Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear Solid series, has always acted like a Hollywood movie director. So it kind of makes a lot of sense that this new trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 looks like something you might actually see in a theater, right down to the “movie trailer voice.” The trailer basically sums up the general story behind the game: Liquid Snake (through Revolver Ocelot) has found a way to control soldiers mind, and Snake is sent to stop him. Okay, that’s like the most incredibly basic way I can explain the story; if I went into further details, I’d probably have to write a full novel. As always though, the game looks awesome and makes me even more excited to finally get my hands on it.

Konami has revealed the first ten minutes of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4, and I think this goes without saying, but still: SPOILER WARNING. Obviously if you want to wait to get the full experience when the game comes out, don’t watch the video above. But if you’re more like me, then you’re too excited to wait that long. The video shows the opening cut scene along with some short gameplay moments, which sets up how Old Snake made his way to the middle of a raging battlefield. The footage also reveals that hiding in boxes will most likely just get you killed this time around (particularly if you’re Hideo Kojima, apparently). This game just cannot get released quick enough.

This past weekend, I headed out to the New York Comic Con to see all of that latest and greatest in the Comic Book community. To my surprise, Komani was there showing off Metal Gear Online. Not only did I have to play it, but I made sure I got footage of myself completely sucking at… er.. I mean pwning the enemy! We all know that folks who play video games for a living must be good at all of them…right?!

I must say that I was completely surprised at how well the game handled. It stayed true to how Metal Gear Solid feels, while finally adding a multiplayer component to it. The game was setup as a local 4v4 LAN match. As you’ll see in the video above, this was the first time I ever played MGO, so I didn’t quite have a grasp on what the controls were yet. I did like how you can change weapons or accessories by simply press the R2/L2 buttons instead of having to hold it down in order to select what you want to use (even though I can’t recall at the moment if that was something previous Metal Gear Solid games did).

Playing Metal Gear Online was fun for the short time I got to try it out. Thanks to this hands-on impression, not only am I looking forward to MGS4, but I’ll also probably be checking out MGO whenever I have the chance.

Ooh, man did I call it or what? After Master Chief and Samus Aran ended up on the PS3 courtesy of some fan-made mods for Unreal Tournament III, my next guess was that Old Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4 would be getting the same treatment. As it turns out, a modder by the name of “genZ” has shown off some preliminary models for the character on the UT forums. So far, he’s already got the basic structure down; now he just needs to fill in the colors and textures. Soon the trilogy of console characters will be complete. Then the way shall be paved for the dark lord of the consoles to rise and rule over the gaming world! Or there might just be one really cool three player match. You know, one or the other.

Via UT Forums

One of the ways developers encourage gamers to replay single player games is to fill them with easter eggs and special rewards. Gamers can score all kinds of interesting little enhancements for finishing the game twice or playing on the ultra mind blowing difficulty level.

Game Informer has put together some of the most memorable unlockable costumes from popular video games. From the Cod of War to the tongue in cheek tribute to Sailor Moon, complete with cheesy transformation scene, from Silent Hill 3; developers have proved time and again they have a twisted sense of humor.

Check out the coolest and strangest costumes from Ghost Squad Wii, Devil May Cry 3 – Dante’s Awakening Special Edition, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill 3 & 4, Tomb Raider Legend, God of War, Dead Rising, Metroid and Bully. They’re all up for display on Game Informer.

The director of Metal Gear Solid has claimed that he’s done with MGS, although we’ve heard that any number of times before. But he is actually talking about a new outlook on things for once, and is the so-called middle school PSP audience.

In an interview, Kojima talked about how he sees the PSP’s audience as heavily comprised of teens in Japan. “[M]iddle school students, from 13 to 15, are really fanatical with the machine itself — look at Monster Hunter Portable, for instance.”

Kojima also sees MGS: Portable Ops as appealing to a different market that he was unable to access with the main MGS entries. Speaking about his son, he said, “He has always criticized it: ‘Oh, Metal Gear is such a s****y game.’ Until the point I released Portable Ops.”

“My son is really into Portable Ops as well: the use of the WiFi, the ability to play anywhere, bring it to school, etc … It might not be the Metal Gear series, but I would like to consider this audience because it’s very important and new,” he continued.

While there’s no denying the success of certain PSP titles, overall the market for games on PSP seems to be fairly small. It’s extremely rare to ever see a PSP game sell as much as the top games on any other platform, but it sounds like Kojima is fixated on working on Sony’s handheld.

via PSP Fanboy

Breaking news! It has just been revealed that the big secret from Assassin’s Creed wasn’t just the whole time-bending thing. It turns out that Altair is really Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series! Okay, so obviously this is one really elaborate April Fools joke. It looks like Ubisoft and Konami collaborated to bring us the coolest five-minute gaming video ever. Either that or some game enthusiast out there went to an insane amount of time and effort to mod a game that hasn’t even been released yet. Still, Altair fighting Metal Gears with an Assault rifle? So…awesome. And oddly this gets me even more excited about MGS4.

Well, shucks. Yesterday we covered a story from GameAlmighty.com stating that the original Metal Gear Solid would be ported to the PS2 for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection. Now GameAlmighty has sent us word that they received a message from Konami saying that their rep misspoke:

“So it looks like there was a miscommunication about the format for the games. I recieved this note from Konami’s Michael Shelling – ‘…to be clear, MGS1 is not a port; it’s the original game on 2 CD’s not a DVD.’ The original Metal Gear Solid will be appearing on PS1 discs. What this means for saving the game, etc, I am not sure.

My apology for the confusion.”

So the full package will apparently contain four discs: two for MGS1, one for MGS2: Substance, and one for MGS3: Subsistence. You know, it’s nice that they’re re-releasing these classic games as one package, but you think they could’ve done a bit more than just shove all the discs into a box. At least add something to entice fans who have already played through these games.

Via GameAlmighty.com

A couple weeks ago, Konami announced that they would be releasing the first three Metal Gear Solid games as a single package on the PS2. At the time, they didn’t elaborate on the full details of “Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection,” but we’ve now learned a couple new things thanks to GameAlmighty.com. For one, the first MGS will be presented as a port, thankfully eliminating the need for any disc swapping or old memory cards. Unfortunately, it will still be the PS1 version, as opposed to the Twin Snakes remake that came out for the Gamecube. On the plus side though, the other two Metal Gear Solids will be in their expanded “Substance” and “Subsistence” versions, which adds almost two extra games’ worth of bonus material. If you haven’t experienced these games yet, this is a definite must-buy for any PS2 owner when it comes out.

Via GameAlmighty

Want to check out Metal Gear Online before the game goes on sale? Well then just pre-order Metal Gear Solid 4 and you’ll be granted access to the open beta once it begins. Konami is expecting to begin the beta in late April, giving you a look at the game a full two months before it ships to U.S. stores. Metal Gear Online will allow you to play in 16-player matches as you try to fulfill various objectives in the usual Metal Gear style. The beta will be a trimmed down version, presumably with fewer maps, weapons, and character models than the full release. This probably also means you won’t get to play as Solid Snake just yet; not until late June.

Via Game|Life