What now: Snake Eater Conclusion?

Yeah, we've gotten to this point.

  I'm just going to come forward and say I honestly don't have a clue where to take this next.  That in large part has been the limitation in writing more blog posts here.  It's not that there aren't things to say about this game.  I'm not scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas, but how to say it has been the challenge.  Going in the same linear manner as I did for Majora's Mask hasn't really been effective, but I'm not going to shy away from addressing several themes in the overarching story of Metal Gear.

 If you are looking for a summary of the story, I'm sorry to say I will be discontinuing my summary of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.  If you have not played it and want to hear the rest of the story, you can get this game for the PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo 3DS, and this coming July in a bundle with every Metal Gear title as a PS3 exclusive.  If you don't want to take the time to play the game or have already played it once, I will link the dubbed series by BroadSpectrumStudios of cartoonist Hiimdaisy's comic series "Let's Destroy the Shagohod."

  As for what is next, I will give a list of a number of themes or motifs I am willing to address in posts about the Metal Gear Solid series.  I would appreciate some feedback in the comments either here or on my twitter @RodeothePirate as to the top 5 themes or motifs you all would like to read.  I will give a list to name a few potential topics.

Women in Metal Gear
Life and Death in Metal Gear
National Identity in Metal Gear
War and Peace in Metal Gear
Technology in Metal Gear
Betrayal in Metal Gear
Multigenerational Conflict in Metal Gear
The Supernatural in Metal Gear
Genetics and Metal Gear
Meme Theory and Metal Gear
Raiden and Snake
Metal Gear in Metal Gear
Pop Culture and Metal Gear
History and Current Events in Metal Gear
Metal Gear and Film

Anything I did not list is fair game as well.  I will be taking a little time off to brainstorm on topics and write more articles for my other work at culturemass.com since I am running out of silent protagonists.  I would also appreciate if you could give suggestions for future titles you would like me to discuss.  The list on this post is a good starting point for suggestions.  I would prefer not to do a series I have already done (so, that's only two of them).  Your participation is greatly appreciated.  Without further ado, I present to you "Let's Destroy the Shagohod".

La Li Lu Le Lo

   So next up we're doing the Metal Gear series, better known from the more recent titles as Metal Gear Solid.  Personally, I've felt like these games have had something different to offer than really any other franchise.  It says on the title card of pretty much every game "tactical espionage action."  The basis of the game is heavily around the concept of stealth.  Being a single person in a military base where the enemies are highly trained suggests subtlety is of utmost importance.  However, Metal Gear Solid also carries elements of the shooters that are popular today.  After all, destroying helicopters and tanks cannot be done by hiding under a cardboard box.  The versatility in style of play has made Metal Gear Solid (MGS for short) a very unique series in an industry that strives to hold to the status quo.  It also carries excellent characterization and a story that is comparable to the Count of Monte Cristo in breadth and depth.  So here we begin.

Solid Snake

   Now, for my readers who are unfamiliar with the Metal Gear franchise, it starts off rather simple, gets confusing, and then kinda sorts itself out by the end.  It's roots began as an homage to action movies of the time, but it quickly took off into conspiracy theories and science fiction.  The games follow a spy and soldier code named Solid Snake.  Snake (for short) is a clone of the perfect soldier, code named Big Boss.  In each of the first three games (Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, and Metal Gear Solid), Snake must enter into a military compound alone, usually being run by domestic terrorists, with the help of a support team via his radio often called a codec.  These three games end with a battle with a weapon called Metal Gear, which is a term with loose meanings that basically denotes a bipedal tank that can also shoot nuclear warheads.  Following the battle with Metal Gear, Snake must then fight the leader of the terrorists who is always one of his superiors as a sort of surprise ending.  

   Metal Gear Solid was the first title that heavily focused on the sci-fi aspects of the series.  As if a bipedal, nuke launching tank wasn't enough, Metal Gear Solid introduced genetically enhanced soldiers, a psychic, a shaman, bio weapons, human augmentation (cyborgs), and Solid Snake's vengeful clone brother Liquid Snake.  

Liquid Snake (note blond hair)

   Metal Gear Solid 2:  Sons of Liberty took the series even further into the realm of uncertainty.  On top of everything that was introduced in Metal Gear Solid, the sequel introduced government conspiracy, artificial intelligence that control every aspect of society, and nano technology.  This game ended without solving any of the mysteries it addressed.  They would not be addressed until Metal Gear Solid 4:  Guns of the Patriots as the world begins to collapse with the establishment of a global economy built on war.  

  So from this long series of twists and turns that I have now described, which title shall my next series revolve around?  Well, in order for any of this to make sense (because it doesn't and that's ok), we're gonna start back at square one.  Or rather, square zero.  

Pixels n' other Pixels

     Hello once again one and all.  It is time for me to discuss a number of things that are all sorta loosely related to this blog but not necessarily to each other.  I hope everyone has been having a good hiatus since the Majora's Mask series ended.  You may notice that the title up there has been altered to be a little more appealing to the themes discussed right down here.  My brother designed the title above so kudos to him.

     I'd like to announce that I will be writing as a columnist for a website some friends of mine will be starting soon called Culture Mass.  When that's up you can go to culturemass.com to check that out.  There's no link there right now because it hasn't started yet, but when it does I'll give you the means to check that out.  I will be writing a series on silent protagonists' role in video game storytelling (seems fitting because I just finished Majora's Mask).  That will go up once a week.  Feel free to check that out and the other articles which cover any number of pop culture fields.  I think it will be pretty sick, and I think you will appreciate it too.

   I will also be taking the time to devote a separate page to the Majora's Mask series.  Soon, you will be able to read each post from beginning to end without ceasing as each page links directly into the next.  In this manner you can relive all those great moments.  You like to translate Mayan chanting? There's a post for that.  You want to relive my description of the Witch King of Angmar being an eskimo? Also time for that.  Aliens? Sure, why not.  My challenge to Justin Bieber? My Brendan Fraser joke? The actual serious posts like the first three days, the comparison of Skull Kid and Link, and the one about masks?  You can read all that and much, much more.

   Now, if you're wondering what the next Pixels Project will be about.  I will give you a list of ten possible game franchises that I will do next.  There's a good chance I will end up doing many of these later, but for now only one will be the next series.  The list goes as follows:

Metroid (especially Other M)
Pokemon (1st and/or 5th generation)
Castlevania
Banjo-Kazooie
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (it's more likely than you think)
Resident Evil
Metal Gear
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy (but only a couple of them)
Shin Megami Tensei Persona (as much as I love these, don't get your hopes up this time)

     I think that's all I need to say for now.  I will narrow down the list in the next post to a single franchise, and then in the post after that I'll narrow it down to a single title.  I'm gonna be honest and say I'm taking a different approach to this one than I did Majora's Mask, but I think it will all work out to a similar effect.

    If anything else, tell your friends about this, tell your family about this, tell your not-friends about this.  If you frequent forums and those fellow forumers may find this to be appealing, you could tell them.  If you play D&D with friends, those friends might appreciate it.  If you want to reddit it, that's up to you as well.  Really, so long as it doesn't violate the law, feel free to spread the word however you see fit or just be that hipster who wants to be the only person who knows about this blog.  That would be an incredibly bold claim, but I can't stop you from saying it.

   Until next time.