Gaming news : Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Japanese: メタルギア ライジング リベンジェンス Hepburu: Metaru Gia Raijingu: Ribenjensu) is an upcoming action video game under development by Platinum Games and produced by Kojima Productions as part of the Metal Gear series, to be released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 consoles during 19 February 2013. The Xbox 360 version was cancelled in Japan. Set four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the story will focus on the agent Raiden who is to be encountered by a Desperado Enterprises, a self proclaimed PMCs involved in terrorist activities.

The game was originally announced during 2009 as Metal Gear Solid: Rising (メタルギアソリッドライジング Metaru Gia Soriddo Raijingu), an interquel set between the events of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots following Raiden's transformation into a cyborg produced solely by Kojima Productions. As the game was about to be cancelled due to difficulties in developing it, it was reannounced in late 2011 that Platinum Games would develop the game as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, changing the gameplay drastically. The game's setting has since been changed to give the Platinum staff more freedom in the making of the game. Nevertheless, the Kojima Productions staff is responsible for the game's plot and Raiden's design.

Gameplay:

Players assume control of cyborg ninja Raiden, the katana-wielding ally of series mainstay Solid Snake. He is initially playable in his "White" form based on his appearance in Guns of the Patriots, wearing white cyborg armor. At some point in the game he has it replaced with a more powerful "Black" cyborg armor that, although stronger, requires energy from "Zan-Datsu" kills. Unlike previous titles in the Metal Gear series, Revengeance is strictly an action game, focusing on sword fighting and a sophisticated cutting system. The game's cutting system allows players to engage in third person melee combat, as well as precisely slash enemies and objects "at will" along a geometrical plane using a "free slicing" mode. Virtually any object in the game can be cut, including vehicles and enemies, though elements of the environment were intentionally limited to structures such as pillars and walls to better facilitate gameplay. The free slicing mode, titled Blade Mode, is similar to other aiming modes in previous Metal Gear Solid titles, but produces a special targeting reticule in the form of a transparent blue plane which can be rotated and moved, tracing orange lines across the surfaces of objects to indicate exactly where they will be cut; it can also be used to enter a bullet time state, giving players the opportunity to precisely slash targets during moments of action, such as slicing through a falling target from multiple angles before it hits the ground. These features can be employed strategically, for example disabling opponents, finding weak points and gaps in armor, severing support columns to collapse ceilings or walls onto enemies, deflecting enemy fire, or cutting through objects to remove enemy cover. However, entering into Blade Mode reduces Raiden's energy to the point if dropped to a certain level, it cannot be used.

The franchise's stealth elements remain in the form of gathering reconnaissance using a visor. Through this, the player can verify the areas and proceed to the objective avoiding contact with enemies. Being spotted by an enemy triggers the "Alert Mode" in which Raiden is assaulted by multiple enemies for a determined time. The player also gains assistance from Bladewolf, a dog-like machine that gather map information for Raiden.

Raiden will have the ability to parry attacks even when his back is turned, allowing him to counterattack enemies and create multiple combos. The player also has access to a stealth mode titled "Ninja Dash" which drastically increases Raiden's speed and allows him to climb certain areas. This allows him to strategically ambush an enemy rather than fighting head to head. Although Raiden's main weapon will be his high-frequency blade, he will also have "sub-weapons." None of them are guns as they are to be used by enemies. Instead, Raiden can wield solely blades such as a dagger as well as a rocket launcher. Another key gameplay feature is titled zan-datsu (斬奪 lit. "cut and take), and involves "cutting" through enemies and "taking" parts, energy, ammunition, items, and information from the bodies of dismembered cyborgs and robots. This maneuver can be employed when attacking an enemy during Blade Mode and helps Raiden to gain new energy. When completing mission, the player will be rewarded with an specific amount of points depending on his or her performances and will receive a grade with the highest being "S". These points allow them to buy upgrades for Raiden's equipment. Some weapons can only be obtained by defeating boss characters.

                                                                                                                       Plot:

The game takes place four years after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in 2018 and is a spinoff that is "not part of the main Metal Gear Solidseries". The story follows Raiden who is working for PMCs performing multiple tasks such as the training of armies and VIP protection in an unknown African country that is recovering from a previous civil war as he raises money for his family. However, Raiden encounters an army of cyborg enemies from Desperado Enterprises, a self-proclaimed PMC that has been involved in various terrorist attacks. Desperado kills Raiden's protectee, while the swordsman Samuel Rodriguez (サムエル・ホドリゲス Samueru Hodorigesu) defeats Raiden in combat, taking his left eye and destroying his cybernetic body. Barely managing to survive Raiden is given a new black cyborg armor that is much more powerful but requires constant recharge. Raiden then starts working for Maverick Security to defeat Desperado Enterprises. Few weeks after his defeat, Raiden learns that Desperado is leading a military coup in Abkhazia and heads to fight them in Sukhumi. Raiden will also travel to other parts of the world such as Mexico during the story.

Developers stated that while Raiden "has grown up" in comparison to previous Metal Gear games, he is still conflicted with his life as a child soldier in a past civil war, leading him to be a "dark hero". He is assisted by members from Maverick Security including a Russian pointman named Boris (ボリスBorisu) who communicates with him through Codec. He is accompanied by Kevin Washington, a military advisor, Courtney Collin, a data analyst, and Doktor (ドクトル), a maintenance expert responsible for Raiden's new body. Samuel Rodriguez serves as Raiden's rival during the game with a conversation between the two in the beginning influencing Raiden. Three other enemies include Sundowner (サンダウナー Sandauna), a cyborg swordfighter, Mistral (ミストラル Misutoraru), a female cyborg possessing multiple arms, and Monsoon (モンスーン), a ninja with sliced arms. Another new character named is a quadruped robot resembling a wolf that has been confirmed to be important for the plot. It first appears under the name of LQ-84i as an enemy that is defeated by Raiden. Raiden takes him to Doktor who reprograms him as Bladewolf to assist him. Returning from Guns of the Patriots is Sunny.

                                                                                        Development

                                                                                                                     As Metal Gear Solid: Rising

After Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released, Hideo Kojima started coming up with ideas for another game, Metal Gear Solid 5. The game was meant to feature The Boss and her comrades, the Cobra Unit, as main characters. However, the lack of experience from the younger staff in charge and the lack of involvement from Kojima resulted in this project being scrapped. Afterwards, a member suggested turning it into a sidestory focused on Raiden since said character was featured in Guns of the Patriots and the staff agreed to develop Metal Gear Solid: Rising It was originally conceived as an interquel that would chronicle the series of events that resulted in the transformation of Raiden, the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 into his cyborg ninja persona in Metal Gear Solid 4. Rising would have taken place during a point in the series' chronology at which Raiden had already begun his transformation into cyborg form, albeit with a different and somewhat more crude appearance from the one seen in Metal Gear Solid 4.

The game was first hinted during Hideo Kojima's keynote presentation at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco where the presentation's end showed "The Next MGS" with Raiden as a cyborg standing next to the title. Prior to the announcements of the game, Kojima Productions featured a countdown timer on their website until the day that Rising was announced. The series' traditional tagline of "Tactical Espionage Action" was also altered to "Lightning Bolt Action," a play on the fact that Raiden's name is Japanese for "thunder and lightning." The game was officially announced at E3 2009 at the Microsoft press conference. A teaser trailer was released by series' director Hideo Kojima, although he would be serving only as executive producer for the game, as 100% of his input is with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PlayStation Portable. The game was initially only announced for the Xbox 360 but was later confirmed for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms. According to the "Kojima Productions Report" podcast the game would use a brand new game engine, rather than the Metal Gear Solid 4 engine.

The game's original cover artwork was leaked on Xbox Live on June 10, four days before E3 2010, but was soon taken down and replaced with the official logo. During Microsoft's E3 press conference on June 14, Hideo Kojima introduced the game's original lead designer, Mineshi Kimura, who unveiled a new trailer which included cutscene and gameplay footage and introduced the concept of zan-datsu (斬奪^?, lit. "cut and take"). The game's creative producer, Shigenobu Matsuyama, and Kimura and Matsuyama again presented the trailer on June 16 during Konami's E3 press conference, then took stage, further clarifying the game's "take" mechanic and again emphasizing that the game will contain stealth elements. Concern had risen over the game's realistic depictions of human dismemberment during player-controlled sequences, a hard limit for Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organizatiom, which may necessitate censorship in the domestic Japanese release of the game. As a result, the version of the E3 2010 trailer available for viewing on the game's official Japanese website has had such scenes removed.

Concept art on display at the Art of Yoji Shinkawa exhibit in January 2011.

Mineshi Kimura stated that Rising would carry on the series tradition of encouraging players to progress through the game without killing, noting that there is a moral difference between attacking cyborgs or robots and attacking human beings, and that there's a "certain virtue to simply disabling your enemies instead of killing them." While it was considered important to give the players freedom to do what they want, the game's original producer Shigenobu Matsuyama, indicated that players would never be rewarded for killing human opponents, and that the game would be designed so that players would never be forced to do so.

Specifically, the games stealth elements would have emphasized Raiden's considerable speed and agility through what Matsuyama describes as "hunting stealth." Unlike the "waiting stealth" of previous titles, in which players remained hidden and avoided combat, players in Rising would instead quickly stalk their enemies and use acrobatic maneuvers to stay out of sight while closing in. This ties in with the game's zan-datsu feature, allowing them to prey upon enemies to obtain weapons, items, and energy. Kimura noted that he wanted Raiden to be able to move like he did in the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailers, and to show "the stealth of the sword, and the strength of not even losing to the gun, and the fear and power you have with this blade."

At TGS 2010, Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 version of Metal Gear Solid: Rising would be playable in 3D. In January 2011, several pieces of concept art for Rising were displayed at Yoji Shinkawa’s two-week exhibit, The Art of Yoji Shinkawa, hosted by the Konami Style Shop in Tokyo. During late 2011, it was announced over that Matsuyama had moved to a different division within Konami and that Yuji Korekado had taken over as the game's lead producer. Additionally, Kojima said Metal Gear Solid: Rising is "moving forward"; Kojima had stated the game remains significantly different to existing Metal Gear games, although he has retained an element of control over it and will not let it stray too far from the series' roots. He stated that "If somebody thinks 'I love Snake' and just really wants traditional stealth gameplay and that experience, then it may be hard to get intoRising, but for people who are more open and willing to try new things, it shouldn't be a problem."