SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Global
TOP

• Internet
TOP

• Japan
» Is Metal Gear Solid V finally getting a release date? Mysterious countdown appears on website

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Is Metal Gear Solid V finally getting a release date? Mysterious countdown appears on website

Casey Baseel Mar 3, 2015
Tweet

MG 4

Instant gratification and quick answers aren’t exactly the hallmarks of the Metal Gear video game franchise. Not only does its stealth-based gameplay reward patience over diving head-first into combat, but the events set in motion in 1998’s Metal Gear Solid, most modern gamers entry point into the series, didn’t get any sort of conclusion until the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, a full 10 years later.

There’s been a similarly slowly paced trickle of information about the series’ newest chapter, the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which has been featured in trade show videos for years, and even had its own commercially released, extended-length preview game, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. Now, the next tidbit seems to be coming soon, as a mysterious countdown clock has appeared on the official Metal Gear V website.

The countdown appeared in the early hours of the morning of March 4. Next to the profile of protagonist Venom Snake/Big Boss is a period-appropriate (The Phantom Pain is set in 1984) digital display of a Seiko watch, a nod to the Japanese watchmaker which has previously collaborated with software publisher Konami on special Metal Gear timepieces.

Seasoned Metal Gear veterans will also notice a “phantom cigar” icon. Previews for The Phantom Pain have shown that Snake whips out a cigar and has a smoke when the player wants to advance the in-game day/night cycle. Hmm…we wonder, will clicking the icon speed up the countdown…

Success! Yes, clicking the icon cuts almost 20 minutes off the timer, accompanied by a woman soulfully singing, “Whooooaaaa ohhhhh!”

Unfortunately, this is followed by another, mildly British-accented woman’s voice that politely informs us, “Function unavailable,” before knocking the timer back to whatever is was before clicking the cigar.

▼ Once again proving that nothing good comes from smoking

It looks like we’ll all just have to wait until the timer runs out at 11 p.m. on March 4 in Japan to find out what the surprise is. Given all of the updates that have already been doled out regarding the game’s development, though, a finalized release date seems to be the only thing that would warrant all the drama. Of course, that would means that the waiting for the countdown to end would transition immediately into waiting for the game to his store shelves, but since gamers were doing that already, it’d be nice to know how much longer they’ve got until they finally get to play The Phantom Pain.

Related: Metal Gear Solid V official website
Source: Jin
Top image: Metal Gear Solid V official website
Insert images: Metal Gear Solid V official website