I'm not trying to troll, though I will concede straight away that this post by it's very nature may be somewhat trollish and apologize if this sounds argumentative without purpose. But I actually really care about the small differences between each version, and I actually A) don't care about GTAIV (shocking, I know) and B) going to get a PS3, despite personally disliking Sony and knowing that, to my knowledge, most PS3 / 360 comparisons have ended poorly for Sony. I find multi-port comparisons interesting, as this kind of thing matters to me. I don't like the "just enjoy either version!" attitude that's usually presented when the game is very popular and saying "actually, this version might be slightly better" would piss off one of the big three. I also find all too often that game reviews of ports of well established games bury the lead when it comes to how the game stands in comparison to the original version. Take MGS2 for the X-Box, for example - a rational (if naive) assumption would have been to think the X-Box version was better, which almost caused me to get an X-Box five years ago. But the comment that the game suffered occassional graphics slow-down (usually contained in one of the last paragraphs in any review) is what caused me to get a PS3 instead. Several years later, when the validity of the X-Box port is no longer a sensitive topic, almost everyone that speaks about the game considers it unworthy of a MGS2 player's time. My own assumption with this GTAIV thing is that the PS3 version is quite possibily worse, but information on the tiny differences which might truly matter to some hard-core GTAIV fans is being self-censored by most gaming sites to avoid pissing off both Sony and their legion. I say this because such is the historical trend thus far concerning PS3 versions of 360 games. It seems like a cop-out.when buying either system and the game itself would cost a fair chunk of one month's rent. I think all too often game reviews of ports bury the lead when it comes to how the game stands in comparison to other ports. I know that could lead to fan-boy rage, but so what? This isn't politics, and fan boys - or anyone who spends that much on a system - might find other reasons to claim that their half a grand investment was a better buy that what other people chose. I think the biggest deal has to do with games like MGS2 for the X-Box. I

Much like rock stars hate being famous, video game protaganists hate being bad asses. Yeah, it's cool every once in awhile, but just imagine if you had to be a bad ass every single day. Like if it was your job. The strain would be unbearable.

The new Metal Gear Solid 4 US cover art, which is simply a close up of Snake's face, displays that "why must I be such a bad ass?!" angst-filled pathos better than any ten minute cut scene ever could.

Look at those eyes. If the guy was an emo teenager instead of a grizzled war veteran, he'd probably be bawling. Instead, all he can do is grimace and move on. When you're Solid Snake, you don't have time to wallow in your feelings.

The other great thing about this cover is that unlike the much cooler looking Japanese or Europe one, this clearly shows us that the game is 3D. I'd hate for PS3 owners to pass up Metal Gear Solid 4 because they can't figure out it's a 3D videogame and think maybe Sony of America was taking a nap and somehow let an outdated 2D game get released on their state of the art $500 vidcon player.

Hey Sony, that sounds great!

But tell me... does it include the ability to play all of the other Metal Gear Solid games that I already own using something besides crappy emulation that has, as of this writing, a host of officially published issues with the very last Metal Gear game?

Thanks, but never mind. I guess I'll have to eventually spend even more money to buy a used, and increasingly rare version of the PS3 that can actually play PS2 games for a ridiculously high price on e-bay, meaning both of us will get screwed. You idiots.

If you read the commentary on JoyStiq.com, you'll see people saying wonderfully stupid things in anticipation of this deal, such as "100 percent PS1 backwards compatibility, 85 percent PS2 backwards compatibility, DualShock 3 - the best controller this gen(motion sensing plus more advanced rumble than 360 controller)."

The last comment is too easy to pick on so I'll ignore it. What really gets me though is this idea that "85 percent compatability" is somehow good or even acceptable. Its as though people have bought that the software emulation used with the newer PS3's isn't that bad, or that the 15% of broken compatibility won't affect the parts of the game they like. This ignores three things -

1. 85% compatibility is the kind of quality you expect from PC emulators you get for free, not from a year and a half old game system that still costs half a grand.
2. 85% is a figure Sony's concocted using some system they made up from scratch and isn't really good at rating something this subjective - there may even be little issues with MGS2 or other games that Sony decided (without any bias or agenda, of course) wouldn't be worth mentioning.
3. 85% compatibility in an emulator still means its imperfect, which can ruin the experience more than one might initially expect. Imagine if you were watching Silence of the Lambs on a DVD player that would play it "85% perfect," which meant that in some scenes Jody Foster's head vanished for several seconds at a time and in others Hannibal Lecter was brighlty lit instead of being occluded in shadow. It just wouldn't feel the same. It probably wouldn't even be worth watching.

As it is, I want to buy this, but just can't get over this stupid issue Sony introduced in order to save maybe ten dollars or so by omitting the Emotion Engine CPU (legal notice: that figure is unsubstantiated). Sometimes, a man just has to live by his principles.

UPDATE FROM 2008-07-12 - So yeah, I picked this up today. Its pretty good, and I don't need to play Metal Gear Solid 3 on it anyway - that's what my PS2 is for! Plus the Dual Shock 3 has all the functionality of the Wii and its like a Dual Shock, its really the best controller ever invented by man. Also, Blu-Ray, and the online is free which makes it better than X-Box Live. Clearly this is the best system ever created, and I recommend all of you buy one so you can play Metal Gear Online with me. ONE OF US. ONE OF US.

In case anyone hasn't heard, three of the greatest games in the history of the Universe have just been released for $30.

Of course, I'm talking about the Metal Gear Solid Essentials Collection.

I know I talk about Metal Gear a lot on this site. But I think if you are missing even just one of these games, failing to get this package would be a sign of your incompetence.

In case you need convincing, this package includes the hard to find Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, as well as Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence. They didn't include the second (or third, heh heh) discs of the later, which sucks for you if you neglected to get it back then, but this is probably so they can continue to justify keeping Metal Gear Online off-line.

But seriously, the new third person camera in Metal Gear Solid 3 is really wonderful. For whatever reason, I started up a new game last week and was surprised how engrossing it still is - I've already logged in 20 hours. The third-person camera added to Subsistence really adds a lot to it, and it would be a tragic mistake to save a few bucks and get the older version which doesn't have it.

This package looks so stellar I'm considering buying it in spite of all logic to the contrary. I think the only thing keeping me from it, aside from my depressing poverty, is I'm afraid of the kind of person such an action would make me.