Nerd Rating

Tag: Metal Gear

  • Playstation Turns 20. Feel Old Accordingly

    Playstation is celebrating their 20th anniversary today. The original Playstation went on sale in Japan on December 3, 1994. I would say it was somewhat a success, selling over 120 million consoles and taking the crown from “untouchable” Nintendo (which pains me to say as a Nintendo fanboy). The system would go on sale in America on September 9, 1995.

    I remember playing the demo for Wipeout at Toys R Us and thinking “this is the f***ing future”. Then I played the demo for Battle Arena Toshinden and said “this isn’t fun, I’ll play Wipeout again”.

    While I may hold on to the fact that Nintendo 64 was my console of choice, I always have memorable moments with my PS1. Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo. Hours of gaming that will never be forgotten.

    Happy Birthday, Playstation.

  • Nerd Is As Nerd Does- Twitch TV

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    A while back Erich and I finally managed to get the Twitch.TV app for the Xbox One to work; the idea is that it allows players to broadcast their play sessions live, while other players can watch and participate via chat. I have openly mocked the idea of people who spend any significant amount of time watching live-streams of competitive gaming; I refuse to use the terms “eSports” because video gaming is not a fucking sport, and the players are not fucking athletes, and I could rage about that for days.

    Last night, though, I did a broadcast of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes as Erich followed along, and the end result was actually fairly entertaining. Erich has tried to get into MGS before and been a little put off by the mechanics, but this one mixes things up enough that his interest has been renewed. We decided to try the broadcast feature out with me playing so he could see how a veteran MGS player gets things done.

    The answer to that turned out to be “not half bad,” although toward the end I got too arrogant and got spotted because I was rushing along without any situational awareness. The biggest problem we encountered is that the stream isn’t actually “live;” there is a delay of at least a few minutes, which was further exacerbated by Twitch forcing Erich to watch random commercials in the middle of me playing, putting him even further behind. One commercial apparently involved skateboarding wookies, which angered me enough that I killed a guard without provocation in the middle of sneaking past him.

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    Both Microsoft and Sony made a big deal about live streaming when the new consoles were unveiled, and showed off as-yet-fictional features like picture-in-picture Skype chat while playing games, or one friend guiding another through a difficult section of a game by watching the live stream. Erich tried to guide me to a prisoner he had found but I had previously missed, but the lag meant that I had often passed by a turn I was supposed to take by the time he saw me getting to it.

    I don’t know that I would ever broadcast just for the sake of broadcasting, like Todd has taken to doing; Todd has the kind of personality that lends itself to these things, though, and has been making gameplay videos for years. There’s the option to turn on the Kinect microphone and even the camera, so that viewers can watch and listen to your reactions, but that just doesn’t appeal to me. Since the broadcasts are public access, other viewers joined from time to time last night, and each time I couldn’t get over the feeling that my gameplay was being judged.

    As it turns out, Twitch.TV is also available to stream from 360 and PC, and it seems like anyone logged in on one device should be able to watch games from another. That theoretically means I could broadcast something like Fallout 3 on PC while Erich and Tillman watch on the One, with all of us in a party so we can chat. Actually finding a broadcast and viewing it was a headache in and of itself, though, and adding in more people across different platforms might be more trouble than it is worth. All in all, I’d say that game streaming is a cool concept, but is still behind the curve of full functionality and accessibility.

  • Snake’s Ready For His Close-Up. Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Box Art Is Here

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    That’s a lot of Snake coming at your face. Phrasing, I know.

    The cover to Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is here and it is a great big Snake face fest. Look below for the exact same cover just with a PS3 logo at the top. Fanboys will complain one looks better than the other.

    Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes releases on March 18, 2014.

    Photos courtesy IGN
    Photos courtesy IGN

  • Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Release Date Announced

    Solid Snake will return on March 18th in Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. It will release on Xbox One, PS4 and Xbox 360.

    Along with that announcement was the news that the Xbox would be receiving exclusive content like Playstation. You can play as Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid on PS1 when you purchase Ground Zeroes on Playstation. The Xbox content will be an exclusive mission where you play as Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. You can see the video of Raiden’s return above.

    Snake must love taking on giant robots because this is releasing only a week after Titanfall.

  • How About 3 Metal Gear Solid V Videos?

    Photo courtesy glitchchat.com
    Photo courtesy glitchchat.com

    Today is a good day to be a Metal Gear fan. We have three new videos for you to watch from Metal Gear Solid V. First is the intro to the Ground Zeroes portion of the game which now has full English translation featuring Kiefer Sutherland as the voice of Solid Snake. If you do not get chills when Snake makes his way up the cliffside then this post is not for you.

    The second video is the demo that was shown at TGS with Hideo Kojima only now it is without the narration by Kojima. The third video is a special mission specially made for TGS that features Snake doing his stealth act in daylight.

    At this stage I am so ready to play a new Metal Gear game that I actually won’t care if the plot is bat sh** crazy.



  • Will 12 Minutes Of Metal Gear Solid V Gameplay Make You Happy? If Not, Seek Help

    Photo courtesy glitchchat.com
    Photo courtesy glitchchat.com

    Hideo Kojima brought an early Christmas present to TGS in the form of a twelve minute video of Metal Gear Solid V in all its stealthy glory. Snake is shown infiltrating a guarded area and extracting a hostage to a waiting helicopter. I just guessed at the hostage part because the video is in Japanese and my Japanese is a little rusty because of the fact I have never learned it.

    The game looks very impressive even this early in development and should have any MGS fan excited.

    Metal Gear Solid V has no release set. It will come out when Kojima is done with it so I will guess 2015.

    http://youtu.be/9imLig0GrQA

  • Tactical Espionage Analysis : The Metal Gear Phenomenon

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    In the early hours between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1998, I awoke as usual and snuck upstairs to peer at what Santa had left under the tree, careful not to wake my grandfather as he slept and “kept watch” on the couch. As I crept back to my room in the basement from my recon, I felt a twinge of disappointment; my most anticipated gift was nowhere to be seen. I knew Santa and his parental helpers should be aware of what I had wanted, since I hadn’t shut up about it for months after reading about it in OPM (or maybe PSM?). As I crawled back into bed, though, a glint of plastic caught my eye next to my Playstation. Sitting there, as they sit now not five feet from me, were Metal Gear Solid and the official strategy guide. I managed not to open it up and start playing immediately, but only just barely.

    I like telling that story, and I’ve always been grateful to whoever decided to put that particular gift directly in my room, as it was a unique start to what I can only describe as my biggest love affair with gaming. I mean, I had always liked games, and had been slowly drawn to more complex and story-driven titles, but MGS was a total game change, and to this day I will name it as my favorite game of all time without a moment’s hesitation. I was thrilled when the sequel was announced, and as wounded as anyone by the end result, to the point where I waited to pick up MGS 3 until months after its release. Thankfully, it signaled a return to form along with our first look and Big Boss’s past, and even I will admit that it’s probably the best storyline in the series.

    Metal Gear Solid 4 was the entire reason I bought a PS3, to the point that I actually didn’t buy one until that launch bundle came out; and while I’ll admit that it has flashes of MGS-2-level pomposity, the finale of Solid Snake’s tale was a sight to behold. I’ll admit that the series kind of faded from my mind after that, since Hideo Kojima himself had claimed he was done exploring that universe. The trailer for “Metal Gear Rising” caught my eye, at first, but my interest faded as Kojima distanced himself from the project, and I honestly think I made the right choice there…

    MGS Rising

    The announcement of “Ground Zeroes” got my attention, and that first trailer had me enthralled with its Kojima-only levels of intrigue. Of course, watching this past year’s VGAs stirred up all those same feelings when the trailer for “The Phantom Pain” kicked things off. My very first thought was “That looks a lot like Big Boss,” and by a few hours later my suspicions were all but confirmed that a new MGS was in the works. At this point, of course, Metal Gear Solid V has been revealed in all of its open-world glory, and I’m super excited to get another Big Boss tale.

    About two months ago, Scott put up his article about a little thing called the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection, and my friends can confirm: I lost my shit. The mere thought of that much MGS in one package kind of undid me, and the news that it would be released ON MY BIRTHDAY made me nigh ravenous. Thankfully, my kick-ass younger brother confirmed that he would be getting it for me, and I managed to reign in my excitement for a few weeks.

    MGS Exclamation

    UNTIL NOW! I finally have the Legacy Collection in my hands, and it’s awesome, and I’ll talk all about it, but that’s not actually the point of this post! This post is about an idea that I hatched when the Legacy Collection was announced, and mulled over with friends until it became the title you read above: The Tactical Espionage Analysis project. You see, I’ve spent a lot of time with Metal Gear over the years, and I think the launch of this collection is the perfect time to go back through and take a long, hard look at “why.” Of course, I get to play through my favorite games ever in the process, so everyone wins!

    My plan is to start at the very beginning with Metal Gear (which is awesomely included with the HD and Legacy Collections) and follow Snake, Big Boss, et al down whatever paths they may lead me. I’ve spent a long time gathering resources, and I think I have what it takes to tackle this objective. My next post will look at what’s included in the Legacy set, and from there I hope top proceed as follows:

    • Metal Gear / Metal Gear 2
    • Metal Gear Solid / MGS: The Twin Snakes
    • Metal Gear Solid 2
    • Metal Gear Solid 3
    • Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
    • Metal Gear Solid 4
    • Metal Gear Solid Graphic Novel / Motion Comic
    • Metal Gear Solid Saga Volumes 1 & 2

    The graphic novel was done by Ashley Wood and is based on MGS / MGS 2, and Legacy includes fully-voiced motion comics of both stories that run about two hours each. MGS Saga consists of two bonus DVDs that were available with the launch of MGS 4 and Peace Walker, and contains a large number of supplemental materials.

    Twenty-five years of gaming history is laid out before me, and I truly hope I can bring at least some enjoyment to you as I work my way through it. For now, I’ll leave you with some pictures of my credentials for this task.

    MGS Collection

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    MGS Stacks

     

     

  • Is MGS: Ground Zeroes Too Risky To Release?

    Photo courtesy iverged.com
    Photo courtesy iverged.com

    Hideo Kojima may soon become the new Peter Molyneux with his game propaganda. In a recent roundtable discussion the Metal Gear Solid creator said that games have failed to mature in the past twenty-five years and that his work on Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is trying to change that.

    “That’s precisely what I want to try to tackle with Ground Zeroes. Honestly I’m going to be targeting a lot of taboos, a lot of mature themes that really are quite risky,” Kojima said. “I’m not even sure if I’m going to be able to release the game, and even if I did release the game then maybe it wouldn’t sell because it’s too much. As a creator I want to take that risk.”

    I understand that Kojima is always trying to go to new places as a game maker, but to say that video games have not matured in the past twenty-five years is completely asinine. That said, I am still fully in support of his attempts to bring more mature themes to his franchise.

  • Reserve A Game On The Microsoft Store And Get 1600 Points

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    There are a lot of big name titles coming out in the first half of this year and Microsoft is giving you an incentive to reserve the ones you want on their store site. The The Microsoft Store is offering a free 1600 MS Point card ($20) when you reserve any of the games they have listed on their site from the promotion. Big games like [amazon_link id=”B0050SXKU4″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Grand Theft Auto 5[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”B0050SWVIQ” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dead Space 3[/amazon_link] are on the list. All in all it’s not a bad deal when you are essentially paying $39.99 for a game when you get your card.

    Take a look at the list of game available for this offer.

    • Grand Theft Auto 5
    • Tomb Raider
    • Bioshock Infinite
    • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
    • Lost Planet 3
    • Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’14
    • Crysis 3
    • Dead Space 3
    • South Park: The Stick of Truth
    • Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel

  • New Metal Gear Rising Trailer Is So Metal Gear It Hurts

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    Metal Gear has become the David Lynch of video games. It sure does look pretty but I’ll be damned if I know what’s going on. I made it through Metal Gear Solid 4 and felt I understood a good 73% of it and now you have Metal Ground Solid: Ground Zeroes in the works and that weird as hell trailer for The Phantom Pain, which may or may not be Metal Gear Solid 5, or it could be part of Ground Zeroes…..Kojima, that all I got. Kojima.

    So let’s add another car to this Metal Gear crazy train and show you the newest trailer for [amazon_link id=”B002I0J8FI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance[/amazon_link], the slice ’em up game that is developed by Platinum Games. In it, Raiden….I honestly don’t know what is going on plot wise but I do know that the gameplay looks fun in a Devil May Cry/Dynasty Warriors way. Can we just cut sh** up and not worry about story? Watch the trailer below.

    http://youtu.be/v-7YASjuqlo