Thank you, Hideo Kojima

----- SPOILER ALERT ------

Here it is, a beautiful weekend summer afternoon and what am I doing? I'll tell you, I'm playing the greatest video game my hand-eye skills have ever come across - Metal Gear Solid 4 for Playstation 3. I'm only half way through, but today this game became my all-time favorite.

MGS4 (an acronym, get it?) is the finale in this fabled series. The graphics (above) are near photorealistic. The story is smart, fun and requires actual thought; not just guns-blazing button smashing. The cut scenes are movie worthy and gameplay is as player friendly as anyone would want. This is all thanks to Hideo Kojima.

For those of you reading who've actually seen a set of boobs in person before, Hideo Kojima is the creater, writer, developer extraordinaire of this series. He deserves thanks today because he brought me back to 1999. He brought me back to a time where I didn't have to worry about work or finances or if the sandwich I'm eating is going to require a 1/2 hour run as penance.

This morning was the most surprised I've ever been playing a game. At the midway point of the storyline the main character, Snake, (above) is back to a location that was used in MGS2, in 1999. An Alaskan island codenamed, "Shadow Moses" (sweet).

As the game is loading up, the screen goes black and I'm getting nervous. Has my system just melted?? This can't happen....I'm moments from going Chubby Hulk on my PS3.

But, then, the screen changes and the image literally leaves me jaw-dropped and giggling like the little schoolgirl that I am. These are three screens of what I saw.

As a nod to the players and as a throwback for the development team- the graphics and game play were changed to the original Playstation's Metal Gear Solid!!!!! This is a level that was in the original game!!! The sounds, look, controls are all like they were. If you're a girl, go back to the first time you saw Sex and the City, and you'll get what this means. This change is only for one section of the level. You need to sneak across a helipad, up some stairs and crawl into the island's base through a duct. As you begin to crawl, the game fades into its current form and Snake wakes up from this "recurring dream" (I laughed out loud) as the helicopter begins to descend on the island. I'm now playing a Playstation 3 version of the Shadow Moses base. It's as it was right down to where rations and ammo are hidden. The music is the same and there are echoed coversations of the past that Snake hears as he creeps around this places he knows. I'm in gamer paradise.

So, thanks for that Hideo, I'm going to go finish taking down Liquid....