A video allegedly posted - and swiftly deleted - by Chinese developer Virtuos has fuelled speculation that a formal reveal of that heavily rumored Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake will be announced by the end of the year.
Although it was seemingly only live for a brief time, the video - which had allegedly been uploaded to the studio's YouTube channel - showed a lush, green animated scene with the relaxing sounds of birdsong.
Within 17 seconds, however, the video cuts abruptly to black, and the birdsong is replaced by the loud beeping of what appears to be Morse code.
Seems Virtuous' Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake may be getting announced at the Game Awards. First preview of it. Virtuous themselves uploaded this teaser, but then deleted it, but people saved it. The Morse Code spells out December 8th, IE the Game Awards. https://t.co/pHYjNvyt48October 30, 2022
Interestingly, the green scenery is not bespoke; someone (somehow!) has confirmed that the animation comes from an existing Unreal Engine 5 teaser already published on YouTube. That doesn't, however, explain where the "morse code" interruption comes from, but does have some wondering if it all may be just an elaborate hoax.
As for what that Morse code says? Apparently, it states "December 8, 1964" which is interesting for two reasons. One, December 8 is when The Game Awards is slated to take place - an event where many a game and remake have been announced, of course - and secondly, because 1964 is the year Snake Eater is deemed to take place (thanks, MP1st).
A new one here.sounds like a frequency.morse code maybe ? #thegameawards hinting at something. pic.twitter.com/jaJhkz4KopOctober 28, 2022
As is usually the case with this kind of thing, without formal confirmation from Konami or Virtuos, all we can do is take this with a giant skeptical bucket of salt. There are a lot of hoaxes around at the moment!
Rumors that Metal Gear Solid publisher Konami was reportedly working on "new installments and remakes for its biggest franchises" first surfaced last year, and even then, rumor had it the remasters were being developed in partnership with porting specialist Virtous.
Downloadable versions of MGS2 and 3 were delisted last year, apparently due to licensing issues around historical footage included in those games. In July 2022, Konami announced that those games would soon "resume sales". At this point, the new remasters may be the venue for these games to return on modern platforms. However, these remasters are entirely separate from the rumored Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.
Snake's voice actor lent weight to rumors of a Metal Gear Solid remake earlier this year.
Metal Gear Solid's former art director once said he spends "a lot of time fussing over the details of the characters' backside since that's the side the player sees most in-game"
In 1997, Hideo Kojima said the "one thing" he wanted to avoid in Metal Gear Solid was "tedious" cutscenes with characters "blabbering at each other for 4 or 5 minutes"
