Metal Gear Solid Teaser Site Raises More Questions than Answers
By Stephany on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 at 7:56 AM PST In Computer, Editorials, Game Companies, Gamer Life, Games, Games Industry, Metal Gear, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony
Yesterday, Jonathan let you all in on the weird and not very secretly coded message plastered across a teaser site for Metal Gear Solid. The last code is mostly likely the power button for a PC–at least that is what the symbol on my power button looks like, but it also looks like the one for the Xbox 360. Then again, if you looks at the codes closely, you would also see other gaming symbols that looks very familiar to you. Therefore, one might think that the “i” is for the Wii, and the “!” is for the Xbox 360 and the last one is for the PC. Yet, the Wii most likely would not be able to handle an exact port of Metal Gear Solid 4, therefore I personally think this had to do with the Xbox 360 and PC only.
So, if my deductive reasoning (and upon further investigation-most of the internet) is correct, MGS4 will no longer be a PS3 exclusive in the near future. That, or all the old Metal Gear Solid games will be heading to other formats–but it is best not to think on this too hard and instead focus on the obvious.
All of the speculation from yesterday is getting even more heightened today, with people chatting on all sorts of forums, but if you look back on the actual beginnings of these rumors, the teaser site just makes perfect sense.
First off, back in January of this year, Steve told you all about a site claiming to have spoken to an “anonymous Konami rep” who stated that an Xbox 360 version of MGS4 would be heading to the console in 2009. Then, back in October, Kotaku reported that a Japanese site spoke to a Konami rep who said that the company was currently looking into a port for the Xbox 360, only to have that information changed to “we are going multiplatform from here on out”. Then, again in October, John Schapper (the head of Xbox Live) told MCV that he would love to see MGS4 come to the Xbox 360 and it could handle it very well despite Kojima telling Eurogamer it would not work because “MGS4 was optimized for the PS3 [and] it is probably not possible”.
Kojima has stated he wishes he had just released the Metal Gear games for the PC only so that the “other” console questions would have never plagued him. Therefore, it is quite possible that the PC is the system getting the MGS4 instead of the Xbox 360. The thought of the Wii getting the game, like I mentioned above, is just not really feasible unless they redid the game completely for the console.
Either way, Konami is doing a great job of getting people talking and creating even more hype for their game, which in the long run is great for sales. If MGS4 does indeed go cross platform, it will be another nail in the coffin for exclusivity on gaming consoles. Over the past two years, we have seen a major reduction in exclusive “hot” titles. Sony is doing their best with games like Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Heavenly Sword and the upcoming God of War III, and Microsoft itself has always done well with titles like Fable 1 and 2, the Halo series and both Gears of War games. Nintendo always has its exclusives too, but with series like Final Fantasy going multiplatform and the possibility of the Metal Gear series doing the same, those days may soon be over with. At least the PC still has exclusives, but in the long run, it is always best for gamers to have as many options as possible–therefore, MGS4 going multiplatform would be a great thing indeed.
Hopefully all of the arguing, denials, hype, sepculation and teasing will soon be over, but I personally would not look for Konami to announce anything until the beginning of next year, the year that the Xbox 360 port is reportedly suppose to arrive. Just keep an open mind, because not only could it be a PC announcemnt, it coule be something entirely different as well—and you have to admit that Konami is very adept at running the hype machine.
Dude, Norbit, you’re not funny.
it’s called AC!D. remember AC!D? there’s a new one coming out, probably to the PSP. MGS4 on the 360? if the game filled an entire 50GB Blu-ray disk, how the hell do you expect it to fit on a 9GB DVD? Or, are you assuming they’ll just use 6 DVDs? let’s get real people. it’s not MGS4 for either the 360 OR the PC. let it go already…
I think it means that future MGS games will be going multi-platform.
It is also obvious to me that Norbit handles his grief by impersonating others, in this case, a church going African American woman.
@Fewls:
While it doesn’t seem feasible, game developers have always managed to surprise us with things deemed impossible. While I don’t believe that MGS4 is coming to 360 after this announcement, it’s not a possibility to be ruled out. After all, it is impossible to deny that much of the imagery leads one to believe it is something 360 related (my guess is that it’s a red herring).
Unless you are a “higher-up” at Konami, your guess is as good as mine.
Zom:
“it’s not a possibility to be ruled out.”
it is when the technology is at it’s limits. unless (and only then) the 360 adds a blu-ray option to the 360, or some new type of massive storage disk is invented by Microsoft and then attached to the 360. but right now it’s simply not possible.
“I think it means that future MGS games will be going multi-platform.”
i think you’re right.
That is not Norbit.. its an impostor.
Thanks Shawn for pointing that out to people. I wish you had a proper log in system.
OK my 2 cents on this. The ‘i’ is for iphone and the ‘!’ is the exclamation the enemy make in the metal gear games. Metal Gear on the iphone is greenlit. Probably Metal Gear Acid.
I agree with the above poster who thinks i is for iPhone. ! is also obviously the mark enemies make. Whatever it is, I hope it’s a brand new game and not an old game repackaged. Kojima and team are far too talented to be wasting their time on ports.
Btw, I guess I’m the only one who thinks that games going multi-platform this generation is the reason why they generally aren’t as good as they used to be… too many developers are focused on making something everyone would buy, which makes all games the same.
IMO, games are always better when they are built specifically for one system with a plan that does not just focus on pleasing as many people as possible. If I where to make lists of my top 10 games ever, in the last ten years, and in the last 5 years, every game on those lists would have started out as exclusives for only one console, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
I actually agree with Norbit on this one. The “i” is for ipod it makes tons of sense…..
And whomever is badly impersonating Norbit and trying to make it look like me please stop…..you didn’t even get the link in my name right…..way to pay attention there douche.
Go Marlins!!!!
Has anyone tried the Brothers in Arms game from the app store? I would like to get it but I really don’t want to pay $10 for a fps on the iPhone and not have tried it before. I know it doesn’t have multiplayer yet but may add that later on. I have the quake and doom app and they are ok. Quake runs really fast on my phone but I can seem to get doom to work. Anyways, I would personally enjoy getting MGS on my phone.
Haha, MGS4 for Xbox 360 requires at least 60 gb hdd to work or like MGS1, you get a message saying that you need to switch to dvd 2,3,4,5 & 6. xD
Hope they make MGS1, MGS2 or MGS3 to PSN or something.
Would buy it in an instant.
That “i” could mean a lot of things the Wii logo has 2 i’s as well!
As much as MGS fans like me hope and pray to the nerd gods that it’s an original, and not a port, it would be naive to rule out a port. Just because of the technological limitations of the 360 disk-wise we can’t rule out direct download of individual chapters or something. Everything is possible.
Another interesting fact, the tagline underneath does not say anything about the word “solid” (although the page title does say it) so maybe that can be chalked up to engrish, or they’re talking about another title without solid in the name (metal gear ac!d, perhaps)
However if the wording is correct, the term “A next metal gear…” sounds like they are referring to the in-game “object”: the metal gears (rex, ray, etc..) otherwise it would say “THE next metal gear” right?
I goddamn hate viral marketing
XBOX 360 SUCKS ANYWAYS IT HAS NOTING ON THE PS3 CONSEL I HOPE MGS DONT COME OUT WHIT NOTING FOR IT…
http://kotaku.com/5112011/konami-confirms-iphone-metal-gear