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I’ve been saying it for over a year now: “The day Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out is the day I buy a PS3.” So on Thursday, June 12th, that’s exactly what I did. I even drove an hour to a Wal-Mart in a small town at 6 AM to make sure I could secure the special system bundle. Being a huge fan of the series, I wanted to savor the experience, so I waited until the weekend to start playing, when I could really devote my time to the game. In the meantime, I perused reviews praising the game for its brilliant gameplay and for fixing problems that had plagued the series from the beginning. Naturally, I was even more excited to begin playing. So imagine my dissapointment when I actually popped in the disc and found it to be more movie than game.

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Thank you, Yahtzee Croshaw. I knew I could count on you to be the guy who finally played Metal Gear Solid 4, stood up, and said “What the hell?” Reviewers everywhere have been slathering praise all over the game’s redundant story and brushing aside its ridiculously long cut scenes, but not Croshaw. This has to be the most spot-on review of MGS4 I’ve seen. It is a great game to be sure — when you’re actually allowed to play it — but yes, Kojima really needs an editor.

Via The Escapist

In the days leading up to Metal Gear Solid 4’s release, the bundle featuring an 80GB PS3 along with the game was in ridiculously high demand. Websites offering pre-orders for the bundle were sold out within minutes (and in some cases, shut down entirely) and some stores held impromptu lotteries on launch day to decide who would be walking away with one of their very own. Luckily, Sony has noticed the demand and plans to ship more bundles out in early July.

“While we can’t provide specifics on inventory levels, the Metal Gear Solid 4 PlayStation 3 bundle is a limited-edition offering that’s experiencing high demand from Metal Gear and PlayStation enthusiasts,” the SCEA statement read. “We’re pleased with the strong consumer interest in the bundle and are working to ensure that additional shipments are provided to retailers.”

At this time, the 80GB bundle still seems to be one of the best deals for anyone interested in getting a PS3. Hopefully the people that missed out the first time will get a second chance at the bundle in the coming weeks.

Via GameRush

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

I’ve previously expressed my disdain for numbers cited as coming from VG Chartz, the videogame industry sales-tracking website, calling it “unreliable.” Given the amount of attention it’s been getting — the site has been sourced by publications like Forbes and The New York Times — Gamasutra’s Simon Carless dug into the website a bit to find out exactly how it obtains the numbers it shares. Here are a few choice excerpts from the piece, which you can read in its entirety right here.

…if they are sufficiently out, then VGChartz will retrofit their results - either weekly or monthly - to conform to the more ‘official’ data. But they won’t credit those firms as the source of the retrofitting - they’ll just bump their numbers around without saying why on the site.

…Let’s be clear. I think the concept behind VGChartz is a wonderful one - freely available data to let everyone see how well games are selling. And it’s absolutely true that all data is an estimate - not even major services such as Media Create and NPD get it exactly right.

But VGChartz is staffed by amateurs working in their spare time to estimate sales, and while they are perfectly smart, they are much closer to the SimExchange model of estimation than the Media Create method.

… [Site creator Brett] Walton freely admits the [MGS4] numbers were based on zero actual data for the entire European market, just pure extrapolation. It’s also very unclear how far the estimates for launch were based on real retail data for Japan and North America.

It’s a reasonable figure, of course, because the VGChartz folks are smart people. But it’s not a real figure. It’s a educated guesstimate, and it’s much more of an estimate than the subsequent Chart Track data for the UK, for example.

I don’t have some agenda against the site, as I’m sure someone will accuse me of, but I’ve always taken issue with numbers from the site being taken as absolute canon, or as a complete equivalent to groups such as the NPD. Walton claims that early sales numbers will be labeled accordingly, in response to Carless taking issue with the way the site marketed its MGS4 numbers. But is that really enough?

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 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.

Once again it is GameTap Thursday and as usual there are three fresh offerings for subscribers and this week adds not one but two new freebies for gamers who spent their pocket change on MGS4 last week.

So without further ado, here is the list:

• MDK: Third person shooter from Interplay (1997). Dr. Fluke Hawkins and his janitor, Kurt Hectic, return from an interstellar journey to find their home overrun. The Earth has been invaded by aliens intent on turning it into a mining outpost, but Kurt and the Doc have other plans. Kurt, safely encased in the Coil Suit, Dr. Hawkins’ newest invention, is off to do battle with the weirdest, most goofy aliens ever to take over the planet.

• Descent II: How many killer robots can one universe hold? Just when you blasted the final psychotic, virus-infected supercomputer in the solar system mines, news comes in that the infection has spread to mines outside the system. Worse, it looks like some sort of alien mothership might be behind the infection. 30 more levels of 360-degree 3D action await in the sequel to a game that revolutionized the genre. Interplay (1996)

• Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel: You’re an Osmo, a strange creature indeed. You explore the galaxy in your spaceship, and the planets you encounter are almost as bizarre as the Osmos themselves. There are seven worlds presented for your consideration, each more goofy and peculiar than the last. Cosmic Osmo is a game about exploration and discovery, not winning or challenges. Cyan Worlds (1989)

The two freebies added this week bring the total of free games up to 130:

• Dracula Twins: Simon Belmont is turning over in his grave: Dracula’s twin kids, Drac and Dracana are the heroes now, and they’re off on a wild adventure through Castle Dracula and the wilds of Transylvania! Their dad’s been kidnapped by the, uh, good guys, and it’s up to the twins to save him before the, uh, good Dr. Lifelust can make a magical elixir out of dad’s vampire blood! Meridian 4 (2006)

• Five Card Deluxe: Shuffle and deal! Five Card Deluxe is a Poker-themed Solitaire game where you must fill the game board with combinations of cards to form traditional Poker hands. The better the hands, the higher your score! Play in Challenge, Freestyle, Joker’s Wild, or Tournament modes. Strategy First (2008)

This week, GameTap would also like to remind you of the release schedule for Grimm, which we posted for you last week. To save you some link clicking, I have posted it again below.

* July 31: A Boy Learns What Fear Is
* August 7: Little Red Riding Hood
* August 14: The Fisherman and His Wife
* August 21: Puss in Boots
* August 28: The Girl Without Hands
* September 4: Godfather Death
* September 11: The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs
* September 18: Beauty and the Beast

As always, for the full list of free games and to play a barrage of subscription games, head on over to GameTap.

D3Publisher has announced a new video game based on Aardman Animation’s Shaun the Sheep. For those of you unfamiliar with the series ie. don’t have kids, Shaun the Sheep is a popular stop-motion animated series on Disney Channel. The game will be very kid friendly, with none of the satiric humor the title inspires in more worldly individuals.

In Shaun the Sheep, the sheep have escaped and Shaun must find the rest of the flock before the Farmer comes home. Gamers will play as Shaun and interact with favorite characters such as Shirley, Timmy, Bitzer and more as they adventure through their favorite scenes and explore areas from the series like the junk pile, the sheep pool and the circus tent. Players will utilize the DS touch screen and microphone as they experience three different gameplay modes: Story Mode, Mini-game Mode and Collection Mode and maneuver around obstacles, access hidden areas, and try their hand at eight unlockable mini-games and eight collectible slide puzzles. Five “micro” games will offer players more interactivity and depth by showcasing memorable moments from the show such as saving Timmy from the circus high wire or making a ball of wool to distract Pidsley the cat!

Gamers can grab Shaun the Sheep for the DS this fall in North America and Europe.

And yes for all the CoD and MGS4 fans out there, we do cover kids games from time to time for those gamers lucky enough to breed.

via Business Wire

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.

QT M4V (Podcast)
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Those of you who are looking for a reason to tear yourselves away from MGS4, GTA IV or Ninja Gaiden II, some of the offerings headed your way next week should give you plenty of excuses.

The following games are scheduled to be released:

June 16

• 1701 A.D. Gold Edition (PC)

June 17

• Arkanoid DS (Nintendo DS)
• Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (Nintendo DS)
• Imagine Rock Star (Nintendo DS)
• Petz Dogz Fashion (Nintendo DS)
• Secret Agent Clank (PSP)
• Space Invaders Extreme (PSP)
• Space Invaders Extreme (Nintendo DS)
• Spore Creature Creator Complete (PC)
• Tamagotchi Connection Corner Shop 3 (Nintendo DS)
• Wacky Races: Crash and Dash (Wii)

All release dates are subject to availability, so some may be in stores on the day listed, the day before, or the day after so check with wherever you purchase your games because shipping times vary.

Not sure why we missed this yesterday. Might possibly have had something to do with all of the MGS4 hoopla and various other misfires of the brain, but today we have the latest GameTap updates for you and while it may indeed be a day late, its no matter. Why you ask? Because Earthworm Jim is back my pretties along with Sacred Gold and for those wanting to go the chintzy route, its BurgerTime for you my friends!

• Earthworm Jim: From the minds of game developer Dave Perry and madcap cartoonist Doug TenNapel comes Earthworm Jim. Incredible animation and a wildly imaginative cast of characters makes this side-scrolling action title stand out from the rest of the pack. It doesn’t just look great, either — Earthworm Jim’s lengthy levels and sharp control ensure that you’ll be hooked the moment you pick up the controller!

• Earthworm Jim 2: The zany cartoon antics just keep on comin’ in Earthworm Jim 2, the sequel to the award-winning game by Shiny Entertainment. When Jim’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the nasty space criminal Psycrow, it’s up to the worm-turned-galactic-hero to find her. Where could she be? You’ll take a long, strange trip through the galaxy before the answer is revealed!

• Earthworm Jim 3D: Earthworm Jim. Once-humble worm made mighty thanks to the power of an atomic super suit, a really bad attitude, and a desire to fight evil. Jim has destroyed some strange enemies — but nothing’s stranger than his own mind. When a cow falls from the sky onto Jim, all his marbles get scattered. Now you must lead this slimy hero through the corridors of his mind to collect the marbles again!

• Sacred Gold: In a fantasy world crawling with monsters, unlikely heroes emerge. Whether they quest for treasure, fame or power, these individuals brave many terrors and face down thousands of foes both above the ground and below…and unlock the secrets of a deadly conspiracy to overrun the land of Ancaria with evil. For those with the strength, untold riches await, but the fight will be long and dangerous.

GameTap has released the following free games this week for those who are not golden with the site. Why is that anyway? Think of all the cool games you are missing out on like Baldur’s Gate I & II?

• BurgerTime: Evil hot dogs, pickles and eggs are loose in Peter Pepper’s kitchen, and he’s a chef with orders to fill. Stomp across buns, lettuce and patties on a quest to build the perfect burger. Keep your eyes open for yummy ice cream, coffee and French fry bonuses. Use your peppershaker to stop your enemies dead in their tracks, or smash them flat with a well-placed patty. Who knew fast food could be so dangerous?

• Flip Words 2: You’ll flip over this word puzzle! Not only are you trying to build words out of a grid, you’re also assembling a secret phrase, letter by letter, in a fashion such as to make Vanna White green with envy. Guess the phrase and you’ll score some massive points!

• Pop-A-Tronic: You’ve swirled until you collapsed… but are you ready to pop? There’s a cascade of colored machines, and it’s your job to clear them out! Match the colors before your parts bin overflows, and keep an eye out for bombs and other helpful tools in this frantic puzzler!

Those three games bring the total of freebies up to 128, so what are you waiting for? Head on over to GameTap to see what else they have in store for you.

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.”

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when you consider GTA didn’t have much time to sell in April, but it was a much closer contest for the top spots in May than you might have guessed. While the 360 version of GTA IV did take the top spot with 871.3k copies sold, Mario Kart was right on its heels with 784.4k and Wii Fit not too far behind at 687.7k. The PS3 version of GTA IV came in at number four with 442.9k and then there was a significant drop off to number five, Wii Play, which sold 294.6k copies.

Wii Play’s number is actually fairly low given the number of Wii systems that were sold in the month, but it’s quite possible that many of those Wiis were sold alongside a copy of Wii Fit, which isn’t a multiplayer-happy game like so many other games in the system’s library.

The DS and Wii also took four more spots in the top ten with Smash Bros., Guitar Hero III, and the two versions of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon coming in at numbers 6, 8, 9, and 10. Iron Man on the unkillable PlayStation 2 snuck in at number 7, no doubt thanks in large part to the movie’s great success.

May 2008 Software Sales:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (360) - 871,300
2. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel (Wii) - 787,400
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board (Wii) - 687,700
4. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 442,900
5. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) - 294,600
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 171,100
7. Iron Man (PS2) - 130,600
8. Guitar Hero III (Wii) - 116,800
9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) - 107,000
10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) - 102,000

Metal Gear Solid 4 is sure to come in highly with the June NPDs, and it’ll be difficult to overcome both Grand Theft Auto and a continued stream of Wii Fit copies. It’s definitely got a good shot at outselling them, though, and with those hard-to-come-by MGS4 bundles selling like crazy, the PS3 will be sure to see a nice bump in the first month of summer.

All sorts of downloadable goodness has been added to the PlayStation Store today of both the free and premium variety. Syphon Filter 3 for PSone is now available for $6. It’s not a terrible game, but it’s not nearly as good as the earlier Syphon Filter games. Also in the land of playable games is free demo of Quake Wars — from having tried the demo out on 360, I can pretty safely say that the game did not translate all that well to consoles. It’s still worth checking out if you never got to try the PC version, but chances are you’ll find it to be an overwhelming experience.

In the land of rhythm games, Guitar Hero III and Rock Band each have a handful of tracks now available. Guitar Hero got the Isle of Wight Festival track pack and Rock Band got the MTV2 Pack 01, plus an additional track.

There’s plenty more, including an MGS4 theme and all sorts of trailers. Hit the break for a list of all of the new content.

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With the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 on the horizon, it looks like rumors pertaining to the series are starting to fly. One of the latest of these purports that Konami may already be working on a new PSP title, called “Metal Gear 3: Revolver Ocelot.” Apparently, the game will take place between Portable Ops and Metal Gear 2 (note: that’s not Metal Gear Solid 2). The game will also play a lot like Portable Ops, but with Revolver Ocelot as the main character. Word is that Konami will be revealing this new game officially at E3 this year. I hope this rumor turn out to be true. I have a feeling I’ll be itching for more Metal Gear action once I finish up with MGS4.

Via GameRush

June is shaping up to be a pretty decent month in the way of gaming releases. Already we have been handed Kung Fu Panda, LEGO Indiana Jones, Ninja Gaiden II, The Bourne Conspiracy, The Incredible Hulk, and Summon Nights: Twin Age. But what else does the month leading into Summer hold for us?Plenty, and I have next week’s releases listed for you right here:

June 9

• Don King Presents: Prize Fighter - Xbox 360

June 10

• Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm - PC, Xbox 360
• Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit - PS3, Xbox 360
• EVE Online: Empires Age (Expansion) - PC
• Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles - Nintendo DS
• Looney Toons: Cartoon Conductor - Nintendo DS
• My Fashion Studio- Nintendo DS
• NASCAR 09 - PS2, PS3,Xbox 360

June 12

• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Regular and Limited Edition) - PS3

All release dates are subject to availability, so some may be in stores on the day listed, the day before, or the day after so check with wherever you purchase your games because shipping times vary.

Ho…lee…crap. I knew the new 80GB PS3 bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4 was in high demand, but still, wow. At about 10 AM PST, Amazon.com began taking pre-orders again for the upcoming bundle. By 10:07, they were all gone; thousands of them in mere minutes. So many people flooded the site in fact, that it looks like Amazon.com is down for the moment. It makes sense really, considering you’re basically getting a system with a top-notch exclusive thrown in to boot, which is one heck of a deal. I was actually placing a pre-order myself earlier today, but didn’t want to wait the extra few days it would take for the bundle to arrive. I really hope I don’t end up kicking myself for that decision next Thursday.

Via PS3Fanboy