Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is an upcoming game in the Metal Gear series. Announced at E3 2009, the game will be released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation Vita. The game will star Raiden. Hideo Kojima and Kenichiro Imaizumi will be producing the game and Mineshi Kimura will serve as director. The series' former tagline, "Tactical Espionage Action", has been replaced with "Lightning Bolt Action", a play on Raiden's name. The title Rising is also a play on Raiden's name; the Japanese pronunciation "raijin" is a word play on a mythic Japanese storm god, while the word "raiden" (雷電) means "thunder (雷, the sound) and lightning (電, the flash)" in Japanese.

Plot
The story will take place several years after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The game's original producer, Shigenobu Matsuyama, noted in an issue of Famitsu that "...the Raiden we see in Rising looks markedly different from the Raiden we see in MGS4.".

Concept art for the game features Raiden standing atop what looks like Crying Wolf. Originally, concept art featured Raiden with reddish brown eyes rather than blue, which was his eye color in Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4. More recent concept art appeared to correct this error, however, both the official site and the E3 2010 trailer feature sequences where Raiden's eyes glow red. Concept art also shows him wearing a slightly different robotic suit than he has in Metal Gear Solid 4.

According to the English Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance website, the main premise of the story is that Raiden has been contracted for VIP protection, military training, and other duties by Private Military and Security Companies in a developing country piecing itself back together after a bloody civil war, but then the country is suddenly overrun by cyborgs, forcing Raiden to go back to battle again. The trailer also implies that he may have reverted back to his Jack the Ripper persona, and that some cyborg bald men in black suits and shades with similar high-frequency blades to Raiden will be involved in the story.

Gameplay
The gameplay mechanics for Rising were made known initially at E3 2010, and are based around a concept known as "zan-datsu", literally "cut and take." Matsumaya and Kimura explained in Konami's press conference that the "take" part revolves around Raiden literally taking power from enemies, a concept shown in the trailer as Raiden absorbs power from a robotic soldier's intestinal battery. This concept of "taking" is not limited to power; intelligence essential for a mission objective may also be taken from enemies, as well as other components.

However, in order to gain power and information, the "cut" part must also be employed. Whilst regular attacks are also available and it is essential that this precision should be employed in order for Raiden to obtain the sought power orb. The game preserves the established stealth action of the series, although Matsumaya and Kimura stated that it is a much faster and more fluid form of stealth, complemented by Raiden's cybernetically enhanced body and acrobatics. This new approach to stealth was likened to hunting, a concept possibly derived from Raiden being knowledgeable in the technique in Metal Gear Solid 4. Director Mineshi Kimura stated that Rising would carry on the series tradition of encouraging players to progress through the game without killing, noting that there is a moral difference between attacking cyborgs or robots and attacking human beings, and that there's a "certain virtue to simply disabling your enemies instead of killing them." While it was considered important to give the players freedom to do what they want, Matsuyama indicated that players will never be rewarded for killing human opponents, and that the game will be designed so that players are never forced to do so. Matsumaya stated that it is possible to complete the game without killing anyone, suggesting CQC will play a part.

Development
Hideo Kojima officially announced the game at Microsoft's E3 2009 press conference, after running various countdowns for the announcement on a Konami website. Both Kojima and Kenichiro Inaizumi will be producing the game. Kojima stated that he became involved with Rising because "it's a completely different kind of action than what has appeared in the series so far" and also stated that he will be more involved in the development of the game than a normal video game producer would be.

Kojima refers to both Rising and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as Metal Gear Solid 5, while specifically calling Rising "the next generation MGS5." Kojima has specifically said that he would not be directing, as he and the team behind Metal Gear Solid 4 would be busy working on Peace Walker.

At the end of a teaser trailer for the game shown at E3 2009, the words "Sneak In" are shown, a reference to both Metal Gear Solid 4 promotional art which used the tagline "Sneak Out" and the Xbox 360 advertisements that use "Jump In."

Sean Eyestone, the host of Kojima Productions's podcast, stated that the game will feature an entirely new game engine. He also stated that the game will "be a big project like Metal Gear Solid 4. The entire team is serious about making it look as good as possible on every platform." Regarding the term "rising" in the game's title, Eyestone also said "[the game is] raising the Metal Gear franchise up to the next step." At the 2009 Tokyo Game Show in late September, Kojima stated that the game is "far from completion."



In late January 2010, Metal Gear Solid: Piece Walker, a flash-based jigsaw puzzle game, was released. Players who completed the puzzle obtained a new concept art of Raiden that gives him his correct blue eye color as well as some other minor changes.

Around March 2010, it was confirmed that the development team behind Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid 4 were beginning to start work on Rising.

At E3 2010, the debut trailer for the game was shown, featuring Raiden facing off against a robotic soldier bearing a similar appearance to the Haven Troopers and the Beauty and the Beast Unit, and the first gameplay footage was shown, featuring the first instance of player-controlled dismemberment in Metal Gear history. This same robotic soldier, whom Raiden slices twice (once cutting the arm in half, the second on the waistline) starts bleeding the same white artificial blood that Raiden needed in Metal Gear Solid 4. An official site for the game was also unveiled.

Kojima stated that Rising will play like a mainstream European and North American-style game and as such he feels that "it doesn't matter if it lacks the message aspect of a MGS game I'd make."

Shigenobu Matsuyama revealed that they are hoping to make two Rising styled games.

In February 2011, screenshots were released of the game's menu designs. The images showed a multiplayer option in the main menu. The menu was created by third-party company Angelsign Studio. Shortly after the images were released, it was revealed that the menu design has not been finalized and may appear different when the game is released.

In August, it was revealed that Rising would be absent from the 2011 Tokyo Game Show. According to Kojima Productions assistant producer Sean Eyestone, the reason for the game's absence was so that the development team could spend their time on the game itself rather than a trailer or creating a one-off for an event. However, it was revealed that the game will be released for the PlayStation Vita. The Vita version has been giving the tenative release date of 2012, and it will utilize the Fox Engine. In addition, Kojima stated that more info of Rising would be revealed at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards on December 10. Also, Kojima is getting more involved, and replaced Matsuyama with veteran Kojima Productions staff member Yuji Korekado as the producer of the game.

Just prior to the reveal on Spike, the new trailer for Rising leaked online. The new trailer features a starkly different tone to previous Metal Gear trailers, featuring a more hard rock driven soundtrack and less emphasis on the stealth aspects with more focus on the newer, action orientated style of play. One such aspect features Raiden fighting a Metal Gear RAY, grabbing a hold of one of it's "arms" and throwing into the air. Another sequence showcased Raiden fighting an unknown enemy on a speeding train in a tunnel, with Raiden running along the walls of the tunnel to keep up with the train. The last seconds of the trailer reveal a new tagline and logo for the game; the new tagline being "Revenge with a Vengeance" which is cut to simply say "Revengeance." The new logo reveals the game is now simply titled Metal Gear Rising, with the tagline "Revengeance" below it, in place of the previous "Lightning Bolt Action." The trailer also reveals that the game is being co-developed by Platinum Games, known for making more action oriented games like Bayonetta and Vanquish. Kojima, when giving the speech unveiling the trailer, also stuttered a bit. The KojiPro Report also stated that another trailer will be shown on December 12th. In addition, the KojiPro Report also revealed that the plot setting had changed to be happening after Metal Gear Solid 4, and that Platinum Games will end up using the opportunity to create content based on their own ideas.

Although Kojima earlier alluded to mentioning the truth about Rising during the VGA on December 10th, the site later revealed that he was going to unveil it on December 13th.

Trivia

 * Raiden being a playable character in another Metal Gear game was foreshadowed in the release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. In one of the Secret Theatre short films, titled Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser, Raiden travels to the past to kill Big Boss which would prevent Solid Snake from ever existing and allow Raiden to be the main hero of the series. In Raiden's full attempts, he fails in succeeding the task, and the comedic short film ends with Rosemary stating "...there is going to be a 5, right?" At that point in time, Metal Gear Solid 4 was still in development. After the completion of Metal Gear Solid 4, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was originally known as Metal Gear Solid 5.
 * It should be noted that the robot that Raiden kills at the beginning of the E3 2010 trailer has the same leggings as Vamp and the FROGS, which suggests that these robots may utilize the van der Waals force to traverse walls and roofs.
 * The trailer features a poster for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker when Raiden destroys the building.
 * A Scarab made a brief appearance in the TGS Demo Trailer, holding things for Raiden to slash, such as watermelons, bowling pins and even another Scarab. This particular droid is called "Kogekko."
 * The robotic soldier seen in the E3 2010 trailer appears in Yoji Shinkawa's Metal Gear Solid 4 Master Art Works book as an unused concept for the Beauty and the Beast Unit.