Kojima calls Metal Gear Solid Touch a ’simple MGS’ shooter

Both 1UP and IGN have poked and prodded new details out of Japanese magFamitsu’s recent Metal Gear Solid Touch reveal, lifting the touchable curtains somewhat off Konami’s upcoming head scratcher. According to the article, the game will be based on MGS4, with Metal Gear mastermind Kojima describing the iPhone app as a “Simple MGS.” Translation: It’s a shooter. In fact, Metal Gear’s emphasis on stealth is being pocketed this time around in favor of something that is easier to pick up and play on the go, with much of the gameplay involving sliding and pinching the screen in typical iPhone fashion to move Snake’s view and zoom in and out of targets. Additionally, shooting bad guys and exploding barrels is taken care of by tapping directly on the screen. We remain interested, albeit confused, about Snake’s latest mission. But the weathered soldier isn’t getting any younger, and with all of these fingers in the way, we wonder if he’ll be able to see anything at all.

Metal Gear Solid touches iPhone, iPod

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week, a teaser page on Konami’s Web site led many to speculate that the Japanese publisher was working on bringing the Metal Gear Solid franchise to the Xbox 360, reviving the Metal Gear Acid brand, or even porting the long-running series to the Wii. Those predictions, however, have turned out to be off base. Konami revealed today that Metal Gear Solid Touch would be heading to the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch early in the New Year. According to Konami, the game will drop series protagonist Solid Snake in an all-new adventure that features many of the characters and locales introduced in Konami’s recent PlayStation 3 blockbuster Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Konami also noted that the title will be action-oriented, and include eight initial “stages,” with additional levels promised at a later date. Metal Gear Solid Touch won’t be Solid Snake’s first outing on mobile platforms. The stealth action hero was also the subject of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Mobile, a portable action adventure developed by Ideaworks3D that was named winner of the 2007 International Mobile Game Awards. Inaddition to the celebrated stealth-action series, Konami also confirmed Frogger for the iPhone, calling it “a pixel-perfect conversion of the classic arcade game”; Silent Hill: The Escape; and DanceDanceRevolution S Lite. Konami plans to augment these Apple offerings in the future, with the publisher’s VP of online and mobile Anthony Borquez commenting, “We welcome the iPhone and iPod Touch to our product line-up and look forward to these initial games.” The teaser page on Konami’s Web site now links to what appears to be a placeholder page with the Metal Gear Solid Touch logo.

Phelps, 505 Games announce partnership, first game in 2010

In a heroic feat of strength, swimmer Michael Phelps has managed to hoist the hojillion Olympic medals off his neck and dive into the world of video games. It’s true! Developer and publisher 505 Games announced that it has inked a partnership with Phelps, who first revealed his plans to swim in digital waters earlier this month. According to 505, it plans to bring Phelps to next generation consoles (a term we grow to despise more each day) and the iPhone. But don’t be expecting to see Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year” on the cover of any game soon, as the first title from this pairing isn’t expected to reach the other side of the retail pool until spring 2010. Of course, by then most of us will have forgotten all about Phelps’ drenched mug and will instead be preparing ourselves for the year we make contact.

EA releases Tetris for Android, Bejeweled and Monopoly to follow

Electronic Arts has answered the call for more games on Google’s Android mobile device platform – i.e. the T-Mobile G1 – with a version of Tetris now available for download from the EA Mobile site. The game is selling for $7.99. It will be followed next month by Bejeweled and Monopoly: Here & Now Edition. In an official release, EA Mobile America and Asia publishing veep Adam Sussman calls Android an “exciting new platform” and says that the division has “more games in development” beyond the three revealed today. Looking at its catalog of iPhone / iPod Touch games, it’s probably safe to expect some variation of Spore and Scrabble to be in the bunch.

Xberry Live lets you stalk while your not talking

As iPhone users have known for a while now, there’s nothing more satisfying than staring into your handset’s screen and … seeing that your friends are at home, playing video games? For those who roll with a Crackberry Blackberry and simply must keep tabs on their friends’ Gamerscores at all times, Juan Xavier Larrea has developed the free Xberry Live. Available via this link, the app functions much like Microsoft’s own web-based friends list, displaying Gamertags, status, and Gamerscores along with a Gamercard sub-screen with icons representing your friends’ most recently played games. Friends must be added manually for the time being … which is fine, unless you have a maxed-out list. Xberry Live has been tested and works on Blackberry 81xx, 83xx, 87xx, 88xx, and 9000 handsets, and requires OS 4.2.1. or higher. No word on whether it (or similar apps) will experience any problems when the New Xbox Experience launches November 19.