Gamers everywhere know David Hayter as the gravelly voice behind Solid Snake. But it looks like Hayter is looking to expand his role in the Metal Gear universe. Recently, he responded to fans on the IMDB message boards with this:

As for me writing the MGS movie, tell everyone on-line to write to Matt Tolmach at Sony Pictures studios in Culver City. If enough people do this, we may be back on board.

And just like that, the fans have now delivered with an online petition. To his credit, Hayter does have experience as a screenwriter, having penned the scripts for the upcoming Watchmen film and the first two X-Men movies (or as I refer to them “the good ones”). If he can keep phrase “love can bloom on the battlefield” out of it, he’s got my vote.

Via VideoGaming247

While Metal Gear Solid 4 is definitively the final chapter of Solid Snake’s story, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be the end for Metal Gear Solid – say hello to prequels. (Again.)

In an interview with 1UP, MGS4 assistant producer Ryan Payton said there is “still a lot of room for filling in the gaps as far as Big Boss is concerned.” He added, “There are some misunderstandings that this is the final Metal Gear game. But it’s really the final chapter of the Solid Snake story. That’s all.”

That could certainly mean we see another game dive into the story of Big Boss as a prequel, just like Metal Gear Solid 3. Payton said he was glad that MGS4 wrapped up Solid Snake’s story, because had it kept going, it would have become less and less realistic — a comment I find quite amusing given the absurd events that have taken place in the MGS games.

“I’m happy we could wrap up Snake’s story in MGS4 because it gets to the point where if we continue on with Metal Gear Solid 5 with more Solid Snake adventures, we’ll get to the point where the game has absolutely no basis in reality. I do like the idea that this character has had four or five big missions and then that’s when it ended, rather than have 20 missions where there’s no chance in hell a secret agent could ever survive. He’s had four or five really big missions, and that seems a little more realistic to me.”

You can check out the full interview over at 1UP.

It’s Friday, and the 1UP Show is back. This week, the gang gets together to discuss Legendary: The Box, along with the game’s producer, John Garcia-Shelton. It’s essentially an FPS that has you fighting hordes of mythical creatures after they are unleashed from Pandora’s Box. Next up is Wheelman, based on the upcoming Vin Diesel movie, which is kind of similar to GTA, but with more emphasis on driving. They also take a look at the Metal Gear Solid 4 launch event and the Korg DS-10, which turns your Nintendo DS into a lean, mean, music-making machine. As always, you can download the show from Filefront by clicking the links below.

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It’s another good week for the PlayStation Store this week — you’ve got a sizable game in Fatal Inertia EX ($30), the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, a new course for Hot Shots Golf: Out Of Bounds ($5), new music tracks for both Rock Band and Guitar Hero III, and plenty more. There are also four new demos — a trial of Fatal Inertia EX, so you can see if the game is worth $30, as well as demos of NCAA Football 09, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, and Hail to the Chimp.

And, of course, a random assessment of other things, including some trailers for various games and movies, a theme, and a downloadable music track — the PAIN theme song. Hit the jump to check out all of the new content.

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I’m envious of everyone that’s gotten to play Metal Gear Solid 4; I’ve had the Limited Edition sitting on my desk since the game came out, but I haven’t gotten to play it yet because I refuse to jump in before I complete the first three games. I might have a way out, though, with today’s release of the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database — a free, downloadable knowledge base of all things Metal Gear that is now available on the PlayStation Store.

From PlayStation.Blog:

The MGS4 Database is a free, downloadable interactive application that contains the official knowledge base of everything that is Metal Gear, reaching all the way back to the very beginning of the franchise. Including complete storylines, character profiles, relationship diagrams, and much more! The MGS4 database is a great way to catch up for someone new to Metal Gear, as well as a useful resource for any veteran of the series, with complete official details on every aspect of the intricate Metal Gear lore.

There’s even a handy feature for people just like me who either haven’t played or haven’t completed MGS4, which will censor out any MGS4 spoilers. Could this be any more perfect?

For anyone who is playing the game, if you head into the Extras area of the main menu, you’ll find some free downloadable content, including a new camouflage and a new music track. There’s more in the works, too, so you’ll want to check in with that Extras menu often.

The first level of a game can tell you so much about what you’re in for. In classic Metroid style, it even gives you a glimpse of your ultimate powers that you’ll play through the game to actually achieve, since they’re (in)conveniently taken away from you just as you’re done getting a taste.

With the spirit of the first level in mind, 61 Frames Per Second came up with a list entitled “The Ten Greatest Opening Levels in Gaming History.” (found via MTV Multiplayer) The Tanker chapter from Metal Gear Solid 2 is on there, which is very difficult to argue with, as it’s just a phenomenal example of what Metal Gear is all about.

Likewise, Mega Man X’s Awakening Road (that would be the video above) shows off some classic Mega Man action before the franchise was literally milked to dehydration. That pesky boss brings back some bad memories though, as I have vivid memories of failing to kill it. About 300 memories vivid memories, to be more exact.

This is not your father’s Mega Man, says the opening stage of Mega Man X. Or it would, if it had a voice — but instead, it’s got a brutal snare roll leading into a heavy rock instrumental. It’s got a crumbling highway, complete with fleeing commuters (the latter of which ground the action in a more inhabited world than the NES Mega Man games ever featured.) And it ends with X almost getting scrapped by a mech-riding Boba Fett ripoff. Whatever our love for the classic Mega Man series, it never had this kind of drama

Check out the full list here.

The new Battlefield: Bad Company trailers are pretty funny, especially the one you see above poking fun at a certain tactic employed by Solid Snake. Hopefully the game itself turns out to be as funny as the ads; otherwise, that’d be mighty disappointing to see a game’s humor get outclassed by some videos.

In addition to the ‘Eye Patch’ trailer, you can find the new ‘Run Wild’ trailer right here. It’s not quite as topical and doesn’t include any special military barrels, but it’s still got me very excited to get my hands on the actual game next Wednesday.

“Why would he do that? That’s as stupid as hidin’ in a cardboard box.”

Konami has canceled launch events for its new Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots game in the wake of an attack by a knife-wielding man that went on a stabbing rampage leaving seven dead. The company cited concern for public safety as the reason for the cancellation of the Japanese launch events, one of which was to take place in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, the site of the attack.

Players control a soldier armed with a knife and various other weapons who fights his way through a multitude of enemies by killing and disabling them in a variety of missions.

In the Akihabara knife incident, a 25 year-old man allegedly drove a two-ton truck into a crowd of pedestrians and then ran through the area stabbing and slashing bystanders before being arrested.

Sales of MGS4 in Japan will go on as planned and launch events elsewhere are still on.

via vnunet.com

It’s Friday, and that of course means a new episode of The 1UP Show. This week, some conflict enters the office when some Dungeons and Dragons players try to recruit fellow nerds for some analog gaming. Then the team talks about the new Flash Map Pack for Portal which features the same maps as found in the flash version of the game. Next up is a preview of Project Origin, the sequel to the hit FPS, F.E.A.R. The game already looks creepy, and the AI can be pretty smart, it seems. Finally, there is of course a discussion about the pros and cons of the latest Metal Gear Solid game (which I’m not watching until I actually finish the game myself).

As always though, you can download the new episode using the links below.

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By now, many Metal Gear fans will have already sunk a good amount of time into Metal Gear Solid 4. The game was scored by Harry Gregson-Williams, who also scored Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, as well as movies like Shrek, Man on Fire, and Team America: World Police. (That last one gets him an instant thumbs-up from me.) Gregson-Williams spoke with 1UP recently about his work on the Metal Gear games, how the method for working on the series has evolved over time, and his interest in working on a potential Metal Gear film. (Here’s a hint: “I said I’d be right pissed if [Hideo Kojima] didn’t consider me.”)

How does writing a score for a game differ from a movie? I may be mistaken, but usually with a movie, you see a first cut before you start writing, correct?

Yeah. For instance, I’ve just started working on…I think it’s my eighth movie with [director] Tony Scott, and yeah, Tony hasn’t even finished shooting, and I’ve got what we call a “first assembly.” Lots of scenes are missing, and even the scenes that are there are probably a bit long and clunky, but the earlier you start in this process, the better chance you’ve got of getting it right.

The music for the Metal Gear games has always taken quite a long time, though. Not necessarily because the music was taking a long time to write, but because it’s spread out over a year. For this one, I would do a little bit of work, then it would go quiet from Japan for a few months, then they’d get back to me — they’d kind of be playing catch-up, since they’d be on to the next thing. Then they’d send me a little bit of footage, more descriptions, and I’d start chiseling away. Then, in the middle of that, there would be E3, and Hideo would bring a trailer to show people, and we’d get to meet. That’d be halfway through the “trip,” as it were, so it’d be on-off-on-off. I guess it’s just because it’s taken such a massive amount of time to make this game.

When asked if he’d work on future MGS games, he explained that he likely would if Kojima were heading up the project. Of course, if we take Kojima at his word, he won’t be directly involved in whatever the next Metal Gear game might be, so it’ll be interesting to see whether the next Metal Gear might end up with a different director and composer.

You can read the full interview at 1UP and check out an exclusive track from MGS4, titled “Love Theme.”