The Rest -
So it’s no surprise that Kojima is putting together yet another installment in the series. This year at E3 Konami had the letters MGS4 on PS3 plastered up on a big screen solidifying the fact that the next generation of hardware will certainly be the sequel to the generation of sequels. Instead of seeing “part 2's” this time around we’ll be seeing “part 3's” and “part 4's”. MGS4 is already in production by Kojima’s new production company called Kojima Productions casting aside the Konami Computer Entertainment Japan moniker.

At this point there’s really no question about how beautiful the game will be. I recently popped in the old “Son’s of Liberty” and even that is still impressive. MGS4 will debut on the PS3 and although tech demos are circulating on that system we can only speculate on what sort of visual delights the system will have in store for us and how Kojima’s production team will use them to the game’s advantage. That the game’s tagline is “No Place to Hide” offers a bit of confusion. After all this is a stealth series. Since dropping the stealth from MGS would be like making Zelda a volleyball team management sim, I think it’s pretty certain this won’t be happening. But what will be happening is that, according to Kojima, the game will be set in a place that it will seem impossible to hide in. No word on where that place might actually be, but we’ll be patient.

Whether it’s a good thing or bad thing, a long list of past characters will be showing up in MGS4. For some a delightful surprise, for others a frightening omen that this game’s story will be as horribly convoluted and perverted as before. Revolver Ocelot, Meryl Silverburgh and Otacon will be making their fourth appearance each.

With the prevalence of the Splintercell series it’s hard to determine the relevance of MGS4 at this point. Before it was an unstoppable powerhouse that steam rolled through all game playing consciousness as if it had created the industry. Now it needs to be a bit more conscious of the fact that a new standard has been set for the stealth genre. Perhaps this is the reason Kojima decided to add the new element of difficulty to the methods of hiding. Either way, the game is pretty far off since it’s not likely we’ll even be seeing in-game screens of MGS4 before E3 2006.

We’ll keep you posted when new information is revealed.

Posted: June 6, 2005