First announced to be under development at Konami’s press event during the week of E3, Metal Gear Arcade has now been officially showcased via the Japanese debut trailer below.

The video shows what looks to be (and is) Metal Gear Online, the online portion of Metal Gear Solid 4, only now you (i.e. you who live in Japan) will be playing the game in an arcade cabinet. Looks smart.

Watch the debut Japanese trailer for Metal Gear Arcade below:

Post continues, click to read more…

It’s been announced that you are now able to pre-order the SCENE Expansion pack for Metal Gear Online.

You can order the pack in a variety of configurations, either on its own for $9.99, as a bundle with the previous expansion pack, MEME, for $14.99, or you can get all three expansion packs, from GENE and MEME to the latest, SCENE, for $17.99.

While SCENE is only releasing on March 17th, if you buy one of the bundles, either with the already available GENE and MEME expansions, the content in those packs will be made accessible immediately. How thoughtful!

Additionally, if you pre-order now, either through the PlayStation Network or Konami’s in-game shop, you will get an extra bit of content for free – the ‘Cardboard Man’ head gear! Sold!

To whet your appetite for the Metal Gear Online: SCENE Expansion, you can watch a trailer revealing the new maps, characters and bikini-clad soldiers you’ll have access to with the purchase of the pack.

Konami has announced that the Metal Gear Online SCENE expansion for the PS3 will be released across the US and Europe on the 17th of March. You will be able to buy the new expansion for $9.99 or 7.99 Euros from the MGO shop.

US gamers will be able to buy the expansion separately or as part of a bundle with the second expansion MEME for $14.99 or with three expansion packs, GENE, MEME and SCENE, for $17.99.

Gamers will be able to pre-order the SCENE expansion from the 10th of March. Pre-ordering will mean you can use an exclusive ‘Cardboard Box Man’ headgear in the game.

The SCENE expansion adds further stages, options and content elements to the game as well as three new maps. Outer Outlet is an industrial wasteland that features above and below ground areas suited for long range attacks while close kills can be performed in the three storey building known as Hazard House and prepare to battle above and underground as well as underwater in the Ravaged Riverfront Clock Tower.

Post continues, click to read more…

A new trailer for the Metal Gear Online: SCENE Expansion has been released, revealing the three new maps - Outer Outlet, Hazard House and Ravaged Riverfront - while also confirming the new characters, Raiden and Vamp, as well as a bevy of… bikini-clad soldiers? Huh.

The add-on will be available later this month. Watch the trailer for MGO: SCENE Expansion below:

Konami have announced the third expansion pack for their online Metal Gear experience, Metal Gear Online for PS3.

The expansion pack, called SCENE, will release in March with three new maps - namely Outer Outlet, Hazard House and Ravaged Riverfront - two new characters - in the form of Raiden and Vamp - and a host of new equipment options.

You’ll be able to pre-order the expansion a week before its release via either the in-game shop or Konami’s online store and, as a reward for pre-ordering, you’ll get a free gift in what Konami call the “hilarious classic ‘cardboard man’ head gear.” Hilarious indeed.

The new team-based game mode for Metal Gear Online is available today.

All users of Metal Gear Online can enjoy the new Bomb Mission mode which challenges teams to destroy or protect an area on the game map. Players will need to either plant timed explosives in the city and protect the bomb until it detonates or use a coolant solution to nullify the explosive, all against a tight time limit.

You can check out some screens of the new mode below.

Post continues, click to read more…

From now until January 29th, you’ll be able to download a free demo of Metal Gear Online (MGO) from the PlayStation Store and experience the Metal Gear Solid 4 multiplayer supplement mode. Apparently over one million users have already signed up for MGO, which is quite a feat.

Additionally, in what Konami are calling the ‘Welcome Rookie Campaign,’ if you register the full retail version of MGO from now until February 16th (or have registered your version previously from December 24th 2008 onwards) you will be entitled to the special MGO Codec Pack (which includes special voice content) as well as 5000 reward points that can be redeemed within the MGO in-game shop, allowing you to buy items for use in MGO.

These prizes will be available on February 17th to all newly registered players who have not previously installed and registered their version of MGO before December 24th. A bit complicated, but sounds enticing enough for people to get into the MGO experience!

After the release of Metal Gear Online: Gene Expansion, an expansion pack for Metal Gear Solid 4’s multiplayer component, things have got a little hairy for Konami.

Due to the large volume of traffic, heavy server load has resulted in a host of problems for players trying to access the new multiplayer content, including the inability to access the ‘MGO Shop,’ ‘Ranking Display’ and the ‘Community Support Page.’

Simply trying to login to the service has been problematic, while Konami have been issuing refunds to player accounts after payments made were processed incorrectly, one of the main sources of the server load.

You can read the full list of issues, to which Konami have ‘no permanent solutions,’ but are currently trying to fix.

Konami Digital Entertainment has announced an expansion pack to Metal Gear Online, Metal Gear 4’s multiplayer component, entitled ‘Gene Expansion.’

The expansion pack features new characters, such as Meryl and Johnny from Metal Gear Solid 4, as well as a new Survival mode where players need to stay alive as long as possible against increasingly overwhelming challenges.

A ‘Reward Shop’ has also been added to trade points for new equipment, while players are now able to create female soldiers as their custom character.

New maps also feature in the expansion with the likes of ‘Coppertown Conflict’ featuring wide open streets, ‘Tube of Tombs’ comprising underground, labyrinthine passages and lastly ‘Virtuous Vistas,’ including locations ideal for mid- to long-range combat.

Gene Expansion will be made available on Thursday, the 17th of July, at a price of 9.99 Euro.

Hot on the heels of Sony’s announcement that the Metal Gear Online Beta would be available across Europe on the 17th of April, Konami has issued a press release detailing the beta.

Konami announced that Europe would be included in the public beta program for Metal Gear Online. It also confirmed that the Metal Gear Online beta would be available via the PlayStation store from the 17th of April, with online tests running from the 21st of April to the 6th of May.

Metal Gear Online is a new Metal Gear title that is designed specifically as a multiplayer online experience. It will be released worldwide as part of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on the 12th of June.

Players will be able to sample the multiplayer experience and co-operative team based play of MGO through the beta. If you download the beta you can explore two maps, Blood Bath and Groznyi Grad.

Post continues, click to read more…

Konami has detailed the products and packaging which will be available for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. MGS4 will be hitting store shelves on the 12th of June.

In a post on SCEA’s PlayStation blog, Konami Online’s Brandon Laurino detailed what the Standard and Limited Edition of the game as well as the MGS4 PS3 bundle would include and announced the MGS4 Limited Edition PS3 bundle would include a gunmetal grey PS3.

Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2 Bonus DVD plus MGO Beta

Konami announced that the Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2 free pre-order bonus offer DVD with MGO Beta Unique Product Voucher Code insert would be available through participating retailers for gamers that pre-order the MGS4 Standard Edition or the MGS4 Limited Edition. Stocks for this special offer are limited and gamers have been urged to check with retailers when the stock will be available.

The Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2 DVD contains extensive original video content, with the focus mainly on how the ‘Snakes’ (namely, Big Boss (Naked Snake), Liquid Snake, Solidus Snake and Solid Snake) are connected. The DVD also contains a compilation of all the MGS4 trailers as well as a special Prologue video to MGS4.

Gamers will find an insert in the Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2 DVD case. This insert will contain a Unique Product Voucher Code which will enable gamers to participate in the Metal Gear Online Beta. Gamers will be able to download the MGO Beta from the PlayStation Store from the 17th of April to the 5th of May, with game play being available from the 21st of April to the 5th of May.

Post continues, click to read more…