Next

Next was a flash teaser site on the 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.

The site featured a series of countdowns, each one adding more hints as to what was in store for the series. At Microsoft's press conference during E3 2009, Hideo Kojima announced a new title in the Metal Gear series, titled Metal Gear Solid: Rising that will be released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, and will star Raiden as the main character.

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. On May 21st, mere hours away from the end of the first countdown, a leak 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 changed the flashing sequence to show one of the following about every thirty seconds: "S" (or"5"), "e", "E" and "3". 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 one of the following about every thirty seconds: "P", "R", "3","5" (or "S") and "e." The letters and numbers appeared in a random order and then an image of Big Boss would flash up, usually followed by the same image again. 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. There is also an image of a skull, resembling both the emblems of Outer Heaven and Pangea, the super-continent theorized to have existed before the flood; before the continents were separated into their current configuration. This could represent Big Boss' idea of a world of "unity".

On the 28th of May, the countdown was updated once again. This time Raiden flashed in a similar fashion to Big Boss. Additionally, the number "6" was added to the set of characters as well as the letters "C" and "O." This new countdown was set to end on the 31st of May. The Kojima Productions logo at the bottom of the page began to fade in and out of a mask image; clicking this link while it is the mask image takes the visitor to another website with background music that has an image of the same mask. This image is apparently from a new Kojima Pro game entitled Lords of Shadow which will be announced at E3 2009.

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 May 30th information on Sony's new PSP, the PSP Go was leaked. Along with the leak, it was revealed that a new Metal Gear Solid game is being developed for it. It is possible that this could be a spiritual sequel to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Kojima Productions has said that they would be willing to make another Portable Ops if the first one sold well, and Kojima has said that he is interested in making more hand-held games after his son said that he enjoyed Portable Ops, despite not being a fan of the series.

When the countdown reached 15:00:00, the weather of the site changed from aggressive rain and thunder to sunny weather, with birds singing and wind in the background. The flashing sequence now shows the number "8", and the flashes are much slower to disappear. Big Boss' image is no longer present on the site.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising was officially announced at E3 2009 for Xbox 360, featuring Raiden.

On the Kojima Productions' GamesPress site it shows a title called Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker exlcusive for the PSP, this is probably the PSP Go! game that was featured on Qore



Kojima and the Next Metal Gear game
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.

At Microsoft's press conference at E3 2009, Kojima appeared on stage and announced that the Metal Gear Solid franchise is coming to the Xbox 360, and showed a teaser which showed Raiden at different angles in his suit, at the end it stated "Raiden is back", and the title of the game, Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Raiden's eyes are not blue, but still brown. The reason for this is unknown.