PlayStation Vita

Easily the biggest news Sony had to offer was a new piece of hardware – the PS Vita – spiritual successor to the PSP, although different in a lot more ways than just power. Featuring a 5″ OLED screen with touch capability, a rear touchpad, front and rear cameras, gyroscopic controls, microphone and dual analog sticks, the handheld seems to incorporate all of the current expectations and gimmicks of modern gaming plus more, aside from the 3D functionality the Nintendo 3DS provides.

Apparently with a whopping 80 games already lined up, the Vita will be host to many popular franchises, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, BioShock, Street Fighter X Tekken and more – also featuring Trophy support for it’s titles. While the Vita boasts a lot of features, Sony shocked E3 by announcing that the console will be released at a relatively low price – $249 (or $299 for a 3G connectivity enabled version). At this cost, with such a strong lineup, the PSV could easily be seen as a strong competitor for the 3DS.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Easily one of Sony’s biggest console exclusives, fans were happy to get a glimpse of what’s to come in the next installment of Uncharted. Based largely in the desert, the game’s levels will apparently feel a lot more open than in the game’s predecessors. New features include improved melee combat, cleverer AI and expanded co-op/multiplayer modes.

While the gameplay looks to be more of the same (which is no bad thing), the footage has been quite impressive. With top-notch visuals as always, gameplay has shown Drake fighting his way through a pirate-controlled cruise ship on rocky ocean waves – engaging in stealth kills and fistfights while the sea-sickness inducing environment rocks back and forth – with a rupture in the ships hull then leaking water into the vessel, forcing Drake to swim and climb through a sinking ship. It looks to be shaping into a worthy sequel to the highly acclaimed series.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

While perhaps unexpected, the announcement of Sly 4 has brought a smile to many a gamer’s face. Sucker Punch studios have recently released the anticipated title InFamous 2, and have announced their return to the Sly Cooper series - and first title for the PlayStation 3 – Thieves in Time.

In a generation that’s largely saturated with shooters and realistic titles, it will surely be a breath of fresh air to see a new third-person platformer – especially as my wishes for a Jak & Daxter PS3 title have been left unfulfilled!

God of War: Origins Collection 

Originally released on the PSP, God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta were excellent handheld titles, managing to live up well to the quality of the home-console entries in the series. Good enough, in fact, that Sony have decided to re-release the two titles on one disc for PlayStation 3 – in HD.

The games will in no means be up there in terms of graphics with the amazing God of War III, or even those of God of War I & II HD – yet will of course be a step up from the handheld counterparts. The demos have had mixed reviews – while many parts have been improved, the titles are apparently a little jarring at times, as the HD treatment has been fairly obvious, and some of the cut scenes are still displayed in PSP quality. Hopefully we’ll see some of these issues worked on - especially for those who don’t own PSP consoles, as both titles were great entries on their original medium.

Konami HD Collections 

More re-releases have been planned for PS3 in the forms of HD collections, but perhaps the most exciting are coming from Konami - or more specifically, the works of a certain Hideo Kojima – in the form of Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders HD Collections.

The Metal Gear Solid collection will incorporate Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2), and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP), while the Zone of the Enders disc will contain both ZOE1 and ZOE2 – all upgraded to HD with additional trophy support.

Not only is this great news for fans of the series’, both collections will be coming to Xbox 360 for the first time, allowing for the series to expand to new audiences, and no doubt prepare many for the already multiplatform-confirmed Rising. No news on Rising yet – although Kojima promised more news next year, with a planned 2012 release.

Kojima also announced a new system, labelled ‘Transfarring’. The concept – to allow players to play games that are interchangeable between home consoles and handheld ones – to allow them to continue their existing PS3 saves while on the move. Kojima suggested that both HD collections would be compatible with Transfarring, although it’s unclear whether this feature is going to be focused on the PSP (Peace Walker’s original format), or rather the new Vita that would seem the more obvious choice.

All in all, Sony’s future is looking stable. With a new handheld device at a decent price, some strong sequels and a few re-releases, it seems that the PlayStation is keeping itself up to par with its rivals for the next year.

- Leon

On the record, most movie adaptations of video games end up failing embarrassingly. They’re critically slated, or are hated by fans of the game who’ve been betrayed by a company that doesn’t want to adhere too much to the source material, but like seemingly every business ever, just want to make a lot of money. Here are some upcoming movies of games, in no particular order, which are probably doomed to fail. Interestingly, between the time I originally wrote this article, and now, I also managed to get my hands on some of the scripts, and so I’ll be providing you with some choice segments of said scripts.

The Sims

The Sims doesn’t need much introduction. It’s a life simulator game by Will Wright, in which you guide around Sims and make them live the life you’re not living because you’re sitting at a computer looking after little virtual people more than yourself. Until you get bored and remove the stairs to the swimming pool.

The Sims Movie is in pre-production, and from the information I can gather, it’s a Live Action Drama Film.

What They Should Do:

Firstly, making a “Drama” film out of a game where your biggest drama is running to the toilet before pissing yourself is probably ill-thought. There are two prevailing ideas at work. One is what they could do, and one is what they should do.

What they could do, if they’re truly serious about making it a “Drama”, is take a leaf out of “The Truman Show”. And by a leaf, I mean, pretty much rip off “The Truman Show”. They could however, use it to a very interesting angle, and use it as a harrowing insight into the minds and lives of people who are at the mercy of a benevolent power they don’t know or understand. People forced to cheat, lie, and kill against their will. People whose lives fall apart because of an evil entity who’ll never care for them. Maybe it’d win a bunch of Oscars or something.

Alternatively, my friend Nathan says on this subject:

“Maybe turning the Sims into a completely different concept, like an interactive movie where each of the people in the audience is assigned a character, and they can do whatever they want with it, like those choose-your-own-adventure books, and your choices determine the outcome, and finally, determines the ending”

Give him a £1 million instead.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

I honestly don’t know. If they’re serious about making it a Drama film, I honestly don’t know how or why they’d ever make it, unless it was pretty much just the Truman show.

Script Extract:

Simone runs towards the toilet in a panic, sweat dripping off her face. As she reaches the bathroom, the suspenseful music begins to play. The music gets louder as she locks the door and makes her way towards the toilet. She begins to sit down, and the toilet suddenly disappears underneath her. The music reaches crescendo as she begins to cry in embarrassment as she wets herself all over the bathroom floor.

Cut to Simette and Simba are swimming in their new swimming pool.

Simba (In Simlish, English Subtitles Provided): Well, I feel the oddly compulsive need to eat. What do you say we have a barbeque?

Simette: Si-si-simba…

Simba: Yes?

Simette (Screaming): The stairs to the pool are gone!

They both scream in horror as the music swells.

Simba: Wait, we should only have several hours to live! That’ll be fine unless…

The Barbeque sets the house on fire.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

Like Big Brother, but people die.

Pac Man

Seriously. A Pac Man movie. Again, the only information about this I could get is that it’s combining Live Action and Special Effects.

Guys, everyone knows what Pac Man is. This isn’t like most other movies of games, where those blissfully unaware of the source material won’t know better. Anyone who thinks making a Pac Man movie Live Action is a good idea is probably an evil genius who is hell bent on destroying the world of videogames with crappy movies.

I'm watching you, Uwe...

What They Should Do:

Simply, don’t make it. I can’t make that statement funny. I think it’d actually be a better use of time and money to simply buy every person in the world a copy of Pac Man who doesn’t already own a copy.

That, or simply do “King of Kong”, but replace Donkey Kong with Pac Man.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

Depressingly, it’s probably going to be made by the only people in the world who haven’t ever played Pac Man, except that one guy on the crew who played it a few times who they only keep on the team so they can say “Yeah, people on the crew have played Pac Man, so it’s gonna be close to the source material”, and the only things they know about the game is that the guy is yellow, he eats glowing pills to eat ghosts, and there’s some fruit.

Then they’ll remake Ghostbusters, but paint the protagonist yellow.

Script Extract:

Our hero is running through some dark corridors. The camera does that annoying shaky thing so you’re made to believe it’s from the protagonist’s perspective. He trips, and as he turns around, a ghost (who for accuracy, will be a man wearing an orange sheet) slowly moves up towards him.

Clyde: Well, well, well… If it isn’t Pequenos Arigato Chuck… It looks like you’ve finally met your match. You may have killed Inky, Blinky and Pinky, but now, you’re cornered, and while my comrades may eventually come back, there’s no return for you, my friend…

While Clyde is talking, the camera pans to Pequenos, who slowly picks up a round, flashing pill as big as his hand. He begins to eat it as Clyde turns around, and the camera pans back to him.

Clyde: (Cont) So, Pequenos Arigato Chuck, do you have any last words?

Clyde is eaten whole, by a glowing, flashing Pequenos.

Pequenos: Call Me P.A.C… Man…

Everyone in the cinema collectively groans and asks for their money back.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

A fat guy in a yellow shirt travels around 255 identical mazes, obsessively eating everything in sight, while avoiding the ghosts of people he’s eaten, until he finds magic flashing weight loss pills that allow him to eat ghosts.

Metal Gear Solid

Bear with me on this one. The Metal Gear Solid series is probably one of the first that people will think of when they think of what could be applied to Cinema and succeed. Especially when the games themselves are so cinematic. Plus, I think Hideo Kojima’s heavily involved with it as well, so it’s not like it’s going to be poorly written or made. The guy knows what he’s doing… Doesn’t he?

After all, he’s an amazing writer, he created the damn series, he won’t give it to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, and he’ll put enough work into it to make it work.

The problem I have with this film is that simply put, the Metal Gear Solid stories are amazing… but over the course of a game. I don’t think it’d make an amazing movie, especially because the epic stories are just that. It’d water down the impact, I feel, if they condensed it into a short film.

Also, David Hayter, the voice actor for Snake in the series, has had his adaptation of the film passed over, and it’s unlikely he’ll be a part of the film.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

It’s probably going to be an interesting take on the Metal Gear Solid franchise, but it’ll be too short and too condensed to tell a truly epic tale, the effects and performances won’t seem as powerful as in the game, and while it’ll probably be quite good, or well made, just won’t have the impact of the games, and seem too watered down.

Script Extract:

I had to get a friend to translate the script from Japanese, but he assures me the following is an honest script extract, and I have no reason to disagree:

Solid Snake: Well, Otacon, what seems to be the situation here?

Otacon: I’m a scientist! I come up with inventions and giant nuclear robots for peace!

Raiden: I’m a pretty ballerina!

Hideo Kojima: I’m messing with all your minds! Everything I say is a postmodern attack against the way I view the world!

Liquid Snake: BRROOOOOTHEEERRRRRRR

Ocelot: I never really was on your side!

Then the translation trails off into dick jokes and constant laughter at my expense.

…Yup.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

It’d be longer than the Extended Version of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, with a complete destruction of the 4th wall, a lot more confusion, twists and turns, with none of the resolution.

What Should Happen:

Everyone working on the film will all realise that they’ve already made a Metal Gear Solid Movie…

Yeah, I pretty much only put MGS in this list to make a bad joke about a game I haven't played yet. I'm a terrible person.

(Though, since writing this originally, I have since started playing through. The point still remains. As well as this, rumours are abound that talks for the movie have fallen through, meaning that it probably won’t be made for a while, if at all).

Need For Speed

Apparently, the Need for Speed series of racing games, which for a long while, were basically Street Racers (and I think they still are), has also got itself a motion picture coming out eventually.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

They could pretty much rip a story straight out of their games, but there’s really one of two they could do. Either have it based off a spunky young street racer with everything to prove, as he attempts to become top dog in the land of street racing. Or, an undercover cop trying to uncover the leader of a street racing syndicate and…

Oh right, that.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

Literally just any of the Fast And Furious movies, with everyone trying desperately to appeal to the teenaged, chavvy demographic.

Script Extract:

The oddest thing happened when I discovered the script for the Need for Speed movie: It’s exactly like the script for the Fast and Furious movies, but with some of the names changed. See for yourself:
Din Viesel is talking to Maul Palker, they are standing by some totally pimp cars, which are totally pimp.

Din Viesel: You’re not an undercover cop, trying to catch me and several of my friends for illegally street racing, are you? Because if you happened to be an undercover cop, trying to catch me and several of my friends for illegally street racing, then me and several of my friends who illegally street race will kill you, and then continue to illegally street race, illegally.

Maul Palker: Nope. I am not an undercover cop, trying to catch you and several of your friends for illegally street racing. I am simply a man who wishes to join you and several of your friends who street race, which I should clarify, is highly illegal.

Din Viesel: I believe you. Let’s illegally street race in a way which glorifies this totally awesome yet illegal endeavour!

Maul Palker: I sure do have a NEED FOR SPEED!

They step in their totally pimp cars, and drive in an illegal street race in a way which glorifies this totally awesome, yet illegal endeavour. Chavs and idiots around the world put spoilers on their cheap cars in a bid to look cool. This fails to make their cars look any cooler or faster.

What Should Happen:

Just realise that the Fast and the Furious franchise got there before them. In fact, wasn’t the change to Street Racing style in Need for Speed games directly caused by the success of the Fast and Furious franchise? Basically, it’s going to be a film of a game that is heavily based off another film. If anyone else tried to do make a film of a game that was heavily based off another film or book, that’d be crazy, surely?

Okay, seriously? EA, we need to have words.

(This joke magically became 3 times funnier and more awesome when it was revealed that not only would EA release Dante’s Inferno: The Book based on the Game based on the Book, but would release a Movie based on the Book based on the Game based on the Book. Not only did I predict it months before it was revealed, but I’ve now heavily confused you, too. Moving on, though )

Asteroids:

In comparison, a live action Pac Man almost seems like a reasonable idea.

It’s even more mind boggling when you consider that 4 movie companies were in a bidding war to secure the rights for this film. That’s right. Companies bid millions of dollars to secure the rights to a game that wasn’t even 8 kilobytes in size. In comparison, some modern games can fill up a blu-ray disc 25 gigabytes in size. It’s simply mind boggling how far games have come in that regard, and also mind boggling how Universal Studios can make a movie out of a game where you, a triangle, shoot some verrrry slowly moving shapes that kind of resemble asteroids, in what is probably a shapeism-related mass murder.

You shapeist!

If It’s Anything Like The Source Material:

A small triangle will float in space, taking his shape-hating prejudice out on a bunch of asteroids that probably did nothing to him. Or, bullied him in shape school. Except it to be long, boring, and ending with the triangle losing as he realises he should give those damn asteroids a chance!… Right as they destroy him.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

They’ll probably just make another Deep Impact or Armageddon, but somehow try to relate it to the game. Seriously, the game has no story to it whatsoever, so trying to give it one is more pointless than trying to justify Scientology as a real religion.

Script Extract

A green triangle floats around in a large empty space, occupied only by itself and several large asteroids.

Triangle: I’ll show those darn Asteroids what for!

He fires a single shot at a nearby Asteroid. It explodes into three, smaller, faster parts.

Triangle: Oh, fu-

The Triangle is destroyed by one of the Asteroids.

Nothing else happens. The Audience puts in another coin and watches again.

What They Should Do:

Gamelife do this far better than I actually could. It’d just be best if you read that.

And that’s all for now! Hope you enjoyed reading

<3 Edward

As last year was such an uprising for casual gaming I believe this year sees the retaliation of the less mainstream game, or the ‘hardcore’ game if you would prefer *shudders*. Underground gaming is preparing a unstoppable legion.

Gamers of the world! I give to you, the warriors of 2010!

Bayonetta – January 8th

The game that has been given 10 out of 10 by Edge magazine, and 40 out of 40 from Famitsu magazine. Hack and slash fans better get ready for this title as the mind behind Devil Ma Cry has teamed up with gaming giants Sega to bring you this new game which stars a witch, who has magic hair. Yes I know it sounds a little barmy but believe me when I say this game is the pinnacle of hack and slash game play. It has the stupidly difficult enemies, the interesting array of moves and combos and I a pretty damn sure its gonna have a whole host of weapons and items for all you crazy combo-ing, button mashing mad gamers out there. Expect to see the official review up on the site soon!

Bioshock 2 – Febuary 9th

The ill-fated splicers make a welcome return in 2010 as we take a second voyage down to the murky depths. Rapture sees us take on a new role as the first ever Big Daddy prototype - meaning we can walk underwater, have that awesome big drill that many of us suffered a gruesome death from, and have a small child on your shoulder who loves the sight of dead bodies. Not only that, you get to use your plasmids and weapon upgrades which we have all come accustomed to. There is also a brand new enemy afoot; one of the saved little sisters from the first game thought land was boring - so went back to Rapture, adorned a sleek-looking big daddy suit and now is hording all the little sisters and running amuck. Its time for big daddy to show big sister a lesson.

Dante’s Inferno – February 12th

A worthy contender for the year of the game legion. Another hack and slash title taking place in the pits of hell! If you are on for classic literature, then this neat little title may be just for you. Following the first part of Dante’s Divine comedy, you are taken through the nine circles of hell to find your girlfriend who has unfortunately been babe-napped by Lucifer (c’mon she is hardly gonna be an ugly woman is she?) so you are led by a ghostly fellow by the name of Virgil through all nine circles of hell to battle it out with the lord of the underworld. And yes, yes you are equipped with Death’s scythe. Enjoy!

Aliens Vs Predator (AvP) – Febuary 19th

Not one campaign, not even two campaigns - this game has a whopping three campaign modes in one unique little disc. From Sega and Rebellion, the next Aliens Vs Predator title is coming. You have the Aliens, The Predators and the human race battling it out for survival in this huge three-way war. You have the opportunity to play as any of these three races who all have a unique campaign story line and unique moves and skills. This all doesn’t stop with the single player campaign though, there is a massive multiplayer mode where you can become any of the three races. Hungry for more info? Check out my AvP preview at Eurogamer and my Plus XP exclusive Interview with Rebellion

 Heavy Rain – 16 feb

Fans of Fahrenheit rejoice as this title follows tha similar gameplay form. In my opinion this is a mixture of game and film. You take on the roles of four different characters and it is up to you how they play their part in the overall story, and the investigation of the Origami Killer. Each character is unique in his/her own way with inner demons to battle as the story pans out. For a more in-depth look into this quite frankly awesome title, check out the Eurogamer preview my partner in crime Leon did last at last years expo.

Final Fantasy XIII – 9th march

A role-playing game that needs no introduction really. The Final Fantasy franchise is huge, possibly the biggest gaming franchise out there with a grand total of thirteen main titles and a countless amount of spin offs. Final Fantasy XII took a different approach to gameplay with a re-hauled battle system, while Final Fantasy XIII on the other hand brings back the turn based party battle system we had come to love. It have been a massive seven years since a brand new turn based style Final Fantasy came to out home consoles and we welcome it with open arms.

God Of War III – March

The long-awaited fourth chapter in the God Of War Series will be hitting all your PS3 systems this March with updated graphics, a few QTE tweaks and all the blood, gore and Greek mythology we have come to love with this franchise. Kratos is back and angry as ever. Hack and slash fans will be right at home here as well as new comers to the genre. Will this title make Game Of 2010? Lets ask Leon with his preview of the game at Eurogamer

MGS Rising – TBA

Solid Snake maybe a sweet memory, but Raiden is still very much alive and kicking. This will be the first MGS title to make its way onto our Xbox 360 consoles. It sounds as though this title will be going down a slightly different genre route too. More slashy-killy than sneaky-shooty. Will this be gaming gold or a step in the wrong direction? Gaming public, I give to you. The 2010 gaming army Wild Card.

Super Street Fighter IV – TBA Q2/Q3 2010

All you Street Fighter fans out there were pretty impressed and happy with the release of Street Fighter IV last year. Hell, I was, so is it a wise idea to bring out the same game again, a year after the first release? Well if you throw in up to eight new characters, new stages, tweaked online play and about as much new stuff as you can throw in without physically calling it Street Fighter V, then I can safely say a re-release isn’t that bad.

So thats just some of the new titles we will be facing this year, we may still get some surprise titles coming our way this year. It has been announced that the new Zelda will be hitting the Wii console before the year is out, and so will project Natal.

So to all you gamers out there, I suggest you sit back and relax because 2010 is giving us some cracking titles.

-Garvaos

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayZG-RJCUYs&hl=en&fs=1]

This to me was something special, the fight even involved Mantis reading and avoiding your every move, until you figured out the trick – to switch your controller to port 2 to block his psychic power and prevent him from doing so. Even when I recently replayed Metal Gear Solid Mantis threw me yet again – with a sudden comment that I was a fan of Castlevania – which was true in its own right, but even more eerie since my friend was playing ‘vania right next to me. I personally love when games break 4th wall, and Kojima is incredibly good at it.

Yet again, come Sons of Liberty, and Kojima was at it again. Near the end, when things start to get a bit weird, the Colonel starts speaking strangely and coming out with very odd lines… the game begins to try and trick you, looking as though the game over screen has come up with the famous words “Fission Mailed”. And then, good enough to even freak me out – the Colonel starts screaming at you to switch the console off. It probably didn’t help I did this in the middle of the night, but it sure as hell gave me the creeps.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTd_9FVupMg&hl=en&fs=1]

And to top it off, MGS4 manages to take the Mantis thing even further – with a new Mantis. But instead of simply breaking the 4th wall, the game almost taunts you to try.. see how far you get trying to switch controller ports with a PS3. The game double bluffs you into trying things, using the experiences of MGS1 to throw you completely. Clever, and highly enjoyable. And you can just imagine Kojima, sitting with a grin on his face, succeeding to baffle the audience once again.

Now this isn’t so much about his trickery, but his love for riddles and clues. And as the fans seek desperately to find what’s next to come, he enjoys to taunt us with just enough information that we see something that intrigues us further, yet tells us nothing.

You may already know what I’m talking about – Kojima’s new teaser website. Kojima has officially stated that he is now working on a new title in the Metal Gear saga, so we know this much. The site bears a simple flash animation of a torrential storm, with nothing but  countdown ticking down, constantly. Now, if you pay more attention, there’s actually more to it than you might notice at first.

Firstly, there are letters and symbols that appear in the lightning flashes – the symbols  ‘e’, ‘E’, ’3′, ‘P’, ‘R’ and something that resembles a ’5′ or an ‘S’ As always, people will take their speculation and make what they will of it. E3 perhaps? A ’5′ for ‘Metal Gear Solid 5?, but that doesn’t explain enough to really know the truth. As always, its just a matter of time. The site is slowly adding more to it – one countdown seems to run into another, but this is all we’ve seen thus far – except for one image I have yet to mention.

Yes, I know what most fans would think the second they saw this face: “Big Boss.” Sadly, the problem with Big Boss is that with so many clones we can’t actually know for sure which Snake this is – is it Big Boss? Is it Solid Snake, somehow young again? Or is it someone else entirely – Solidus, or another clone we have yet to consider? Also, Kojima stated that the symbol on his beret would have some significance. It appears to be some sort of globe, but what does it mean? Is it related to Outer Heaven? And whether it matters or not – his Beret is actually worn the opposite way round to Big Boss in MGS3. Subtle, but Kojima has mentioned that he wears something different (although the actual object stated was blanked out in the interview in question – which suggests it is in fact relevant.

On the topic of the emblem upon the beret, Kojima stated “It’s not only an emblem, but for the game, it will be a new type of system.” What does this mean? A new system? Who knows what on Earth he’s talking about. An excerpt from Famitsu’s interview can be found at the end of this article.

Leaked scans from Famitsu have revealed another, similar, image – of another character. The most common belief is that the character is Raiden – but as always theres speculation. Is this Raiden? Or perhaps someone else? It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had a new Ninja in the series (Grey Fox, Mr X, Raiden). Raiden translates in Japanese as ‘thunder and lightning’, so looking at the stormy theme of the teaser site, I believe (and personally hope) that this is a nod towards him.

Another point that I will mention is that both characters have their eyes covered. Obviously, if the first is in fact Big Boss, we already know why. But if it’s Solid? Who knows. Even more so, why does ‘Raiden’ have a bandana covering his own? Is it symbolic in some way?

On that note I will say – if it is indeed Big Boss and Raiden, it is important to point out that they currently have no relevance in the same time zone – Big Boss vanished after Zanzibar, looking considerably older than in the teaser shot, and Raiden didn’t become a Cyborg until after Sons of Liberty. So the idea that they could be in the same time period for the same game is pretty unlikely – unless theres some kind of wierd time travel or two part story.

So what does this mean? Is this Metal Gear Solid 5? Is this two titles – perhaps a PSP game and PS3 game? (Portable Ops 2 could explain Big Boss, and perhaps a PS3 Raiden game?) Who will be the lead role of whatever game this turns out to be? We can only speculate – but the one thing I am confident in is that when E3 rolls around, we can expect some big Metal Gear news.

Famitsu Interview with Kojima:

The X’s denote the blanked out words. Don’t expect to understand much, but it is an interesting read nonetheless.

Famitsu: Is the generation XXX?

Kojima: No, it’s XXX. If I were to say it all, perhaps XXXXX. I’m currently doing the game design and direction.

Famitsu: Really!

Kojima: I believe Japan will be the focus, but it will be sold throughout the world. Within me, this is XXXX. I won’t say it’s X, but I am making a proper story, and it is being made by the MGS4 staff.

Famitsu: Really! That’s amazing

Continued…

Hamamura: XXXXXXXXX’s XXXXXX?
Kojima: But, XXXXXXXXX. It’s XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
Hamamura: Ah! I get it!!
Kojima: “XXXXX XXXXX XXX”. Well, it’s not “X”, but a “X” kind of feeling. That’s him. I can’t say the title yet, but it’s this kind of feeling. But it’s the Metal Gear saga’s tradition.
Hamamura: The time period is XXX?
Kojima: No, it’s XXX. I’m saying everything, maybe XXXXX. I’m designing and directing all of this game.
Hamamura: Wha!
Kojima: I think the focus will be domestic, and we’re launching it globally. For me, this is like “XXXX”. I won’t say “X”, but a solid story has been created, and the MGS4 staff is making it.
Hamamura: Wow! That’s great.

Kojima: This time, only the image of this guy will appear. Then lighting. Just this appearing, I wan everyone to guess. This is how XX’s will be appearing.
Hamamura: This…is Big Boss?
Kojima: XX’s way of appearing is slightly different.
Hamamura: Eh? Different…?

Kojima: The emblem on this guy’s hat is important.
Hamamura: The emblem isn’t a fox. There’s like a world map thing drawn.
Kojima: It’s not only an emblem, but for the game, it will be a new type of system.
Hamamura: Is it XX-XXXXXXXXXX?
Kojima: Yes. You’ll while XXXXXXX. XXXX, etc. are a given, so they’ll be included. Ooops, I’ve said more than I was planning to. (laughs)
Hamamura: Hahahahaha! Well XXXXXX, it’s XXXXXXX? Also, where’s the game going to be set?
Kojima: The place is XXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXX happened, and it’s a XXXXX type of country. There isn’t XXXXXXXX in the country, but they do have XX like things and XXXX. At that time, XXXXXX come to where the guy is.

Kojima: The theme is XX. XXXXX kinda thing or XXX theme, or XXXXXXXXXXXX, or why is there X, that’s where we’re drawing. Maybe everyone is probably thinking, “This sermon again!” Maybe this sermon will become a genre. (laughs)
Hamamura: Ahahahaha!
Kojima: This is quite a deep interview.
Hamamura: So true!