Premium package impressions, launch events and meeting K &am

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Marc
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Premium package impressions, launch events and meeting K &am

Post by Marc »

Here is a thread I started at MGN (http://www.forumplanet.com/planetps2/me ... id=1558151)

(I will repost the pics from the event later, but Artemio will have better scans of the goods than me, so I'll let him take care of that :) )

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Well I picked up my premium package yesterday, and this is without a doubt the best one yet. You get:

-the game (boxart is the same as the US for the PP and also for a limited number of stand alone copies)
-a DVD which contains every trailer for the game, including a new (I assume) 5 minute "Experimental Footage" trailer.
-two books, in total over 400 pages long, wrapped in plastic with a notice on them reading "Spoiler Warning! We recommend that you do not open this until you've completed the game". One has a talk with Kojima and Ryuhei Kitamura.
-the plastic model, which I have to say, is VERY small, only a couple of inches long. Kinda disappointed about that, but its boxart is nice.

I also picked up the strategy guide, thanks to Tsutaya placing it by the register and me being a sucker for impulse buying. The store also has an introductory guide that they throw in your bag for ya.

I have to say, the buzz here for the game is everywhere. You can feel it in the billboards, the TV commercials, the promotional goods, the videos in games stores, it's amazing and it deserves it in my opinion.

Anyway, I read yesterday about the launch day events in Tokyo for MGS3 which I was unaware of since I hadn't been to the game's official site, so I decided to go to the one in Shibuya today, and man was it worth it.

I got there about half an hour before the event was due to start at 1, and got in line for the talk Kojima and Shinkawa were going to do. The entire store was adorned with MGS3 posters, screens running various trailers, and a life size Snake figure by the entrance complete with leaves. The police were even there for security, and the no photography policy was enforced until the end, so I couldn't capture any shots of those.

Just after 1, we were all ushered towards the main area at the front of the store, where 2 plasma TV's and a platform where setup, with the Snake Eater theme playing in the background and the Kyle Cooper intro running on the TV's. This was the first time I'd heard the main theme, and I like it a lot.

We all sat down (me in the front row since I was second in line), and a Konami representative came out and got the show going. Also present inside the store were the "croc cap crew" that were outside the store earlier wearing the caps and handing out materials for the game and drawing stares from passers by, heh. The whole event was being filmed and photographed by Konami so you might see some stuff on their site soon.

After the introduction by the Konami rep, they cued up the MGS3 Main Theme (the part when Snake first lands in the E3 2003 trailer), and out come Kojima and Shinkawa to a big round of applause. The way they timed that was prett sweet. Looking very excited, they sat down and got things going. I don't remember word for word all that was said, since it lasted about an hour, but here are some highlights.

-Kojima's favorite character is The End. He said that while the normal time for defeating him is 2-3 hours, if you try for a week and still can't kill him, he dies of old age, ha. You may know this already, but on Easy you can spot him by his bald head reflecting the sunshine, he said.

-Shinkawa also talked about Eva. He mentioned about looking at her in FPV mode (with a smile on Kojima's face I might add).

-They talked about the powers you earn by defeating the bosses via the tranquilizer gun, and how there are many, many ways to proceed through the game and defeat the characters.

-Kojima joked that it's "virtually impossible to die on Very Easy" and he's not sure if anyone will ever find all the secrets.

-In their message to the fans, Shinkawa said that "We've spent the last 3 years working on this game, yet the players will finish it in several hours. However I hope people will play through it many times and enjoy it." Kojima hoped that people would "take the advantage of the time off for the holidays and enjoy it over Christmas and New Year's".

-Kojima said to expect a Santa camo download around Christmas.

-He said that he thought that a cardboard box was rather conspicuous in a jungle, so he decided to create the croc cap. They asked the audience if anyone had got it in the game yet, and one guy in the back raised his hand.

-They also talked about the setting of the game, and how the focus is on survival this time, and discussed the game's mechanics. So some of it wouldn't be new to those who were reading up on the game regularly before its release.

In the middle of the talk, they aired the commerical that's showing on TVs here right now, which features a salaryman taking on the role of Snake. He fights a croc at the end, and when they showed the behind the scenes video of the commercial, Kojima talked about how they used a real alligator for certain parts of it, and they had a few close calls!

At the end of the talk, Konami showed off the Snake figure that's yet to be released, as well as the Kubrick Snake (complete with croc cap) also unreleased yet. They held a raffle for each, giving away 10 and 15 of them respectively. I, unfortunately, did not win. D'oh. Kojima said that he was finally able to get one for himself (the big Snake figure) the day before, then mentioned how they cost around 19,000 yen to a surprised audience.

After the raffle, a table was set up in place of the stools, and an autograph session was held. Everyone got a free Eva poster and Snake sticker for coming, and you could have Kojima and Shinkawa autograph one thing for you. I had brought along my MGS1 PP, and presented it to them, with Kojima going "Natsukashii, kore!" ("This takes me back!") and signing it 2009, it appears... I shook their hands and moved off to the back to wait for the end of the event. They are quite shy, it seems, when it comes to that sort of thing, but they smiled and seemed pleased a foreigner came (I was 1 of only 2). It seems most people had them sign either the game flyer, the Eva poster, or the PP.

After everyone was done, the host came out and thanked everyone again for coming (those who had hung around after they got their thing signed), and we all gave them a big round of applause as Kojima and Shinkawa walked off through a door near the stage. All in all, an awesome experience, and I finally got to meet two of my heroes and two men I deeply respect and admire, so I couldn't be happier right now. And then there's the game, which I've yet to play, haha. This truly got me psyched up for it, though, I really don't know what else to say.

It seems they're doing more of these events this weekend, in Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe as well.
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Jonathan Ingram
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Post by Jonathan Ingram »

Great stuff Marc, I too have met him, I know how you feel. Just one thing though, you mention that they raffled off a Snake Kubrick that is yet to be released. I don't think it will be, it is "Olive Drab" Kubrick, with Wani Cap and gun, only given to those who attended the MGS3 Premium Preview event at Roppongi Hills, I'm guessing they had some spares. One sold on Yahoo Japan for about 66,000 yen, so you would have been real lucky to get one of those!
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Post by akira-devilmna-fudo »

wawww,great!!!
this is my dream (be in japan and meet them..........and have the premium package)
but what are the books of the premium package???
the brown one is like an art book,rigth??but the black one???
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Post by Artemio »

Final scans are ready now.. well, almost final ones =P

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Post by Nitroid »

Snatcher wrote:Final scans are ready now.. well, almost final ones =P

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Awesome work, man. <obligatory type="question">Any chance of a possible (at least partial) translation of the booklet?
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