At last night's Video Game Awards, major announcements were rather thin on the ground. And while we're hyped about the prospect of Dark Souls II, one announcement trailer grabbed our attention, and the attention of internet forumites and rumour-mongers the world over. It is of course, 'The Phantom Pain', what we thought to be a new IP from a new studio could in fact be a new Metal Gear game. It was everyone's initial thought when they saw the trailer for the first time, but when the Moby **** logo popped up, it threw us a bit. And the absence of a Konami logo (or any publisher logo for that matter) is also odd. But who is Moby ****? Apparently they're a new studio founded by CEO Joakim Mogren operating out of Stockholm, Sweden, according to the company's website. Joakim Mogren, some keen-eyed conspiracy theorists have noted is also an anagram of 'Kojima' and M-'Ogre'-n. Project Ogre is of course something that Kojima Productions has had in the pipeline for some time. Mogren is also the name of a football club in Montenegro, which is where the opening of Platinum Games' Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance takes place. A closer look at the trailer reveals a character who looks uncannily like Solid Snake, although he's possibly younger than old Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4. He awakes from a coma with a prosthetic hook replacing his left arm, before the facility he's being held in is attacked by troops. A man with his face fully wrapped in bandages helps the man who may or may not be Snake (hey, it's still speculation for now), as he finds himself crawling across the floor. It's our first chance to really have a proper look at the mysterious protagonist. Hold on a sec? Isn't that Solid Snake?!! Soldiers storm into the facility, dragging the other patients away while Snake (let's for the sake of argument just call him Snake for now) strives to make his escape. Later in the trailer is where the real meaty stuff starts to emerge. Is that figure in the fire Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater's main antagonist Volgin? He certainly looks a lot like him, especially in his combat suit guise when you fight him in Snake Eater's final moments before you face The Boss. Speaking of whom, the figure riding on the flaming winged unicorn that appears looks vaguely like The Boss, which would fit the Volgin theory. It's entirely possible that Kojima could be planning to resurrect the insane bosses from Metal Gear Solid 3, who were arguably some of the best in the series. It would certainly make a lot of sense... The closing moments of the trailer also raise more questions than they ask, echoing questions in the trailer itself. Am I in a dream? Am I in Hell? Quite possibly if any of the bizarre deamlike images are anything to go by. A giant whale swallowing a helicopter whole? Snake might need to lay off the cheese before he sinks into his next coma. And with that the trailer concludes and the logo pops up, before showing us one final tantalising glimpse of the Snake lookalike (or indeed Snake himself) rolling around on the floor. The Phantom Pain? Oh, Kojima-san, you certainly know how to push our buttons! With Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Metal Gear: Ground Zeroes in the offing, could 2013 be the year of Metal Gear? For now, nothing's official, but there's just too much compelling evidence in this trailer that can't be ignored. Suffice it to say, we'll be keeping our eye on The Phantom Pain. Source - X360A
