Pre-E3: Kojima decided not to announce anything about Rising

[Ravi Singh]

Hideo Kojima already decided not to go to E3 this year. That's cool; he instead taped an interview in which he had his voice dubbed (even in Japanese) and then even gave Zone of the Enders fans a reach-around while caressing the chests of Metal Gear fans who own PlayStation 3s and Xbox 360s. Then, for the two or three people who still care about Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, a playable demo will be at E3. Not too shabby.

Kojima Productions however has decided not to announce anything for Metal Gear Solid: Rising, according to Hideo Kojima. Yet right after he said this, he actually did, in a way, announce some things:

1) Metal Gear Solid: Rising was always set to be released in 2012

I've been saying this yet people keep on listening to rumors about 2011 or, even worse, pulling a random date out of their ass to ask Hideo Kojima. Sorry, but what GameStop lists on their pre-order page doesn't fucking matter.

2) Yoji Shinkawa is now Character and Mechanic Designer



When the credits for Metal Gear Solid: Rising was shown during E3 2010, Yoji Shinkawa was listed as a concept artist. However in the Pre-E3 Show, he responded "YES" to the question of him being the character and mechanic designer for Rising. While I am not 100% sure, I believe that "concept artist" means a much smaller role. This is definitely good news.

3) Art direction is "more futurific and sci-fi" than Guns of the Patriots

Not really much to say about this. While it is strange considering that Rising is supposed to take place between Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Raiden could be facing different environments altogether. The MGS4 Database (written by Etsu Tamari who is also writing Rising, at least at the time of the E3 2010 trailer) mentioned Raiden being involved with Area 51.

Now what's interesting though is the decision not to announce anything else. I don't believe this has ever happened for a Metal Gear title. Could it be something as trivial as an attempt to use all resources available for development? Or did something happen that changed the game to the point where they can't even present anything? They didn't like fire a bunch of people, did they? NOT MY MATSUYAMAAAA!

With that in mind, now I'm really wondering if Quentin Flynn being very vocal about his belief that he will not be called in to voice Raiden was a huge mistake that may cost him the job. If so, I hope the misunderstanding could be worked out so that he can return as Raiden (assuming Raiden is Jack, of course).

SOURCE: The "Interview"

[Abel]

Man, that Raiden has weird proportions.
I guess that is what happens when Shinkawa doesn't design your characters, he doesn't right?

[Suzaku]

As far as I know, Shinkawa was always the character and mechanic designer. Both of those are just sub-categories of "concept art". Especially since he was the only one listed with an artistic credit.

Besides, all concept artist really means is "draw how everything is supposed to look."

That gorilla-armed guy in the first trailer was from unused concept art for MGS4. We got our first glimpses of Shinkawa's Raiden artwork quite a while back, and more recently printed on some merchandise for his "Art of Yoji Shinkawa" exhibit.

Regarding the more futuristic art direction, I'm guessing that can largely be chalked up to Area 51 and the Werewolf PMC having major roles.

[Ravi Singh]

I know video game development is different from film production, but in film a concept artist is just a guy who designs stuff that looks cool and the art director looks at it and can either take it, tell the concept artist to fuck off, have him make some changes, or make his own changes.

In the "interview" Shinkawa actually stated that Rising is doing things a little differently by having a team of concept artists, with him being the art director. This along with him being listed as "character and mecha designer" when the credits for Peace Walker was listed suggests to me the possibility of him taking on a more active role than he previously had.

[dfsdaf]

Hey, in that interview right before Yoji is done talking he mentions another project he is working on that we should be excited for, but the interpreter fucking mumbles so you can't understand it. Anyone have any clues?