The view doesn't change much, but at least it isn't gunmetal gray.

Without a doubt, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is one of the best PS2 games I’ve ever played. This isn’t very impressive, considering I have played a grand total of eight games for the PS2.

With all the controversy over Metal Gear Solid 4:Guns of the Patriots in the Game of the Year race, and remembering that I actually do have a PS2 now, as well as once playing through Metal Gear Solid:The Twin Snakes for GameCube, I thought I might as well give the third installment of the series a try. I understood it as a successful game that used stealth gameplay well, as well as having a plot that didn’t involve arms containing souls of dead people possessing whoever got it for a transplant.
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It’s finally getting on my nerves.

When I first heard about the Microsoft Xbox and all the potential it was going to have in an EGM article, I was particularly thrilled. It had some pictures of games that looked like they could have been on the PC, like a very free form house sim and an RTS. The Sega Dreamcast was still around at the time and kicking up some heat, so I was all about the alternative market. It touted developer-friendly SDKs that would allow even upstart developers to get their heads around the device, opening up an even greater market for interesting and unique games. To this end, the games wouldn’t cost as much, but would garner profit from things like micro-payments for additional game content. At the time, I thought that might be doable, but I didn’t like the idea of paying an additional fee for a product that normally had one set price, but if the products were cheaper, then it might be worth the cost of admission.
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The soundtrack to a video game is the liver in the body of gaming. And by that I mean when it’s screwed, so is everything else. Perhaps it’s my +10 nostalgia goggles doing their thing, but I remember a day when combat themes didn’t sound exactly like one another, and accomplishment wasn’t signified by the reward, it was the little jingle you heard at the end of battle that let you breathe the long sigh of relief.

Perhaps times have changed, for better or for worse. Audio no longer seems to have a significant place in the majority of games, EA Trax is more hip and appropriate for todays generation. Who needs soft, recognisable melodies when you have hard hitting rock riffs from whatever underground rock music those hipsters appear to be listening to nowadays..

Allow me to jog your memory with something everyone will remember.
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The rather cryptic teaser that was shown only a few weeks ago had everyone guessing. A new Metal Gear, it seemed to say, coming out on a different console other than the PS3. Some of us speculated that it would be a new Metal Gear Ac!d, while a lot more cried out for an Xbox 360 port of Solid Snake’s final adventure. After all the guessing and raging, Konami has finally decided to end the debate once and for all by coming clean: the teaser, in fact, was announcing the arrival of a Metal Gear Solid for the iPhone.

Let that sink in for a little bit.

According to Konami, the game itself is an original title set in the MGS4 universe.  Using the iPhone’s touchscreen controls, players will guide Snake through eight PMC-ridden stages. Judging from the images above, this game seems to focus more on shooty action rather than stealth – and while it’s not necessarily a bad thing, sneaking has always been Snake’s special gig, and we hope that stealth sections are at least included.

The game is slated for a worldwide release Spring 2009.

For those of us who’ve been given the opportunity to see the last chapter of gaming icon’s life – i.e. Solid Snake’s last operation, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the Sony PlayStation 3 – you might have noticed something missing, amidst the stunning revelations, the awesome graphics and the word “nanomachines” being thrown about here and there.

It was a bit subtle, since they made sure we got so much new content that it was hard to keep track of everything, but it was there – or rather, it wasn’t there. Yes, I’m talking about the classic Metal Gear Solid theme, the one we would all hum to ourselves while we’re on a sneaking mission to the ol’ refridgerator at the kitchen, to grab some delicious rations before the parents found out you were staying up late to play Kojima’s goddamn epic. And yes, they left it out of MGS4. Why?

The answer is as simple (and as rage-inducing) as you might think. It seems that some russian composers have gotten wind of the MGS theme (composed by Tappi Iwase and not Harry Gregson-Williams) and have noticed its startling similarity to a piece written by composer Georgy Sviridov. Long story short, accusations of theft were thrown around, and after some legal brouhaha Kojima had to leave it out of the PS3 sequel. Here’s the exact quote:

The truth is, Konami [had legal problems with] Russian composers who said we stole their music. They didn’t [steal their music], actually. But Konami was too sensitive about the situation and just decided not to use that music in the game.

You’ve got to love people being overprotective of IPs when everyone’ s obviously taking creative cues and references from everyone these days.