Ah yes, it's one of those rare times that I've decided to post something. You know what that means: something new happened with Metal Gear Online. Actually, that something happened about a week ago with last week's maintenance period, but I was lazy that week.

Konami Hates Abortion

If you've played Metal Gear Online in the past few months(or, more importantly, looked at the stats page) you may have noticed that there is a withdraw rating stat that monitors how ofter you abort from matches.



Well, as of last tuesday, that stat actually accounts for something as Konami has implemented penalties to having too high a rating(and continuing to abort). Now after your rating rises to a certain point, you'll start to lose experience points(towards levels, not skills) in all modes and grade points if its survivial or tournament. There is also 10 and 30 minute bans from joining any new games depending on how severe your rating is. This week they also added new functionality that would allow you to keep your level when you create new characters. You can read all the details at the Metal Gear Online Official Site.

Pretty sweet, somewhat old, Nu Combo video



I actually found this video about a day after it was posted. Having watched it made me feel that my Nu handling skills were completely inferior and that I should just quit trying(I didn't). Most of the combos in that video aren't exactly practical for a real match due to them requireing one or two rapid cancels(or rather, 100% of the heat guage). Still, it's impressive to watch. BlazBlue has been talked about to death, so I'm going to just say that next time you're juggled helplessly by a skilled Nu's sword summoning, take some time to admire her graceful movements.

Monster Hunter Freedom United GET!!!

Yeah, I finally traded up to MHF Unite. It's awesome(save the same crappy camera controls of the PSP). It's really getting me more hyped for Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii which should be the greatest improvement evar. Umm...yeah now a video:


Yeah, this section is just an excuse to post this video of epic dodging skills, yo!!

GaiaOnline? An MMORPG!? ZOMG!!!

Recently, while browsing Destructoid I've noticed advertizements for GaiaOnline, a web forum with customizable avatars I use to frequent a few years back before it made me fear forums of all kinds with it's intense trauma.


Names blurred to protect real and virtual identities

Well, maybe it was GameFAQ's that had more to do with my forum trauma. ANYHOW...yeah, one of the Gaia ads caught my attention, this one being for something call zOMG. So after cheking it out, and logging into my old accounts(im surprised they kept them for the 5-some odd years since I quit), turned out that zOMG is the RPG/Combat system that they promised the user base back then. It's currently in an open beta phase, with only the first chapter pein completed. I'll write a more in depth analysis/review later, but if you want to check it out, just look for one of those adds on this site or just go to GaiaOnline.com. Here are some quick points to tide you over though:

-The game has a nice sense of humor. Example: the taunt skill involves flicking off the target enemy and yelling obsceneties at it.
-The graphics are pretty good for a browser based MMORPG. The animation of your own avatars aren't all that great, but the enemies look good.
-It's free to play, though there are some items in the shop that you have to pay real cash to get, though nothing in the shop is really necessary to enjoyment or completion of the game.
-Attacks/Skills and stats tied to in-game rings, so you could totally own, even if you're still wearing those peasants clothes.
-Oh, yeah, btw, there is an attack that lets you summon sharks to attack your enemies:


Picture of summoning shark to attack evil living buzzsaws. Awesome, no?

[Authors Note: Spoiler warning for the story of Metal Gear Solid 4

Hello there. As I reported earlier, Old...er...I mean...Solid Snake , has taken a venture into the other modes that Metal Gear Online has to offer. Now, here to tell you about his first time leading a team in a round of team deathmatch is none other than...


Old-uh, I mean-Solid Snake!!!!!

Hmm, thank-you...uh...Palidi was it? Uh, but the name in the picture...uh-huh. Ok then...

Anyhow, I've been doing a lot of things for my life. Killed a lot of people. Chased a man across the world and back. I've had a lot of experience with this kind of thing. Then after all is said and done, Kojima comes up to me and demands that I help him entertain those people that buy his games and what not. Ugh, I don't think I've known what it's like to NOT use and M4 since then. It's a nice gun, sure, but I've been able to get my hands on much superior weapons in my day. Makes me glad that I was able to get hold of some different equipment when I was for-err, uh-participated in this...whaddaya call 'em...Team Deathmatch. I decided to start off by taking something drastically different from the M4 I've become sick of. A shotgun.


Snake has acess to all the weapons your average soldier would in the other modes.

I was honestly a little pissed when Kojima told me that he was tak-er-I wouldn't have acess to the Solid Eye. I'm glad he let me keep my Octocam though. He wouldn't let me keep the face mask either, but I manage to sneak those in myself. He also made me promise him that I wouldn't try anything funny like holding people up or trying to use my senses as it might be too unfair to the rest of the participants. It almost make me want ta stay back with my lousy M4...


Snake lacks his Solid Eye, the threat ring, doesn't start with a barrel on hand, and lacks the ability to hold up people. He does have his face camo(which starts unequipped) and octocamo, though there is no indicator in the HUD about how camoflauged he is. He also has a scanning plug.

Oh, yeah. I was a little nervous at first when I was told I was going to be part of a large team. I've worked alone since I was inducted into Foxhound way back when. Oh, how war has changed since then. This, what is it, Sons of the Patriots thing. I could link up to my team mates and see where they were on the field at all times. I could even see the enemy at times too. Why, if I hadn't needed to chase down Liquid and stop the Patriots, I might have found such a thing useful back then.


LIQUID!!!!!!

Oh, that's right. Liquid was there. I was suprised, I thought for sure I killed him back on the top of Arsenal. Eh, but one of my...teammates? Yeah, one of them was able to get a nade on under him and toss him up quite a bit though, heh heh. He ran for it for sure, but I wouldn't let him get away this time.


You're pretty good! *hand gesture*

Heh heh, guess even he can't stand up to a point blank shotgun blast. Brugh..ugh..LIIIIIIQUIIIID!!!!!! Huh, uh, what...oh, right, my story. Well it all started-huh, not that one? Oh, yeah, I remember now. So then I decided to find a nice spot to ambush the other team as they tried to take our side.


CAMPER!!!!

Yeah, so I found a nice spot. My octocamo really helped me blend in too. Some teammates showed up to help too, hiding a bit further back so I could hit their rear as they passed by and were kept busy by my team. It worked well for a while, but I've never really been the type that knew how to talk in a formalized team.


Snake's codec phrases are the exact same as in Sneaking mode.

I tried yelling "get back", and "take cover". But, meh, these young kids and their new fangled what ever the hell. Didn't want to listen to an old fart like me. They ran on ahead and got themselves slaughtered. I was bearly able to retreat back to the base to pick up a weapon better suited to multiple pursuers.


Here's snake picking up his trusty...AK?

Yeah, that's right. I took an AK102. Yeah, there was an M4 there. FUCK THAT NOISE THOUGH. I'm so sick of the M4. And I wasn't about to let the other team take us without a good fight. So I ran out with my AK, shootin and shootin, teammates behind me, pushing on ahead. And then I jumped down to the tunnel entrance, and there was one guy just coming out. And I shoot and shoot. It was combat high at it's best.


SNAAAAAAAKE!!!!!!!

Err...I told you to get rid of that picture. What? No they don't! Grumble, grumble... Well...he got me... but I didn't go down alone.


Ah.

Here he is on the floor too. My team found victory very shortly after that. It was...it was certainly a rush. War has changed from what I once knew. Now people light up in colors, run around with afros and make toilet jokes about how the fallen are "a lot of weight". Hmph...maybe I'll get more accustomed to it if I get some of the people I know into it. Like maybe Raiden, or...huh? What's that? Raiden's been doing this for a while? Mei Ling...Meryl too!? Johnny-wait, who was he again?

Uh...so yeah. That was my first time with this...Team Deathmatch? Team Deathmatch. I'd like to thank Palidi for taking pictures for the ole' scrap book I've started keeping since I learned I wasn't going to become a walking biological weapon.


It's meeeee!! *^.^*

Yep, that's...Demo...Girl? Wait...I thought your name was...uh-huh. Uhh...whatever, I'm going to take a nap. Taking that photo with me too. Damn young kids and their damn random explosions...

[Authors Note: Apologies in advance for the srsbsns text and all, so to make up for it, I'm sprinkling picture of me blowing myself up in in MGO to break up the text]

Konami decided to start the one year annaversary of Metal Gear Solid 4 with a big BANG yesterday. They announced that they are going to be announcing more Metal Gear related things. Well, today is the next day, and we have the FIRST(stop lying to the people Jim Sterling, Bikinis were last weeks updates) piece of annaversary related Metal Gear stuff, mainly the Metal Gear Online patch version 1.33. Details can be found on the Metal Gear Online [url=http://www.konami.jp/mgo/us/hd/support/version.html[/url], but I'm-a go ahead and give you the low down here anyhow.


RANDOM EXPLOSION make me look like I am PSYCHIC or something!!

First and foremost, update 1.33 includes the update 1.32 that Japan and Europe have had for over a month. This includes a wealth of glitch fixes related to the SCENE expansion maps and characters. It's a long list, but they include things like bullets piercing the shield in all the wrong places(ya know...areas other than just the Eye hole), the Metal Gear Mk. 2 getting stuck on top of chairs in Hazard House, Vamp and Raiden's throwing knives not hitting people hiding in boxes, and game crashes related to Raiden hitting the Mk. 2 with his H.F. Blade.


RANDOM EXPLOSION lifts me off the ground >.<

Also part of update 1.32/1.33 are a wealth of weapon rebalances, mainly pertaining to the pistols and sub-machine guns. The Mk.23(aka. the SOCOM) got nerfed, now taking 5-6 body shots to kill someone, and has a drastically reduced headshot kill range. The GSR and the Operator got slight buffs to put their power levels in line with the Mk.23(which makes sense since the three use the same bullet type). The G18C was changed too, but I'm not quite sure how. The Vz.83 got a slight Lock-On range reduction, but the bullets do a slight more damage, and it seems to have a bit more bullet spread when aiming over the shoulder. The P90 also seems to do a bit more damage, and the lock-on range is insane for it. Spray seems a bit reduced, at least, for a short time after you start.


RANDOM EXPLOSION make's me hard to see >.<

Some skills were retooled too, mainly the CQC EX skill. Now the counter only works when someone tries CQCing you from the front 180 degrees. The one handed slam is no longer an instant slam, and you can no longer counter any CQC moves when held up by Snake in Sneaking mode, or in Team Sneak mode.


RANDOM EXPLOS...no wait, that one wasn't random >.<

Next is the 1.33 specific updates. There are two mainly. First, is a new map, called Icebound Inferno. It's the Shadow Moses map that was rumored to drop from a few weeks ago. It's the area based on the Crying Wolf boss fight from MGS4 in it's entirety. The visibility is low, and white is the color of choice for hiding here. Also with this update comes Old Snake as a playable character in other modes outside of the regular Sneaking mode. I'll give my impressions of how Snake plays in a later blog after I get a chance to play as him.

So, how does this updat sound to you? is it the refreshing blast of icy cool air that will draw you into MGO with a boom(RANDOM EXPLOSION)? How do you think the rest of the anniversary week will be based on how this reveal is? We already know that we're getting Naked Snake's gear from MGS3 as buyable clothing items for our characters this thursday, but what else could Kojima and company have in store for us?

I look foward to seeing you on the battlefield sometime.

My MGO characters on battlefields

Shin Megami Tensei was something I've always wanted to jump into for the longest time. I first heard about Nocturne(a buddy of mine had a copy) and the Digital Devil Sagas. Devil Summoner vs. The Soulless Army was the first one that seriously got me thinking about jumping in though(unfortunately, I didn't until Persona 4 dropped). Shin Megami Tensei must have some seriously dedicated fans though as is evident by this fan made(I think, I can't read Japanese to be certain) anime opening based on the Raidou Kuzunoha series made in the styling of the opening to the anime Darker than Black. Check it out below. It's really impressive how well drawn and animated it is, as well as how accurately it's syncronized to the original opening it's based on.




And for those not familiar with Darker than Black(I certainly wasn't), here is the original opening to compare with:

Last night(this morning depending on your time zone) Konami dropped their newest expansion for Metal Gear Online in the form of the version 1.30 patch. Unfortunately for me, I don't have my PS3 with me, but luckily, there was a list of update changes posted on the MGO Website. One important piece of info I picked out from it was this:

Several fixes have been implemented to prevent cheating by using lag switches. As a result of these fixes, we have restored the "Friendly Fire" option in "Survival" and "Tournament" games. Furthermore, in public "Survival" and "Tournament" matches using RES/TSNE, if you kill or stun more than half of your teammates (including yourself), your team will automatically be disqualified.

Quite a few of the MGO players on GameFAQs.com seem to feel that the latency has been tightened up too, although I won't be able to see for myself until this Friday and the Weekend.



From lurking around the game-faks, I managed to pick some more things up:

-New music tracks include those from MGS2, MGS3, Metal Gear:Ghost Babel, Boktai, Lunar Knights, Policenauts, and Snatcher, and a random option.

-The MK.23(aka. the SOCOM pistol from MGS1) is a beast of a weapon, and RPG is now twice as expensive.

-The ranks(Sloth, Foxhound, ect.) were reset. UPDATE: No one really knows why.

-There's a ?????? map that has not been released yet.

-Options to change the size of the HUD and interface.

-Codec Pack 2 is available for purchase($5), contains phrases "Spread your wings and fly"(Major Zero, MGS3 Opening Scene), "Watch out for boxes", and "There's a trap!"
[Source = https://my.konami.net/mgo2/product_information_202.jsp]

So, anyone on Destructoid taken the new update for a spin and have some opinions on it? Is it really that
awesome, or is it all La Le Lu Le Lo?

Last week Konami announced that they would be making a third expansion to the hugely popular(in Japan, mildly popular over here) Metal Gear Online. Well, the trailer for the expansion came out yesterday showing off some of the new stuff that will arrive with the expansion.

3 new maps are shown:

-Hazard House, which looks to be a tweaked and expanded version of the mansion in Act 2 of MGS4.
-Outer Outlet, which looks like...a shopping outlet like they said. So yeah, Dead Rising with out the zombies and more war. Exploding vehicles confirmed as is a parking area.
-Ravaged Riverfront, which looks based on the clocktower area from Act 3 of MGS4. Large body of water confirmed(yay, I can swim).

2 new special characters were shown:

-Raiden(cyborg), who comes with his trusty HF blade. With his HF blade, he can deflect bullets, and of course, slash at people. Also shown is him performing that amazing breakdance spinning kick move from Act 2. He doesn't seem to use the HF blade with his foot while doing that move though, unlike that scene from Act 2.
-Vamp: Uses his knives, and can clash blades with Raidens sword(unless that was just some fancy special effect). Also has throwing knives, and doesn't really seem to die when he is "killed", though he does fall to the ground and seem to have a down time afterwards.
-Oh yeah, they both do flips and such as their "rolling" maneuver.

Also shown were...FROGs? Thats right, when showing off Raiden, he's fighting the FROG unit. It's currently unknown if they are also special characters in some kind of new mode, or if the whole FROG outfit will be available for female characters in the reward shop.

New gear was also show, the most notable being...bras? SWEET, BEWBS! The guys aren't left out of this though as they get the fancy suits and fedora that the rebels in Act 3 wore. Smooth. Other gear shown include a bandoleer for grenades, a new vest, and new belts.



Oh, yeah, did I mention the bunny headgear? As in the bunnies from Silent Hill?

Yes, a character was shown wearing a bunny hat/mask/helmet thing with bloodstains around the mouth. This character was also shown...dancing...turning herself into a walking magazine much like Mei Ling did when the MEME expansion dropped. Since it's tradition for the gear to NOT effect gameplay, could there be a new skill for seductive dancing to hit with SCENE? And while we're on the subject of potential new skills, another character(also female, seems like they're gettin teh special treatment in this trailer) is shown doing a counter-CQC maneuver when her peruser attempts to grab her.



I'm pretty sure that she is also holding a MK. 23 pistol in that scene, which I hope means that they are finally releasing some new weapons to use with the normal characters. Oh and, before I forget, this character also has a new type of hairstyle(as well as a few other characters, male and female). Whether this means either there will be new face/hair types for character creation(damn you Konami if it is), or if it's some kind of "wig" in the reward shop, I don't know.

Oh, here I am rambling on the trailer, and I haven't shown it. Well, here it is. It's not as good as the MEME trailer in my opinion, but it's still pretty fun.





Oh...yeah, did I mention that last scene where Snake has a Kerotan floating over his head? Now, I don't actually know what that signifies, nor have a spoken to anyone who does know. It seems to me to be a hint that maybe we'll see the return of MGO1's Sneaking mode.

For those who never got to play the first Metal Gear Online(that came with MGS3:Subsistence), the sneaking mode there was a lot different from the current MGO's. One player got to be Snake, but all the other characters were on one team and had to keep Snake from sneaking in and stealing a microfilm and then making it back to the escape point. Personally, I liked it much more than the current sneaking mode, and it would be cool to see it make a return. Also, I'm pretty sure that's the patriot he's holding. Also(again), where the hell is he standing? There's currently no map with that kind of snowstorm to it? Bonus map maybe?

So, what do you think of SCENE so far? Now that you can use your PSN wallet(yes, those dollars you use in the Playstation Store) to purchase it, do you think you'll be picking it up and joining in with the action? What other things do you hope SCENE has in store and waiting for us?