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Behind the scenes: Metal Gear Solid 2

Posted by chrisd on from the seems-like-an-exhaustingly-fun-job dept.

Kevin Lomax writes "GameSpot has posted another one of its Final Hours stories, this time detailing the development story behind Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PlayStation 2. They did one on Black & White earlier this year and this one looks just as good with lots of interesting quotes from the developers in Japan about how they built the game."

9 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Software Development by 1alpha7 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "You see this callus on my finger?" Kojima asks. "Well, that's from me using so many highlighters to go through all the bugs. I use up at least two highlighter pens a day."

    Now that's thorough software development.

    1Alpha7

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    Live to be Moderated
    1. Re:Software Development by dimator · · Score: 4, Funny

      that's from me using so many highlighters to go through all the bugs

      I bet he spends a lot of time cleaning his monitor too!

      --
      python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
  2. A little spoilage with my thoughts on MGS2 by DragonPup · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Honestly, the story of MGS2 seemed to...well, fall a little loose as the game wrapped up. It went from really nice in the majority of the game but became to a tad too philiosophical for it's own good near the end.

    Also it seemed that some of the neater things(the sword, the partner mode) were SERIOUSLY underused and both were so cool!

    Oh, and I disagree with the thought in the article that Raiden was 'overly feminane looking', nancy might be a better for him :-)

    All in all, I still enjoyed it greatly. Great game, maybe we'll even see a sequel. One can hope

    -Henry

    --
    "Useless organic meatbag" -HK-47
  3. MGS:2 is a work of art... by EvlPenguin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...too bad that doesn't make a fun game. I swear I spent more time with my hands off the controller, watching a cutscene of some sort, than actually _playing_ the damn game. It's all beautifully done, but there's just too much inactivity for what is supposed to be an action game.

    The action that it does have is superb, and the storyline is definitly the best in the series. But overall, it just wasn't as satisfying and FUN as the original MGS (for PS1). I don't really have any incentive or urge to play it over again.

    Maybe I was just expecting too much, but I must say that I'm dissapointed. If I had to give it a rating, it would be 8.5/10. Oh well. Back to Grand Theft Auto III.

    --

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    #nohup cat /dev/dsp > /dev/hda & killall -9 getty
    1. Re:MGS:2 is a work of art... by The_Messenger · · Score: 3, Interesting
      It's funny -- I didn't play the original MGS very much, but after finishing MGS2, I started a new MGS game. Wow, it sure gives you a good perspective on how much the industry has advanced. Not that MGS isn't a good game... but the gaming systems are practically identical, so playing the two back-to-back really lets you compare the PSX's and PS2's respective capabilities. The sense of "depth" afforded by the PS2's lighting engine is probably the biggest factor, after the sharpness of the polygons, of course.

      You guys may have seen this before, but I'll link to an old interview with head MGS2 weenie himself, Koji-boy. His comments are fun to read after immersing myself in the game for the past week.

      And as long as we're tossing out links, here are a few relevant Penny Arcades. :-)

      And All Through The Hizouse
      Again, For The First Time
      (And don't forget to pay for those belly laughs, now!)
      --

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      I like to watch.

  4. Mullet, ho! by Pengunea · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can I get the specs on Solid Snake's mullet? I'm thinking of tricking out mine and want to see what's out on the market. I've already overclocked it a bit. It's halfway down my back.

    Too much Space Ghost has rotted my brain!

    --
    Starkle, starkle, little twink.
  5. MGS2 is impressive, but not a great game by dangermouse · · Score: 3, Informative
    I bought a copy yesterday, and have been playing for most of the day today... Visually, the game is stunning, despite the occasional flicker. The storyline is even moderately interesting, which in the realm of video games means it's a "deep" and "involving" "plot". The dialogue still bites, but it's head and shoulders above the original MGS.

    Speaking of the original MGS, this is the same game with an upgraded shiny factor. I bought it pretty much because of that, so I'm not disappointed... but if you're looking for any major changes, forget about it. This game also features about the same frustration level... sometimes a room is difficult because the controls are so overloaded, or the camera angle bites, or your timing has to be absolutely perfect.

    All things considered, though, I'm having a fairly good time with it. Not nearly as much fun as with GTA3, though, and I'm beginning to wonder what else there is to look forward to on the PS2.

  6. It's being done by Animats · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's some toy on the market this Xmas that requires an ongoing supply of "powerup cards". I don't expect it to be a success, but if it had been Pokemon-based last year...

  7. The truck have started to move... by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anyone remember the original Metal gear for Nintendo? That kicked ass for its time--it was one of the few original nintendo games and actually had a plot. And the bad translations from Japanese were somewhat amusing, too "The truck have started to move!". The really freaky thing is that there are people my age who have kids who play the sequels to games that I played as a kid. It's a good thing that emulators like MAME exist, otherwise future generations of gamers who ten years from now play "Metal Gear 30" or "Golgo 13 III" (I can only dream) would never truly understand where their games fit into the whole plotline. Without MAME, how many kids playing the current line of nintendo games would know that Donkey Kong was originally evil and that the only thing Mario was good for was jumping over barrels?