Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- Thread starter Solid Fro
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I've never heard of such a thing, let alone thinking Konami would do something like this with this title.
Get a job on your own. Do what I did at your age, and go door-to-door offering to wash cars, mow lawns or any other labor job. I handed out a flier with prices and my phone number. I gave a brief detail of who I was and where I lived and why I need the money (a car). I got quite a few calls, and made more than several hundred dollars (23 years ago). Good thing is, my mother couldn't stop me (she wouldn't allow me to get a job at 14-15 either). Though, I didn't get several messages, but then you can give out your email address to make sure potential customers reach you.
Get a job on your own. Do what I did at your age, and go door-to-door offering to wash cars, mow lawns or any other labor job. I handed out a flier with prices and my phone number. I gave a brief detail of who I was and where I lived and why I need the money (a car). I got quite a few calls, and made more than several hundred dollars (23 years ago). Good thing is, my mother couldn't stop me (she wouldn't allow me to get a job at 14-15 either). Though, I didn't get several messages, but then you can give out your email address to make sure potential customers reach you.
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Yeah, the requirements of MGS4 would be so vast that there's simply no way it would work onto the PS2. And like Solid Lifters, I've never heard of a single instance of that happening. Even if it did happen, I seriously doubt MGS would get the carry-over. True, the PS3's sales have been dismal, but MGS is pretty much the big one, the game Sony are marketing to sell the system. To produce it for the PS2 as well as the PS3 would be counter-productive. You'd be making the game to sell the PS3 to sell the system and then copying it to the PS2, which defeats the purpose of the PS3 in the first place. It might happen to another game, maybe, but not MGS. Never MGS.Aaaand that will never happen. Sorry.
On that note, if you're going to follow SL's advice ... saying that you need the money to buy a PS3 probably isn't going to get you too far. I don't advocate lying, so I won't suggest you say you need to money for a car, either ... it's not the end of the world if you don't get to play MGS4 as soon as it's released, though.
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- JDA1982
I'm sure if you tell your mum you want a job and ask her ofr you SS number she will give the number to you.
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In the latest Ryan Report, it's revealed Konami will be at E For All in L.A. with an English version of the TGS playable demo. Kojima will not be in attendance.
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Looks like there won't be a demo... but MGS: Portable Ops goes Gold:
MGS Portable Ops+ Gets Dated, No MGS4 PSN Demo
Posted on Oct 18th 2007 12:23PM by Dan Dormer
MGS Portable Ops+ Gets Dated, No MGS4 PSN Demo
Posted on Oct 18th 2007 12:23PM by Dan Dormer
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There's has always been a demo, since MGS, and I enjoyed them all. This sucks, for me, 'cause I've always really enjoyed them and always knew one would be coming soon.
But, I'll get over it. I guess I have to do it different this time.
EDIT: After hearing the Report myself, Ryan never said there would NEVER be a demo on PSN. Just not NOW.
But, I'll get over it. I guess I have to do it different this time.
EDIT: After hearing the Report myself, Ryan never said there would NEVER be a demo on PSN. Just not NOW.
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Thanks! And for those that prefer Hi-Def, here is the link for the HD version. 👍
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Surprisingly I was able to play it without needing to transfer it to my PS3. Odd.
I like this latest video, 'cause it reveals more details about MGS4. Notice the enemy stats, info and health bar when you aim your weapon at them? I also like how the fellow soldier receives a ration from Snake and a heart appears over his head, then gives Snake a new weapon. A Petrol Bomb! Cool stuff!
I also like the details present in this latest video. Notice how the Striker smoke shifts when two explosions occur right near it! Now, that's detail!
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It is a very revealing video. I also like the control options when using the grenade style weapons like the "Petro Bomb" and the "White Phosphorus Grenade". The "Stun Knife" also sounds like it could be a really interesting weapon of choice.
I chuckled when I saw that "Old Snake" has a box of cigars in his inventory.
I have had trouble trying to copy HD videos off gametrailers in order to convert them to MPEG4/AAC... what are you using to do that?
I tried using both vixy.net and keepvid.com - both were unsuccessful.
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It is a very revealing video. I also like the control options when using the grenade style weapons like the "Petro Bomb" and the "White Phosphorus Grenade". The "Stun Knife" also sounds like it could be a really interesting weapon of choice.
I chuckled when I saw that "Old Snake" has a box of cigars in his inventory.
Don't forget he has a cardboard box. That's going to be some old school fun.
I have had trouble trying to copy HD videos off gametrailers in order to convert them to MPEG4/AAC... what are you using to do that?
I tried using both vixy.net and keepvid.com - both were unsuccessful.
I just left click on download, and 'save target as...' But, you need to wait when the download option is available. It's currently not available. Then, I just use PS3Video 9 to convert it.
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I have not heard of PS3Video 9, doing a Google search I found THIS. I assume this is what you are talking about? If so, and you recommend it, I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks!
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It's OK. Nothing great. Oh, and converted DVDs look like crap stored on the PS3. I'm sure you read my PS3 profile personal message.
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Hmmm, are you using this PS3Video9 program for converting the DVD MPEG2 video? If so, it sounds like the converter is doing something really badly, as properly converted MPEG2 should not look any different in MPEG4, and in practice they should actually look better as MPEG4 supports higher bit rates. Maybe it is having a problem because on DVD the video data is seperated into two interlaced fields?
I better pass on this program. What other MPEG2->MPEG4 converters have your tried on your DVDs?
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I can't remember, but it wasn't any better than PS3Video 9. So, I just use this one.
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I just watched the Game Trailers video. Chalk up another game that can only be done with the storage capacity of Blu-Ray.
It seems like Snake's days are numbered.
Check out this video of Call of Duty 4 and the super totally awesome Harry Gregson-Williams.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26672.html
It seems like Snake's days are numbered.
Check out this video of Call of Duty 4 and the super totally awesome Harry Gregson-Williams.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26672.html
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A bunch of new English Demo trailers are up. Four in all. Great stuff!
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/1743.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/1743.html
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While E For All may have been sparsely attended, we did manage to catch up with a few notables while we dodged tumbleweeds and worked our way through the cavernous South Hall. Konami's booth with its Metal Gear Solid 4 demo easily had the longest line, which kept some of the attendees behind barbed wire fences until they were treated to a lucky 15 minutes of glory.
So, we decided to sit down with one of the men behind the game. Namely, Konami's Ryan Payton, who has the enviable position of being one of the Assistant Producers on MGS4. He is also one of the extremely few Westerners working on this title. Mind you, he is fluent in Japanese and is currently living over there, which certainly makes things a bit easier. Check out our interview with him about the game after the break.
Gallery: E for All 2007
So, have you guys felt the pressure of releasing basically the first "system seller" for the PlayStation 3?
Absolutely. You know, we've felt that from day one since we first announced the game and showed it off at TGS 2005. There's a lot of pressure to succeed. If this game is a lemon, it will not only be a problem for Konami, but it will be a problem for Sony, and Japanese gaming as a whole. With that said, I'm not worried, at all. Obviously, working on the game every day allows me a little bit more perspective on how the game is turning out. I'm very bullish on what we're going to be able to accomplish with the title. It already feels good, and we're here at E For All with a demo that is pretty "solid." Solid, in quotes by the way (zing!). Although the game we have running at the studio is very actually quite different. The gameplay is different, the menus look different ... so we're still moving ahead and moving beyond this demo. If you think this is solid, this is really only an 80% glimpse into the game.
Has the ending for the game been completed, and as a fan of the series and an employee, are you satisfied?
Oh absolutely. I mean, what can I say about the ending ... it's the final chapter of Solid Snake, no joke about it. There's no smoke and mirrors, no jack-in-the-box trick, this is the final chapter in his life, and in his story. With that said, we give him proper homage at the ending. It's epic and it's long. It will take two days after the game is released for people to start talking about the ending, because it will take awhile for people to get through it, but I think that's going to be one of the biggest topics. We have a couple of cool things in the game that will hit the blogs and the message boards, and people will be saying "Can you believe this!?" and I think that the ending will be one of those kinds of things as well. It will be talked about for a long time.
So, when a hardcore gamer buys this game, goes home, takes it out of the shrinkwrap and puts it in, how long will it take them to run through the whole game?
That's tough. We haven't been able to gauge it yet because we're still implementing the A.I., tweaking the stages and all that. The stages are there, but as far as the scripting of the enemies and all that, it hasn't been completed yet, so I can't really say. There are also other gameplay modes that aren't just stealth/action. We're pulling from other genres as well, and those bits are like 20 to 30 minutes long. Those haven't been completed yet, they'll probably be completed at the end of the game. Once all those pieces are in place, I think it'll be longer than Snake Eater but I can't say for sure right now (pauses) ... yeah, it's gotta be longer than Snake Eater.
Can you tell us what those other gameplay modes are? Do you mean some vehicle-based stuff?
I wish I could say, but I'd be killed. Plus I kind of want it to be a surprise. I don't think we'll even be talking about it until like a week before launch, and we'll have it on the back of the box so people can go "Oh wait, I can do this?! It's not just shooting people?"
In regards to the control scheme for the game, there are two, right? One for more traditional Western gamers, and one that is aimed at Japanese gamers. When did you guys know that was going to be the case? When was that decision made?
About a week ago! Mr. Kojima came to me and said, "Ryan, you're in charge of European and American versions of the game, and that not only means on the production level, but from a gameplay standpoint as well. Balance, default control scheme, difficulty ... all of those things are going to be tweaked with the Western gamer in mind."
It's going to be harder than the Japanese version, I can say that right now. That over the shoulder view is going to be, I hope, the focal point. I want to make that the default setting, and then people can turn on auto-aim later if they want to. I think that auto-aim takes away from the intimacy of the battle. The reason we put that in there was because at TGS I noticed that when Japanese gamers would play, they would pick up the PS3 controller, and their right thumb would never go even go close to the right stick. They would never manipulate the camera. It's still something that they need to learn about this full 3D camera system. Games like Onimusha and Resident Evil have always kind of held their hands through games with fixed cameras and things like that.
This really is the next step. Final Fantasy XII experimented with it too, and I think that this is where the industry is going, but we also need to be conscientious of the Japanese gamers that maybe have played FFXII or Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. This really is where the industry is moving, there's a reason for having that right analog stick on the PS3 controller.
Speaking about the controller itself, how long ago did you learn the Dual Shock was heading back to the PS3?
Totally last minute. I think it was a week and a half or two weeks before TGS. We finally got word and we got the drivers so that we could start implementing it back into the game. We know that Sony was working really hard to get that back in the system, and back into the controls. We went into development thinking that it wasn't going to have rumble, and it's been a nice surprise.
Rumble has been so unique to the whole Metal Gear series. Do you think it would have suffered if it hadn't been in?
A little bit, yeah. I mean, it does bring more to the game, and you miss it when you don't have it. There's also been some parts of the game that we've been able to kind of expand upon because of rumble. Again, I don't want to ruin the surprise but ... I just hope that everyone who picks up the game also has a Dual Shock controller, because it's going to be a lot of fun. And it's not going to just be shaking when you're shooting.
In the demo, the characters name bar says "Old Snake", now are we going to be playing a younger Snake during some parts of the game?
All I can say is that it's more of a joke, really. It's a Hideo Kojima joke; this is Solid Snake, but he's old. It's part of the charm of Metal Gear, I think in a way.
Was the Threat Ring in the demo at TGS?
It was, although we've tweaked it for E For All and made it more visible. That's something that I think is a really important part of MGS4. Getting rid of the radar and adding that milky-white ring to give you really a 360 perspective on where every enemy is coming from. That's something that I'm surprised other games haven't implemented up to this point.
In other way, if you're going to go around a corner, you'd have to sort of cheat by using the right stick to adjust your view. But if you crouch down and let the Threat Ring appear and you notice no bumps in that direction, then you know you're cool and you can head out.
Konami is releasing Metal Gear Solid: Online, and Metal Gear Solid 4 as two separate games, are there any plans to release them as a bundle?
I don't know what the current plan for North America is, I think the North American office is still figuring that out. But as far as Japan is concerned, we'll have a starter pack of MGO included with MGS4 for free. That's part of the pressure we've been under ... to not only provide a full-scale single player mode, but to include a multiplayer mode as well. I don't know the plans for the U.S. release yet. But, as of right now we want to make sure that starter pack is in the U.S. version as well.
One thing is for sure, we're not going to gouge customers. People are not going to pay like two $60 packaging prices, it's not going to be like $120 for both. We want to give people a taste of MGO with MGS4 because we know that people are excited about the story mode, but are still kind of on the fence about MGO. The online team is working really hard to make it a really cool and unique experience. It's not just MGS4 with other humans in it that you can shoot. In that sense, we're pretty excited about blowing away people's expectations. I think that if people buy MGS4 and try out MGO, they're going to want to continue that experience.
Konami recently said that there would be no demo for MGS4. Why is that? The demo is really the hit of E For All, and it's the longest line at the show, so why did you make that decision?
As of right now, there are no plans for a demo. Could that change in the future? Maybe. We made this demo for E For All really, to be completely honest. We wanted people to come out to the show and check it out. We were excited by the idea of this consumer-based version of E3. Also, we don't want to give people a taste or a sample of a game that's only 80% complete. That section in the single-player mode that we're pulling from isn't even complete in our version yet. This isn't a beta test, and I talked with Hideo about this last week, but this isn't the version that we want people to play with in their own homes and break, because the A.I is not done yet. We want to make it perfect, and we don't feel like this is perfect yet.
Last question, which we're sure you can guess what it is ...
When is the Xbox 360 version coming out? *Laughter* No, it's PlayStation 3 exclusive, that's all I can say.
Well, how are you handling the speculation at this point? There's been a lot of discussion about MGS4 appearing on the Xbox 360.
We like the console, it's fun and there are a lot of great titles for it. But, we're committed to the PS3. We want the PS3 to be successful, and we've had a great history with the PlayStation. So it's a PS3 exclusive title, now having said that ... questions like this don't bother me. The questions that bother me are ones like, "Are you worried that the Xbox 360 is stealing exclusives from the PS3" or whatever. I think that the industry really needs to grow up and get away from this Xbox vs. PlayStation mentality.
I really want to get my point across that the industry is mature enough so that we can get past this. There is space for three consoles, as Nintendo has proven. There are more important things in life than the Xbox 360 or the PS3 getting exclusive titles from one another. Life goes on. But, with that said ... if you want to play MGS4 next year, you're going to need a PlayStation 3. So that's the way it works ... is it something to cry about? No.
So what's next for you? When do you head back to Japan?
I have about another week of production work here in Los Angeles, we're working with a studio who is producing the opening movie for the game. We're doing it with a very untraditional studio here in LA. I think that the opening movie and the ending of the game are going to be the two talks of the town. The opening movie is something that has never been attempted, and will never be attempted again. It's something that could only come out of Hideo's mind.
Now we're really buckling down and focusing on the game. This really is the last trade show for us. We have to finish the game, so we're going into lockdown/blackout mode.
Thanks for sitting down with us, we really appreciate the time.
No problem! It's always great to sit down with people who enjoy the series. Thanks very much.
2nd Interview
At this past week's E For All expo, Konami was well represented with games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Silent Hill Origins and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. Also on hand were a number of developers, including Kojima Productions producer Ryan Payton who was nice enough to give the Kotaku Tokyo Game Show team a thorough hands-on walkthrough of the group's PlayStation 3 game, Metal Gear Solid 4. We talked about where MGS4 currently stands, who the hell Ryan Payton is and what he brings to Kojima Productions, and what could be the most expensive opening cinematic ever.
We also chat briefly about the current Blackwater controversy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the Metal Gear Solid 20th Anniversary Collection boxed set's status. Hit the jump for the full interview.
McWhertor: What do you think of E For All so far?
Payton: I wish I could see more of it. I been holed up in the MGS4 booth. It would be nice to play some Smash Bros. and some Super Mario Galaxy. I'm curious to see what happens on Saturday and Sunday.
Yeah, it's pretty light right now.
It's still the weekday. It's a consumer show, so we hope that more people show up on Saturday and Sunday. It's easy to look around and see that it's not crowded like Tokyo Game Show or previous E3s. With that said, there's a lot of press coming out of Nintendo, Konami, THQ and EA. If they feel satisfied with it and consumers keep talking about it, I don't see any reason why E For All won't be back until next year.
Well you've had pretty good lines for Metal Gear Solid 4 so far.
When we opened up the doors, there were a hundred people waiting. It was like that yesterday and today. We will not have an empty seat for the whole show. It's been wall to wall.
Are you getting any feedback from people who have played the game?
I've been trying to watch people play, but I've been doing a lot of interviews and presentations. TGS was a good experience for me because I made about five pages of notes. I was watching people like you play the game and watching other press play it, listening to what complaints they had or whenever they smiled to a make note about what was successful and what wasn't. But at E For All, I'm hoping to get a little more time to watch people play because there is a little more time to make some tweaks to make the gameplay a little more accessible to Western gamers. So far, response has been awesome. They've been saying "this doesn't feel like a Metal Gear game" but in a good way.
What did you notice as time went on? Can you talk about any of those recent tweaks?
It's mostly minute stuff. For example, the over the shoulder aiming system, I think it's a little bit too sensitive right now. With the PS3 controller, the left analog stick, if you just barely press it, it moves a little bit too fast for my tastes. And for a lot of people's tastes. I've noticed if you try to do a precision shot, it still moves around a little too much. So we're tweaking that, a lot of the stuff that's really kind of under the hood.
As far as other things are concerned, game balance and kind of educating the gamer that it's still a stealth game. It's an issue that I've noticed we had at TGS and here at E For All that, because we give you so many cool guns, because we give the over the shoulder aim, and because the game actually feels good with rumble and everything, people are killing PMC soldiers left and right. We want to make sure that people understand that there's a balance. Some sections are going to require traditional stealth game play and that you can't just go in guns blazing. It's still Metal Gear. There were some players who would just shoot every PMC they saw, without realizing that you can have alliances with groups like the Werewolves.
Yeah, how does that work? Will the four Beasts be in control of the individual PMC groups?
No, not really, although they do have similar names, like the Werewolves and Crying Wolf, and there's one that's called [Eight Arms of the Octopus in French], but they aren't under their direct control. They be played against each other, but you'll see how it plays in the game.
Speaking of PMCs, I was wondering if the Kojima Productions team has been paying attention to the current situation with private military contractor Blackwater and the surrounding controversy.
Sure, we've been following it pretty closely, but we've been following the PMC business for a long time now. The team at Kojima Productions is filled with military otaku, so we're well aware of the history of PMCs and the Blackwater situation in particular.
It feels like a bit of good and bad timing for you, as it will probably receive some attention from mainstream media but it could be spun the wrong way. Has this worried the team or does it feel like a boon to the game's focus?
We're not particularly worried about it. Mr. Kojima and the team have been working on the game for over three years now, so it's not something new for us. It was part of the vision from the very beginning so any attention it gets from current events isn't something that concerns us.
I suppose you could say that any publicity is good publicity. At least you're going to be lightening up the heavy themes with monkeys in diapers addicted to soda.
Yeah, having a shaved monkey should divert attention away from something like that.
When we posted that Justify Your Game, a lot of people were like, "Who's Ryan Payton?" So, just to clear that up, what is it that you're doing on a regular basis. I know that you're bringing some Western tastes to Kojima Productions, but what does that involve for you?
Everyday I'm doing something different as a producer. It's funny, it's been a running joke in my family because everybody's been asking me what it is exactly that I do. They'll ask me "Are you designing the game?" No, I'm not. "Oh. So did you write the story?" No, I didn't. But I am in charge of the English script, the voice over direction and involved with the motion capture as well. I'm in charge of the international version of the game, not just as far as the master submissions are concerned, but gameplay as well. We're going to have different game balance, different controls, different difficulty levels, different gaming styles for the international versions. It will be a different game from the Japanese version. That's a lot of tweaking, going through the game and making suggestions, changing the gameplay based on what American gamers demand from their games. Japanese gamers, they haven't gotten to that point yet. Their experience with 3D games is usually with fixed cameras like Onimusha, Resident Evil games, Siren. We have huge expectations coming out of America, but for the Japanese they want to keep it more simple. We decided just recently that I'm going to be in charge of making sure the game lives up to those expectations, trying to exceed those expectations coming out of the West.
I'm in charge of the movie, which we're working on with Logan, which is one of the top design companies in the world. They invented the whole iPod silhouette ad campaign. Not just print, but the TV ads and the billboards. They design all those and they're a really hot design company. They're designing and producing our opening movie which is something that's never been attempted before in games. It's going to be the talk of the town when the game comes out.
What are they doing with it that's going to be so dramatic?
It's not just something you sit there and watch, hit the start button and then play the game. There's actually no gameplay involved. It's somewhere in the middle of those two. It's something that nobody has ever attempted before in games. It's a different take on video games.
This is something that my boss, Kenichiro Imaizumi, the head producer on the title, something that he's really talented at, combining two different forces that you would think wouldn't make sense. It's Metal Gear, a military game, combined with Logan, which is really great with cutting edge pop culture advertising. Melding those two together, we've created something that's really cool. They've also designed our logo which is a pretty big departure from our previous logo which have all been just Helvetica, so this is something that's really encouraging for us. Next week we'll be doing production work on it in Hollywood. It's a massive project. I can't give out number figures, but I know of some games that have as big a budget as we have on just this opening movie.
That's not going to win too many friends. Well, speaking of Western gamers, you had the Metal Gear 20th Anniversary collection in Japan and when I talked to Anthony Crouts at Comic Con about it, he said it was a possibility. The end of the year is creeping up and there hasn't been anything announced. Is that going to happen? Are you guys going to bring it stateside?
Yeah, we're working on it pretty much every day, trying to make it happen. There are a lot of issues. American gamers and European gamers are always very vocal, wondering "Why don't we get this?" The truth of the matter is, people like me, like at Konami US and Konami Europe actually want to make it happen. But there are a lot of issues that the average gamer doesn't know about.
It's easy to launch something in Japan. There are only a number of retailers that are going to carry a product and they're more liberal with their shelf space. They allow different size packaging, whereas in the United States, if it's not a DVD-sized package, they're not going to carry it. There are issues, for example, in Quebec where it seems, like now, you might not only have to have your manual, but your entire game in French if you want to release it in Canada. So there are a lot of issues that we have to face, and with that said, we also have to ship Metal Gear Solid 4! So, is the boxed set coming out this year? It's tough to say. At some point next year, I want to have a boxed set on store shelves to give people a chance to play Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 before they jump into MGS4.
I know you said that a lot of the work that was going into four was that you were trying to make the game more approachable to someone who had never played a Metal Gear game before and it would be nice to have that back catalog for people if they fell in love with the series at this point.
Yeah. Ideally, it would be great to have it out before MGS4, but let's say it's sixty or seventy dollars, which is a lot to have people put down to get familiar with the story. One of the things we're doing with MGS4 is that we're putting in a digital encyclopedia that people can access from the main menu, so they can cross reference different characters and find out what happened in previous games. In that sense, we're backing ourselves up in MGS4 itself. We also have flashback sequences in the game that refer to Metal Gear Rex, Shadow Moses, the Big Shell and what happens in Portable Ops, where players can push the X button and you're going to presented with a flashback sequence that will play back what happened in previous games to re-familiarize people with what happened previously.
I think we're covering our bases, but it would be nice to have that boxed set out before then.
Speaking of Shadow Moses, we just got our first look at it in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in Shadow Moses Island. Have you played Smash Bros. yet?
No! I haven't.
You haven't played Smash Bros. yet?! You guys don't have an early copy in the office?
No, it's all over at Sakurai's office.
So you're not involved at all?
No, for various reasons, this is something that's between Mr. Sakurai and Mr. Kojima. There was a decision made early on that we weren't going to involve our team with the production, because Mr. Sakurai's got a very capable team, we feel very confident about letting them handle it. We don't have to involve ourselves in giving them direction, because not only does he know Metal Gear, he has a very talented team in Tokyo. It would be nice to play Smash Bros., but I've got enough things to worry about.
It's just that the Snake dialogue was just absolutely hilarious. I didn't know if you were writing that dialogue.
It's really funny. Yeah, I had a chance to look at it, to offer suggestions before we recorded it and I also made sure that Chris Zimmerman, who's our voice over director for all of our Metal Gear titles, it was my only request that she directs the dialogue sequences for Smash Bros. because if she's involved, I know it's gonna be good.
Well, I should let you go. I've gotta go talk to IGA and you've got some Smash Bros. to play. Thanks for talking to us.
No worries. It's always fun to talk to you guys.
3rd Interview
We sit down with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Assistant Producer, Ryan Payton and pick his brain about his contributions to the long standing series, accessibility to newcomers, enhancements in gameplay, competition, the movie, and more. Have at it after the jump.
Q: What has your involvement been with the Metal Gear series?
A: My involvement in the Metal Gear series started with Portable Ops on PSP, where I helped design part of that game and helped with the script. That was my first title where I was actually involved with the design process, from inception to the time when we hand-carried it to Sony in time for Christmas. So that was a very hectic year what was that, last year? Hard to believe.
So thats where I really cut my teeth on game design and integrated a lot of Western game design ideas into the titles. For example, giving people multiple paths to get to their objectives, being able to recruit comrades and equip them with the items you want, create your own unique units, basically giving people more freedom to play it.
So Im bringing some of that to the MGS4 development, with Metal Gear Online in particular, where we now allow players to equip their own skills, so everyone has their own unique skill set, and you can level up your characters with experience, so that as you get better your character gets better too.
Q: How did Konami take to your ideas?
Theyre pretty receptive. Mr. Kojima recognizes that until now theyve always had a 100% Japanese team. So its inherent that their games going to be more appealing to the Japanese, or feel better in terms of control and game balance. So thats one of the reasons he brought me on two and a half years ago, to give the studio and the team a different perspective.
Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think Im going to keep my job.
Im lucky that hes given me so much power and leeway in terms of what I want to do. As far as the control scheme in MGS4, Ive been telling people that there are no sacred cows. Weve been reworking the control scheme since the inception of the game. So no more birds eye view, the gunplay finally feels good, its never felt good in an MGS game. So were incorporating a lot of game ideas and Im really lucky that Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think Im going to keep my job.
Q: Have you had any involvement with the story?
A: Yeah, Ive been working on the story since day one, and Im also in charge of editing the script and also directing the voice overs. We did six months of voice over work in Hollywood. So I helped direct that along with Kris Zimmerman, shes been there since the beginning, we always hire her to direct our VO work.
That was a huge project, making sure that not only does it sound good, but it reads good. Its the first Metal Gear, I think, that doesnt read and sound like an anime. And thats a good thing in my opinion. So making sure the story makes sense, getting people up to date with the story, because we have literally twenty years of fiction we have to cover.
Q: How are you making MGS4 accessible to newcomers?
A: Thats a tough challenge, because hardcore gamers have these expectations that they want us to fulfill. I get emails every day asking, is there going to be a European Extreme mode, is there going to be this and that. Were working pretty hard to keep the hardcore happy, were including these flashback scenes in the cutscenes.
Were actually tying up every loose end in the story in MGS4, going back to Portable Ops, and Snake Eater, MGS1 and MGS2. Pretty much everything youre wondering about and you might have complained before about Mr. Kojimas script, that this doesnt make sense. Why doesnt Vamp die, or why is Raiden like this, or who is Naomi, really, why is she double crossing and triple crossing people. All of that stuff is answered in MGS4.
In that sense its going to keep the hardcore happy, but on the other hand I realize that this is a mainstream title, and Im not interested in just selling 800,000 units to the hardcore, I want this to sell 3-4 million copies worldwide. Which is why were giving players the option to explore the backstory, you know we have these flashback scenes, if you want to watch them its your choice.
We also have an encyclopedia in the game, if you want you can bring it up and go into the history, if you want to, but its not required. You can just watch the story from start to finish. Theres a clear villain-its Liquid Ocelot, theres a clear objective. So even for people who havent played any Metal Gears up to this point, I think theyll get a lot out of it.
Q: Do you think the gameplay is moving more towards Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six gameplay style, or is it still Metal Gear?
A: Not really. We call it Tactical Espionage Action, but I dont think its that tactical still. Ghost Recon, they do a great job in that genre, and were not looking to intrude on them at all, because they do great at what they do. Our gameplay is not so much that strategic element of moving around your unit. Snakes solo, hes on a solo sneaking mission, you dont have to worry about giving other people commands.
with this demo gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight.
And thats one thing weve run into with this demo, and the demo at TGS, is that the gun gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight. And thats not really a Metal Gear Solid game, because if they keep killing people, obviously were going to keep throwing enemies at them until Snakes dead, or Snake hides, and then it goes back to normal mode.
With that said, were also opening up the gameplay to these warzones, these battlefield areas. So how I like to describe it is a waveform gameplay. The beginning is a sneaking section, and obviously you have to get to your point, like rendezvous with Otacon for example, thats a sneaking part. But then we lead you onto the battlefield, where you can use these cool weapons without worry about being found. So you can unload on the PMCs, you can join with the militia men, you can kind of change the tide of war to how you see fit.
So thats a cool way of releasing all that tension that you built up during all the sneaking parts. Then we take you back to a sneaking part, then back to a battlefield. Its a way of keeping the players attention. So obviously thats different from what Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon does.
Q: This is a very cinematic game. How much of the time is spent watching cutscenes?
A: At first, Hideo and I were talking about keeping the cinematics pretty short for MGS4. Because we felt pressure, complaints that the cinematics were too long. But I think thats only a very vocal minority. I think people actually enjoy the cutscenes, just based on how popular the trailers are. And so what ended up happening was, we kept adding more and more cool scenes til we got to the point where I know were going longer than Snake Eater in terms of cinematics, and that game had four hours of cinematics.
I wont say how many hours of cinematics we have in MGS4, but I will say its impressive. If people dont want to watch they can skip it, so were giving people that option. Using our next-gen graphics engine, really incredible sound I hate to sound cocky, but I think were going to win awards for our sound design this time. Its really incredible. And people are going to be missing out if they skip those cutscenes.
Like I said, the script actually sounds cool. Maybe that was a problem before, is that the story was so convoluted and it sounded like it was coming from Japan, literally translated into English, and this time it feels like a Hollywood movie. Its entertaining, the dialogue is witty. So yeah, you might be putting down your controller and watching some cinematics, but its going to be entertaining, I guarantee it.
Q: You guys have one of the biggest games at E for All. When did you make the decision to attend, and has it paid off in terms of fan reaction?
A: We made this decision without really knowing how many other vendors were going to be here. We like the idea of having a consumer-only event. We always support big shows like this, weve visited Leipzig and GDC, TGS, E3, even GO3 in Australia. So were very supportive of these consumer and press shows.
But with that said, are we happy we showed up? Of course. Weve filled every seat weve had since we opened the doors on Thursday. We have literally hundreds of people playing the game every day. Some people are giving this show a Doomsday prophecy, like its not going to be around next year, that this is the first and last E for All. But I beg to differ, and Im not just saying this because Im here at the show and I want people to come.
I would be curious to see a ratio of attendees per booth compared to E3, compared to E for All, because we have people lined up around the booth to play MGS4. Smash Brothers has a huge line, and so does Galaxy. Im wondering if publishers are regretting the fact that they didnt show up, like Capcom, Sony, and Microsoft. I wouldnt be surprised if the ratio of attendees is higher than it was at E3. So Im hoping this is just the beginning of something really cool.
Q: How do you think you can sell millions of copies of MGS4 with all the competition?
A: Im not worried about the competition, really. I think were the leading title coming out on PS3 next year. Were not looking for a big bang, to sell a couple million copies in two weeks and then just trickle out throughout the year. I think were going to sell consistently, were going to own the majority of 2008 I think.
Im not worried about the competition were going to own the majority of 2008
Especially with the online mode were including is going to keep people coming back. And were just going to keep updating Metal Gear Online. So Im thinking were going to have steady sales all the way through to Christmas 2008. And maybe you think Im being too bullish, or too cocky, but I have a lot of confidence that this game is going to be the system seller, that people have been looking forward to for the last year and a half.
Q: One last question, how about the Metal Gear movie?
A: The movie is still in pre-production. Were having meetings next week. Its still really early. Im not as interested in the movie, Im more interested in making games. I didnt join this industry to make a Metal Gear movie, even though I know a lot of people are excited about it.
So, we decided to sit down with one of the men behind the game. Namely, Konami's Ryan Payton, who has the enviable position of being one of the Assistant Producers on MGS4. He is also one of the extremely few Westerners working on this title. Mind you, he is fluent in Japanese and is currently living over there, which certainly makes things a bit easier. Check out our interview with him about the game after the break.
Gallery: E for All 2007
So, have you guys felt the pressure of releasing basically the first "system seller" for the PlayStation 3?
Absolutely. You know, we've felt that from day one since we first announced the game and showed it off at TGS 2005. There's a lot of pressure to succeed. If this game is a lemon, it will not only be a problem for Konami, but it will be a problem for Sony, and Japanese gaming as a whole. With that said, I'm not worried, at all. Obviously, working on the game every day allows me a little bit more perspective on how the game is turning out. I'm very bullish on what we're going to be able to accomplish with the title. It already feels good, and we're here at E For All with a demo that is pretty "solid." Solid, in quotes by the way (zing!). Although the game we have running at the studio is very actually quite different. The gameplay is different, the menus look different ... so we're still moving ahead and moving beyond this demo. If you think this is solid, this is really only an 80% glimpse into the game.
Has the ending for the game been completed, and as a fan of the series and an employee, are you satisfied?
Oh absolutely. I mean, what can I say about the ending ... it's the final chapter of Solid Snake, no joke about it. There's no smoke and mirrors, no jack-in-the-box trick, this is the final chapter in his life, and in his story. With that said, we give him proper homage at the ending. It's epic and it's long. It will take two days after the game is released for people to start talking about the ending, because it will take awhile for people to get through it, but I think that's going to be one of the biggest topics. We have a couple of cool things in the game that will hit the blogs and the message boards, and people will be saying "Can you believe this!?" and I think that the ending will be one of those kinds of things as well. It will be talked about for a long time.
So, when a hardcore gamer buys this game, goes home, takes it out of the shrinkwrap and puts it in, how long will it take them to run through the whole game?
That's tough. We haven't been able to gauge it yet because we're still implementing the A.I., tweaking the stages and all that. The stages are there, but as far as the scripting of the enemies and all that, it hasn't been completed yet, so I can't really say. There are also other gameplay modes that aren't just stealth/action. We're pulling from other genres as well, and those bits are like 20 to 30 minutes long. Those haven't been completed yet, they'll probably be completed at the end of the game. Once all those pieces are in place, I think it'll be longer than Snake Eater but I can't say for sure right now (pauses) ... yeah, it's gotta be longer than Snake Eater.
Can you tell us what those other gameplay modes are? Do you mean some vehicle-based stuff?
I wish I could say, but I'd be killed. Plus I kind of want it to be a surprise. I don't think we'll even be talking about it until like a week before launch, and we'll have it on the back of the box so people can go "Oh wait, I can do this?! It's not just shooting people?"
In regards to the control scheme for the game, there are two, right? One for more traditional Western gamers, and one that is aimed at Japanese gamers. When did you guys know that was going to be the case? When was that decision made?
About a week ago! Mr. Kojima came to me and said, "Ryan, you're in charge of European and American versions of the game, and that not only means on the production level, but from a gameplay standpoint as well. Balance, default control scheme, difficulty ... all of those things are going to be tweaked with the Western gamer in mind."
It's going to be harder than the Japanese version, I can say that right now. That over the shoulder view is going to be, I hope, the focal point. I want to make that the default setting, and then people can turn on auto-aim later if they want to. I think that auto-aim takes away from the intimacy of the battle. The reason we put that in there was because at TGS I noticed that when Japanese gamers would play, they would pick up the PS3 controller, and their right thumb would never go even go close to the right stick. They would never manipulate the camera. It's still something that they need to learn about this full 3D camera system. Games like Onimusha and Resident Evil have always kind of held their hands through games with fixed cameras and things like that.
This really is the next step. Final Fantasy XII experimented with it too, and I think that this is where the industry is going, but we also need to be conscientious of the Japanese gamers that maybe have played FFXII or Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. This really is where the industry is moving, there's a reason for having that right analog stick on the PS3 controller.
Speaking about the controller itself, how long ago did you learn the Dual Shock was heading back to the PS3?
Totally last minute. I think it was a week and a half or two weeks before TGS. We finally got word and we got the drivers so that we could start implementing it back into the game. We know that Sony was working really hard to get that back in the system, and back into the controls. We went into development thinking that it wasn't going to have rumble, and it's been a nice surprise.
Rumble has been so unique to the whole Metal Gear series. Do you think it would have suffered if it hadn't been in?
A little bit, yeah. I mean, it does bring more to the game, and you miss it when you don't have it. There's also been some parts of the game that we've been able to kind of expand upon because of rumble. Again, I don't want to ruin the surprise but ... I just hope that everyone who picks up the game also has a Dual Shock controller, because it's going to be a lot of fun. And it's not going to just be shaking when you're shooting.
In the demo, the characters name bar says "Old Snake", now are we going to be playing a younger Snake during some parts of the game?
All I can say is that it's more of a joke, really. It's a Hideo Kojima joke; this is Solid Snake, but he's old. It's part of the charm of Metal Gear, I think in a way.
Was the Threat Ring in the demo at TGS?
It was, although we've tweaked it for E For All and made it more visible. That's something that I think is a really important part of MGS4. Getting rid of the radar and adding that milky-white ring to give you really a 360 perspective on where every enemy is coming from. That's something that I'm surprised other games haven't implemented up to this point.
In other way, if you're going to go around a corner, you'd have to sort of cheat by using the right stick to adjust your view. But if you crouch down and let the Threat Ring appear and you notice no bumps in that direction, then you know you're cool and you can head out.
Konami is releasing Metal Gear Solid: Online, and Metal Gear Solid 4 as two separate games, are there any plans to release them as a bundle?
I don't know what the current plan for North America is, I think the North American office is still figuring that out. But as far as Japan is concerned, we'll have a starter pack of MGO included with MGS4 for free. That's part of the pressure we've been under ... to not only provide a full-scale single player mode, but to include a multiplayer mode as well. I don't know the plans for the U.S. release yet. But, as of right now we want to make sure that starter pack is in the U.S. version as well.
One thing is for sure, we're not going to gouge customers. People are not going to pay like two $60 packaging prices, it's not going to be like $120 for both. We want to give people a taste of MGO with MGS4 because we know that people are excited about the story mode, but are still kind of on the fence about MGO. The online team is working really hard to make it a really cool and unique experience. It's not just MGS4 with other humans in it that you can shoot. In that sense, we're pretty excited about blowing away people's expectations. I think that if people buy MGS4 and try out MGO, they're going to want to continue that experience.
Konami recently said that there would be no demo for MGS4. Why is that? The demo is really the hit of E For All, and it's the longest line at the show, so why did you make that decision?
As of right now, there are no plans for a demo. Could that change in the future? Maybe. We made this demo for E For All really, to be completely honest. We wanted people to come out to the show and check it out. We were excited by the idea of this consumer-based version of E3. Also, we don't want to give people a taste or a sample of a game that's only 80% complete. That section in the single-player mode that we're pulling from isn't even complete in our version yet. This isn't a beta test, and I talked with Hideo about this last week, but this isn't the version that we want people to play with in their own homes and break, because the A.I is not done yet. We want to make it perfect, and we don't feel like this is perfect yet.
Last question, which we're sure you can guess what it is ...
When is the Xbox 360 version coming out? *Laughter* No, it's PlayStation 3 exclusive, that's all I can say.
Well, how are you handling the speculation at this point? There's been a lot of discussion about MGS4 appearing on the Xbox 360.
We like the console, it's fun and there are a lot of great titles for it. But, we're committed to the PS3. We want the PS3 to be successful, and we've had a great history with the PlayStation. So it's a PS3 exclusive title, now having said that ... questions like this don't bother me. The questions that bother me are ones like, "Are you worried that the Xbox 360 is stealing exclusives from the PS3" or whatever. I think that the industry really needs to grow up and get away from this Xbox vs. PlayStation mentality.
I really want to get my point across that the industry is mature enough so that we can get past this. There is space for three consoles, as Nintendo has proven. There are more important things in life than the Xbox 360 or the PS3 getting exclusive titles from one another. Life goes on. But, with that said ... if you want to play MGS4 next year, you're going to need a PlayStation 3. So that's the way it works ... is it something to cry about? No.
So what's next for you? When do you head back to Japan?
I have about another week of production work here in Los Angeles, we're working with a studio who is producing the opening movie for the game. We're doing it with a very untraditional studio here in LA. I think that the opening movie and the ending of the game are going to be the two talks of the town. The opening movie is something that has never been attempted, and will never be attempted again. It's something that could only come out of Hideo's mind.
Now we're really buckling down and focusing on the game. This really is the last trade show for us. We have to finish the game, so we're going into lockdown/blackout mode.
Thanks for sitting down with us, we really appreciate the time.
No problem! It's always great to sit down with people who enjoy the series. Thanks very much.
2nd Interview
At this past week's E For All expo, Konami was well represented with games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Silent Hill Origins and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. Also on hand were a number of developers, including Kojima Productions producer Ryan Payton who was nice enough to give the Kotaku Tokyo Game Show team a thorough hands-on walkthrough of the group's PlayStation 3 game, Metal Gear Solid 4. We talked about where MGS4 currently stands, who the hell Ryan Payton is and what he brings to Kojima Productions, and what could be the most expensive opening cinematic ever.
We also chat briefly about the current Blackwater controversy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the Metal Gear Solid 20th Anniversary Collection boxed set's status. Hit the jump for the full interview.
McWhertor: What do you think of E For All so far?
Payton: I wish I could see more of it. I been holed up in the MGS4 booth. It would be nice to play some Smash Bros. and some Super Mario Galaxy. I'm curious to see what happens on Saturday and Sunday.
Yeah, it's pretty light right now.
It's still the weekday. It's a consumer show, so we hope that more people show up on Saturday and Sunday. It's easy to look around and see that it's not crowded like Tokyo Game Show or previous E3s. With that said, there's a lot of press coming out of Nintendo, Konami, THQ and EA. If they feel satisfied with it and consumers keep talking about it, I don't see any reason why E For All won't be back until next year.
Well you've had pretty good lines for Metal Gear Solid 4 so far.
When we opened up the doors, there were a hundred people waiting. It was like that yesterday and today. We will not have an empty seat for the whole show. It's been wall to wall.
Are you getting any feedback from people who have played the game?
I've been trying to watch people play, but I've been doing a lot of interviews and presentations. TGS was a good experience for me because I made about five pages of notes. I was watching people like you play the game and watching other press play it, listening to what complaints they had or whenever they smiled to a make note about what was successful and what wasn't. But at E For All, I'm hoping to get a little more time to watch people play because there is a little more time to make some tweaks to make the gameplay a little more accessible to Western gamers. So far, response has been awesome. They've been saying "this doesn't feel like a Metal Gear game" but in a good way.
What did you notice as time went on? Can you talk about any of those recent tweaks?
It's mostly minute stuff. For example, the over the shoulder aiming system, I think it's a little bit too sensitive right now. With the PS3 controller, the left analog stick, if you just barely press it, it moves a little bit too fast for my tastes. And for a lot of people's tastes. I've noticed if you try to do a precision shot, it still moves around a little too much. So we're tweaking that, a lot of the stuff that's really kind of under the hood.
As far as other things are concerned, game balance and kind of educating the gamer that it's still a stealth game. It's an issue that I've noticed we had at TGS and here at E For All that, because we give you so many cool guns, because we give the over the shoulder aim, and because the game actually feels good with rumble and everything, people are killing PMC soldiers left and right. We want to make sure that people understand that there's a balance. Some sections are going to require traditional stealth game play and that you can't just go in guns blazing. It's still Metal Gear. There were some players who would just shoot every PMC they saw, without realizing that you can have alliances with groups like the Werewolves.
Yeah, how does that work? Will the four Beasts be in control of the individual PMC groups?
No, not really, although they do have similar names, like the Werewolves and Crying Wolf, and there's one that's called [Eight Arms of the Octopus in French], but they aren't under their direct control. They be played against each other, but you'll see how it plays in the game.
Speaking of PMCs, I was wondering if the Kojima Productions team has been paying attention to the current situation with private military contractor Blackwater and the surrounding controversy.
Sure, we've been following it pretty closely, but we've been following the PMC business for a long time now. The team at Kojima Productions is filled with military otaku, so we're well aware of the history of PMCs and the Blackwater situation in particular.
It feels like a bit of good and bad timing for you, as it will probably receive some attention from mainstream media but it could be spun the wrong way. Has this worried the team or does it feel like a boon to the game's focus?
We're not particularly worried about it. Mr. Kojima and the team have been working on the game for over three years now, so it's not something new for us. It was part of the vision from the very beginning so any attention it gets from current events isn't something that concerns us.
I suppose you could say that any publicity is good publicity. At least you're going to be lightening up the heavy themes with monkeys in diapers addicted to soda.
Yeah, having a shaved monkey should divert attention away from something like that.
When we posted that Justify Your Game, a lot of people were like, "Who's Ryan Payton?" So, just to clear that up, what is it that you're doing on a regular basis. I know that you're bringing some Western tastes to Kojima Productions, but what does that involve for you?
Everyday I'm doing something different as a producer. It's funny, it's been a running joke in my family because everybody's been asking me what it is exactly that I do. They'll ask me "Are you designing the game?" No, I'm not. "Oh. So did you write the story?" No, I didn't. But I am in charge of the English script, the voice over direction and involved with the motion capture as well. I'm in charge of the international version of the game, not just as far as the master submissions are concerned, but gameplay as well. We're going to have different game balance, different controls, different difficulty levels, different gaming styles for the international versions. It will be a different game from the Japanese version. That's a lot of tweaking, going through the game and making suggestions, changing the gameplay based on what American gamers demand from their games. Japanese gamers, they haven't gotten to that point yet. Their experience with 3D games is usually with fixed cameras like Onimusha, Resident Evil games, Siren. We have huge expectations coming out of America, but for the Japanese they want to keep it more simple. We decided just recently that I'm going to be in charge of making sure the game lives up to those expectations, trying to exceed those expectations coming out of the West.
I'm in charge of the movie, which we're working on with Logan, which is one of the top design companies in the world. They invented the whole iPod silhouette ad campaign. Not just print, but the TV ads and the billboards. They design all those and they're a really hot design company. They're designing and producing our opening movie which is something that's never been attempted before in games. It's going to be the talk of the town when the game comes out.
What are they doing with it that's going to be so dramatic?
It's not just something you sit there and watch, hit the start button and then play the game. There's actually no gameplay involved. It's somewhere in the middle of those two. It's something that nobody has ever attempted before in games. It's a different take on video games.
This is something that my boss, Kenichiro Imaizumi, the head producer on the title, something that he's really talented at, combining two different forces that you would think wouldn't make sense. It's Metal Gear, a military game, combined with Logan, which is really great with cutting edge pop culture advertising. Melding those two together, we've created something that's really cool. They've also designed our logo which is a pretty big departure from our previous logo which have all been just Helvetica, so this is something that's really encouraging for us. Next week we'll be doing production work on it in Hollywood. It's a massive project. I can't give out number figures, but I know of some games that have as big a budget as we have on just this opening movie.
That's not going to win too many friends. Well, speaking of Western gamers, you had the Metal Gear 20th Anniversary collection in Japan and when I talked to Anthony Crouts at Comic Con about it, he said it was a possibility. The end of the year is creeping up and there hasn't been anything announced. Is that going to happen? Are you guys going to bring it stateside?
Yeah, we're working on it pretty much every day, trying to make it happen. There are a lot of issues. American gamers and European gamers are always very vocal, wondering "Why don't we get this?" The truth of the matter is, people like me, like at Konami US and Konami Europe actually want to make it happen. But there are a lot of issues that the average gamer doesn't know about.
It's easy to launch something in Japan. There are only a number of retailers that are going to carry a product and they're more liberal with their shelf space. They allow different size packaging, whereas in the United States, if it's not a DVD-sized package, they're not going to carry it. There are issues, for example, in Quebec where it seems, like now, you might not only have to have your manual, but your entire game in French if you want to release it in Canada. So there are a lot of issues that we have to face, and with that said, we also have to ship Metal Gear Solid 4! So, is the boxed set coming out this year? It's tough to say. At some point next year, I want to have a boxed set on store shelves to give people a chance to play Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 before they jump into MGS4.
I know you said that a lot of the work that was going into four was that you were trying to make the game more approachable to someone who had never played a Metal Gear game before and it would be nice to have that back catalog for people if they fell in love with the series at this point.
Yeah. Ideally, it would be great to have it out before MGS4, but let's say it's sixty or seventy dollars, which is a lot to have people put down to get familiar with the story. One of the things we're doing with MGS4 is that we're putting in a digital encyclopedia that people can access from the main menu, so they can cross reference different characters and find out what happened in previous games. In that sense, we're backing ourselves up in MGS4 itself. We also have flashback sequences in the game that refer to Metal Gear Rex, Shadow Moses, the Big Shell and what happens in Portable Ops, where players can push the X button and you're going to presented with a flashback sequence that will play back what happened in previous games to re-familiarize people with what happened previously.
I think we're covering our bases, but it would be nice to have that boxed set out before then.
Speaking of Shadow Moses, we just got our first look at it in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in Shadow Moses Island. Have you played Smash Bros. yet?
No! I haven't.
You haven't played Smash Bros. yet?! You guys don't have an early copy in the office?
No, it's all over at Sakurai's office.
So you're not involved at all?
No, for various reasons, this is something that's between Mr. Sakurai and Mr. Kojima. There was a decision made early on that we weren't going to involve our team with the production, because Mr. Sakurai's got a very capable team, we feel very confident about letting them handle it. We don't have to involve ourselves in giving them direction, because not only does he know Metal Gear, he has a very talented team in Tokyo. It would be nice to play Smash Bros., but I've got enough things to worry about.
It's just that the Snake dialogue was just absolutely hilarious. I didn't know if you were writing that dialogue.
It's really funny. Yeah, I had a chance to look at it, to offer suggestions before we recorded it and I also made sure that Chris Zimmerman, who's our voice over director for all of our Metal Gear titles, it was my only request that she directs the dialogue sequences for Smash Bros. because if she's involved, I know it's gonna be good.
Well, I should let you go. I've gotta go talk to IGA and you've got some Smash Bros. to play. Thanks for talking to us.
No worries. It's always fun to talk to you guys.
3rd Interview
We sit down with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Assistant Producer, Ryan Payton and pick his brain about his contributions to the long standing series, accessibility to newcomers, enhancements in gameplay, competition, the movie, and more. Have at it after the jump.
Q: What has your involvement been with the Metal Gear series?
A: My involvement in the Metal Gear series started with Portable Ops on PSP, where I helped design part of that game and helped with the script. That was my first title where I was actually involved with the design process, from inception to the time when we hand-carried it to Sony in time for Christmas. So that was a very hectic year what was that, last year? Hard to believe.
So thats where I really cut my teeth on game design and integrated a lot of Western game design ideas into the titles. For example, giving people multiple paths to get to their objectives, being able to recruit comrades and equip them with the items you want, create your own unique units, basically giving people more freedom to play it.
So Im bringing some of that to the MGS4 development, with Metal Gear Online in particular, where we now allow players to equip their own skills, so everyone has their own unique skill set, and you can level up your characters with experience, so that as you get better your character gets better too.
Q: How did Konami take to your ideas?
Theyre pretty receptive. Mr. Kojima recognizes that until now theyve always had a 100% Japanese team. So its inherent that their games going to be more appealing to the Japanese, or feel better in terms of control and game balance. So thats one of the reasons he brought me on two and a half years ago, to give the studio and the team a different perspective.
Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think Im going to keep my job.
Im lucky that hes given me so much power and leeway in terms of what I want to do. As far as the control scheme in MGS4, Ive been telling people that there are no sacred cows. Weve been reworking the control scheme since the inception of the game. So no more birds eye view, the gunplay finally feels good, its never felt good in an MGS game. So were incorporating a lot of game ideas and Im really lucky that Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think Im going to keep my job.
Q: Have you had any involvement with the story?
A: Yeah, Ive been working on the story since day one, and Im also in charge of editing the script and also directing the voice overs. We did six months of voice over work in Hollywood. So I helped direct that along with Kris Zimmerman, shes been there since the beginning, we always hire her to direct our VO work.
That was a huge project, making sure that not only does it sound good, but it reads good. Its the first Metal Gear, I think, that doesnt read and sound like an anime. And thats a good thing in my opinion. So making sure the story makes sense, getting people up to date with the story, because we have literally twenty years of fiction we have to cover.
Q: How are you making MGS4 accessible to newcomers?
A: Thats a tough challenge, because hardcore gamers have these expectations that they want us to fulfill. I get emails every day asking, is there going to be a European Extreme mode, is there going to be this and that. Were working pretty hard to keep the hardcore happy, were including these flashback scenes in the cutscenes.
Were actually tying up every loose end in the story in MGS4, going back to Portable Ops, and Snake Eater, MGS1 and MGS2. Pretty much everything youre wondering about and you might have complained before about Mr. Kojimas script, that this doesnt make sense. Why doesnt Vamp die, or why is Raiden like this, or who is Naomi, really, why is she double crossing and triple crossing people. All of that stuff is answered in MGS4.
In that sense its going to keep the hardcore happy, but on the other hand I realize that this is a mainstream title, and Im not interested in just selling 800,000 units to the hardcore, I want this to sell 3-4 million copies worldwide. Which is why were giving players the option to explore the backstory, you know we have these flashback scenes, if you want to watch them its your choice.
We also have an encyclopedia in the game, if you want you can bring it up and go into the history, if you want to, but its not required. You can just watch the story from start to finish. Theres a clear villain-its Liquid Ocelot, theres a clear objective. So even for people who havent played any Metal Gears up to this point, I think theyll get a lot out of it.
Q: Do you think the gameplay is moving more towards Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six gameplay style, or is it still Metal Gear?
A: Not really. We call it Tactical Espionage Action, but I dont think its that tactical still. Ghost Recon, they do a great job in that genre, and were not looking to intrude on them at all, because they do great at what they do. Our gameplay is not so much that strategic element of moving around your unit. Snakes solo, hes on a solo sneaking mission, you dont have to worry about giving other people commands.
with this demo gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight.
And thats one thing weve run into with this demo, and the demo at TGS, is that the gun gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight. And thats not really a Metal Gear Solid game, because if they keep killing people, obviously were going to keep throwing enemies at them until Snakes dead, or Snake hides, and then it goes back to normal mode.
With that said, were also opening up the gameplay to these warzones, these battlefield areas. So how I like to describe it is a waveform gameplay. The beginning is a sneaking section, and obviously you have to get to your point, like rendezvous with Otacon for example, thats a sneaking part. But then we lead you onto the battlefield, where you can use these cool weapons without worry about being found. So you can unload on the PMCs, you can join with the militia men, you can kind of change the tide of war to how you see fit.
So thats a cool way of releasing all that tension that you built up during all the sneaking parts. Then we take you back to a sneaking part, then back to a battlefield. Its a way of keeping the players attention. So obviously thats different from what Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon does.
Q: This is a very cinematic game. How much of the time is spent watching cutscenes?
A: At first, Hideo and I were talking about keeping the cinematics pretty short for MGS4. Because we felt pressure, complaints that the cinematics were too long. But I think thats only a very vocal minority. I think people actually enjoy the cutscenes, just based on how popular the trailers are. And so what ended up happening was, we kept adding more and more cool scenes til we got to the point where I know were going longer than Snake Eater in terms of cinematics, and that game had four hours of cinematics.
I wont say how many hours of cinematics we have in MGS4, but I will say its impressive. If people dont want to watch they can skip it, so were giving people that option. Using our next-gen graphics engine, really incredible sound I hate to sound cocky, but I think were going to win awards for our sound design this time. Its really incredible. And people are going to be missing out if they skip those cutscenes.
Like I said, the script actually sounds cool. Maybe that was a problem before, is that the story was so convoluted and it sounded like it was coming from Japan, literally translated into English, and this time it feels like a Hollywood movie. Its entertaining, the dialogue is witty. So yeah, you might be putting down your controller and watching some cinematics, but its going to be entertaining, I guarantee it.
Q: You guys have one of the biggest games at E for All. When did you make the decision to attend, and has it paid off in terms of fan reaction?
A: We made this decision without really knowing how many other vendors were going to be here. We like the idea of having a consumer-only event. We always support big shows like this, weve visited Leipzig and GDC, TGS, E3, even GO3 in Australia. So were very supportive of these consumer and press shows.
But with that said, are we happy we showed up? Of course. Weve filled every seat weve had since we opened the doors on Thursday. We have literally hundreds of people playing the game every day. Some people are giving this show a Doomsday prophecy, like its not going to be around next year, that this is the first and last E for All. But I beg to differ, and Im not just saying this because Im here at the show and I want people to come.
I would be curious to see a ratio of attendees per booth compared to E3, compared to E for All, because we have people lined up around the booth to play MGS4. Smash Brothers has a huge line, and so does Galaxy. Im wondering if publishers are regretting the fact that they didnt show up, like Capcom, Sony, and Microsoft. I wouldnt be surprised if the ratio of attendees is higher than it was at E3. So Im hoping this is just the beginning of something really cool.
Q: How do you think you can sell millions of copies of MGS4 with all the competition?
A: Im not worried about the competition, really. I think were the leading title coming out on PS3 next year. Were not looking for a big bang, to sell a couple million copies in two weeks and then just trickle out throughout the year. I think were going to sell consistently, were going to own the majority of 2008 I think.
Im not worried about the competition were going to own the majority of 2008
Especially with the online mode were including is going to keep people coming back. And were just going to keep updating Metal Gear Online. So Im thinking were going to have steady sales all the way through to Christmas 2008. And maybe you think Im being too bullish, or too cocky, but I have a lot of confidence that this game is going to be the system seller, that people have been looking forward to for the last year and a half.
Q: One last question, how about the Metal Gear movie?
A: The movie is still in pre-production. Were having meetings next week. Its still really early. Im not as interested in the movie, Im more interested in making games. I didnt join this industry to make a Metal Gear movie, even though I know a lot of people are excited about it.
- 6,009
- Austin, Texas
- D-Nitrate / GTP_DNitrate
Thanks for posting all that great info. Did you write that and conduct the interviews? If so, that deserves it's own thread and much +REP 👍
- 2,248
- dunedin NZ
- Godzilla_GTR
- Godzilla_GTR
thank's solid, my god that took a while to read 👍
- 19,311
- Inland Empire SoCal
- SOLID_LIFTERS
Official news from Kojima Productions, MGS4 delayed until Q2. Not surprised to hear that.
Plus, new scans available.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4829/mgs4scans1031072zs7.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7914/mgs4scans1031073dd6.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7086/mgs4scans1031074al6.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4223/mgs4scans1031075tc6.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1821/mgs4scans1031076hz1.jpg
Plus, new scans available.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4829/mgs4scans1031072zs7.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7914/mgs4scans1031073dd6.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7086/mgs4scans1031074al6.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4223/mgs4scans1031075tc6.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1821/mgs4scans1031076hz1.jpg
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