We weren't surprised to read in this month's Edge Magazine that
Metal Gear Solid series creator, Hideo Kojima, isn't entirely satisfied with his latest creation. Why? That's just the nature of being an artist, especially one as famously exacting as Kojima. Every sequel to the Metal Gear series is another iteration; another re-tuning of an increasingly polished gameplay experience. So, when envisioning the fourth (and final?) chapter in the Metal Gear Solid saga on a brand new and as-yet-untested piece of hardware, Kojima shot for the moon, looking to "create something revolutionary." When confronted with the limitations of the actual PlayStation 3 hardware (it's human after all), Kojima says "we weren't really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered – we were creating something we couldn't entirely see."
It's less a case of the PlayStation not being up to snuff (or, perhaps, of not living up to Sony's impossible-to-match marketing message) as it is with Kojima not being satisfied with technological limitations. He says, "The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn't to say we didn't progress." We'll all get a chance to experience the technology that powers
Metal Gear Solid 4 this Monday, when the
Metal Gear Online beta goes live. Something tells us we won't be as dissapointed as Kojima is.
Check out the full ten-page
MGS4 cover story in the May issue of Edge.
[Via
Kotaku]
(Page 1) Reader Comments
Reply
Reply
You keep going soldier, you keep on going.
The only practical limitation of the PS3's hardware should be the graphics system, and MGS4's visuals look sharp enough..
Reply
After all, he's not saying the PS3 can't run the current versino of MGS4, he's saying the current version of MGS4 isn't as good as the one he wanted to make.
It's very different...
/Tourettes Guy
Having 7 SPUs is all fine and dandy, but when you don't have enough RAM/VRAM to support them... they're kind of a waste...
Also I hear something about 1 of the SPUs almost always dying in the Cell, but it really doesn't matter because they don't use it anyway. Is there any truth to that or am I (or the person I was talking with) delirious?
aslo the video card ram is a mere 256 is
so even with the all mighty cell there stoll are some bottlenecks in their setup
While 7 SPE's sounds impressive, the Cell is actually a lot more limited than your PC's processor as to what it can do, and is only capable of 'in order' processing which limits it even more. Add to that the small amounts of memory in the processor, and the 192MB of RAM the PS3 has to work with and, in reality, the Cell is about as useful as an Intel Core 2 Duo when it comes to playing games (Which is still Great, dont get me wrong). The only thing for the PS3 that actually uses the cell properly is Folding@Home.
The PS3 is awesome, dont get me wrong but really cant live up to Sony's insane marketing
:)
We can argue about specs all day. That doesn't mean even 1% of the people here has any clue whatsoever how the technology actually works. Only 512K of L2 cache? OH NO! The machine obviously doesn't have any means to overcome that limitation, such as the fact that each SPE has its own 256K of cache! Oh wait, it's not even automatic cache, it's full-blown "local storage". Hmm...
I seem to recall that many people said the 360 and PS3 are evenly matched in performance, and the Wii hardly even competes with last-gen technology. So, what's the problem?
The problem is, as usual, developers are always overestimating their resources. What? The PS3 isn't as powerful as Deep Blue?! Yes, it's true. Deal with it, and just do your best. An extra 2GB of memory probably wouldn't be enough for your "vision", either.
Maybe in another couple of years you'll know more about the hardware to push it even harder, so you can fulfill your quest to properly model paint peeling off walls and ants moving blood-impregnated sweat drops across the carefully textured concrete dust.
Provided, of course, that you stop taking several years to make a game in the first place, just to whine that the system doesn't have as much graphics horsepower as you think it should.
"IGNinsider: Now that you're going into the final stretch of making the game, what do you think of your development experience so far? Are you still happy with your choice of PlayStation 2 for a development platform?
Hideo Kojima: It isn't the hardware's problem it is our problem, we will never find hardware that can live up to our expectations."
Nuuuuuuuuuuu!
Reply
If you didn't want limits, you should've made it on the PC.
Reply
Good.
Now imagine MGS4 coming out. Just picture the graphics difference and, well... Everything!
Yeah. Hideo wanted to make a video game that looks like a billion dollar movie.
Reply
Reply
Kojima is a very moody bitch.
Kojima's head (on cyborg body to live forever): DAMN YOU! I said I wanted 50% more real! Make it 100% I want this game TWICE AS REAL AS REALITY. You'll just have to create a pocket universe for it.
I think it goes something like that, Vegeta. Even if the game is awesome, he always wants more out of it.
Reply
I think its his excuse to be honest.
If metal gear happens to suck. say its cuzz the current consoles available aren't good enough.
Reply
Reply
Kojima you f**king 360 fanboy. ^_^
Reply
He must be eating lunch at the same cafeteria as the Crysis developers, because they're making games for hardware that does not exist yet.
Do I expect him to toot his own horn about his own game? Absolutely. Lay off the FUD, Kojima. You've made games with less before. Say it with me - OPTIMIZATION. Good. Now go look up the definition and apply it to your coding and programming procedures.
Reply
This is why this game couldn't be ported to 360, at least not without a large overhaul, its absolute optimization for PS3 hardware would just make it hard to readjust for 360 architecture
Reply
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=539251&id=648042443&ref=nf#pid=30405137&id=83500482
Nevertheless, MGS4 will more than likely be an awesome game both in the way it looks and the way it plays.
Reply
Reply
I hear you but its hard to say without seeing it on your actual TV ... The graphics have always been pretty in MGS games but for me the biggest part is the gameplay and story ... Have you seen the gameplay trailer? .... check it out if you haven;t ... http://www.gametrailers.com/player/22703.html
You spend a lot of time in the HUD but it becomes second nature after a while ... Kind of like RE 4 ... Anyway, to me this is going to be the GOTY ... Also remember all we have seen is the one battlefield scene ... We haven't seen the other exotic locations ... I am not just judging it on how it looks but also how well it plays and the story (always good) ... I think Uncharted,Resistance, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet And Clank Future, GT:Prologue and to some extent even lair had amazing in game visuals and massive amounts of characters with no lag have shown the graphical power of the PS3 plenty already ... If all you like is shooters its probably not the system for you (not saying all you like is shooters ... (just saying) ... Call Of Duty 4 is not the best looking game I have seen ... It has a buttery smooth frame rate and I think that why most people are so impressed with it ... The NBA2k series or some other Visual concepts sports game has the best and most photo realistic human graphics ever ... those models look exactly like the real people and with all the sweat its amazing ... I would reccomend checking out GT:Prologue at least as a rental because the interiors, exteriors, tracks and elements are as photo real as I have ever seen in a game bar none ... The amazing thing is I have not had any lag at all playing online ... I think they match up the better connections ... I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder ... Im a huge fanboy for MGS anyway ... Kojima has said he wants more of a James Bond feel in terms of international locations ... If you remember the other games have mostly taken place in 1 or 2 enviornments only ... I think this game will not only show what the PS3 can do but it will also show what developers can do and far video games have come ... This will be GOTY unless it somehow lays an egg ... Just looking at the gameplay video and the options for MGO ... all I can say is its amazing ... Also a new SOCOM was announced for September ... Also looks incredible ... I hope HAZE is good because it looks super fun to me but not visually impressive ... It did have some amazing physics ... Warhawk has showed me you don't need photo real graphics to enjoy a game ... Oh that and my wii
Kojima is one of the most nationalistic, self important, pompous programmers and supposed over protective guardians of his medium I have ever witnesses in this industry. His rabid fanbase are incapable of cynicism and god forbid you criticize his game and his "vision" on internet forums.
Reply
I'd go out on a limb and say MGS is my favorite series of all time... and I don't care what you think about it, and neither do most of us who ENJOY his games.
see what I mean, Kojima fans have this "Us against the world mentality". I guess when you are hypnotized by endless amounts of cutscenes, you might have the propensity to have cult like mindset.
MGS3 was much much better gameplay wise than the previous games. When I think MGS 1&2 I think bosses and stories, but MGS3 had a lot more gameplay to it and less run, tranq, roll, tranq, run. Oh and it has the best boss battle EVAR.
Hopefully MGS4 will show people like you that MGS is more than just pretty sets of cutscenes...
Full swing where? Oh yeah, everywhere else except Japan. Forcing his team to put all effort into understanding the XBox architecture when hardly anyone in their country has one would've been a waste of time. MS is still struggling with the 360 there now, so what's the point?
And his control over his games is great. While money hungry publishers milks out there IP's for the stock's sake and give rights to the likes of Uwe Boll to destroy, Kojima makes sure his stories are done right and 100% quality every time. Pompous? Perhaps, i consider myself on the winning end when i play his games.