Metal Gear Solid

It seems Metal Gear Rising Revengeance has had a succesful launch in its country of origin. According to Japanese gaming site Famitsu the game takes the top spot on this week’s charts.

Metal Gear Rising was released last week in Japan, on February 21th, and has sold 335.791 copies so far. In comparison, the game at  the second spot sold around 80.000 units, so it’s a landslide victory for the latest Metal Gear game. For the full ranking, head over to Famitsu.

Numbers of other regions haven’t been revealed yet, but the game has claimed the second spot on the UK charts released earlier this week.

Source: Famitsu

You can now download the PlayStation Portable version of Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker on your PlayStation Vita. You can buy the game from the PlayStation Network.

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is Hideo Kojima’s latest game from the saga and was released on PSP in 2009, and in 2011 and 2012 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Konami announced two new Metal Gear Rising themed iPhone 5 cases: one colored black and one colored blue. They are made from lightweight duralumin and will protect the iPhone from external shocks. The cases don’t come cheap, they cost 9,800 yen, which is just over a 100 dollars, or around 80 euros.

For the blue version, go here.

For the black version, go here.

Source: Metal Gear Rising Japanese Site, KonamiStyle Japan

Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa (along with some other members of Kojima Productions) are currently traveling Europe during the world tour surrounding the launch of Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. Here are some photos made during the trips to four different cities, Madrid, Milan, London and Berlin.

Madrid

Milan

London

Berlin

Source: Hideo Kojima Twitter, Konami UK

While Kojima and Shinkawa headed for Europe for the Metal Gear Rising promotional tour, the game’s producers Atsushi Inaba and Yuji Korekado toured America. They started in the US, in Los Angeles, then on to Mexico City, and finally to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here are some photos taken over the past few days, when they visited Mexico and (Korekado, Inaba departed to Japan by then) Argentina.

Mexico

Argentina

Source: Yuji Korekado Twitter

During an interview in Paris earlier this week, Hideo Kojima talked about the development process of the newest game in the series, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. As many people already know, this game originally started as a project by Kojima Productions’ younger development team. Given the status of the series, they were afraid to make a new installment and decided to go for a spin off featuring Raiden instead.

Back then, the game was still called Metal Gear Solid Rising, and it was going to take place between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4. The idea was to make an open world game were Raiden could go explore and undertake various assassination missions. However, the team didn’t manage to succeed in combining all the different ideas in a coherent game.

Kojima cancelled the game, and Platinum Games started over. Some elements of the orginal concept were still used though, such as Shinkawa’s character designs and the Zandatsu and cut at will mechanics.

Kojima has praised the Assassin’s Creed series several times, and references to the games could be found in Metal Gear Solid 4 (Altair costume) and Peace Walker. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood also featured an unlockable Raiden costume.

The original script for the game, about how Raiden became a cyborg somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, still exists, and Kojima doesn’t exclude the possibility of it still being made into a game in the future, although there are no concrete plans at the moment.

Source: MetalGearSolid.be

In an interview with website Spong, Kojima talked about Metal Gear Rising, Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes and his rol as both a creator and a producer. Kojima is planning to tackle a lot of taboo subjects and themes with Ground Zeroes, even though that might mean taking risks in terms of sales.

“I’m going to be targeting a lot of taboos, a lot of mature themes, that really are quite risky. Honestly, I’m not even sure if i’ll be able to release the game! [...] As a producer, it’s my job to try and sell the game. But I’m approaching this project from the point of view of a creator, where I’m prioritizing creativity over sales.”

Kojima stated that he hopes Metal Gear Rising will sell well enough to be able to make a sequel, which he would also want Platinum Games to do. In that case, he could take bigger risks when creating his own Metal Gear titles, while making profits from the ‘safer’ Metal Gear Rising games.

In another interview with the same website, Kojima said he would like to keep working in collaboration with Platinum Games. But he does believe PG could improve on a technological level, and they could use the Fox Engine for the next game, or their own next gen engine.

Source: Spong interview 1 and 2

Here are some new pictures of the Metal Gear Rising Wired Watch and Play Arts Kai figure at Konami Style Japan.

Source: Konami Style Twitter, Kojima Productions Twitter

Platinum Games has shared some new information on their Metal Gear Rising DLC plans. Right now there are three batches of downloadable content planned:

• Soul Snake Wooden Sword and 30 VR Missions

30 additional VR missions. This package will contain a special weapon: a wooden katana infused with the soul of Solid Snake. You will hear his voice as you swing it. Some mission are completed using a Dwarf Gekko.

• Sam Missions

Side missions where you’re playing as the game’s antagonist Sam.

• LQ-84i Missions

Side missions with the Bladewolf character LQ-84i. No screens have been released yet.

Platinum Games stated that all this content is still in development.

Source: Platinum Games Blog

Today, February 21st, marks the day that Metal Gear Rising Revengeance releases in Japan and Europe.

Unlike other regions, where customers can choose between a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 version, the game is only available for Sony’s system in Japan. There are two versions: a normal edition and a Premium Pack, containing a special box, art book, soundtrack cd and Dwarf Gekko magnets. Also available at Konami Style Japan is a Premium Pack combined with a Play Arts Kai Raiden figure. This version will also include a Gray Fox skin download code.

In Europe, the game is available for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. For both consoles, there are 4 different versions in total. Aside from the regular edition, there are two steelbooks, which are sold by different retailers. One has a black and white artwork by Yoji Shinkawa on it, the other a colorful render of Raiden (which is the same as the GameStop exclusive steelbook in the US). Then, there is also a larger, more expensive collector’s edition which comes with the Play Arts Kai Raiden figure. This version will be sold exclusively by Zavvi in the UK, and by certain retailers in the mainland of Europe. Every version in Europe comes with the downloadable Gray Fox skin.