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Arcade gaming as you are well aware is defiantly one of my favorite pass times,mainly shooting things with a plastic gun, or beating up people with a joystick and some buttons keeps me happy untill the pound coins run out.

So when I first heard about Metal Gear arcade, I only assumed it would be something along the lines of,  point a plastic gun at the screen and shoot. Much like the Silent Hill arcade outing. In some respects I was right on the button with that idea, in others though, this arcade cabinet is probably going to be somewhat revolutionary.

Online gaming has taken the gaming world by storm in recent years, Xbox LIVE being one of the main culprits in this internet uprising. But, having an arcade game plug into an online enviroment where most of the people you meet/kill are other players. That sounds pretty ambitious to me, but then again, the Japanese love their technology and their ideas.

Image From IGN.com

With all this in mind Metal Gear Arcade sounds pretty interesting. It is  an online gaming experience where the player is sat down in front of a cabinet with 5.1 surround sound, armed with a plastic gun aiming crazily at a screen shooting things. Sounds pretty standard really, untill I mention the fact that it has full 3D visuals and head tracking controls. Meaning when your head moves the screen moves, making the whole FPS feel of this title, just that bit more authentic.

So what are we looking at gameplay wise? Well once in the metal gear arcade cab, you will take part in a sixteen player combat game, which will be against both human and CPU controlled opponents. But that’s not all, there will also be a mission mode for arcade gamers to select, they can either take part in this mode alone or co-op with a friend.

Weather this game will be your classic stealthy Metal Gear affair, I cannot tell you, but this cabinet is fully integrated with Metal Gear Online. Which can only mean that it is fully integrated with the PS3 game that you got with Metal Gear Solid 4.

Image From IGN.com

This game has been a long time in the making, Originally due for release some time back in 2009, the game was assumed dead when it didn’t reach that release. But I can assure you, it is very much alive, with its recent appearance at the AOU Expo this past month, it is now only a matter of time for this gem to be released in arcades all over Japan.

Then us guys in the EU will probably have to wait a year or two…….awesome.

Garv