Metal Gear Solid 4 Pushing 50GB, What is Really Going On?
March 3rd, 2008
There I was preparing to post some article that I had written last week when a feed from IGN came in stating some mind boggling news. Something which I needed to share my feelings about.
In a recent issue of Famitsu famed game developer Hideo Kojima stated that they had to exclude some content from Metal Gear Solid 4 in order to keep the game’s file size under 50gb.
If you know me outside of the blog then you will know that I am no tech head, infact when it comes to technology I am quite the traditionalist. But ever since I have heard about it I have always been intrigued by the massive size of a Blu-ray disc. Its simply mind bending that two dual layer discs (50gb per disc, I am pretty sure that it is dual layered) are larger than your average computer harddrive.
50 giga bites is as IGN put it quite a terrifying size for a game, I want to just put this into perspective for a second.
Xbox 360 game disc/HD DVD
Single Layer – 15gb
Dual Layer – 30gb
Playstation 3 game disc/ Blu-Ray Disc
Single Layer – 25gb
Dual Layer – 50gb
Xbox 360 launch title examples:
Condemned: 3.9 GB
Madden 06 NFL: 3.3 GB
Dead or Alive 4: 5 GB
NBA 06: 4.5 GB
DP’s Estimated range of Xbox 360 game sizes: 3-14+gb
Okay, so essentially the average next generation game for either console is roughly 10gb of data. So essentially that means that MGS4 is about 5x that of the average next generation game. Keeping in mind that they had to work within that 50gb limit.
Forget the Tech Talk, What Does All of This Mean?
Technical marvel aside, MGS4 is a large game so I want to share some of my suspected reasonings behind the massively large fill size.
Full 1080p Graphics
Its surprising that with the buzzword 1080p being thrown around like its quickly going out of fashion that so few video games actually run at that resolution. In another recent interview with Hideo Kojima he stated that they were still unsure on deciding a final resolution for the game. They were still in the optimizing stages. The outputted 1080p graphics obviously would have a strong effect on the game’s file size hence this could be a hint towards the game running in ‘true high definition’.
Plenty of Video, Cutscenes and Voice
This reason comes as no surprise, every Metal Gear Solid title has featured lengthy cinemas and plenty of voice work. Even though Metal Gear Solid 3 was toned down considerably I suspect that MGS4 may be the title to boast the most video and voice yet in the series. After all Konami need to tie together all of the loose ends and finally lift the lid on the Patriots and in my mind that is going to take a lot of context to support.
On the topic of context MGS4 will also feature flashbacks to prior games to help new players piece the saga together. There are also the supposively insane intro and outro movies in the game. More of that can be found here. Both would contribute to file size.
Extensive Bonus Material
The Metal Gear series is known for it’s bonus material, infact all MGS games have been available with at least some sort of bonus disc. For MGS4 there is likely to be the return of a movie previewer, bonus costumes but most importantly additional missions. MGS2 Substance had Snakes Tales, MGS3 had the monkey catching mini game and boss rush modes so it is likely that MGS4 will see a mix of these.
My selections are:
- movie cinema
- bonus missions
- boss rush
- developer interviews
- and more
Conclusion
This is really the crux of what I wanted to say with this post. Ryan Payton from Konami has stated that MGS4 will be of roughly the same length if not longer than MGS3. This is why I included the ‘What is Really Going On?‘ in the header because even with all of my points included MGS4 should be less than 30gb, surely. It is almost as suspect as that suspicious drawing of Big Boss released in early artwork. Hmmmm….
I can’t help but think that Konami are once again hiding something from the gaming public. Much like MGS2, MGS4’s information stream has been carefully maintained. As always there are plenty of secrets which we simply won’t know until the game ships. So, its got me questioning the game’s massively large size. Am I the only one who doesn’t find this incredibly suspect?
Leave me a comment with your thoughts.
Awesome Otacon (Metal Gear Solid) Clock Widget
February 26th, 2008
If you are a regular reader then you will know that I am dying in anticipation for the eventual release of Metal Gear Solid 4 for the Playstation 3. It really is tearing me up with anticipation. Anyways with my anticipation so high I have been doing whatever possible to curb the waiting pains.
This includes reading up about the series, viewing the franchise’s gorgeous artwork, pulling apart previously released trailers etc. During this time I was also in search for some Metal Gear propaganda and as I was searching around I stumbled upon this cool little Otacon clock widget for your desktop:
The sprites are taken from MGS2 (end of the Tanker chapter). As you move your cursor around Otacon follows it with his eyes, he also blinks as well. Very cute.
You can increase Otacon’s size, set an alarm and use various time modes. I love this little widget, helps ease those pains. So be sure to download yourself a copy from Konami’s website.
Glorious Gameplay Unveiling (Metal Gear and Resident Evil)
July 28th, 2007
The past 5 days have been excellent for those PS3 owners out there as the first gameplay footage has been revealed for arguably the two most anticipated titles for the system. That is Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident Evil 5.
What, more Resident Evil 5?! I hear you pout. Well, it seems like Capcom has been extremely generous(once again). They where so kind to even include some nice high res. shots. Now I’m not going to do a complete analysis of this new RE trailer(it’s actually an extended version of the MS press conference) as there is only a few things to point out.
What you can’t miss:
Resident Evil 5 Extended Trailer
Resident Evil 5 Extended Trailer HD
Resident Evil 5 Screenshots
Metal Gear Solid 4 Demonstration
Metal Gear Solid 4 Demonstration HD
Metal Gear Solid 4 Screenshots
Metal Gear Solid Online
Metal Gear Solid Mobile
Resident Evil Analysis
Firstly a lovely panning scene over a large part of the village is shown which gives us quite a bit more perspective of the introductory environment. Shortly after we see the strange man(guy who gets infected with the virus, in case you forgot ;)) being eyed down by one of the villagers.
In the scene with the two blokes chatting away we notice that there is some sort of scarring around the green shirt guy’s right eye. In the crowd scene, we the villagers throwing rocks at the person hung upside down(Chris?). This was difficult to decipher in the previous trailer.
Chris then says the following lines:
“Casualties continue to mount, for the long years I’ve struggled”
“More and More I find myself wondering if its all worth fighting for”
“Who knows?”
He is obviously referring to his fight against the Umbrella corporation/Wesker/The Viruses. Also admire the buffness of Chris, he looks like his in an entirely different league compared to Leon.
Two quick points that I previously brought up are clarified after his speech, firstly this is Chris Redfield and secondly he has the headset. The villagers all disappear after Chris is overwhelmed by the bright light. Mysterious. This could be part of a possible gameplay mechanic or just highlighting the hot/cold or light/dark mechanics that where previous talked about?
Chris then enters the warehouse where we see the previous snippets of the ‘strange man’s evolution all grouped together. It doesn’t look as though he has changed much from his previous self. Perhaps the virus is just ‘possesive’ like the plague in RE4(don’t worry the similarities don’t stop there). We are thrown into an orgy of gameplay clips which look remarkably similar to that of RE4. Although we do notice two new additions; that Chris gets rugby tackled by a villager and he can dodge a horizontal slice by ducking.
The trailer then repeats the clip of the announcer talking thru the megaphone, we have better definition of the guard to his right. It looks like it has no eyeballs….ewww. We hear him call “see for these creatures” or so it sounds. Its quite hard to tell if he is speaking english or a native local language. I’d go with the local language, although the next part up ahead can contradict my hypothesis.
The proceeding gameplay clip shows Chris shooting a villager in the leg who then rolls to the floor. The other villagers are throwing axes at him(Resident Evil 4 alert!). Just as Leon does/did we see Chris elbowing an attacking villager trying to grab him from behind. The lead villager running out from the shed then calls “free them”. Could he be referring to the guard with no eyeballs with the giant flyswat?
This is followed by Chris equipped with a shotgun and some awfully similar vertical slashing action from a villager.
The next interesting part is the dank room where Chris is totally surrounded by villagers. I’ll get to why this is so important later. We then see Chris with a fast firing rifle, another standard weapon for the game. Afterwards Chris pushes a villager and then fists him in the face, it looks like a context sensitive action to me.
More speech:
“If there’s one thing I’ll do, I have a job to do and I’m gonna see it through”
One key part right at the end of the trailer is the quick scene with the girl in the water tank, this is obviously the girl that … was talking about from the previous interview, get a good look as she’ll be playing an important part in the game.
Round up
There is a consistent theme with this trailer that provides some insight to how the developers are trying to redirect the RE series back to its roots while using the RE4 gameplay model. Producer Jun Takeuchi stated this a while back. The theme is being overwhelmed by enemies, we saw this throughout the trailer. This element of a non stop frenzy ensure that you are fighting for your survival(hence survival horror). The enemies also move faster than zombies or gandos which adds to this point.
Metal Gear Solid 4
What a way to celebrate MGS’ 20th B-day then announce a slew of new franchise games and show the first gameplay footage of MGS4; the final game in the series. Well…make that in the timeline. 🙂 Kojima showed off a full 15 minute gameplay demonstration of the new title which was very impressive.
We got to see how Snake’s new suit works with the environment, some new weapons, hiding places and just how awesome this game looks. The one thing that I couldn’t stop thinking about throughout the trailer was how equipped Snake was. You can do almost anything with Snake; throw grenades while climbing ladders, roll on your back, front while shooting in 1st or 3rd person perspective and then there is the new suit. It seems that Konami has tweaked Snake into the ultimate stealth warrior.
Welcome to Daniel Primed, my self-titled games analysis blog and the online supplement to Adventures in Games Analysis.
Reader Emails | RSS / Email Feed
Game Design Companion: A Critical Analysis of Wario Land 4 - $7.99
Level Design: Processes and Experiences
Speed Boost: The Hidden Secrets Behind Arcade Racing Design - $5.99
Adventures in Games Analysis: Volume I - $5.99
