MGS4 fires a shot in the console wars

by Kyle Orland { Jun 9th 2008 at 12:30PM }

We realize that this post is going to conflict a lot of our readers. On the one hand, there's a large segment of our audience that grabs on to anything related to the console wars like a starving dog grabbing on to red meat. On the other hand, there's another group of readers that have devoted their lives in the past weeks to an extreme avoidance of anything that might even resemble a spoiler for the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4.

Readers at the intersection of these two groups are going to have to think long and hard about watching the below video, which includes a particularly clever dig at Sony's competition but also potentially spoils an inconsequential scene in MGS4 (rest assured, there are absolutely no story details revealed in the clip). This is a tough, intensely personal decision, and we wouldn't presume to judge you either way. Just look into your heart and ask yourself what feels right. The answer will come.

[Via PS3 Fanboy. Image source.]

Tags: console-wars, consolewars, konami, metal-gear-solid-4, MGS4, spoiler

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

McWeen @ Jun 9th 2008 12:36PM

If some one was that paranoid about game leaks they should be smart enough to avoid the internet until after they finished the game, like people did with the last Harry Potter.

Mr.ESC @ Jun 9th 2008 1:21PM

In Niko Bellic voice:Sorry but this is a hijack don't try to be a hero.

They forgot:IT'S A COOKBOOK!

Nicholas Sulikowski @ Jun 9th 2008 4:59PM

The Titanic sinks!
Trinity dies!
Donald Sutherland is a body snatcher!
Maggie shot Mr. Burns!

Mr.ESC @ Jun 9th 2008 5:42PM

Epic movie wasn't epic...oh wait that wasn't a spoiler.

The call was coming from inside the house.
Her best friend was the killer.
Jackson dies in the nuke.
Snake never died (MGS2 folks don't worry)
Master Chief is still alive.
The cake is a lie.

pasta @ Jun 9th 2008 7:20PM

Bruce Willis is a ghost.

Snatcher (MDF - Halo Ring) @ Jun 10th 2008 2:17AM

Einhorn is Finkle.... Finkle is Einhorn...

JCA @ Jun 12th 2008 5:40PM

@Snatcher

I dub thee.....my HERO.

syrik zero @ Jun 9th 2008 12:36PM

Funny! I don't see it as much of a slap though. Could be just me in my avoidance of any fanboyisms

Magetto @ Jun 9th 2008 3:56PM

From what I understand (and heard) it was a joke about MGS1. That scene takes place in the same part of MGS1 where you had to swap discs. Only thing is they did the joke really really badly. It might have worked out better if they were more subtle about it and weren't so obnoxiously blatant with the whole "HAR HAR BLUE RAY IS AWESOME!"

Something more along the lines of-
Otacon: Snake, it's time to change discs.
Snake: What are you talking about, Otacon?
Otacon: Oh wait, you're right. I'm sorry, Snake. Guess I just had a spell of déjà vu.
**END CONVERSATION**

Hala Madrid!! @ Jun 9th 2008 4:16PM

You know the funny thing is that PS3fanboy actually used the Xbox360 name in their post just to create flame. I wonder why Joystiq didn't do the same?
but anyways, multiple discs or not MGS4 will eventually come out for the Xbox360.

Yes I said it.

cheese3053 @ Jun 9th 2008 9:51PM

@ Hala Madrid!!

O rlly?
And Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 is coming to the ps3 also.

squeevi @ Jun 9th 2008 12:36PM

Not really that funny.

Dan @ Jun 9th 2008 6:57PM

The humour relies on the fact that you often have to swap discs on rival systems.

...But you don't...

MrGuru @ Jun 9th 2008 12:36PM

OMG you ruined just about every movie i was intrested in seeing @ some point... i hate your guts!!

343 Guilty Fart @ Jun 9th 2008 1:31PM

Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but I really hate that picture, because, yes, there are a few movies on there I haven't seen which you just ruined for me. Honestly, it's just not that cool.

Vegnagun bwf @ Jun 9th 2008 1:45PM

Donnie does die.

MrGuru @ Jun 9th 2008 1:48PM

oh no im LIVID! in every sense of the word. i cant believe it...

David @ Jun 9th 2008 2:52PM

I love wearing that shirt to movies.

GreyFox @ Jun 9th 2008 4:36PM

FUCK! I HAVEN'T FINISHED THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS YET.

THANKS A FUCK LOT GUYS I REALLY APPRECIATED THAT.

born2kill @ Jun 9th 2008 12:37PM

half decent zing

KVN @ Jun 9th 2008 12:37PM

Yea i saw this the other day and i didn't really find it that funny.Kinda cute but not funny.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 9th 2008 2:06PM

Yeah, the best zings are still in R&C:ToD...

Although I did laugh my ass off in Heavenly Sword when she points Twing Twang at the guys nuts and says "..or else I'll hit your weak point for Massive Damage..."

K387 @ Jun 9th 2008 12:37PM

Wow, that feels so out of place. All I can say is "whatever", but I find it funny that Konami (or Sony if they had any involvement) would have to do something so blatant.

K387

Haggard @ Jun 9th 2008 3:28PM

MGS typically breaks the fourth wall quite a lot.. in one section of MGS2, all snake's allies are telling you to stop playing the game over his earpiece.

ViagraFiend @ Jun 9th 2008 3:41PM

I'm glad this guy signed his blog name at the end of his post.

ViagraFiend

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 9th 2008 3:54PM

I don't see why that's so unusual...

Sir Fidlious Wong Esquire IV...
Ravager of the Ricelands...
Celtic Invader Extraordinaire...

why not the LS2LS7? @ Jun 9th 2008 10:19PM

Are you kidding me? In one of the games you had to take the controller out and plug it into port 2 to win the battle. In another it explicitly tells you to put your controller on the table.

The games know they are games, it's the style of the MGS games. It's worked so far for them (no thanks to me, I've bought none of them).

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 9th 2008 12:38PM

The post is more thrilling than the video, which doesnt live up. I give it a 4.5.

PojoMofo @ Jun 9th 2008 12:39PM

I didnt realize it was a Haze video?

PojoMofo @ Jun 9th 2008 12:39PM

I didnt realize it was a Haze video?

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 9th 2008 12:58PM

Its not Haze, its another attempt by Sony to be cool that kinda fails.

Lijik @ Jun 9th 2008 1:05PM

So Konami is now Sony? Awesome. Its great to know that when someone makes a console joke, they are now officially the company that isn't the butt of the joke.

BlackFreefall @ Jun 9th 2008 12:38PM

I still think is more of a reference to the MGS 1 but it does make you wonder...

Marty @ Jun 9th 2008 1:38PM

I think you're probably right.

Hashbrown Hunter @ Jun 9th 2008 2:08PM

Yeah I'm guessing it's a context-sensitive joke.

PojoMofo @ Jun 9th 2008 12:39PM

I dont have that dilemma, my work blocks all streaming media, so I couldnt watch it even if I wanted to. I will find out what it is soon enough :)

beatboxtaun @ Jun 9th 2008 12:41PM

If that wasn't a plug, I don't know what is.

freedomfromconformity @ Jun 9th 2008 12:42PM

It's probably just me but I saw it more as a rip on the past Metal Gear Solid Games on the PS1 and PS2. MGS1 had 2 discs and MGS3 had a separate disc just for multiplayer.

Rooster752 @ Jun 9th 2008 12:42PM

Who is actually bothered by swapping disks? That is indeed a new breed of laziness. Is it really that hard at some point in a 20 hour game to get up and exchange one disk for another? One time. In 20 hours. Then you leave that disk in for the remainder of the game. I don't get all this crying.

PojoMofo @ Jun 9th 2008 12:47PM

look at Lost Odyssey, you have 3 discs on a spindle, and then one disk in a little paper sleeve, in which MANY people had unplayable, scratched up disks. If MGS4 was put on DVD-9, it would be 6 disks, which would be a packaging nightmare.

playwhutyalike @ Jun 9th 2008 12:51PM

I remember back in the days of FFVII I was stoked to change the disc. That means you are getting close to the end.

BUT, when I was on disc 3 I was at LVL 55 and kept getting my ass handed to me. So, I decided to start all over. Then, changing discs pissed me off.

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 9th 2008 1:13PM

Pojo:

The thing with Lost Odyssey is only a fault with the American release (maybe European? I dunno). The Japanese release had a slightly thicker DVD case so that all discs had something to lock into.

As for MGS4 being six DVDs... I doubt that, seriously. But, the world may never know, will we? So, troll away, trolls!

PojoMofo @ Jun 9th 2008 1:45PM

@BPM

Im not trying to troll. Its a well known fact that Kojima used every byte of info the Dual-layered BR disc could handle, which is 50GB, since a dvd-9 hold 9 GB of data. 9GB x 5 discs = 45GB, so 6 discs would be needed.

obviuosly they could do some more things like audio compression, but you see my point

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 9th 2008 1:51PM

Well, here's the thing: do we know how that ~50GB was utilized? Is the audio or textures compressed at all? Or is everything WAVs and BMPs? Is there any duplicated data, so that the BD laser doesn't have to seek too much (see also: Oblivion)?

If (a huge IF here) MGS4 was placed on DVDs, there could be some optimization tweaks to shrink the total game size. While I doubt it could be shrunk down to one DVD, I could easily see it as three or four (Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey).
But, that also depends on how the game was done on BD. If it clocks in at 50GB even after compressed audio/textures and there's no duplicate data, then, yeah, it would be a DVD mess.

Bluebrake @ Jun 9th 2008 3:04PM

@PojoMojo:

That's not actually true. The "MGS4 barely fits on a 50gb disk!" rumor was based on a lazily translated interview that the blogosphere picked up without *anyone* checking their sources.

What Kojima was actually saying in the interview was that he was having trouble fitting the game on a single-layer (25gb) BD. Eventually he got authorization for MGS4 to be the PS3's first dual-layer disk. So the game is over 25gb, but probably not a lot.

Also remember that programming is like a gas: it expands to fill the space it occupies. With harsher size constraints I'll bet anything they could have crammed the game into a much smaller space with little or no noticeable loss of quality.

I'm still curious what it is that makes MGS4 so much bigger than other games. It uses no FMV (unless there's tons of historical footage or something) and the game world doesn't sound like it's unusually large. So where does the space come from? Hours and hours of uncompressed dialogue? I guess we'll find out soon.

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 9th 2008 3:29PM

Bluebrake, where's your proof that it was a translation error? Not saying I'm doubting you, just that it's a pretty interesting claim to make.

Bluebrake @ Jun 9th 2008 5:46PM

I wouldn't call it a translation error, exactly. Kojima never actually said "50gb BluRay," he just said "BluRay" and everyone assumed it meant 50gb. You can see me bitching about it in more detail on this comments page: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/02/kojima-mgs4-too-big-for-50-gb-blu-ray-disc/2#comments

Ryan Payton later clarified that he was talking about a single-layer disk only, but like all corrections nobody ever heard that story. You can read it here: http://ps3.qj.net/Kojima-Productions-Report-85-on-MGO-perks-MGS4-going-dual-layer/pg/49/aid/116859