Konami's highly anticipated "Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes" has an official release date.
"Ground Zeroes" is slated to hit store shelves on March 18, 2014. The game is a prequel for the upcoming "Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain", but developers have yet to confirm a launch date.
Hideo Kojima, creator of the "Metal Gear Solid" franchise and Director of Kojima Productions, recently spoke with Xbox Wire about the next installment. With Microsoft and Sony's next-gen consoles officially out, Kojima commented about the new technology available for games.
"I'm most looking forward to the 'pseudo-cloud' era that the next generation of hardware will bring," Kojima said. "It's still one step away from the 'true' cloud revolution, but it will allow players to interact with their games, and each other in new and exciting ways using multiple devices such as tablets and smart devices. Social experiences and player interaction are what will drive the next wave of games."
The series creator additionally commented on why "Ground Zeroes" and MGS5 were split into two different games.
"'Ground Zeroes' is the gateway that leads into 'The Phantom Pain' and serves as the prologue to the core 'Metal Gear Solid V' experience," Kojima explained. "If I were to draw an analogy to Hollywood movies, it's similar to those first 15 minutes of a film that grabs the viewer's interest and pulls them in before the opening title appears. In game terms, it's a sort of tutorial that will help players get accustomed to many of the changes that we're introducing to the system."
Kojima also spoke about the voice change-up for their franchise lead Snake, who will now be portrayed by "24" actor Kiefer Sutherland.
"It's no longer just about the words that a character speaks, it's about the depth of their facial performance and the expressive tone of their voice. As technology evolves, it's vital that the expressiveness of the characters in the game evolve to match the capabilities of the hardware. Kiefer is helping us to raise the bar in that respect, and I'm looking forward to the final result," Kojima told Xbox Wire.
