Things are beginning to heat up for Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes as new images are released for it and the Fox Engine

It's been a while since we've had any real new material for Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes, but it looks like that is starting to change a bit. Hideo Kojima himself has released some images for the famous Fox Engine, and there are some presentation images available for Ground Zeroes itself as well. The Fox Engine photos are just that, photo realistic images of a weird character from Ground Zeroes, and the second is a rendering of a few guns, which are likely from the game as well. The rest are some that you might have already saw in the past from the opening sequence, which is somewhat basically just a recap for those of you who might not have seen them.

So now that Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is out in stores and in the living rooms of the fans, this is usually the time for some new Metal Gear talk, and it's starting quite well with Ground Zeroes. Also keep in mind that in just a few days, on March 27th, there is a Game Developers Conference taking place at which Hideo Kojima and others will be showcasing the new Metal Gear and the Fox Engine capabilities behind it. From that point on I believe we will HOPEFULLY have some new video footage and screen shots to sink our teeth into finally. If you're like me, you want to see Solid Snake game play infiltrating and sneaking around the enemy camp like always, except this time he looks more real than ever before thanks to the Fox Engine magic behind him. Stay tuned.

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Hideo Kojima speaks out about the PS4 and stresses the need of quality games for the future

It's all about the games, it always has been and it always will be. With the announcement of the Playstation 4 hovering above our heads recently, many are wondering about what kind of games will be released for the system when it finally makes its debut. Hideo Kojima was one of the fine folks that was asked about the future of PS4 from an article recently at Edge and he responded by calling the PS4 a "logical evolution", meaning that the social elements and multimedia device capability of it are a step in the right direction. He went on to point out however that just because the PS4 has these functions doesn't mean that the system will be an all out success. It's the quality software that always makes the difference, without those you don't have a successful system and the PS4 won't attract attention as it should. Here are his official responses....

“Of course, I know what the hardware is, but I want to see how other companies are using it. First of all, I think that’s great, but it’s nothing special; you could see it coming. It’s the logical evolution of the platform and I think it has to head in that direction, hearing what you said is not surprising.”

“Honestly, I think all of that is good and great,” he continued. “Social aspects, the multi device direction: that’s correct, that’s the way to go. But just because it has these features doesn’t mean it’s going to be a success. What will really determine whether or not it sells is what titles will be available for the platform. And unfortunately, even though I am friends with Mark Cerny, he’s never told me what other studios are working on. I even ate a meal with him recently and he didn’t tell me anything.”

So with this kind of buzz going around, I'm not surprised that the grandfather of Metal Gear should be concerned about its future. Now that we've seen Ground Zeroes in action, one can only wonder about the future of the series and what direction it will take. After all, Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes is supposed to pave the path ahead for a future Metal Gear Solid 5 game, something I know most of us would love to see. So I guess the final question is, if plans are made for it on the PS4, what would it be like and what devices would it make use of? It'll take quite some time to answer that one.

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Hideo Kojima will speak out about the next Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes and magic behind the famous Fox Engine

Finally some new news regarding the next Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes. I haven't had a morsel of information about this one in a while. It isn't much, but it will be, the end of next month that is. Let me start out by saying, "what happens when you get a room full of game developers and they share their ideas?" Inspiration of course, which is something that's fixing to take place next month from March 25th-29th, in San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference. (Sure, go check that site out, pretty cool) The biggest event for you and me is, Hideo Kojima will be there to showcase the magic behind the famous Fox Engine in a special talk that's entitled “Photorealism through the eyes of a ‘Fox’ — The core of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes.” With this presentation, Kojima will for the first time give a "live" demonstration of the Fox Engine, and here is only hoping that he pulls out the new Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes a few times and reveals some new game play for that darling puppy.

The video footage of this whole thing is what I'm really eager to get my hands on. This is Hideo Kojima's first appearance at the GDC since 2009, where he gave a keynote address to other developers. The new Ground Zeroes game is said to be an "open world" type game, where you can basically go wherever and whenever you want to. SkyRim meets Metal Gear? A darn good possibility. Ever since Kojima saw Grand Theft Auto 3, and how big it was, he thought to himself "what if we could do that with one of our titles". It looks like Metal Gear might have been on his mind at the time, and if you ask me he couldn't have picked a better series to unleash into an open world environment. The time setting for Ground Zeroes is between Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Solid Snake is supposed to be younger than he looks, according to Kojima. So in case you haven't yet seen the trailer that's been out there for a while now, which is the extended 14 minute demo, go ahead and take a quick look below. Gee I can't wait for some new footage and material. The end of next month can't get here fast enough for us can it?

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Hideo Kojima speaks out about the future of the Metal Gear series

He is like a God to us. Well, the God of topnotch gaming that is. After all, look how far the Metal Gear game series has gone, and now it won't be long before Metal Gear meets a gigantic world like Skyrim and takes us all by surprise once again. Could this be about Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes? It just might be, as Kojima discusses the Fox Engine and what inspired him to push the Metal Gear franchise to new levels of design and game play. If you head to the source article at EGM done recently, you'll see a nice exclusive interview with Hideo Kojima and talks about how he was motivated by games like Grand Theft Auto III, wanting to use a massive open world environment in similar regards for a future Metal Gear game. Ground Zeroes does just that, according to Kojima, speaking a short while back in another interview about how the next Metal Gear will have an "open world" experience, not to mention the incredible detailed graphics that were displayed in the last video trailer.

From the interview Kojima stated:

"I’m often misinterpreted. I’ve always said that I want to work on original properties, but Metal Gear offers plenty of benefits. The Fox Engine, for example, took a lot of time and money [to create]; we were only able to develop it because it was intended for the next Metal Gear. In the next game, I’m introducing concepts intended for entirely new intellectual properties using the Metal Gear brand."

Apparently Kojima wants to be known beyond the realm of Metal Gear, and not just branded as what many have labeled him, the "Metal Gear Guy". I can't say I blame him, his talent and expertise stretch way beyond Metal Gear, and who knows, it just might land him in the middle of Silent Hill and Castlevania someday. If that time comes, and we see a Fox Engine adaptation make its way into other series such as those, then one can truly say that the sky is not the limit. At least not as far as Kojima is concerned. So for those of you who may be new to the Fox Engine, Ground Zeroes, or what they will have in store for you, check out the extended 14 minute remade version of the Ground Zeroes video in its entirety if you haven't done so already. Or for those of you who have, it's worthy of a second look. Cheers and enjoy.

 

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What will the new Metal Gear Ground Zeroes be like and what kind of style game play can we expect from it

Some people are still asking so I thought I'd do a follow up post about the new Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes. Hideo Kojima recently gave some really nice details about Ground Zeroes when he was at the European Expo recently. Some of the details include a day and night cycle, meaning that in Ground Zeroes, it will turn from day to night, and night into day. As the time progresses and it gets dark, the soliders and other characters react differently than when it is day time. Kojima also talked about how the new Metal Gear game will have an open world type of environment, you will be able to go places and move about in pretty much any type of setting.

What is the best part of what we know so far is, remember back in Peace Walker how you could customize your base and build it to your liking? Well, guess what, that ability is making a comeback in Ground Zeroes as you will be able to do the same thing there as well. Lots of customizing going on, aside from flying where you want, when you want via a really cool helicopter. But the biggest question I see out there is, what is the time frame that the new Metal Gear game takes place in? How about this, Ground Zeroes actually takes place, AFTER Snake Eater, and BEFORE Guns of the Patriots. Kojima stated that Solid Snake actually is younger than he looks from what you see in the screen shot below. Aside from that, we also learned that Ground Zeroes will be launched on SmartPhones, perhaps on the IPhone format as well. Kojima stated that "gaming is no longer limited to the confines of your living room." Metal Gear Solid on the go, that's always a plus.

There is no current mention of a set release date taking place for Ground Zeroes, only Rising Revengeance will see the light of day on February 19th next year. There has been some speculation, or should I say rumors, that the new Metal Gear game might be released on the PC, just like Rising Revengeance will be. That of course hasn't been confirmed. As you can see, I found this somewhat of a concept picture below floating around out there and thought I'd show it to you so you can decide either fake, or perhaps real?

                                      I'm not that old, am I?     -Solid Snake

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Will the new Metal Gear Ground Zeroes release on PC or is this just another unconfirmed rumor?

Maybe this is just a rumor, then again it might not be. There is a supposed rumor floating around that the new Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes might be coming out on PC, as well as Xbox360 and PS3 game systems when it makes its release. How do I know this and where did I see it?, that's a very good question and I'm glad you asked it. Now head over to this link at Zavvi and you'll see exactly what I mean. Are you done yet? Hopefully by the time you're reading this post, that link should still be active, if not, it originally showed a preliminary box for the PC version of Ground Zeroes, but wait, Konami games development didn't say anything about the new Metal Gear game coming out on PC, only Rising Revengeance made that claim.

From that site, unless it's expired, it showed the price of £34.95, since it's a European site and that price tag converts to $59.95 for North America, with a currently non confirmed release date yet to be set for it. So if Kojima productions never mentioned anything about a PC version, what is the deal? Now let's make one point, the Ground Zeroes demo was running on a PC, but Hideo Kojima said the game's Fox Engine was designed specifically for the Xbox360 and PS3 systems. This leaves us all with the famous "will it or won't it" scenario. The PC version of Metal Gear game titles usually looks prettier, as we have seen in the past. After looking at that box below, tell me if you think it's real, or a total fake. 

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Metal Gear creators opening up a new studio soon in Los Angeles

We all know who they are, the developers of the Metal Gear series lately, like the new one called Ground Zeroes. Well they are opening up a new studio according to a source at Examiner a couple of days ago. The new studio has just been opened up in Los Angeles, and it would seem they have begun work on a new project, or rather have one in mind. What is that project? It's too early to tell and they aren't saying much either. Could the famous Fox Engine that was used in the next two Metal Gear game titles be apart of this new project? Perhaps. They have stated that they need people to "create and design solid, visually stunning environments and mission scenarios for single and multi-player 3D action games."

So whatever Konami games development has in mind, I'm sure it'll be something sweet. As always they tend to keep that sort of thing to themselves until they decide to notify the public. You can also bet any shred of new information about the next two Metal Gear game titles Ground Zeroes and Rising Revengeance, I'll post about it here as soon as possible.

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The future of the Metal Gear series, what's next and what can we look for the future?

Now that we have that remarkable game play footage of the new Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes, as well as the recent photos released by Konami games development, we now have a perspective about what's in store for the future of the Metal Gear game series. I'm very impressed with the Fox Engine, the lighting, texture, natural fluid terrain design, it's incredible. If you've seen the recent game play footage then you know what I mean. The addition of a day and night cycle is a great idea since it not only adds to the realism of the world, but also changes the pattern and actions of characters in the game, such as the movements of the guards and troops. This is only the first of many more trailers to come, but after having witnessed a few minutes of cinema followed by 4 minutes of actual game play experience, we can already see what the Fox Engine is capable of and what to expect when the new Metal Gear game gets released sometime next year.

Of course, that won't be until a while after the current Metal Gear game Rising Revengeance sees its launch date much earlier from Konami games development on February 19th, 2013. The new open world technology that Hideo Kojima has talked about so much has a lot in store for Metal Gear fans, and represents the future of how the Metal Gear universe will look like from now on, thanks to the famous Fox Engine doing its magic. If you haven't yet, look at the latest Ground Zeroes video and give me your feedback on what you think about it so far. The one above is the long version, with the cinematic sequences, while the one below it is the 4 minute game play only video trailer.

                                            14 minute Extended Demonstration

                                             4 minute Game Play Only Footage

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New photos and details of Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes with game play videos are officially out

We've certainly been waiting on this one. Just like we all follow the new Metal Gear Rising, the newest Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes is a hot one. Well, Konami games development has now released more details about Ground Zeroes with Kojima stating that along with an open world environment, the game will feature a day and night cycle, changing from day to night, and night to day, which will make Guards and troops act differently and have different patterns of movement depending on what time of day it is. Kojima also detailed that Ground Zeroes will have some loading times, just no indication so far as to when and where these load times occur. The day and night movement is supposed to make for a different game play experience and Hideo Kojima hopes this will add replay value to the new Metal Gear game, giving the buyer more bang for their buck.

Oh that's the small part, I did mention some new photos Konami has released for Ground Zeroes. So if you head over to the source page article located at Examiner you can see all 10 screen shots for yourself. It kind of looks like some of them are from the last unofficial trailer that Konami had taken down due to some song licensing issue. But that's what we have to feast our eyes on as of right now, Hideo Kojima only lets the public have so much information so fast. But here is the EXTENDED 14 minute trailer for you to watch if you haven't as of yet which has actual game play and shows off just how beautiful and awsome the new Metal Gear game truly is. The one below that one is a rehash of the one above, except it has only game play footage and no cinema sequences.

                                             14 minute Extended Demonstration

                                             4 minute Game Play Only Footage

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Konami wants Ground Zeroes video taken down due to some legal issue surrounding it

Well this is a smack in the face. Remember just a few posts ago, I put the Metal Gear video for Ground Zeroes here, you know, the long one that lasts 11 minutes. Well that's probably about the only one there is, and now Konami wants sites to take it down. Apparently there might be an issue with the song that's played in the video called "Heres to You", a song by Ennio Morricone and Joan Baez. The song is featured in the new Metal Gear game video and the licensing for the song might be a problem for Konami as of now. Therefore they are asking sites to kindly take the video down, and hopefully they should re-release a newer version after the dispute is settled. If of course, it *gets* settled.

So here is the video again in case you haven't seen it yet, because this might be your last chance to see the new Metal Gear game trailer, as the video link might become, you know, lost or something. As soon as a new trailer comes out, I'll replace this link as well as the other one from a previous post. Enjoy.

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New video trailer for Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes shows that Solid Snake isn't going anywhere soon

That's right, it's out. Konami has released a long 10 minute video trailer for the new Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes. This video shows off just what the Fox Engine is capable of and how you basically can't tell the difference between game play and cinematic events taking place, as they happen in real time without being noticed. After watching the entire thing myself all I can say is WOW! The Fox Engine for the new Metal Gear game is very impressive and the details in the graphics show just what it can do. Hideo Kojima said it will be the same on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 formats, but can also be scaled somewhat for next generation game systems.

The new Metal Gear game storyline will be revealed to at least some degree when you watch it, and the best part about Ground Zero is,... Solid Snake is back! Oh yes, he may be older than Moses, but hey!, it's still Solid Snake. As always, Konami doesn't want to reveal every little detail as of yet, which is common with them, especially on new Metal Gear game titles in production. But don't worry, as more information, screen shots, and video trailers get released, I'll post it here as soon as I find out about it. In the meantime, what do you think about the new trailer so far, as well as the return of the beloved Solid Snake? Konami's new Metal Gear is starting to take some serious shape.

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Ground Zeroes gets a bit of new information with some Fox Engine talk

I try to find every scrap of info I can about this, because the issue of the new Metal Gear Ground Zeroes is just to hot to ignore. Apparently, the next Metal Gear game will be an open world type game based on the Metal Gear series, but will make definite use of the famous Fox Engine. The targeted consoles Konami is aiming for will of course be the PS3 and Xbox 360 systems. This is another mark for the fact that the Metal Gear game franchise has reached its 25th anniversary and Ground Zeroes along with Rising Revengeance is a welcome addition for PS3 and Xbox 360 fans. I like the fact that Metal Gear has expanded to an open world setting, and the Fox Engine getting taken advantage of is always a big plus. Konami games just seem to be getting bigger and bigger all the time.

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Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes gets announced and is underway in production

Konami finally did it, we now know the name of the next new Metal Gear in production, maybe. It's called Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes and its starting to get some serious attention. According to a source post located at Examiner today:

"Using Kojima’s “Fox Engine”, attendees were treated to a real-time demonstration of “Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes” that debuted gameplay footage of the newly announced title showing Snake -- likely Big Boss-- explore an open world which had night/day transition and weather effects, specifically rain, displayed."

 "According to Famitsu, "Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes" may not be the final name of the title as "Ground Zero" may simply refer to the demonstration"

“Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes” was shown running on a PC at current-gen specs -- meaning equivalent to PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware. No platforms have been announced for this new “Metal Gear Solid” at this time."

So, there you have it.  That might or might not be the final name for the new Metal Gear game and it's subject to change, but at least this gives us some more insight into what to expect from Konami and how the Metal Gear game franchise is starting to take shape with this one. As more information and screen shots become available I will post about them here as soon as I get word when they occur. By the way, take a look at the latest Metal Gear Ground Zeroes pic below, doesn't that look similar to the guy from the Splinter Cell games?

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