Showing posts with label files. Show all posts
Showing posts with label files. Show all posts

Friday, January 6, 2012

Konami files 4 – Metal Gear – and an explanation

As promised, another day, another file drop, and the reason for the files being leaked. If I don't see this spread across at least 5 gaming news sites, then I've obviously not generated enough hype for this stuff. I mean, it's Metal Gear!
(hilarious heading photo taken from a NeoGAF thread)

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Ever wanted to read the entire script for Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel on the GBC, in either Japanese or English prior to editing and insertion in the game? Now you can!

*LINKS DELETED*

By this point most people will know who our mystery interview is – I won’t say the name since at least it gives the forums something to talk about. But I will print an excerpt from the big interview feature, which explains why the files were released. As our generous benefactor put it:
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For over a decade, I did right by *****, Konami and other ***** clients despite not having signed an NDA. I continue to maintain non-disclosure for the last group, though any secrecy in those Word and Excel files expired as soon as the titles hit the shelf. The obligation I chose to feel towards Konami and ***** ended after the former demanded I expunge mentions of my own work from my own website, and the latter ferried that message.
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That’s right, Konami attempted to censor one of its freelance employees, which is just the tip of the iceberg of all the political wranglings we discussed. The interview itself is in the hands of site founder Kurt, currently at MAGfest I believe. But it will be formatted and designed for publication within the next few weeks, to coincide with our new CMS launch.

The interview will be the first for said benefactor, and as promised reveals fascinating anecdotes from every corner of the industry. Besides Konami there’s also discussion about Kenji Eno’s company WARP and something for Namco fans to enjoy too. Alongside will be the final file drop, even bigger than the Ghost Babel files, and the real one to anticipate. What it is, most can probably correctly guess by now.


Points of interest in the Ghost Babel files:
* There are two large files titled MG English Final and MG English full. What are these? They contain a bunch of what appears to be hexadecimal coding alongside the ASCII dialogue. Is it some kind of partial source code? Discussion at RHDN implied no, but then I never supplied them with the file itself. If someone finds an interesting use for it, please let us know.

* There’s a file called “E-Changes post 9.1” – does this pertain to changes made after 9/11? I have no idea, since there’s not much dialogue in said files.

EDIT 7/1/11: As pointed out, Ghost Babel was obviously released in 2000, so the post 9.1 must mean something else. Apologies for this mistake, I knew this, but at the same time MGS2 was released in 2001 and it was on my mind and, given that it's our next release alongside the interview, it was on my mind when typing. Freudian slip as they say! Again, apologies for the quite obvious mistake.
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I could ask out benefactor for clarification, but I think it’s more fun this way. Get cracking, chaps!

There’s also a ton of other stuff, like the entire Radio Play dialogue, files noting other changes, pretty much the entire script. Theoretically you could do a text dump of the ROM, but this is much cooler.

Stay tuned for the big interview and final file drop.

(Images borrowed from GameFAQs, because I really can’t be bothered cropping the ones I took)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Konami Files - part 2


After the amount of publicity this suddenly got, and sadly a few people complaining that it'll be a let down, I've decided to release this stuff early. Are we yielding to mob rule? You betcha.


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Firstly, I don't know why some assumed it would be Policenauts. I feel the original entry made it clear these were for games already localised, and therefore published. Also, after sudden Facebook and Twitter messages, I should say it's neither Jeremy Blaustein nor Marc Laidlaw. Our mystery revealer of secrets has no noticeable internet presence for games - at least not yet.

Anyway, the manuals went up first because they're not that exciting, and Hybrid Heaven went alongside because we don't yet have a site article on it. Next two are titles we do have site articles for, in ascending order of interest.

Today's release:
Azure Dreams

I'm presuming it's the GBC version. We also have a site article on the games.
It's not the biggest release in our collection, but it's still pretty neat. Next (maybe tomorrow) is another game already on the site, available for PS2, Xbox, PSP and PC. This one I'm really fond of - but even this isn't the big stuff.

The third release is... Well, let's just say it rhymes with feral beer. Now if that doesn't convince you of what we have, nothing will. The fourth and final release has no site article and I'm going to hold on to until the interview is up. Let's just say it's the coolest and worth waiting for, alongside the megaton feature it corresponds with.

HG101 is undergoing a new CMS, which has been mentioned on our forum, but with any luck it'll be in place within a few weeks, and the interview and final file drop will be there to inaugurate it. Stay tuned.

Also, on a personal note, for those hoping it was Suikoden related, I feel your pain. The first two are, hands down, my favourite PS1 RPGs from the era. Vagrant Story and certain other Square RPGs get more publicity, but we know where it's at, right? Suikoden all the way. I did ask, but our interviewee was not involved with either title.