Okay, good.

Some new PS3 spots that aren’t totally freaky and disturbing are being cooked at SCEA. Great, it’s about damn time. In the spots, only two of the featured games are exclusives, Haze and Metal Gear Solid 4, but they’re both looking like they’re shaping up nicely, and the other games beef out the PS3’s roster nicely.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is either going to be Sony’s Halo, or the most disappointing flop of the past six years. It’s had a huge budget and has been in development for quite a long time, so fans of the franchise have high expectations – but the series’ staples that they’re waiting for tend to put off a large number of people. The Metal Gear Solid games before this had some pretty serious problems with color palettes, the control scheme, story pacing, level design and had some really tedious camera angles. What also hurts the franchise is that the games are really preachy, and the writing isn’t that sharp. The Metal Gear Solid games are essentially hyper emotional propaganda films, wherein characters break down in the middle of battle to ponder philosophy if mortally wounded. It will be interesting to see how Kojima took criticism of his other games, and whether or not the Japanese are still his primary target, since he’s going to be depending on success in larger markets to make back the huge amount of money Konami has spent on his game.

I’m really looking forward to Haze. It is being developed by the same people who made Perfect Dark and Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, but they haven’t had a breakout hit in nearly a decade. They’ve made a lot of really competent shooters, but never attempted a serious game with a story and realistic graphics until now. Game length and innovation will make or break Haze, and I hope it turns out great.

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