Metal Gear Solid is Comming to XBLA, Fanboys Explode

Yesterday, Patrick over on Ripten (where I also contribute) posted a rumour about Metal Gear Solid coming to XBLA. He then preceded to feel the wrath of every fanboy come down on him. It was very much like what happened on Destructoid a year or so ago when it was posted that MGS4 would eventually come to the Xbox.

Now, the tip(s) we got at Ripten basically gave us the following information:

• MGS is on PartnerNet (the network used for testing and distributing games and DLC before release)
• They are having a few problems with it
• It is a secret… shhh

A few quick searches and general knowledge gives us the following:

• MGS was originally published by Microsoft for the PC release
• It came on either one, or two CDs
• The XBLA size limit is currently 150MB, but is going to rise to 350MB soon
• MGS2 came out for the Xbox
• Games on PartnerNet which are super-secret usually use code names, or hide inside other games
• Some games stay on PartnerNet for many months before being announced (Ikaruga for example)

As soon as the article went live, claims of lies, no evidence and lack of integrity were quick to surface. The common issues people had were:

• The game was 1.3G (2 x CD)
• XBLA has a size limit of 150MB (as Patrick put in the article before updating)
• ZOMG NO WAI
• I looked, it’s not on PartnerNet
• Ripten is rubbish (or variants of)
• No name given as the source

To address the legitimate concerns;

The size of the game isn’t actually much of an issue. Most of the space on the original was taken up with sound. The 360 has a lot of nifty compression to help with this. The game also came out on 1 CD at some point in time.

Not forgetting of course that MS have had exceptions for the XBLA size limit before, as well as having services such as Xbox Originals which are much bigger.

The people saying they have looked on PartnerNet for the game and not found it probably did a search for “Metal Gear Solid” and got nothing. As explained earlier, games which have not been annouced often go under fake names. Short of actively going through everything on PartnerNet, you’re not going to find it unless you know where to look.

See, it’s not that obsurd an idea now is it?

If you would like to see some examples of the rage ensuing, do a google search for “Metal Gear Solid”+XBLA.

(Also, sorry for the header being all exciting, but I just couldn’t help myself)