So what’s the deal with Metal Gear X? Special exclusive report

Recently we have been lucky enough to spend time with some of the most important people in the entire games industry: Paul Fox, Richard Teversham and Michel Cassius from Microsoft, Shigeru Miyamoto, the overlord of all things Nintendo and Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear Solid series.

As the Xbox launch was gearing up in Europe, we began to notice a strange disagreement emerge between Microsoft and Konami over the future of one of the biggest titles in gaming, Metal Gear Solid 2: The Sons of Liberty. The game has had a tempestuous relationship with Microsoft’s console, causing more than its fair share of press hurrahs.

The first news of a “he said, she said” nature to emerge was Konami’s decision to enter into an agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment to release MGS2 on November 14, the day before the Xbox hit shelves Stateside. Not only did the game itself go on sale, but a discounted MGS2/PlayStation 2 bundle was offered by many retailers. We’re sure it didn’t bypass the attention of either SCE or Konami that this would definitely damage American Xbox sales. Not a killer blow by any means, but enough to make a dent.

Konami Europe then mirrored this move. As the half-billion dollar marketing budget-backed Xbox geared up to launch in arguably its second-friendliest region, Konami moved the release date of MGS2 from February 2, 2002, to the week before Microsoft’s launch. The games industry was staggered.

Konami was quick to point out that this was merely an unfortunate slip, common to all games companies. The exact reason given by the giant Japanese games firm, was that it had hit problems when mastering the bonus Making of Metal Gear Sold 2 DVD that was to be bundled with the game. It claimed that it had generated a lot of marketing material based around the fact that Metal Gear 2 would be released on the second day of the second month in the year 2002.

Then in an interview with us, the question was posed to Hideo Kojima, the aforementioned creator of the game in question. The question was simply, “What can you tell us about Metal Gear Solid X, the Xbox version of MGS2 that has already been confirmed.” Through his translator, Kojima refused to comment. When pressed on the point, Kojima’s translator somewhat snappily said, “The fact that Mr Kojima did not comment should answer your question.” And nothing more was said on the subject.

Soon after, we were holed up in a swanky Covent Garden Hotel with various heads of Microsoft’s Xbox team, including Richard Teversham, head of Marketing for Xbox Europe, Paul Fox, head of PR for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Michel Cassius, the supreme head of all things Xbox in Europe, considered within the company as being an equal of Robbie Bach and J Allard.

When we cheekily asked what Microsoft thought of Sony Europe’s little spoiler campaign, with specific reference to the release date of Metal Gear Solid 2, Cassius said, “We are delighted that Metal Gear 2 is releasing now, as we can tell you for a fact that the Xbox version will be much better.” Richard Teversham and Paul Fox went on to discuss Metal Gear Solid X as though it was a tangible, existing product.

Today we contacted Konami Europe to clarify the issue, which they refused to do. All of our questions were simply met with a curt “no comment,” leaving the matter open to speculation.

The relationship between Konami and Sony has lined both companies’ pockets efficiently over the past seven years. Konami has a long-standing (in industry terms) understanding with SCE that has shown no sign of being diluted by Konami developing its killer-apps for anything other than a Sony console. Either Konami is so closely bonded to SCE that it causes problems for the relationship to develop its bigger games for the Xbox, or it has little faith in the chances of Microsoft’s machine reaching a market penetration level that makes developing games for it worthwhile.

As soon as this point is clarified, you will be the first to know.