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Sorry, it's not Jehuty.

He's right, MGA's fighting component is a card game. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it's not going to be the kind of MG game Americans are used to.

According to the developer of the PSP in an interview, the PSP should be about as powerful as the PS2, and the batteries are replaceable, so you can carry a spare. Judging by the size of the new PS2, it's easy to believe they fit that kind of power in to a handheld. The question is: Do people really want to be able to take Metal Gear with them wherever they go? By the way, look at that trailer!! Wow if the graphics are that gorgeous, people could be buying a PSP to keep alongside their PS2 as another console.

But have you seen the Metal Gear Acid Trailers? That thing looks somewhere in between the graphics capabilities of the PS1 and PS2. Just look at the size of the new PS2, it's clear that Sony can fit that technology into a handheld. Sorry, but I think the market is ready for a PS2 you can play on the subway.

Alright, if you're going to make fun of a game for having a ridiculous cutscene:game ratio, you should really pick a better target.

And as a favor to the readers, here is a link to Yogi Shinkawa's Metal Gear concept sketches (for the games, not the comic) so you have an idea of how different their styles are

There has in fact already been a game that people bought for the sound. Friends of mine actually went out and upgraded their PC sound purely to get a better play experience out of Thief: The Dark Project (1998). It was one of the first games that used positional sounds as an integral part of the game, making for an innovative play style that spawned the stealth genre which now also includes games like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell. Thief works slightly differently to the other Stealth games, since you are very weak in open confrontation. Not paying attention to certain important sounds (like a guard's footsteps for example) can lead to a swift and painful death. This new genre is very successful at the moment, with sequels for all three games mentioned coming out this year - Thief 3: Deadly Shadows, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, all of which have received good to excellent reviews.

In Japan, the game was called Metal Gear Ghost Babel, as can be seen here:

http://www.konamijpn.com/products/ghostbabel/japan ese/index.html

It were the stupid market people who changed the title. Shame on them, always changing covers, titles or, even worse, content, to make games "more suitable" for the western market.

It seems the vyper6 guy he mentions in the article has (as of now) beaten him again by a cool 30 seconds.

As somebody else said, Konami does make a home version of Para Para Paradise.

http://www.konamijpn.com/products/parapara/index.h tml

Unfortunately, the Para Para fad died out in Japan around the same time the home game came out, so only one home game was made. Because of the extremely low difficulty level, and the inability to edit your own "steps", it gets boring quickly.

The game uses a very unique controller! It is a set of 5 infrared sensors that are placed in a semicicle on the ground, and they detect your hand movements by noticing when your hands pass over them. In this way, the game notices when you extend your arms in various directions.

Because only one home game was released, there was little demand for the controllers. Konami actually overproduced the controllers! They can be found for as little as 500 yen (roughly $5)!

http://search.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/search?sb=desc& desc=%a5%d1%a5%e9%a5%d1%a5%e9+%a5%d1%a5%e9%a5%c0%a 5%a4%a5%b9&acc=jp&&f=0x12&at=true&alocale= 0jp
(Good luck with this URL, Slashdot may mangle it)

Unfortunately, shipping to the US is a killer, as you must go through third-party services since Japanese typically pay through internal bank transfers (an option unavailable to those outside Japan). A very good service that I would recommend is Rinkya.

http://www.rinkya.com/

I have PPP and two controllers. Despite its problems, PPP is still a very good game. The background graphics are incredible and hypnotic, and all of the songs are good (if you like Eurobeat and J-Pop). The actual game disc itself is harder to find than the controllers. If you can find it, get it!

BTW, the controller is a standard USB device, and it will show up properly. However, the sensors will not register, as evidently it has some kind of lockout! If I had access to a USB bus sniffer, I would try to see what it is that prevents the controllers from working. If somebody were to reverse-engineer it, it would be great, because there would be all kinds of fun applications for these controllers!

MGS3: Snake Eater
MGS: Twin Snakes
CY Girls
Gran Turismo 4
Starcraft: Ghost

These games are all due out soon... i'm not even thinking about end of 2004 yet, as that's too far away (nearly an eternity in the gaming world, as so much can change)

MGS3: Snake Eater
MGS: Twin Snakes
CY Girls
Gran Turismo 4
Starcraft: Ghost

These games are all due out soon... i'm not even thinking about end of 2004 yet, as that's too far away (nearly an eternity in the gaming world, as so much can change)

MGS3: Snake Eater
MGS: Twin Snakes
CY Girls
Gran Turismo 4
Starcraft: Ghost

These games are all due out soon... i'm not even thinking about end of 2004 yet, as that's too far away (nearly an eternity in the gaming world, as so much can change)

Having seen the teaser image was I the only one that thought "Metal Gay Solid 3!"?