Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]

It's been quite a busy week for Hideo Kojima. Earlier this week, he revealed a number of surprises tied to Metal Gear Solid 4 at a completion event in Japan, such as the cross-promotional items included in the game and the inclusion of the Assassin's Solid April Fools joke in the game. However, there was much more to reveal for the final chapter of the franchise, and at Konami's Gamer's Night in San Francisco, Kojima took to the stage to present his thoughts on the series.

The first thing that Kojima reiterated was that the title was finally complete, and that he and his team had worked on the project for four years. It was his biggest team ever, and that he was relieved for the moment to be finished with the title that was a finale to more than 20 years of the Metal Gear universe. It has been ten years since Metal Gear Solid debuted on the PlayStation, and Kojima focused on this fact, stating that he hoped the decade was "precious to Metal Gear Solid fans." What's more, he made a conscious effort to say that he didn't want to bring up the console wars between the PS3 and other systems, or even casual gamers versus hardcore gamers when it came to MGS4; instead, he wanted people to know that the game was made for fans of the series, and he believed that they would enjoy it.

From there, he sat down and began to play through Act 1 of MGS4. This was the actual opening, and not the "Assassin's Solid" intro shown last month. While he made sure to skip cutscenes to make sure that he wouldn't spoil plot points, he highlighted a number of little secrets and touches that some players might not have been aware of, and we thought we'd share a few of them. For example, he highlighted the shaking of the DualShock controller reveal aspects of cutscenes you wouldn't be aware of, as well as removing your Octocamo. In addition, he pointed out that if a player sees a particular camouflage pattern that they like, they can automatically save that design for use at a later time. However, not all of the camo appears to be as safe as it seems. Kojima showed off the scene where Snake grabs the groin of the statue to blend into the stonework as a patrol passed by. Unfortunately, when he grabbed it a second time, his grip crumbled to pieces in his hand, leaving Snake in a precarious position.

Another thing that Kojima pointed out was some of the cross-promotional items that are included in the title. We had been apprised of Regain and Triumph cycles from the event earlier this week, but Kojima pointed out the use of a 30 gig iPod that Snake can use during battle to listen to music tracks that he finds scattered around levels. For example, one of the songs he found during his mission unlocked the original Metal Gear theme, which Snake could load and play during the game. Any loaded tracks will replace ambient sound or music during the game, and Kojima pointed out that they will have a download feature to let you add new music as well. Kojima also showed off the latest promotional item, which can definitely distract guards. MGS fans are accustomed to using magazines to divert patrols; in MGS4, Snake will be able to use Playboy magazines to stop PMC soldiers dead in their tracks. Snake can also flip through the pages of the magazine to reduce his own personal stress.

In fact, Kojima pointed out a number of facts related to the stress gauge which hadn't been fully released before, such as the fact that Snake's stress meter goes up much more when he's near smelly items like garbage cans. It also spikes when he's in direct sunlight – he is used to sneaking missions – so that can seriously worry him as he moves through the environments, which can affect his performance. Fortunately, along with his Octocamo and other items, he can avoid detection. To highlight this, Kojima switched from camo to a staple of the series, the cardboard box. From there, he switched to the drum can, which he pointed out could be used to roll over enemies as well as reflect incoming bullets. Snake could also use the barrel to cover the battlefield quickly, but the hazard of that would be that continual rolling would make him vomit.