Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, initially announced as, is a hack-and-slash video game in the Metal Gear series by Kojima Productions. The game was announced at the Microsoft E3 2009 press conference, and is in development for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The series' former tagline, "Tactical Espionage Action", has been replaced by "Lightning Bolt Action", to fit the new protagonist, Raiden; the word raiden (雷電) is Japanese for "thunder and lightning". Players assume control of Raiden, protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and supporting character in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

A key gameplay feature for the game is titled zan-datsu (斬奪), which involves "cutting" through enemies and "taking" parts from the bodies of dismembered cyborgs and robots. Things which can be taken include life, energy, parts, ammunition, items, and occasionally information. For example, in the E3 2010 trailer, Raiden tears a battery — in the form of a glowing mechanical spine — from a dismembered cyborg enemy, which he then crushes after absorbing energy from it to heal himself.

"Cutting" entails sophisticated swordplay that lets players engage in third person melee combat, as well as precisely slash enemies and objects "at will" along a geometrical plane using a "free slicing" mode. Virtually any object in the game can be cut, including vehicles and enemies, though elements of the environment were intentionally limited to structures such as pillars and walls to better facilitate gameplay. The free slicing mode is similar to other aiming modes in previous Metal Gear Solid titles, but produces a special targeting reticule in the form of a transparent blue plane which can be rotated and moved, tracing orange lines across the surfaces of objects to indicate exactly where they will be cut; it can also be used to enter a bullet time state, giving players the opportunity to precisely slash targets during moments of action, such as slicing through a falling target from multiple angles before it hits the ground. These features can be employed strategically, for example disabling opponents, finding weak points and gaps in armor, severing support columns to collapse ceilings or walls onto enemies, deflecting enemy fire, or cutting through objects to remove enemy cover. This is particularly important when facing cyborgs and robots, as cutting through different areas of their bodies will allow you to take different mechanical parts from within. Although Raiden's main weapon will be his high-frequency blade, he will also have "sub-weapons", Kimura revealed; gameplay footage has briefly shown Raiden wielding a dagger in his left hand.

Director Mineshi Kimura has 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 has 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.

Plot
The game takes place in 2018, four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The game's universe is said to follow a different canon from the main Metal Gear series, diverging from the events of the fourth game.

Development
The game was first hinted during Hideo Kojima's keynote presentation at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. His presentation followed the long development process of the Metal Gear franchise up to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and eventually leading up to the future with the final mission title being "The Next MGS" with Cyborg Raiden standing next to the title.

Prior to the announcements of the game, Kojima Productions featured a countdown timer on their website, having weather going from cloudy to extremely heavy rain with thunder and lightning, until the day that Rising was announced, leading to sunny weather. At the conclusion of the countdown, the site was replaced with image of a brick wall featuring a splash-screen graphic for Metal Gear Solid: Rising.

The game was officially announced at E3 2009 at the Microsoft press conference. A teaser trailer was released by series' director Hideo Kojima, although he will be serving only as executive producer for the game. The game was initially only announced for the Xbox 360 but was later confirmed for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms. According to the "Kojima Productions Report" podcast the game will use a brand new game engine, rather than the MGS4 engine. It was also announced that Kojima will be involved with the game but will not have a large input, as 100% of his input is with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PlayStation Portable.

The cover artwork for the game was leaked on Xbox Live on June 10, four days before E3 2010, but was soon taken down and replaced with the official logo. During Microsoft's E3 press conference on June 14, Hideo Kojima introduced the game's lead designer, Mineshi Kimura, who unveiled a new trailer which included cutscene and gameplay footage and introduced the concept of zan-datsu (斬奪). In a follow-up interview with Famitsu, Kimura and producer Shigenobu Matsuyama discussed the title's new style and gameplay elements, as well the traditional stealth and "no kill" elements of the Metal Gear series that would be retained. Kimura and Matsuyama again presented the trailer on June 16 during Konami's E3 press conference, then took stage, further clarifying the game's "take" mechanic and again emphasizing that the game will contain stealth elements. Kimura noted that he wanted Raiden to be able to move like he did in the MGS4 trailers, and to show "the stealth of the sword, and the strength of not even losing to the gun, and the fear and power you have with this blade."

Concern has risen over the game's realistic depictions of human dismemberment during player-controlled sequences, a hard limit for Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization, which may necessitate censorship in the domestic Japanese release of the game. As a result, the version of the E3 2010 trailer available for viewing on the game's official Japanese website has had such scenes removed.

At TGS 2010 Sony announced that the PS3 version of Metal Gear Solid: Rising will be in 3D