@bowlisimo That kid was probably Chico – a supporting character from Peace Walker and one of the people Snake was talking about in the trailer. Yeah, it seems like story-wise this game is the sequel to PW.

Yes PW is available on PS3 and 360 now. It was on the HD Collection, and everything in that just recently got re-released individually on PSN and XBLA. Strangely, on PSN the PS3 version is $20 but the PSP one is still $30. Anyway, in my opinion one of the better Metal Gear games, especially now that it’s in 1080p, solid 60 frames per second, and an actual modern control system with two analog sticks. Definitely the most content-rich Metal Gear game, I’m talking 40-plus hours here. But yeah, those vehicle boss fights were definitely balanced for co-op.

It’s on the HD Collection for the PS3, not sure outside of that. Let me know if you play it. I’ll join your game and spam “You’re pretty good…” while you attach balloons to people. Seriously though, those vehicle battles sucked to play alone.

@redswir1 well the movie look to me is more a matter of preference more than anything regardless of what the director wanted, and isn’t Call of Duty a more fast paced game than Snake Eater? Dunno.

@asatiir I still don’t get this damn “movie like” argument in defense of 30fps. Framerate in games was never chiefly about how smooth the game looks. That’s part of it but the reason all racing games and fighting games have an unwritten 60fps rule is because it cuts down on input lag and makes the controls tighter. That’s the main reason Call of Duty has better controls than every other console shooter, because it’s virtually the only one that runs at 60fps.

With MGS3, Kojima confirmed that it was originally always his intention to run MGS3 at 60fps, he just couldn’t do it on the PS2. According to comments from articles and Kojima’s twitter, he seems to chaimpion 60fps MGS3 as the way to play the game. I even think the cut scenes might still run at 30.

@redswir1 I thought so too, especially 3’s controls as I mentioned on my previous post. However, MGS 3 is one game, I’d rather play with the low framerate, it gave it that old movie look, so having it running on 60 fps would probably make it look like it was played on one of those TVs that make it look like it’s running on 120Hz or something.

As for the MSX games, just checked, yup, they’re included!

@asatiir For some reason I just don’t think of MGS2 and 3 as something that needs to be played on a handheld. Possibly MGS2 because of its old school control system but that’s it. Playing the PS3 version of the HD Collection also reveals to you that Peace Walker really should have been a console game. I don’t know how the games look on Vita, but on PS3 MGS3 looks cleaner and smoother than ever. In case you don’t know, this is the first time that game has ever run at 60 frames per second. I wish they’d gone with the controls from the 3DS version though, which were actually modernized.

Oh, and does the Vita version of the collection include the old MSX games? You should at least play the second one.

For a month I’ve been contemplating whether or not I should get the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and I caved just a few hours ago and bought it. The port is a lot better than what I expected, I still haven’t tried out MGS 3 (which is the one I was worried about the most, that game required pressure controls that the PS2 and PS3, which was the main reason why I didn’t bother with the 3DS port), so there’s still a part of me that’s worried. Good thing is that the collection comes with the VR missions of the enhanced version of MGS 2 alongside a remade version of the first VR mission (which I’m not sure if it was on the enhanced version of MGS2). The VR Missions really needed to be on a portable one way or another, and I’m glad it did. If you already own the PS3 version of the collection, you can “transfar” your progress wirelessly to carry on wherever, which is a nice feature too.

I also downloaded Pinball Arcade, being a bit of a pinball nerd. Having virtual, old pinball machines of my childhood memories tucked in a handheld is something I quite like. I also like the fact that if you get the Vita version you get the PS3 version for free, it also works vice versa and the leaderboards are cross platform. It has a small feature which I thought was nice of them to have was that if you hold the Vita verticall, you can play with vertical screen set up (2 bottom corners of the front touch screen work as the controls for the flippers), it is very uncomfortable to hold the Vita in that placement, but I’m still glad that its there.

That’s enough of my Vita shenanigans, before I try to go back to bed I’ll leave you with a reading of 50 Shades of Gray by the voice of Duke Nukem:

P.S. I also heard there are rumors going around about a 3DS Solatorobo sequel, my prayers have been answered!

@Sinfony Oh well, that game has co-op in it too.

How about some co-op bank robbery for $5? http://www.amazon.com/Sony-40814Y-The-Heist1-Download/dp/B005QF1OSG/ref=br_lf_m_1000812791_1_8_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&pf_rd_p=1375632942&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000812791&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0MDW51XYGP9HS3B8YQVY

@redswir1 It’d be horrid to be THAT GUY and crow about how he had mentioned how great Super Crate Box early in 2011, so to dodge that bullet, I’ll just back you up on its awesomeness and mention there are PC and OSX freeware versions if you want to see if it’s your cup of tea.

I think it’s brilliant. Amazing gameplay.

@bowlisimo Yeah, those Metal Gear games…good heavens, I love the visual design. It’s the small things, too…like having a FAMAS as the go-to weapon in MGS. A FAMAS! A French bullpup of all things, predicated obviously on the fact that it just looks cool. It worked wonderfully on the old PSone as its a weapon that uses a lot of parallel lines, with little in the way of curvature outside of magazines.

Anyway, I digress. Glad MGS is floating your boat. Would love another portable version, as the hope of a PC version after they stopped at MGS2: Substance is perhaps a pointless candle to keep lit.

—

Played a little Demigod last night. Man, the visual design in that one – regardless of gameplay (which is excellent) – makes me wonder why people settle for the litany of tired old DOTA stalwarts. Demigod is gorgeous. Along with Stellar Impact, I wish people would branch out beyond the usual trappings of dwarves and elves in the MOBA subset.

I suspect it has a little something to do with, ahem, player count. Sigh.

@redswir1 I always sit through credits… Mr. President.

@mjpilon If you ain’t in Bayonetta then you might just need to get out right now. That’s pretty much the sole reason why it was one of my top games of that year.

@bowlismo Whoa whoah whoah… you DID sit through the credits of each Metal Gear game right?! RIGHT?!

Anyway, I don’t know what came over me with these last couple days of Skyrim. I decided to reroll my character and got to nearly level 20 (the same level as my last character) in two days. I think I’m ready to take another “break” though since I’ve arrived at a quest where I’ll have to walk a long goddamn way through the frozen northern wastes where I know about 1,000 sidequests are waiting for me. I really need to find a way to play Bethesda games in small bites instead of life-destroying chunks.

@rocgaude Aww jeaaaah. Watch out.

@impynickers After sleeping on MGS2’s ending (as much as I could understand anyway), I’m currently wavering on whether or not to call that game effing genius or just a hot mess of ideas and undue levels of complexity, but it’s damn bold either way. Good stuff.

(Best moment? Snake + Otacon handshake)

Anyway, “The Kojima Funtime Show”, continues. What’s next? 1964? Fine. Perfect. Here we go poop camo.

*Downloading* I think I could’ve done better on this, but that’s what I get for hastily sifting through playlists hours before catching a plane. I guess there’s something to be said for choosing from the hip, and yeah, no Blade Runner.

@impynickers Hah, I thought about Akira as well. Probably Kaneda’s theme.

In other news, having a lot of fun with MGS2. Just fought a harrier on foot (in true video game fashion) while Snake and Otacon tossed me supplies. Sure, why not? Also nice to see the badder-asser Snake from Escape from New York referenced.

After all the Western hoo-raaah military shit I’ve been playing lately, the Japanese melodramatic flair and cinematic style is actually a breathe of fresh air. You’re not going to find a cutscene in Battlefield 3 or Crysis 2 where a lady holding a particle cannon stands alone on a metal walkway to some sad saxophone while bullets redirect all around her. Very anime, kind of reminds me of Cowboy Bebop.

@beige I’m on the fence right now about Raiden. I think it’s the voice acting that’s bugging me, does he have to sound slightly whiny all the time? I think you can still be “the kid” and not sound like you just got sucked into a video game from your mom’s basement. (Edit: That’s a little harsh, but you get my point)

@feenwager Rayman looks very French, and by that I mean beautiful, creative and stylistically off-beat. Something about its Ren & Stimpy weirdness isn’t working for me, at least from videos, but I’ve never been a Rayman fan anyway, so who cares what I think.

I’m with you though, 2D games like that are still great fun, and all the more appealing now that we’ve more or less dicked around with 3D ever since we had the technology.

@beige I don’t really have any expectations other than blonde, katana, and eventually I’m assuming the Gray Fox robo-ninja treatment. I doubt I’ll hate him. Like I said when I started this, I’m giving Kojima a lot of slack. He’s not even close to running out yet. It’s not so hard with all of this hindsight. Maybe I would have been mad in 2001 if I were invested in the series.

@redswir1 Understandable.

@redswir1 Wow, still posting on 1up? I know you said the blog community there was vivacious, but I’m surprised it survived this long. Hell, I’m surprised 1up is still a site people go to at all, but that’s just me. You must be pretty active on Shacknews too, it seems like Garnett drops your name at least once a month on Weekend.

@anyone Ran around the tanker a bit in MGS2 HD for the first time. Already I can tell it’s a more indulgent game than the last. Here I am, snapping necks like in MGS, but now apparently I can catch a cold if I stay out in the rain too long, and will get a trophy if I “kiss” a Japanese locker pinup. There’s a fine, fine line we’re walking between the absurd and the serious, but so far it has never tipped over completely into absurdly serious nor seriously absurd territory.

Anyway, Snakes a boss. I’m trying to enjoy playing him before he gets swapped out for that blonde guy.

@impynickers @bowlisimo Another vote for not forgetting Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake here if you want to know what happened in Zanzibar land. Mechanically, it is literally MGS1 with 8-bit graphics. I’m actually surprised they never attempted an SNES port back in the day – a “Super Metal Gear” if you will.

@impynickers How much MGS1 stands on its own supports the popular theory that Kojima DID intend it to stand on its own, or at the very least as a conclusion to the MSX games, and that the rest of the series has just been forced upon him. I think he’s announced every MGS game since 2 to be his last as director.

If that’s true, then it would make Kojima a perfect example for how the corporate structure of this industry clashes with the idea of the auteur that Kojima represents within it. He’s seen as one of the few guys high up who can make his games however the hell he wants (part of Kojima’s problem is that he doesn’t really have an “editor,” a Gary Kurtz to his George Lucas), but Konami still get’s to tell him WHAT games to make. It’s creativity clashing with a company trying to keep making a product for as long as it’s financially viable. Video games are actually starting to remind me of action and horror movies back when you could get away with making eight or nine of a single series.

But yeah, after Peace Walker which basically illustrates the building of Outer Heaven, it’s pretty much all tied up (as badly as MGS4 tried to take on that hopeless task). The best you could do is a retelling of the MSX games which I think would be pretty cool.

On that subject, I actually hope a lot of today’s IPs don’t needlessly carry over into next gen or fourth installments or whatever. Let Naughty Dog continue their tradition of one IP trilogy (followed by Kart game) per console generation. I didn’t even give God of War: Ghost of Sparta a look because I was done after GOW3 (If I had to make another one I’d start over with a new mythology and new main character). I’m not messing around with Assassin’s Creed Revelations because I’m ready for ACIII in a new time period with a new assassin (French Revolution please?). I honestly think Gears of War 3 has enough content and fun in it to last me four or five years. I won’t want to play Gears 4 in a couple years.

@bowlisimo The batshit-ness peaks at MGS2.

The most popular theory among fans is that Kojima didn’t want to make MGS2 as soon as he did, but the first game hit big time so Konami didn’t really give him a choice. So, he basically made that game’s story the biggest troll to the fans ever, making it so ridiculous that no one would ever even ask him to tie it up,

Fans loved it… well enough fans for him to have to make MGS3, at which point we think Kojima threw his hands up and said “fine, let’s go all the way with this”. The craziness evens out in MGS3, but looking back it’s still pretty ridiculous at points, with enough decent development to make for a meaningful story. Same thing with Peace Walker.

But then Kojima had to actually try to tie up MGS2… and the attempt became MGS4. Let’s just say it was an impossible task to begin with.

@bowlisimo Probably MGS2. 1 isn’t on here.

@bowlisimo Boom.

Yeah that was my initial sell. Did I already talk about how unkind the years have been to MGS2? I mean it looks fine here, and I don’t mind the 2D-oriented gameplay, but this game just reminds me how painful it was for Japan to make it to the third dimension.

MGS3 though? Holy shit. There are details on the art assets I didn’t notice until this version. This is the version with the updated camera so at least it’s mostly playable with a bit of a learning curve if you haven’t been back to Tslenoyarsk (?) in a while.

Oh, and I got the edition with the big-ass coffee table art book. I love it just for the jumbo-size box art complete with all the legal stuff on the back.

Now, all said about how freaking antiquated MGS2 feels, that game still has at least twice as much personality and flavor as most of the dudebro shooters I’m playing today. From an artistic standpoint everything about the game feels like it was deliberately put in there by creative minds, not a marketing team. Hearing Otacon give me tips and explain how to play the game over the codec, just like a real mission briefing, instead of in loading screens, is so goddamn refreshing.

@impynickers Yes, Metal Gear 2 is indeed shocking for how well its gameplay holds up after 21 years. It’s basically the Link to the Past or Final Fantasy VI of the Metal Gear franchise. It set the basic framework of the gameplay in 2D before it was popularized in polygonal form.

You know what we REALLY need, though…in terms of the Metal Gear franchise…

Metal. Gear. AC!D. 3.

My favourite of the franchise, however bizarre. Fan service out the wazoo (I’m not referencing Gravia Idols fondling guns in 3D via the Tobidacid viewer) and a fantastic use of card mechanics within a TBS. MGA2 is god-tier gaming, not to put too finer point on it. I’d kill for a Vita or iOS sequel/port.

@Redswirl Time certainly has not been kind to MGS2. The gameplay can be mastered by the patient, and it is fairly rewarding and cinematic when one does, but you have to mess around with it alot.
Also, I feel that the dialogue in MGS2 is probably the poorest in the series. It was passable on release, and the crazy cinematic presentation made it all into an enjoyable spectacle … but today… not so good.
That said the rest of the games are still alright. 4 might not age so well if I think about it. However, 1, 3, and Peace Walker still hold up for me. Oh… and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. That game is tits. Sometimes I think that MG2 might just be my favorite Metal Gear. Any Metal Gear fan who hasn’t played it should.
Am I correct in assuming that it is included with the HD version of MGS3 subsistence? It seems strange to me that MGS1 is not included in the collection. I wonder what the plan is with that. Twin Snakes is still caught up in nintendo territory, but maybe they are planning something special there.

@Pete Hard to get everyone on one game, but I am all for a challenge. Failing all else … trivia.

If I’m the only one here who actually got Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, much less the coffee-table-size limited edition, then let me tell you that if you get this collection for any main reason, it better be Peace Walker.

My God has the time passed for Metal Gear Solid 2. It’s hit me like a kick in the teeth how much trouble Japanese developers had breaking into the 3rd dimension before around 2005. Dealing with the controls and fixed camera angles is just painful. MGS2 actually makes a lot more sense when you decide to play it like a top-down 2D shooter, but this game was the franchise’s first shaky attempt to really go into 3D (the first MGS was mechanically an 8-bit game rendered in polygons, and at least felt consistent for that). After about an hour, I’m pretty much done.

Not really Kojima’s fault though. There really wasn’t a textbook for how to do a 3rd person game with guns on consoles yet, and one wouldn’t even begin to be written for at least another four years. In many ways it feels like the older Resident Evil games. MGS2 is representative of a painful time of transition, when Japan was still trying to figure hot how to DO a 3D action game. I haven’t started MGS3 yet but the last I remember the updated camera in the Subsistence version (which was used in this collection) really helps.

One reason I hope this collection does well with MGS fans is because I think it’s unfortunate how Peace Walker got passed over on account of being on the wrong platform outside of Japan. I really do think it’s one of the better Metal Gear titles. Now with updated controls and online, it certainly feels like the most modern MGS game.

Actual “regular” controls, four-player co-op missions, full-blown 3-on-3 versus, and literally 40+ hours worth of content make Peace Walker alone probably enough game for what you’ll pay for the standard edition of this collection. I dare say that the only thing really holding it back are the PSP graphics. I don’t know if any of you would ever have time to give PW a look though…