PS3 Fanboy

The character creation tools of Soulcalibur IV look to be rather robust. Kotaku's CB has created facsimiles of our favorite Metal Gear Solid characters, Snake and Raiden, using the in-game system. While not 100% spot-on, these renders do add a distinct Metal Gear flair to the classic fighter. Seeing these two fighting on the Death Star with Soulcalibur weapons ... well, that's the kind of stuff fanfics are made of.

[Thanks, Gambit07!]

Does the above image look like it belongs somewhere else? Well, it sort of does to us; the background environment reminds us more of another Konami hit series, Silent Hill, than it does Metal Gear Solid. That is, of course, once you take out all the Russian soldiers.

Luckily, it's only this screenshot out of a batch that made us think so; the rest of the screenshots look mighty fine. Check out the rest of the new images at The Magic Box.

Despite the fact that Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection still hasn't seen a Western release, we can now enjoy at least one part of the collection. Included in the box set is the Metal Gear Saga video, which is narrated by an unnamed character who apparently had a run-in with Solid Snake sometime in the past.

Since the video was entirely in Japanese we couldn't understand what was being said until the guys at MetalGearSolid.org recently translated the video. It's a pretty interesting and definitely a treat for Metal Gear fans.

It's never been a secret that Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series was inspired by Kurt Russell's Snake and his exploits trying to escape a few cities, but we never really knew how close those similarities are until now. Aint it Cool News recently won an eBay auction for a previously unreleased and unapproved Escape from L.A. script. The site posted pieces of the script, and it's pretty amazing reading it as you can imagine several parts that could have easily have fit into a Metal Gear game.

Not only does the script describe several characters with super-human abilities, it also reveals that the movie's antagonist clones Snake in an attempt to create the world's most elite soldiers. Yeah shocking, right? Well, he also plans on "removing certain genetic limitations, and retaining the benefit of the memories and experiences of the original subject."

After this revelation, it's interesting to think just how closely the Metal Gear series could have followed Escape from L.A. if this script had been given the green light.

[via Level Up]

So Hideo Kojima has sworn off future involvement with the Metal Gear series... again. But like the Rolling Stones or a comeback tour that won't go away, he's sure to return! Or maybe not. This wouldn't be the first time he's called it his last, but he says he's for real when talking about MGS4.

"Well, I say this every time but this is going to be my last Metal Gear... so you could say that the hidden theme here is that I want Snake to die so that I can move on." Strong words from a true visionary. Anyone taking bets on how long it'll be before he's back?