Ladies and gentlemen, at long last we now have a proper explanation regarding the restrictions placed on certain reviewers by Konami over Metal Gear Solid 4.

In a letter written to Kotaku from 1997 Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Champion* and Kojima Productions Assistant Producer Ryan Payton, it is explained what it was that reviewers were asked to avoid. While install times and cutscene length are the top two items listed, the full list consists of:

It was also revealed in the letter that the game will require an eight minute install when you first put the game in, as well as “a number of two to three-minute installs between acts.” While this will surely have some people up in arms over the notion of installs between acts, I argue this point: Would you rather play through about ten to fifteen hours of a game, then wait for three minutes for the next fifteen hours, or would you rather put the game in the console, start the download, then go fishing for a weekend?

…yeah, that’s what I thought.

Also, some are going to say that not being able to talk about the environments is a giant cop-out and that it in no way relates to being a spoiler. I argue this by saying that odds are if Konami is so worried about people talking about locations, then they are probably revisiting some familiar places from the Metal Gear franchise. Which wouldn’t be entirely out of the realm of possibility if you’ve seen THIS trailer.

As for the other stuff, I am no Konami apologist so I’ll let you all debate amongst yourselves. A couple things of note that we all should take away from the letter is A.) There are no 90-minute cutscenes, and B.) People who buy the game on launch night are in for a treat that scumbags who stole the game will never recieve. Don’t believe me?

Believe it or not, I’ve been so busy working on a special surprise for MGS4 buyers (that not even those who have leaked copies of the game can spoil! Haha!), that I haven’t had time to catch up on most of the pre-launch excitement.

Hmm, what ever could it be? Perhaps they are working on packaging The Twin Snakes in with MGS4? …nah, too fanboyish to be true. What about… hmm… some sort of DLC? Maybe a new outfit, or something? Who knows. The point is that people who buy it legitimately are getting it, and those who are dirty little whorish thieves aren’t.

Score one for the good guys.

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