Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance preview with Hideo Kojima:

WOOOO!!  

The rumors are true. Hideo Kojima and his team of designers at Konami Computer Entertainment of Japan are hard at work on a follow-up to last year\'s critically acclaimed and wildly successful Metal Gear Solid 2 for the Xbox, and it\'s not Metal Gear Solid X. Called Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, the game will be shown at E3, almost two years to the day since Sons of Liberty was unveiled, and its name is telling.

Like the Japanese release of Integral for the original Metal Gear Solid, Substance will build on the Metal Gear Solid 2 experience by adding literally hundreds of new VR missions and noteworthy bonus material. But there\'s more to Substance than just a series of new mini-missions. Among other things, Substance will remedy Kojima\'s controversial introduction of Raiden by letting you assume the role of Solid Snake throughout the entire course of Metal Gear Solid 2.

The game will also let you play as several other characters, including Pliskin and the cyborg ninja. There are even five new episodes completely unrelated to Sons of Liberty that will take you on entirely new adventures with Solid Snake.
Substance is so big, in fact, it\'ll take up an entire double-density DVD disk when it releases for Microsoft\'s console this November. PlayStation 2 and PC fans shouldn\'t be disheartened, however, as Konami is concurrently developing Substance for those other platforms as well. To find out more about this game, we sat down with Hideo Kojima, famed creator of the Metal Gear series and director of Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance.

GameSpot: We understand that you\'re a fan of the late-\'70s British band Joy Division. Was the inspiration for this game\'s title taken from the band\'s album, Substance?

Hideo Kojima: That is one reason. The real reason is that this is the substance--real form--of Metal Gear Solid 2. This is what MGS2 should be.

The appeal of Metal Gear Solid is the stealth gameplay that allows much freedom along with being able to enjoy the story while playing the game. People who played MGS said that not only did they enjoy the gameplay but also the story. That is why I created Metal Gear Solid 2 as an orthodox sequel in which the emphasis is on the story. Because of this, the freedom of gameplay has been restricted to a certain extent. With Substance, you can play Sons of Liberty and also enjoy more gameplay that is not restricted by the story of Sons of Liberty. MGS requires both aspects to make it complete. In that sense, this is the substance--real form--of MGS. This is not the same as a conventional director\'s cut.
 
GS: How soon after the release of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty did development on Substance start?

 
 
"This is what Metal Gear Solid 2 should be."
-Hideo Kojima[/b]
 
 
HK: After the completion of the US version of Metal Gear Solid 2, we developed the Japanese, European, and Korean versions of the game. We started developing Substance right after completing the Japanese version.

GS: From the early screenshots we\'ve seen, it looks like you can play as Raiden through the tanker part of Metal Gear Solid 2 and as Snake through Big Shell. Does this mean that you\'ve rerecorded dialogue to compensate for this character switch?

HK: We basically used voices from Metal Gear Solid 2 and did some rerecording for lines specific to this game.

More here  http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2866504,00.html


LOOK!!  Raiden in the tanker!!!!!!

didnt they learnt thier lesson after silent hill silent dreams and onimusha genma

cool its comming to the PS2..

Dang. *goes and tries to sell his copy of MGS2 while it\'s still worth something*

And it\'s coming out for Xbox first, and it looks like a bunch of other people are going to port it to the other systems later. Guess this is MGSx afterall, but with a new name.

Quote:
HK: Yes, this is the Metal Gear Solid 2 game for the Xbox.:p

Errrr.......now im pissed......RAIDENS ON THE TANKER!? Now it makes you wonder if Snake will be in it at all.......

Why wont they just make a true sequel. .. . :rolleyes:

Originally posted by cloud345
Errrr.......now im pissed......RAIDENS ON THE TANKER!? Now it makes you wonder if Snake will be in it at all.......

bah, read the whole damn interview, then you will find your answer you seek.:o

Sounds like it\'ll turn out better than what I initially thought.   The "five new episodes" have caught my attention.

But even so, I\'ll wait until it drops to $20 or so before buying it.  I made the mistake of paying full price for MGS: VR Missions back on the PSX, and I don\'t want to do it again.

I wonder just how improved the Xbox graphics are because those look like PS2 shots to me.

I\'m not interested... Just some director\'s cut version... come on is it worth to spend 50 bucks just so you can control Snake in the same levels you\'ve already played, and vice versa with Raiden? I mean there was discussion on if MGS2 was even worth 50 bills, and now this... Like I said, I\'m uninterested.

Originally posted by Ryu
I wonder just how improved the Xbox graphics are because those look like PS2 shots to me.

That is just what i was thinking Ryu!!
They better use the Xbox\'s graphical powers for this game, just imagine the lighting and textures they could add, let alone the more poly\'s they could add to the player models them self!!
I couldn\'t stand the graphics on the Big tanker, there were jaggies every where, and why they didn\'t keep it at night is beyond me, ohhh imagine that a spy game in the middle of the afternoon, i am surprized that Raiden didn\'t stop for a cup of tea and some cake!!

PLEASE MAKE A BETTER GRAPHICS ENGINE!!

I have seen pics of snake on  a skateboard, a bit like thps3.

Anyone know if they are real

Actually in a previous Kojima interview he said the x box wasnt all it was cracked up to be.

He said the power was about the same, and the only way the x box version could look better is because x box hardware can produce shadows without using any processor strength, so what he can take from the shadows and can use the extra power give it sligthtly better graphics.

Originally posted by Clowd
Actually in a previous Kojima interview he said the x box wasnt all it was cracked up to be.

He said the power was about the same, and the only way the x box version could look better is because x box hardware can produce shadows without using any processor strength, so what he can take from the shadows and can use the extra power give it sligthtly better graphics.

Yeah he was making a game for the PS2 and he said that the Xbox wasn\'t that much more, wow imagine that, he is making a game for one console and he says the one he isn\'t making a game for isn\'t that much better!!
Just incase you didn\'t know that is the way the world works, YOU HAVE TO SELL YOUR PRODUCT!!!
If the Xbox isn\'t much better then why are we seeing some amazing graphics out of the xbox that are surpassing the PS2, i mean i haven\'t seen a game look as nice as Resident Evil on the Cube.
And also i think you\'ll find that in one of the interviews, he actaully said that he haden\'t tryed the Xbox or Cube out for develoiping a game, so how would he have known if it was wasn\'t hat much better???