TGS: Kojima states PS3 loyalty with new MGS4 trailer; Moore responds

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has pinned his colours firmly to Sony's mast in the next generation console battle, with a hugely impressive trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 on PS3 being presented at the Tokyo Game Show.

In typical tongue in cheek style, the Konami development star included a number of references to other games and platforms throughout the video, which was played at a large specially-constructed PS3 cinema on Sony's stand.

Drawing most raised eyebrows, however, was a comment from Solid Snake's geeky companion Otacon, a fixture of the series, who sends a robot to find the grizzled veteran and proudly announces that the 'bot is powered by the Cell Processor.

"Is it really necessary to bring it to the battlefield?" Snake asks in the trailer. "You're looking at the key to winning the console war," responds Otacon, while clips of the Rubber Duck and Killzone demos from E3 play on screen.

While the comment is certainly not representative of Konami's overall attitude - the company has committed to developing Winning Eleven / Pro Evolution Soccer for the Xbox 360 platform, and more titles may well follow - it certainly suggests that Kojima Productions has chosen to focus on the new Sony console.

However, it can hardly be described as a major blow to Microsoft to have the Metal Gear franchise leading out on the Sony platforms - given that it's always been seen as a PlayStation franchise anyway.

Xbox VP Peter Moore certainly doesn't seem perturbed by the MGS4 video - telling GamesIndustry.biz at TGS that "Cell processor or not, when I look at the technical specs, I don't see anything that concerns me overly from a performance point of view. Quite frankly, having the ability to move first in this space, I think, provides us with the opportunity for a huge advantage."

"If we look at the capabilities of the Xbox 360 from a technical aspect, and we lay against it the capabilities from a technical aspect of the PS3, everybody that works at a technical level that I respect says... It's a wash," he continued. "It really is. Both companies have incredibly powerful machines, and it will be about what the developers can do with them."

"Gamers are a very smart bunch, and gamers who still haven't seen a PS3 or seen one played, will make the determination. The English expression is, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. Having videos, having characters in videos... The fact that they feel the need to have Snake tell you that it's powerful, that could be seen as a sign of worry, or weakness, potentially," Moore concluded.