Apparently Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is “on the eve of entering bug-checking phase” and developer Konami are really working for that Q2 release date.
Assistant producer Tran Payton said in the Kojima Productions podcast that “The next few months are going to be hell,” reaffirming that they’re in “the big push” stage of development. “Yeah, and we’re committed to this quarter-two release date, or release timeframe.”
“We’re committed. Mr Kojima of all people is committed to it because he really hates to disappoint people, and I know that he is embarrassed by what happened with the 2007 slip into 2008, because we even put it in our trailer with Raiden slashing away ‘2008’ and when you go that far you put a seal on it and then he has to delay it – that really hurt” Payton added.
The game’s scheduled to get a “simultaneous worldwide release”, which, to be pedantic, isn’t perfectly accurate as it might not be exactly the same day but we’ll let them off. Apparently dates spotted in shops and online aren’t reliable bets for the much-awaited sequel’s point of release. “Any date that you’re seeing is just speculation,” said Payton. Just this Sunday the dev team were “going back and forward with marketing” on when the game will come out.
When discussing the stage they’re at with the development Payton revealed that the game’s currently playable all the way through, though the opening sequence still needs work.
Apparently, Kojima’s studio often adds new bits during testing, which obviously prolongs development time. “We could be adding stuff two weeks before gold submission,” he said, which is apparently what happened on MGS3. But, he explained, “For the majority of the team, this is the end.”
If you’d like to see more of the game, including screenshots, videos and previews then head over to our MGS4 hub.
Published: Jan 11, 2008 12:00 am