Next

Next is a flash teaser site on Kojima Productions website. Originally advertised in the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, the advert was a two page spread depicting a thunderstorm with the date "2009 . 5 . 18" written on the second page, with the url: http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/ under it.

Site history
The site itself didn't go live until the 14th May, and on the 18th, the site was updated with a countdown, with the number "5" or Letter "S" appearing every few seconds. It should be noted that the source code for the site contained key words such as "Metal Gear", "MGS" and "NEXT".

On May 21st, mere hours away from the end of the first countdown, a listing at a Japanese 7-Eleven product database revealed that an upcoming issue of Famitsu PSP+PS3 will feature a brand new Metal Gear game. The magazine is scheduled to ship on May 30. Once the first countdown finished, the site changed to more aggressive rain and lightning, and changing the flashing sequence to show the letters: "S", "e", "E" and "3", possibly meaning "See At E3". The countdown started again, now set to end on the 26th of May.

On May 26th the second countdown ended, with a new countdown replacing it, and the site changed to even more aggressive rain and lightning, and changing the flashing sequence to show the following: "P", "R", "3", an image of Big Boss will then flash up and flicker, "5", "e" and "3". Big Boss' semi-youthful age points to a period after Metal Gear Solid 3 's Cold War-era setting and before that of the original Metal Gear. On Big Boss' beret there can be seen the words Militaires Sans Frontières, French for Soldiers Without Borders, along with an image resembling both the emblems of Outer Heaven, and Pangea, the supercontinent that is theorized to have existed 250 million years ago, before the continents were separated into their current configuration. This could represent Big Boss' idea of a world of "unity". This new countdown is set to end on the 31st of May

A leaked scan of the Famitsu magazine revealed that a character that looks very much, but not quite like Raiden will be the next character shown on the countdown. .

During the Tokyo Game Show, Hideo Kojima was interviewed by Famitsu magazine. Afterwards, the interviewer asked Kojima, "Is it okay to print everything?" He replied, "If you blank out words, it's okay." The interview was featured in Famitsu with many blanked out words, leaving a lot to Metal Gear fans' imagination. An English translation of the interview can be found on Kotaku.

On the 28th of May, the countdown was updated once again. This time the face of the character resembling Raiden flashes once in awhile akin to Big Boss's flashes. The Kojima Productions logo also appears at the bottom of the website; clicking this link takes the visitor to another website with background music that has an image of a mask that detoriates into nothing.

Kojima & The Next Metal Gear Game
Hideo Kojima has stated that Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the last Metal Gear game that he will direct. Nevertheless, there have been some statements about a hypothetical "Metal Gear Solid 5", which may or may not involve Kojima. Not to mention Kojima has been known to make similar statements during or after the production of Metal Gear games.

In a recent interview about leaving Kojima productions, Ryan Payton mentioned the apparently upcoming game.

"It'll be hard not being involved in MGS5, but I've got the utmost confidence that Hideo Kojima, Ken Imaizumi, and our amazing team will put together another blockbuster game."

- Ryan Payton

In an interview with 1UP, Kojima claimed he already has three concepts in mind for MGS5, and said if the team picked one of his concepts he would have to be involved.

In March 2009, Kojima completed his keynote delivery at the Game Developers Conference with a shot of Raiden standing behind the words "the next MGS". This could be a hint concerning the main character of MGS4 's sequel. At the same time, Kojima expressed interest in sending the MGS series in a new direction, specifically a combination of Japanese "developer-driven methods" and Western "technology-driven methods", apparently confirming that he is not ready to finish the series yet.

"Next" Speculation
As was probably the sites intention, fans have been speculating about the possible meaning of the teaser. Obviously, the flashing Five could refer to the possibility that this is a teaser for Metal Gear Solid 5, with the thunder and lightning being a reference to Raiden (Raiden being Japanese for "thunder and lightning"). This lines up with Kojima's announcement at the Video Game Developers Conference where he talked about the history of Metal Gear, before announcing the "Next MGS" with a small picture of what looks just like Raiden.

The Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu shows Raiden; however fans have speculated and created a few theories that it is not Raiden.
 * One is that if Big Boss is involved with the game, then it's more likely it actually may be Gray Fox in his cyber-ninja suit, and perhaps making the game a prequel to Metal Gear. It must be noted that Gray Fox did not acquire his cyborg-ninja suit until after Metal Gear 2, when Big Boss was older and had gray hair. However, it should also be noted that in the canon, Raiden's Ninja armor was designed by Dr. Madnar, a character who was heavily involved in the events of both Metal Gear 1 and 2.
 * Another comes from the belief that in Famitsu's Kojima interview about the game, he reveals that the game will be set in the future. This suggests that this could not be the deceased Big Boss, and that it is very unlikely that it is Raiden, as he may lack the motive. To back this up, the Raiden-like character in the image has brown eyes, a strange deviation as it is clear that Raiden's blue eyes are a trademark of his, although this could either be a mistake, or a deliberate hint.
 * One sub-theory is that it is Sunny.


 * Another theory being weakly suggested is that the character who looks like Big Boss on the Next webpage is actually Johhny 'Akiba' Sasaki. This strange theory goes even further by saying Akiba could be another one of Big Boss's clones.
 * However, it could still be Raiden as the game may be set in two different timelines or there may be two seperate Metal Gear games in development.
 * The Cyborg Ninja shown could possibly be Kyle Schneider and it could be an up-to-date remake of the original Metal Gear due to all of the retcons made since Metal Gear Solid.