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Metal Gear Solid Betas for Sale
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:17 pm
by Jim_Sensei
I'm currently in talks with a guy deep in the unreleased games scene. The guy has spent a five digit number as far as cash goes, and every beta/proto he gets is ripped and placed online for download. Here is his site;
http://www.hidden-palace.org/?news/c/15
I've been speaking with this guy about a couple of betas he has come across. One of the folks he often does business with (described him as 100% satisfactory) has claimed to have come across four special items. A 2 Disc version of MGS2 Substance that was used as a reviewable. A beta version of Substance that is also on 2 discs. A beta version of Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, and a beta of VR Missions. However, here is the problem; we don't know if these are betas or review builds. In addition to that, the guy wants 1,000 dollars for each.
So, I decided to come around and ask some of you fellows here at Junker. Have any of you heard about these? It's very risky. For all we know, the 2 Disc version could be the game and document. No details on Subsistence either. The owner will not provide a description of the case, or any pictures of the item. We have no details on the region of the build either.
Should we (me and Nitroid) go through with this?
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:59 pm
by Artemio
It is very risky indeed. My advise would be don't do it, since it is most likely a close to release build. If it were an early beta, and not from an "Integral" (Subsistence, Substance, etc) product, I'd say go for it immediately. Keep in mind that betas/release builds of these won't be as interesting since the main game had already been released and was mostly unchanged for these versions.
I do own a beta/review copy of Snatcher (
shown here), and although it holds great value to me as a collector, i was really afraid it was simply a burnt golden disc. In that case, it proved to be a different build and we still haven't found a single difference, only on the binary level and save games that don't load later into the game. Nothing new to watch there.
A couple of hundred.. maybe as a collector. A thousand? I think it is way too high for such an item that any magazine would have around, or for an item with the characteristics I described above.
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:43 pm
by Marc
I'd be nervous about it if it were my money. If the guy won't even help you out by confirming what he actually has... then I think that's an issue. Caveat emptor.
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:53 pm
by 87th
I've got a review copy of Subsistence, myself (a steal at £32!). It's a very nice item, but you'd have to be a very dedicated collector to pay more than £100 for it. Try and obtain a photo of the item, or you may be incredibly disappointed.
I often talk to drx on the Sonic Retro forums, who recently purchased a CD of several hundred Sega prototypes from the early 90's. If you're willing to spend big bucks on MGS prototypes, I recommend that you get quite personal with the seller. If they're unwilling to talk, I'd suggest you think twice about it.
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:15 am
by Henry Spencer
I'd just say that paying such an amount of money, only to get no guarantee, is bad business. They should be willing to tell you what you're getting at the price, but for it to be so anonymous and shrouded in mystery, it's a risky deal, to say the least. I'd stay out of it personally (especially since this is the first we've heard of such builds), but it's your choice.
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:09 am
by Jim_Sensei
Yeah, it's very meh at this point.
However, drx also dug up some Zone of the Enders stuff, and we do have information on those. There is Zone of the Enders Ver 1.00, and Zone of the Enders 2 Preview Edition. Each priced at 200 bucks. How does that sound?
Also of note, this isn't a matter of us being ripped off by drx. This guy wants this stuff just as bad as us, and has done a lot for the gaming community to give gamers a deep, hands-on look into the development of games. It's a matter of us getting something really cool, or a simple review build. Hell, he has even offered to pitch in cash for these things.
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:28 am
by 87th
Are people actually interested in dumping ISOs from review builds? I can rip my promo copies of MGS3: Subsistence, killer7, Gitaroo-Man and Guitar Hero 2 if that's the case.
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:37 pm
by FOXHOUNDER
I wouldn't, as tempting as it is, it looks like a scam.
The 2-disc version of substance is most likely the same as the retail version (PAL territories had 2 discs).
Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, would most likely be the same as the retail version. No major improvements but the 3D camera. The MGO access would probably be linked to a temp site Konami hosted to test it, you will NOT be able to access that (remember Jack or Dave's MGO hack).
VR missions does look tempting but again its probably the retail version. VR missions beta most likely look the same as the retail.
The beta versions I'd be most tempted to buy would be the MGS2 SOL beta and MGS3 Snake Eater beta if it was in a very early stage of development, remember how different Snake looked in the early builds? and how Snake was in the Plant missions. The earliest build of MGS3 Snake Eater beta was literally Pliskin in MGS3, later build was that the MGS3 camouflage demo video they showed us.
The fact that he doesn't want to show any pictures means its a scam. Heck if i had to fork out $1000 for a "beta", I'd ask for some evidence that it is what I'm looking for.
The pics that come to mind when I read this are those promo MGS disc's that was on sale on ebay which I though were fake.
BTW, I remember this beta of MGS1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0GQTum9QvE I believe that the Konami building was destroyed in an earthquake and they had to start all over again.
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:46 pm
by 87th
Please don't waste your first post by lying. You'll only make yourself look worse in the long run. KCEJ was based in Tokyo, which hasn't had a major earthquake since 1923.
The footage in that video is quite blatantly pre-rendered, and was most likely used as concept footage to help pitch MetalGear Solid before production had started.
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:42 am
by FOXHOUNDER
87th wrote:
Please don't waste your first post by lying. You'll only make yourself look worse in the long run. KCEJ was based in Tokyo, which hasn't had a major earthquake since 1923.
The footage in that video is quite blatantly pre-rendered, and was most likely used as concept footage to help pitch MetalGear Solid before production had started.
OK may be exaggerated when I said that the Konami building was destroyed, I was meant to say part of it was destroyed.
In January I watched a 30 minute TV program on a channel called Bravo called gamer.tv where it was a MGS 20th anniversary special, They were giving us the history of the Metal Gear games and showed what was going on in the 20th anniversary party. When they were talking about MGS1 they told us that MGS1 actually started development early but because part of the Konami offices were destroyed in the earthquake they had to relocate and start again. I never knew about that either until I watched it on TV.
They even showed pics of the office in a wreck.
This is all I could find on the Internet:
January 1995 A part of the present Kobe Building was destroyed by the
Hanshin/Awaji Earthquake.
Source:
http://sec.edgar-online.com/2003/08/06/ ... ction1.asp
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:24 pm
by Jim_Sensei
FOXHOUNDER wrote:I wouldn't, as tempting as it is, it looks like a scam.
The 2-disc version of substance is most likely the same as the retail version (PAL territories had 2 discs).
Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, would most likely be the same as the retail version. No major improvements but the 3D camera. The MGO access would probably be linked to a temp site Konami hosted to test it, you will NOT be able to access that (remember Jack or Dave's MGO hack).
VR missions does look tempting but again its probably the retail version. VR missions beta most likely look the same as the retail.
The beta versions I'd be most tempted to buy would be the MGS2 SOL beta and MGS3 Snake Eater beta if it was in a very early stage of development, remember how different Snake looked in the early builds? and how Snake was in the Plant missions. The earliest build of MGS3 Snake Eater beta was literally Pliskin in MGS3, later build was that the MGS3 camouflage demo video they showed us.
The fact that he doesn't want to show any pictures means its a scam. Heck if i had to fork out $1000 for a "beta", I'd ask for some evidence that it is what I'm looking for.
The pics that come to mind when I read this are those promo MGS disc's that was on sale on ebay which I though were fake.
BTW, I remember this beta of MGS1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0GQTum9QvE I believe that the Konami building was destroyed in an earthquake and they had to start all over again.
Cool, you just us a lot of stuff we already knew. There was a reason why I made this topic.
We've decided to go against the idea of picking these MGS betas up, however I'm still very interested in a ZOE beta/proto. They're more reasonably priced (100-300 is the usual price for a beta/proto).
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:21 pm
by Marc
Konami was headquartered in Kobe at the time of the earthquake there in 1995. It had a big impact on them and everyone else in the area. Kojima said that after the earthquake, game development in the Kobe office was severely hampered.