Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain release date to be March 2015?

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom PainOfficial trailer video screenshot

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has been getting mostly good reviews from critics and gamers alike, with metacritic giving it a "generally favorable" rating of 75% and Gamestop giving it an 8.5 out of 10, so it is hard to imagine what creator Hideo Kojima could still come up with to improve on this game.

One big issue that seems to be in the way is the replacement of David Hayter by Kiefer Sutherland as the voice of Big Boss. One gamer has even judged this move as an indication of Hojima's "fascination with American culture" showed by his desire "to get into Hollywood," which said gamer thinks is "borderline psychosis."

But there's no stopping the launch of this new installment. In an interview with the guardian, the game designer seems to have taken on a more political stance on this new game. He says, "The message is anti-nuclear weapons. But it's not just about shouting that message at the player. Through the game, the player is motivated to make a base and build up their military center. But at some point, when it reaches a certain size, the world begins to take notice and, in that sense, you become the threat. Countries begin to attack you. At this point I give the player the option to think about acquiring a nuclear weapon, in order to deter these attacks, a kind of threat. It illustrates the cycle of nuclear weapons, what inspires people and nations to enter into that system. It's something that you can only really do in video games."

Hence, after much anticipation, the launch will finally take place on August 13 at the Musical Dome in Cologne, Germany in a 60-minute special preview which will be hosted by Geoff Knightley, along with a gamescon.

The event will allow people to personally ask Kojima questions in a Q&A session. For those who would want to get into the event, no specific details have been revealed yet, but so far, it seems that people would have to win their way through competitions, though no official words are out yet.

Another obscure thing is the release date of the games for Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Playstation 4, but the keen eyes of avid gamers seem to have spotted in the original article of The Guardian the date of March 17, 2015, which has been erased immediately after being published, but which several gamers have screen captured.

One thing is certain, though. Everyone is definitely excited for The Phantom Pain.