Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - Release Date Announced

Hideo Kojima has finally announced the release date for "Part 1" of Metal Gear Solid V, titled, "Ground Zeroes." As mentioned before, Ground Zeroes is the game which will lead players up to the main adventure of MGS5 "The Phantom Pain." Just like the main title, Ground Zeroes is a fully open world stealth game, but it is at a much smaller scale. Kojima himself said that the game's purpose was to slowly introduce players to the new style of play, so that they didn't feel completely lost once they were thrown into the main adventure. Up until now it hasn't been very clear just what Ground Zeroes would be, many speculated it would be a short intro chapter like the one seen in Metal Gear Solid 2, but it turns out that it will in fact be a "game of its own."

It turns out that Ground Zeroes will be a downloadable title for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. The Xbox 360 version and PS3 version will be $20, but the next gen versions (Xbox One and PlayStation 4) will be $30. Although each version of the game is technically the same, the "next gen" versions do feature increased graphics, and the Microsoft releases include an extra mission as well. In this extra mission, you play as Cyborg Ninja Raiden who has somehow jumped into the past. Although it isn't clear if they'll somehow work this into the story or not, the trailer (as seen below) implies that it is just a cameo mission with no relation to the actual plot.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will be released on March 18, 2014. For more information, check out the brand new "Microsoft Exclusive" trailer.