Metal Gear 25th Anniversary

The Metal Gear 25th Anniversary was an event in 2012 that celebrated the 25 years of the Metal Gear series.

UNIQLO Tour
The celebration started with the release of Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, Play Arts KAI action figures and T-shirts released by Japanese clothing company Uniqlo. Uniqlo released 14 T-shirts featuring designs from Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Uniqlo also released 5 exclusive to Japan T-shirts which featured re-release designs from Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker along a brand new design of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. To celebrate the release of these T-shirts, Hideo Kojima & Yoji Shinkawa did a mini tour in New York, Europe and London where fans would come and get promotional postcards signed by them. During the London signing, Kojima announced he would return to the UK in September for a new project he's working on.

San Diego Comic Con & Tokyo Game Show
Konami brought the 25th Anniversary along with them to the popular San Diego Comic Con. Attendees who visited their panel received limited edition posters and was able to have their photos taken with Metal Gear based backgrounds. Konami were also selling promotional 25th Anniversary merchandise such as phone covers, T-shirts and action figures. The same things were done at Konami's panel during Tokyo Game Show a month later except the promotional t-shirt given out, was different.

25th Anniversary Event
On 30 August, the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary Event was held, during the event, Kojima announced that a movie was in production. It was also revealed that Avi Arad would be producing the film. The movie will be a collaboration between Kojima Productions and Columbia Pictures. Kojima personally expressed that actor Hugh Jackman play Solid Snake, although Arad, who has the final say in the film, indicated a desire for a small-time actor to play the role. Likewise, Kojima also implied that he might be involved in writing the script for the film, although this remains to be seen. Kojima later showed everyone a trailer to the next instalment Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes which also contained short gameplay footage. He later announced Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops a card based game for Android phones.

Kojima also announced new merchandise to be sold on KONAMISTYLE including phone covers, phone charms, lunchboxes, the soundtrack Metal Gear 25th Anniversary - Metal Gear Music Collection and the exclusive Metal Gear 25th Anniversary Collection, a limited edition collection of 2 art books and 5 scenario books of Yoji Shinkawa's art. The collection is limited to 2,500 editions worldwide. Due to it, buyers will be added into a random draw on the official KONAMISTYLE site. The collect will cost 26,250 Japanese yen.

Twitter, Official Website and Metal Gear Solid 4 Trophy Patch
In honor of the celebration, a official website and Twitter account for the 25th Anniversary were put up by Konami. The website and Twitter told followers about upcoming events and promotions dedicated and involved the 25th Anniversary, one of which happened to be the long awaited trophy support for Metal Gear Solid 4. It involved trophy support and full instalment to the game. This allowed players to fully install the game at the beginning of play without having to do so after each act. In order for this to be installed, the patch had to remove Metal Gear Online from the game, since the servers closed in June and there was no need for it to be there any more.

Eurogamer Expo Q&A - Info on Ground Zeroes and Movie
On November 27, Hideo Kojima visited the UK to attend Eurogamer Expo. In celebration of his arrival and the 25th anniversary the event, attendees had a chance to play all the games in the Metal Gear series up to the present day, including the full version of the MSX2 original Metal Gear and the non-canon NES sequel Snake's Revenge. All well as the demo of Metal Gear Rising. During the Q&A session, Kojima shown the UK the trailer and gameplay of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, and announced that they had to make a lot of visual comprises to be able to create an open world, but not in the lighting. The game will contain day and night cycle will be a 24 hour cycle and can return to the player's base at any time using the helicopter. The helicopter can get shot down though. After the player board their helicopter, they travel in real time. He also announced that the player can walk around their base, and design it, maybe possible from their smartphone. Designing the base is optional, and will not be required. Gameplay is stealth, but with more options. The player will still be awarded for using stealth, but how their infiltrate the base is up to them. The story unravels as you go through the game’s mission structure. The hub system consists of smaller open worlds within a larger universe, and Peace Walker 's Research & Design element may also return in this game. He also announced that a new Metal Gear Online may be a possibility. When asked a question about the upcoming Metal Gear movie, Kojima again stated that he will not be writing or directing the film, but he will supervisory role over the project and the movie is being produced by Avi Arad. However, he announced that the movie will revolve around Solid Snake. The actor who will be playing Snake is still unknown, but Kojima reckons it will be a new rising star actor. The Q&A section, sans the Ground Zeroes trailer, was later released on YouTube by popular demand.

Metal Gear Solid 4 - 25th Anniversary Edition
On November 7, UK online retailer stores Zavvi and Stopto listed up on they're websites that a 25th Anniversary edition of Metal Gear Solid 4 is up for pre-order for the price of £19.99. The listing confused a lot of gamers whether this edition was real or not as this was never officially announced by Konami. Many have asked Konami if this edition was official or not, with no reply.

On November 8, Konami officially announced the 25th Anniversary edition and some infomation of it's contents. This version will naturally include the recently released trophy update. It won’t feature any new in-game content, but it does come with an exclusive double-sided poster by Yoji Shinkawa. The 25th Anniversary edition of Metal Gear Solid 4 will be released in Europe on November 29 for the PlayStation 3.

On November 28, a online rumor hit the internet saying Metal Gear Solid 4 was on it's way to Xbox 360. The following day, Konami announced that the rumor is false and that Metal Gear Solid 4 and it's 25th Anniversary edition will be PlayStation 3 exclusive.

Tsutaya Book Store
On December 6, Tokyo Midtown book store, Tsutaya were doing their bit for the 25th Anniversary by decoration the store with Metal Gear related posters and adverts. Customers can receive a special Metal Gear themed book cover, one for Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and one for Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. In addition, when they purchase a product at the store, they will receive a set of Metal Gear Rising ‘cut stickers’.

Others
In Cornwall, a gamers bar named Loading created an image of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid 4-era using shot glasses in commemoration for the series 25th Anniversary.

Behind the scenes
One of the logos for the 25th anniversary (the one depicting dog tags) was actually reused from the 20th anniversary logo.