KONAMI ANNOUNCES METAL GEAR™ ONLINE’S SECOND EXPANSION PACK

EL SEGUNDO, CA - October 6, 2008 - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today announced the second Metal Gear Online expansion pack - MEME Expansion — will be available for download later this year. Soon to be available through the Metal Gear Online shop, MEME Expansion will contain a vast amount of new content including new maps, special characters, new skills, tournament lobby and more.

Please find below further details on the new content in the expansion pack:

3 New Maps

• Silo Sunset - One of the most popular stages in the handheld Metal Gear Solid® Portable Ops has been renewed for the world of Metal Gear Online.
• Forest Firefight - Taken from Metal Gear Solid 3, this dense jungle gives players a new tense atmosphere with plenty of camouflage options.
• Winter Warehouse - An original stage created for Metal Gear Online, players will have to search for suitable cover, in and around, this dilapidated factory blanketed in snow.

2 New Special Characters

• Liquid Ocelot and Mei Ling
• Additional Rules and Settings - These can be selected without purchasing the second expansion pack
• Avatar Parts - Players can adorn their avatar with new accessories.

The MGO patch is finally out and has fixed some old problems as well as DP costs. Full details below.

"MGO Ver.1.12 Update information Ver.1.12 Update information

The following problems have been fixed

When a host leaves a game, the position of host is automatically forwarded to someone else. When someone else filled the free 16th slot, the player would be invisible to the new host.

The game would sometimes freeze if a player would invite a Clan Member while in Survival mode.

The day of the week of "Match Time" was not correctly displayed when viewing the rules in the Survival Lobby.

The following game specifications have been changed:
The motion of reloading the shotgun cannot be canceled by equipping a box or changing weapons.

Change of weapon specification:
Saiga 12’s cost changed from 8000DP to 5000DP.
G3A3’s cost changed from 5000DP to 4000DP.

Change of skill specification:
"NARC" Lv2’s cost from 1 to 2
"NARC" Lv3’s cost from 1 to 3
*With this change, all skills will be temporarily removed, but players will be able to put them on again with the existing skill points they have."

(source: Konami.co.jp)

This summer, GameBattles is proud to host the North American Qualifying leg of the Metal Gear Online World Championship, which will offer the two winning teams a trip to Tokyo, Japan! The ladder competition kicks off on August 18th, and is free to all GameBattles users. Ladder-play will conclude on September 8th, and will be closely followed by an online tournament in order to determine the top two Metal Gear Online teams in North America. From there, both teams will be flown to Tokyo, Japan on or about October 8th -12th in order to battle it out with gamers from across the globe in the Metal Gear Online World Championship at the Tokyo Game Show! In addition to the winning a trip to Japan, there is $8,000 in cash and additional prizing from Konami up for grabs for the winners of the North American Qualifiers! Competition is sure to be fierce! In order to enter you must be at least 18 years of age. What are you waiting for? Get out there and prove you’ve got what it takes to represent in the Metal Gear Online World Championship!

Official Sign up link: http://gamebattles.com/konami/

Official Rules: http://gamebattles.com/ps3/metal-gear-online/ladder/konami-metal-gear-online/rules

(source: Gamebattles/MLG)

Konami has officially launched its MGO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 website but all it links too is the blog post stating…

"Metal Gear Online World Championship 2008 will be starting from this summer.
The top teams from Regional Championships in North America, Europe, Japan and Greater Asia will
be invited to the ｃhampionships game at Tokyo Game Show 2008 with paid trip expense.

More details will be announced at a later date."

So you better start practicing and get ready, there is sure to be some stiff competition.

(source: MGO World Championships 2008)

MLG Blog reports~

"In case you hadn’t heard, MLG was on hand at this year’s Comic-Con, which was held on July 24-27 in San Diego, California. Our very own Nexy, Ben, and Killa KC teamed up with Konami to bring the attendees of the event a Metal Gear Online tournament. The tournament was well received by the Comic-Con community, and provided for a weekend full of intense Metal Gear action. Now that the dust has settled, Ben sat down to chronicle his experiences at Comic-Con 2008 in this blog. Check it out!"

MLG Blog: MLG at Comic-Con 2008

(source: MLG Blog)

In an apology on the official MGO website Konami…

"The release of the Expansion Pack "Gene Expansion" on 17th July was marred by major system related problems resulting in great inconveniences for all our customers.

We have been taking numerous corrective measure since the problems initially started, but unfortunately there are no permanent solution we can announce at this present moment. With the problem still going, we felt it would be our obligation to publish a timelined report in to the problems."

So in short were sorry but there is no fix it all in sight anytime soon but we are trying our best to correct things until then. Click on the image above to see the report.

(source: MGO website)

1up chats with Ryan Payton, the ex-videogame journalist turned assistant producer of MGS 4, about his career and everything MGS.

Click on the link below after the snipit for the full interview.

"1UP: When did you first get your foot in the industry’s door?

Ryan Payton, associate producer, Metal Gear Solid 4: When I was at university, I joined a program run by the Japanese government called JET [Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme]. After I graduated, I had a couple of months before I was going to be shipped off to some unknown location in Japan. At that time, I was already writing for the school newspaper, and being a fan of XBN Magazine, I contacted them directly and asked if they needed a Japanese correspondent.

1UP: How old were you at that time?

RP: I was 22. An XBN editor named Greg Orlando wrote me back and said that he was interested. I sent him a number of articles — videogame reviews for my school newspaper — and he seemed to like my style. My first assignment was to write about where Xbox was in Japan.

Xbox wasn’t successful there, but the magazine work was a great opportunity because it allowed me to meet people in the industry, travel around Japan, and get close to gamers. The Xbox community in Japan was small — Microsoft only moved 500,000 hardware units there — so any time I’d go to a press event, I’d meet the same people. We’d talk about what makes Western games different from Japanese games, what they like about Western videogames. I started writing for Wired, Japan Times, and other Ziff Davis and Future publications."

Kojima Production’s Ryan Payton Interview

(source: 1up)

" The much awaited ""METAL GEAR ONLINE GENE EXPANSION"" is now available!! DO NOT miss this opportunity to become a part of the evolution that is MGO!! Throw yourself onto new and unconquered Maps!! Make use of a whole new set of gimmicks and Characters! Why not try out the awesome new game mode "Survival"!?

At the same time, we will be opening the "Reward Shop" for business!! Get you character some new gear by earning Reward Points in the game!!

But that’s not all… The "METAL GEAR ONLINE GENE EXPANSION PLUS" comes with all of the above plus 1 MGO Extra Character Slot!! If you were looking to create another Character, then this is a great opportunity!!

The ExpansionPack includes an amazing 3 new Maps!! See below for details!!

Coppertown Conflict / City of Sorrow

Wide streets, underground passages, and rooftop areas.
Suitable for close- to medium-range combat.

Tomb of Tubes / Underground Waterway

An intricate labyrinth of underground passages.
Suitable for close- to medium-range combat.

Virtuous Vista / South America Power Station

An outdoor map with natural terrain.
Suitable for medium- to long-range combat.

Ever wanted to play as a character from MGS4 on MGO? Now’s your chance as 2 seasoned warriors join the ranks!

Play as:

Meryl Silverburgh

Johnny (AKIBA)

Do you think love can bloom even on a battlefield?

Why not? One of the joys of this Expansion pack is to use the Reward Points you earned in "Survival" so that you can kit out your female characters in the latest gear!!

"Survival"mode and the Reward Shop

Reward Points you earn by playing "Survival" mode can be spent at the all new Reward Shop where you will be able to exchange them for all sorts of gear! They can be equipped onto your characters in other game modes too! Set yourself apart from the crowd!

* The "METAL GEAR ONLINE GENE EXPANSION PLUS" comes with an MGO Extra Character Slot. Have you ever wanted to create a female Character but felt reluctant as you would have to delete your current one? Then this is the Expansion Pack just for you!

(source: MGO website)

Ripten reports~

"A new Metal Gear Online mode has made its way onto the game’s servers. Taking inspiration from the existing “Sneaking Mode”, which sees Snake use Octocamo to collect Dog-Tags from warring teams, this mode is a battle of two teams with different gear.

The mode consists of a Sneaking Team and a “Normal” Team going head to head. Like Snake, the Sneaking Team is stealth-equipped (thus virtually invisible) and to win must either eliminate all enemies or return KEROTAN or GA-KO to their goal. The defending team must defeat the sneaking team or keep KEROTAN or GA-KO safe to win.

The defenders needn’t be overwhelmed, since if they spot one of the sneakers the whole sneaking team will be visible for 5 seconds. Moreover, the sneakers will only be able to equip non-lethal weapons, as opposed to the defenders who can use all weapons.

Sneaking Mode was really the only MGO mode to set the game apart from other online games and shout “original”, so we hope this new Team Sneaking mode will be as fruitful.

You can now also select “Headshots Only” for every game mode except Team Sneaking. However, take note, you’ll die if you kill somebody by any other method."

(source: Ripten)

N4G reports~

It turns out that the final version of Metal Gear Online will also use the Konami Game ID, check the link for a scan of the manual.

(source: N4G)