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.

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 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. 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 changed the flashing sequence to show one of the following about every thirty seconds: "S" (or"5"), "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 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 and flicker in sync with the lightning and then was usually followed by the same image again. After that the sequence would repeat. 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 250 million years ago, 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 the face of a character resembling Raiden flashes once in awhile akin to Big Boss's flashes. Additionally, the number "6" was added to the set of characters as well as the letters "C" and "O." This new countdown is 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 sequel to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, a PSP game, effectively making it Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops 2. Kojima Productions have said that they would be willing to make another Portable Ops if the first one sold well, and Hideo 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.



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.

At Microsoft's press conference at e3 2009, Hideo Kojima appeared on stage and announced that the Metal Gear Solid franchise is coming to the Xbox 360, and then he played a trailer which showed Raiden at different angles in his suit, at the end it states "Raiden is back", and the title of the game, "Metal Gear Solid Rising". Raiden's eyes are not blue though. Why the color changed is unknown. 

"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.

Raiden was eventually confirmed to be the cyborg shown in the website.; however fans speculated and created a few theories that it was 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 a new cyber-ninja suit, perhaps making this a prequel to Metal Gear. It should 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 Raiden's Ninja armor was designed by Dr. Madnar, a major character in both Metal Gear 1 and 2, and could be a removable suit like the one worn by Olga Gurlukovich in MGS2, but of a design made by Dr. Madnar, explaining the similarities to Raiden's armor.
 * Another comes from the belief that in Famitsu's Kojima interview, 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 somewhat 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 from Raiden's blue eyes, although this could either be a mistake, or a deliberate hint. It should, however, be noted that the Famitsu interview was heavily censored at Kojima's request, and doesn't specifically say the game is set in the future.
 * One sub-theory is that it is Sunny.
 * Due to the strange bolts on the character's forehead, and her similarity to Sunny, some have suggested a revived Olga.
 * Another is that it is Laughing Octopus.
 * Some people also believe Kojima mentions the game will be set "during MGS4".
 * It could also be Little John.


 * 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.
 * The image 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. But the largest counter to this theory is the lack of his normally seen light blue eyes, and the overall more feminine look to the face.
 * 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. Kyle, known as Black Ninja in Metal Gear 2, was never an official "cyborg" ninja however, so this would be a large retcon.
 * Another theory is that it might not even be Big Boss, perhaps another clone, or maybe a cured Solid Snake. Snake is unikely, due to the eye-patch, although the patch doesn't write off the Snake theory completely.