.  The player may also take photos using the 3DS and convert that photo into camo for Snake.  (In before testicle camouflage!  Come on, we all know it’s gonna happen.)

Then there was some stuff about a soccer game. Yawn.  Next was a trailer for a game called Never Dead.  BRB need a beverage. ZzZzz.

Next, the creator of the Silent Hill series appeared to announce an HD Silent Hill collection containing both Silent Hill 2 and 3.  This is great news for me, as I was planning on playing all the Silent Hills in the series this year.  No word at this time as to what systems the collection will support, but I would guess both PS3 and Xbox 360.

The release of Silent Hill: Downpour has been pushed back from from fall to winter.  To tide fans over until then, a new trailer was released:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally, an NPG exclusive Silent Hill title was revealed: Silent Hill: Book of Memories.  Nothing concrete has come out about this title, other than it will be released sometime after the HD collection.

Kojima was back to complete the sandwich with the announcement of a new way to game, called Transfarring:

Yup. We all knew it would happen: Kojima has become drunk with his own power and is now making up words. It’s only a matter of time until he’s naked, living in a movie theater and consuming nothing but candy bars and milk.

So what is Transfarring?  It’s a system Kojima has invented which allows players to manually sync their saves between the PS2 and PSP versions of certain titles.  Which titles, you ask?  The flagship of Kojima’s Transfarring feature is an HD collection of Metal Gear Soild titles, including Metal Gear Solid 2,3, and Peace Walker.  All of which will support Kojima’s Transfarring feature.  It was also announced that this collection will be released for both PS3 and Xbox 360.  Obviously Xbox 360 owners will not be able to take advantage of the benefits of Transfarring.

Unlike the Silent Hill collections, a good amount of info was detailed concerning the Metal Gear Solid collection:

Kojima also tweeted shortly after the event that these titles all have 60 FPS, in case that wasn’t already obvious.  Also, the same team who developed the God of War HD collection will be producing this collection as well.

If that wasn’t exciting enough, Kojima closed by giving us a look at his new Fox engine:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The backgrounds and lighting effects are nothing short of luscious.  I also couldn’t help but look at this brief clip and think of Metal Gear Solid, specifically Snake Eater which took place in a similarly forested environment.  As a huge fan of the series, it’s easy to let my imagination concoct a new Metal Gear title that this engine will support, but hopefully we can expect something at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.  At the very least, we can have high expectations for next year (July 7, 2012), which is the 25th anniversary of Metal Gear.  It looks like Kojima is already gearing up for something…

Konami’s pre-E3 event certainly was not a disappointment, unless you were expecting a new Metal Gear title.  Their lineup is rather heavy on ports and HD collections, but as all of these games are classics worth revisiting, I have no complaints in the matter.  Konami has already given a strong start to E3 — here’s hoping the coming weeks are just as exciting.

Japan has really come together in an impressive way over the past week.  Everyone is pitching in — even Hideo Kojima offered some words of encouragement on his blog.  Long story short, Kojima asks that we continue to pray and think of those effected by the quake.  He encourages Japan to continue to do their best and stay together for the sake of the future generation of the country.

At the bottom of the post you may notice a number of downloadable Twitter icons displaying hopeful kanji characters such as “hope”, “dream”, “courage”, etc.  There is also an image of Ken from Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner drawn by Nobuyoshi Nishimura:

“Everyone, let’s do out best together!”

Finally, he leaves us with a quote from Solid Snake at the end of Metal Gear Solid:

“Spring brings new life to everything. It’s a time for hope.”

Let’s hope Snake is right.

A hiring call has gone out on Konami’s website looking for talented individuals to get to work on “the next generation of the Metal Gear Solid series.”  The positions available include planner, level designer, scripter, graphics designer and many others.

There are no details about what platform the game will be for, but the required skills are… daunting, and include experience programming with XBox 360, PS3, and PC.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that that we can expect the new title to be for one of these platforms, but it is worth noting.  There are also a number of positions that require experience with multiplayer titles.

Since this project is only in the hiring stages we would be lucky to hear about anything this year, but as a huge fan of Metal Gear Soild, I am naturally excited to see what this project may be. At this point, all I can do is speculate and keep a close eye on the goings-on of Kojima-san and his crew.

During E3 I was so busy running around, I had blinders on when it came to any other coverage.  This wasn’t so much out of laziness, but necessity — the last thing I needed was another distraction.  Now that I am back home and things are starting to settle down, I am picking up the pieces and putting them together to put the whole event in perspective.

One title which I did not cover yet but am really excited for is Metal Gear Solid: Rising.  I may have not gotten a chance to cover this as I did attended neither Microsoft’s nor Konami’s press events.  On the off-chance that you did not see the trailer, here it is:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This definitely wins my best trailer of E3 award.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising

The game is not being directed by Hideo Kojima as with past titles, rather Mineshi Kimura has assumed this role.  Kimura had been a texture and background artist for the past Metal Gear Solid titles, but Kojima has apparently entrusted this project mostly to him.  Kojima of course will have some control as he is the overall producer.

The change in direction is rather apparent in the game’s gameplay which looks nothing like swordplay from Metal Gear Solid 2.  This is probably for the best, as that system was a bit clunky.  The game’s aesthetic also looks darker and even a bit anime-ish, what with Raiden’s red eye-twinkle and all.

The system mentioned in the trailer is “zan-datsu”, which nicely translates to “cut and take” — more like “behead and rob”, but whatever.  As the video shows, Raiden can take certain items from felled mechanized units which restores health and ammo.  When it comes to cutting, action is slowed considerably allowing the player to select the direction they wish to cut.  In addition to androids and unfortunate PMCs, the terrain also appears very destroyable, which is an awesome feature rarely executed properly.

Story-wise, as I had anticipated, Rising will chronicle Jack’s transformation into the cold android-warrior we saw in Metal Gear Solid 4.  This was a dramatic change going from the second installment in the series so I am very interested to learn what happened.

Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D: The Naked Sample

A new Metal Gear Solid project was announced at E3 – Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D: The Naked Sample. It appears to be a port of Snake Eater to the 3Ds. When I saw the trailer for it at E3, the 3D effects enhanced the environment dramatically.  Some examples were when Snake was climbing up a crazy tall ladder, or the infamous final battle with The Boss:

The graphics actually look like a step up from Playstation 2, or maybe they are just a step sideways.  Either way I am excited but wonder about the controls… I have never played any form of shooter on the DS, nor recall any being released.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

One upset for some (even though it was announced beforehand) was that Final Fantasy Versus XIII was not mentioned at E3.  I admit, part of me hoped that Square Enix would surprise everyone — that obviously wasn’t the case.

Recently however it was announced that Versus will appear at Tokyo Game Show 2010.  With this announcement a few details about the game came up in a leaded dengeki interview with Tetsuya Nomura.

Most exciting to me was that the developers are going for an open-world experience.  There are massive environments that can be explored such as a forest, a city and other terrains — all connected by roads.  These roads aren’t just for looks it would seem, as the player can explore the world via car but can still get out and explore on foot whenever they want.  This already has me quite excited — the idea of an open-world RPG on a Final Fantasy scale would be truly groundbreaking.

Tell me this doesn’t look like Fallout 3, but with style:

In addition to this, it was revealed that battles are seamless, with encounters occurring both by running into visible enemies and randomly.  Nomura stated that the quality of battles will be “very high”.  This screen shot shows a battle with a Behemoth:

I can’t really claim to know what’s going on in this screen, but it does look very different.  I can’t wait to hear more about this game — too bad I am sure both the JP and US release are a ways off.

I may try to make more catch-up posts as I become aware of more E3 stuff I missed, or maybe not.  For now, this is some huge news from two franchises that I really love, thus very newsworthy!

War is a common foundation for fictional works, spanning a number of media.  Everyone loves a little life and death struggle and what is more recognizable to the masses than war?  The genre has certainly made its mark on the video game industry, defining an ever growing number of titles.  Recently I discovered a glaring divide in how war is depicted in games developed in the West and the East.

When looking at Western games depicting war, the largest exporter is easily America.  Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and other such patriotic sounding titles lead the pack, at least in popularity.  I even consider sci-fi war games such as Gears of War to offer some insight for my purposes, since they too reflect somewhat on war mentality.

Name that World War II game!

A trend many complain about is the visual monotony of enemies in such games.  They often wear masks or bear features that are ambiguous enough to replicate throughout the entire course of a game.  Another, more important source of repetition comes from who the enemy is.  They nearly always fall into these three categories:

• Terrorists
• Aliens
• Foreigners (generally this would be true for Cold War, World War, and World War II games.  It’s important to note that these are foreigners of countries that actually exist, not of fictional worlds or countries.)

You may notice here that the definition of an enemy is very clear: you are white and they are black.  The difference is both inherent and perceivable.  Aliens are repulsive with claws and dripping tentacles, terrorists and foreigners usually dress differently and have annoying accents.

When it comes to reasons for fighting your enemy, again this can be clearly derived from who they are with little to no thought.  Terrorists inflict terror and thus must be stopped.  We all know what the German army of 1939 did and why they need to be stopped.  Surprisingly I often find the most creativity goes into fighting aliens, however this is usually boiled down to us being invaded.  Hey, it’s better than nothing.

Sci-Fi war games may be as creative as it gets

Now let’s start to compare these themes to the Eastern game industry, primarily Japanese titles depicting war.  Before beginning I should note that Japan has published far less titles in the genre.  Considering Japan was one of the key countries involved in World War II, one would think they would have developed more titles in the ever growing list of World War II games.

A series that frequently explores the definition of what an enemy is Metal Gear Solid.  Here the lines are blurred as people and countries double-cross one another on a massive scale.  By the end of most Metal Gear Solid titles, it’s clear that nearly everyone profits from war but the soldier, regardless of the side they are fighting on.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Speaking of profit, the 4^th installment in the Metal Gear Solid Series does a great job depicting how much of a role money plays in modern warfare.  The overwhelming abundance of PMCs, or private military companies on both sides of the conflicts show a world and a war very much driven by money rather than ideals.  If you scoff at the thought that PMCs will ever be a reality, you have scoffed too late.

Another Japanese title that focuses on war is Valkyria Chronicles.  This game is set in a fictional world with warring sides.  Unlike any Western title that I am aware of, Valkyria Chronicles does a great job humanizing the enemy.  The first example that comes to mind is when the game’s protagonists attempt to save a wounded member of the opposing forces (here at 8:13).  They are unable to do so, and the following video shows their reasoning when questioned by the enemy (2:00 on):

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you can see, despite the fact that the protagonists are enmeshed in a heated war, they still don’t lose sight of the fact that their enemy is not a faceless terror, but like them: human beings.  The game further explores the enemy with DLC, putting the player in the shoes of the enemy and one of their key officials, showing a side of her one would not expect from an enemy.

So to summarize, here is how each country spins the player’s role in war-themed games:

• America: You always assume the role of the party who is doing the “right thing” in whatever conflict.  You have no reason to question this since everything is extraordinarily simple, and often based on history.  The goal is victory, which is of course defined as  defeating your enemy who is different and “wrong”.
• Japan: You assume the role of one side of a conflict, but consideration is generally taken for other side when possible.  War is confusing: definitions become blurred and the duality of winning and losing, right and wrong, us and them, all fall away.  Meanwhile money and power are the overriding forces, often at the expense of the soldier.

Now in your opinion, which country or region is better representing what war is?  Is it the country with no standing military, or is it the one who has probably been in at least two wars in your lifetime?

I don’t mean to get up on a pedestal and start declaring propaganda or brain washing – or that you should avoid Western war games entirely.  I simply believe that such an increasingly popular medium should attempt to more closely represent that which it is based on.  Continuing to portray  war in such a simple and immature way may have an adverse effect on a player’s sense of reality and will surely make the genre – and even the entire games industry – look foolish and unworthy of being considered an important form of media.

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Square Enix and Metal Gear Solid — I guess it was only a matter of time until the two giants met in some way. Thankfully, rather than some video game abomination, their union comes in the form of an impressive action figure inspired by the upcoming PSP title, Peace Walker.

The figure of Snake/Big Boss features similar joint construction seen in the Play-Arts line of Final Fantasy XIII figures, but there is less flesh coloring, so it looks more natural.  A number of fabric accents on the outfit also serve to give another dimension to Snake’s sneaking suit. Judging by the photos of the figure, it appears to include both a shield and a silenced pistol.

The figures should be available late June or July depending on what site you’re looking at.  Both AmiAmi and KidNemo have the figures available for pre-order.  AmiAmi of course has the more competative price (~$40 USD), but more expensive shipping.  I mainly mention them on the off chance anyone plans to buy other figures from them, in which case group shipping may be the most cost-effective option.  KidNemo has the figure for a bit more ($54.99 USD), but their shipping is much more reasonable within the states.

Personally, I think this is the most impressive Metal Gear figure to date, with not much in the way of competition.  If you’re a fan, you should probably sell off all the lame Snake figures you have and upgrade.

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I realize some of you may have suffered mild sticker-shock from the two Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker bundles I posted about last week.  I can completely understand not being able to slap down $3-400 in these difficult times.  Well, I think I may have found a happy medium: Hori’s accessory set themed after the game.

Included in the set is the following:

• MGSPW PSP pouch (holds two UMDs)
• MILITAIRES SANS FRONTIERES face cover (compatible with 2000 and 3000 series)
• Dog tag screen cleaner strap
• Decal sheet

This bundle costs a mere 2,680 yen, which would be around $30 USD.  It’s already available on Play-Asia for pre-order for $34.90 which is a tad inflated, but not too bad considering.

I really like this pouch and prefer it to both of the ones included in the more expensive sets.  If I didn’t already have a case, I would definitely grab this bundle.  I can vouch for the quality of Hori cases since I have had mine since the 2000 series launched and it’s still going strong.

I am not too crazy about the face cover since those things remind me of a dumpster lid, but if that’s your thing then there you go.

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Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker PSP Bundles Announced

The Japanese release of Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is about two months away so it’s time to start baiting fans with some bundles, that’s right plural: bundles.   The first bundle (pictured above) is the Konamistyle version, aka the more expensive version.  Included in the set is the following:

• MGSPW Themed PSP-3000XZC System
• Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker UMD
• Snake-skin PSP pouch and strap
• MGSPW Stand complete with engraved serial number
• Camouflage screen cleaner (no one will see you wiping)
• MGSPW Dogtag keychain with serial number
• Artbook (no picture available)
• MILITAIRES SANS FRONTIERES patch

The cost for this fine collection of battle-ready accessories is 36,980 yen, which converts to a staggering $400 USD.  Is there anything more “modestly-priced” you ask?  I have just the thing for you:

The second bundle is not Konamistyle, but is certainly for the more money-conscious consumer.  Included in this set is the following:

• MGSPW Themed PSP-3000XZC System
• Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker UMD
• Camouflage screen cleaner (no one will see you wiping)
• MGSPW Cloth Pouch and strap
• MILITAIRES SANS FRONTIERES patch

This set will run you 26,980 yen, or $300 USD — that’s still about $100 more than the average PSP bundled with a game, but I am sure hardcore fans of the series are already blinded by all that facial hair and camouflage to care about a measly $100.

If you plan on importing Peace Walker, it’s likely these sets will be on Play-Asia or etc. in the near future.  If money is no object and you want to purchase the konamistyle version, act fast since there are only 1,974 of them being made (that’s also the year the game takes place, durp!).  I sure do want this, but I am not even going to pretend I have that kind of money.

I finally got around to completing the demo of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker the other day.  It took longer than I had anticipated since it was kinda tough, and I’ve been busy and all.

The controls were the first hurdle to overcome, but ultimately I settled on the action-based scheme as opposed to the FPS style.  With a few alterations to aiming I was pretty comfortable with the controls.  They are rather similar to Monster Hunter Freedom Unite meaning you move your character with the analog stick and change view with the d-pad.  Holding R1 brings the screen into an over-the-shoulder aiming mode which can be set for auto-aim.  I left this option off since it goes for body shots instead of head shots.

Some changes have been made to the classic system which I have mixed feelings about.  For starters, it appears that Snake can no longer crawl.  It’s possible to lie down by holding X which makes Snake less visible, but while he’s doing this he cannot do anything else.  You cannot crawl or fire a weapon from this position.  I saw at least two trucks in the demo and both times my natural MGS instinct was to crawl under them, but they are built right into the ground!  This feels like a step backwards.

“After being betrayed by America… I will never crawl again.”

On the plus side, that is my only substantial complaint.  Another change I noticed, which makes the game a bit more interesting is that enemies now have different armor levels.  Not every enemy will die from just a few bullets.  On several occasions when trying to tranquilize enemies by shooting them in the head with my MK.22, the pistol simply knocked off their helmet, alerting the enemy to my presence.  I am not sure if it’s because of the size of the round (a .22 is rather small) or if my aim was off, but after that I changed my strategy to shoot-to-kill which resulted in less alarm phases.  I appreciate the realism of this change which really contrasts not being able to crawl.  Yeah, I am still bitter.

Other updates include a more advanced CQC system allowing multiple foes to be dispatched at once.  I did have a lot of fun with this, but for whatever reason I could only execute it in the tutorial in the beginning of the demo and not the heat of combat.  Perhaps I just need a bit more practice.

CQC in a refreshing rainstorm

Since the game has a multi-player option, changing equipment no longer pauses action, meaning you need fast fingers when in alert mode or when facing a boss.  Luckily I feel I got used to the controls pretty quickly so this only really got me in trouble once or twice.  Still, I can imagine some people getting frustrated by this.

I managed to blow through the demo without teaming up with anyone.  I am pretty confident I will be playing this whole game solo, at least for the first play-through since the story is paramount.  Still, the new multi-player features are really cool.  Possibly my favorite element is the “co-op ring”.  When two or more players are in close proximity their rings will form one large ring.  While inside, the allies will share HP and have immediate access to each other items.  This is possibly the greatest and least cumbersome way of swapping items I have ever seen in a game.

When it comes to the story, the demo really doesn’t offer much, which I found surprising.  There is a simple cut-scene showing Snake being approached by some folks from Costa Rica a tad concerned with the goings-on inside their military-less country.  They want Snake’s help in getting them out, and he’s all like “I’m not a dog of war, blah blah.”

I do like the unique comic-book style used for the game’s cut-scenes.  It really creates a sense of cohesion with the character designs used throughout the series.  I just hope it will be able to maintain the level of maturity I love from the series, when necessary.

Paz being introduced in the cutscene from the demo

All in all I enjoyed the demo.  Once you get used to the controls you’ll really have a lot to do… aside from crawling.  Sorry, I am just deeply disturbed by the omission of such a key part of MGS games.  I really need to move on…

I look forward to Peace Walker’s May 25th release date, as well as hopefully getting some multiplayer under my belt!

The official website for Personal 3 Portable updates very regularly, but I usually don’t have time to stay up to date on its shenanigans.  By shenanigans I mean crazy time specific secret-moon-links.  Luckily xComp over at Randomness (formally Yuuenchi) figured out a secret link which produced the above wallpaper.

It features both protagonists in their winter/fall leisure clothes.  The female protagonist is in the foreground and her brighter colors really contrast the male’s more earthy tones.

I have this set as my wallpaper at work and I am digging it.  It’s been a while since I had a new wallpaper I liked.

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Cloud Strife Eau Du Toilette

Do you find yourself less than popular with the opposite sex?  Well Square Enix, your digital wingman, has your back.  A new eau du toillette for men and women themed after Cloud Strife, the conflicted protagonist of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has gone on sale.  Instant attraction will cost you a mere 6,800 yen or around $75 USD.

In case you’re wondering what Cloud smells like, since I assume most of you have never had the pleasure of inhaling deeply from his spiky hair, here are a few odors that make up this protagonist musk:

• Top: mandarin, lemon, leafy greens, aqua, melon, peach, apricot
• Middle: lily of the valley, jasmine, rose, freesia, carnation, violet
• Last: cedar wood, sandalwood, amber, musk, vanilla, oak

Wow, Cloud smells fucking delicious.

I am not sure why the scents are arranged by top, middle, last.  I assume I just don’t know crap about perfumes or colognes, which may mean I am in desperate need of one.

Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy: The Fan-Made Movie

I am not sure how I missed this one, it probably got washed away in the flood of Tokyo Game Show news. A film made by a few Italian Metal Gear Solid fans became available online September 27th.  It can be both viewed or downloaded here.  Apparently these guys started working on it after playing Metal Gear Solid 2:  Sons of Liberty and just finished it this March.  They spent nearly $14,000 USD of their own scratch to bring their beloved baby to fruition.

Without having seen this film (I am at work, OK) I applaud these guys for their work.  They took what Hollywood undoubtedly would (or probably will) butcher and made it from the heart!  I can only image the meeting concerning a profit driven MGS film: “Wait, so there are robots and explosions in it?  Hell, anyone can make this movie!  Let’s hire Micheal Bay and just splice together scenes from both Transformers movies!”

I guess I believe that a Hollywood version would set the deep, profound story of the series to the side to focus on the robots, sex, and explosions.  Prove me wrong internet, prove me wrong.

Anyway, I plan on sitting down and watching this in its entirety this weekend.  No spoilers please.