My bank account is $547 lighter, and there is a giant black shiny thing on a milk crate by my tv. My birthday present to myself (how often does one of your favorite games come out on your birthday) was the PS3 MGS bundle, and so far (about 3-4 hours into it), I am not impressed.

Firstly, is anybody else pissed that the menu buttons have abandoned the traditional (in previous games) scheme? X is now accept, and O is go back, just like every other game in the damn world. And you can't do anything (as far as I can tell) interesting with the title screen. And you don't even call anybody to save! (Are these spoilers? It's not anything plot related, but it is game information some people may not know. Whatever.)

Gameplay-wise, it's sort of hard to read all the tiny, fancy fonts on a regular old SDTV. Maybe that's why I've been seen so much. But it seems problematic that the radar remains abandoned like from MGS3, but the areas are more like the narrow corridors that necessitated it from 1 and 2.

And the plot is nothing to write home about yet. (my writing this from home notwithstanding) I don't feel any connection to PMCs, "war economy", or the other topics mentioned 4 times every cutscene.

I remember reading somewhere that Kojima explained how MGS1 dealt with the zeitgeist, the cultural climate of the 1980s, looking back when it was released. MGS2 tackled the modern (early 21th century) mindset more, dealing with present day. MGS4 deals with the future, so maybe it will resonate more 10 years down the line when the world really operates like the game postulates. Or, maybe I am on the cusp of everything making sense- it definitely seems like I am barely started so far.