Tom's Hardware Giveaway: Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain

[Titillating]

Good Monday to you all! This is an exciting week for some people. Tomorrow is the official release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain! And of course, we here at Tom’s Hardware are going to be giving a copy away!

Since we only have one copy this time (sorry guys) we’re going to make this really interesting. Here’s what you will have to do to enter this giveaway:

As somebody who has never played the games, I don’t know what the heck is going on anymore. It looks like there is a whole lot of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff going on. It’s confusing! In your own words, please explain to us the plot of the overall MGS story so far. Be creative. Make it funny and interesting, because for the first time, you will all be the judges for this week’s giveaway. That’s right, due to popular request, we’re going to experiment and let you pick the winners! Here’s how that will work: Simply upvote the post if you liked the person’s summary. It’s that simple. You can upvote as many as you’d like.

One rule though: Please do not downvote posts. If you didn’t like it, just skip over it. There’s a lot of potential for abuse here so we are strongly discouraging the use of downvotes. It also makes it a total hassle for me to track. If there is rampant abuse of downvoting, to the point where we can’t determine accurate numbers, the giveaway will have to be scrapped and redone in a less interesting manner. So there’s your warning.

The best (most popular) summary will win a pre-order copy of MGS V, which comes with Ground Zeroes!

As an added bonus, we here in the office will choose our favorite, who will be dubbed the runner-up and will receive a copy of Ground Zeroes!


Contest will run until 12 PM EDT on Friday, September 4th. That’s 12:00 noon. Winners will receive their prize via Steam gifts; a Steam account is required to receive and to play the game. One entry per user. Attempts to cheat the system will result in automatic disqualification.



Be sure to join our Steam group! The group is nearing 1,000 members, and we’ve got a great surprise planned for that, so help us reach that goal faster by inviting your friends!

We’re actively looking for volunteers to write community reviews for games, so if you’re interested, please reach out to me for more details.

 

[Vivacious Donut]

You know that thing, in horror movies, where the killer follows some guy, but whenver the guy turns around, all he sees is a chair or something? MGS is like that, except YOU are the killer, and you hide under a box. And people don't notice there's a weird possessed box following them.

 

[jimmysmitty]

There's not much voting going on! But hey, that's fine--we'll still award the game to the most popular summary 😛

Mine is the best and you know it.

😛

 

[tech-wreck]

There's not much voting going on! But hey, that's fine--we'll still award the game to the most popular summary 😛

Mine is the best and you know it.

😛

maybe the admins/mods should invite everyone who hasn't contributed to this thread to have a read and a vote...

 

[bdr27]

I never played but I heard it was a game about hide the snake

 

[Math Geek]

well i can't upvote my answer and of course it's the best so what is a guy to do?

not gonna vote for an inferior dribble by someone else just to cast a vote. 😀

my vote goes to my insanely genius connection between this snake in a box and some other well known snakes in a _____ scenario....

 

[Daniel Gudelunas]

A guy decides to go after the people that killed his family, including snake, their leader.

Along the way, he meets the 111th Chosen, the Fus Do Master, and Spartan 116!!!

Together, they wipe out an army of Sith Droids invading the galaxy, eventually creating the battlefront droid program, based off the technology developed by the alternate universe of Wolfenstien.


(I have no real idea! I'm made this up!)

 

[mlga91]

I can explain the plot with just one word:

"Nanomachines"

 

[SHCPlayer]

Okayyyy. So the summary of the entire MGS series. This is going to be a long, but worthwhile post, so stick around till the end. The games are marked separately so you can skip the ones you don't want to see.

MGS3:
Story: Naked Snake, was a student of then legendary soldier The Boss, who taught him a variety of skills including CQC – Close Quarters Combat. So, in 1965 Naked Snake by Major Zero is sent on a mission to retrieve Scientist Sokolov from nuclear madman Volgin. Volgin wants Sokolov to design a WoMD (weapon of mass destruction) for him against his will. Amidst all this, The Boss defects to Volgin. A clueless Snake is defeated by The Boss in CQC and he nearly plummets to his death. On the way, he meets two other characters – Eva and Ocelot. Eva is “an agent trying to help out Snake”, and Ocelot is a guy with knowledge about pretty much EVERYTHING (but does Snake know that? Nope). The rest of the game is about Snake hunting Boss down and killing her at the end.

Plot Twist: (every game has one of these 😛): Little did he know that Boss was actually still working for the US, trying to steal the Philosopher’s Legacy – a bunch of cash. And Eva, was undercover too – she steals all the cash and flees to China. Snake gains the title of Big Boss (BB).

MGPortableOps:
Story: An infuriated BB forms The Patriots with Major Zero and a few other people.

The 1972 Plot Twist: Zero clones the new greatest soldier while BB is unaware, and thus Solid Snake (SS), Liquid Snake (LS), [strike]Gas Snake (GS) and Plasma Snake (PS)[/strike] and Solidus Snake (SDS) [also, remember: SDS is the perfect clone] are born.

MGPW:
Story: Angry BB leaves The Patriots and forms MSF - Militaires Sans Frontieres).A CIA unit is occupying Cuba. BB and his new mercenary organization MSF is requested to help out Cuba. This CIA unit is building a Metal Gear (WoMD) called Peace Walker, complete with the AI of the Boss.

Plot Twist: Boss’ AI sacrifices itself, prevent nuclear war. Meanwhile, Zero’s agent called Paz attempts to infiltrate MSF. For a really long time, no one has heard from Zero, so this girl is of utmost importance to people. Oh and there is this guy called Chico who has a crush on Paz. BB, after learning that Paz tried to infiltrate MSF, create Outer Heaven.

MGSVGZ:
Story: Snake must rescue Paz and Chico from Camp Omega, which is under some guy called Skull Face, leader of anti-FOX organization XOF. Which he successfully does.

Plot Twist: Paz has a bomb inside her stomach, which they manage to remove. As they reach Mother Base (their own base), they realise it is under attack from XOF. They rescue a good friend of Miller, and take off. Once again, unbeknownst to anyone else, Paz has a second bomb and jumps off the chopper and sacrifices herself.

MGSVTPP:
Story: I would tell you if you gave me the game 😛

MG:
Story: At this point, BB is a leader of both Outer Heaven and FOXHOUND – a US military organization. FOXHOUND learns that Outer Heaven is creating a Metal Gear, and BB sends in Grey Fox to Outer Heaven to steal it. Silly Grey Fox gets captured. SS (a member of FOXHOUND) is sent in to rescue him, which he does, and continues Grey Fox’s mission. BB tries to stop him (remember, he is the leader of OH too), but fails and in the process reveals that he leads OH too and this entire mission was meant to give OH some extra time to complete the Metal Gear. BB reveals he is father of SS. SS “kills” BB.

Plot Twist: BB isn’t dead.

MG2:
Story: BB helps Zanzibar claim independence from Russia. Oil reserves in the world are low. Dr Marv creates a synthetic oil. He is captured by Zanzibar, SS is sent in (from FOXHOUND) to rescue him. Marv is being overlooked by Metal Gear D – piloted by Grey Fox. SS kills Metal Gear D + Grey Fox. Marv is dead by now. BB confronts SS once again – SS kills BB.

Plot Twist: BB is nearly dead, but not dead. The Patriots rescue him. Zero plans on taking BB’s genes and creating better soldiers. Ocelot is angered by this and begins plotting against Patriots. LS becomes leader of FOXHOUND. SDS is placed as President of the US. Zero commissions the construction of an AI network (The System) to pursue his vision (he is growing old). The System consists of 4 AI's controlled by a fifth "master" AI. He uses BB’s bio metric data as a key, to access the central main AI. The System takes over all functions of The Patriots.

MGS:
Story: SS is no longer in FOXHOUND. LS leads genetically advanced soldiers and has nuclear Metal Gear REX. He demands the remains of BB, threatening to launch a nuclear attack otherwise. SS is sent to rescue a few hostages being held by SS. SS goes and rescues them – but one of them is dead. The other two were Meryl (daughter of ex-FOXHOUND chief) and Otacon (create of Metal Gear REX). Ocelot meets SS and they engage in a duel, but a legendary (cyborg ninja) Grey Fox chops Ocelot’s hand off. SS fights Metal Gear REX – piloted by LS. Once again – legendary Grey Fox helps SS out, but gets killed by REX. SS kills REX + LS. Ocelot takes LS’s hand and attaches it to his chopped off arm.
Also, salute to Grey Fox.

Plot Twist: Unbeknownst to SS, he has been injected with a virus called FOXDIE. LS begins “possessing” Ocelot through the arm, thus creating Liquid Ocelot (LO). SDS is no longer USPrez.

MGS2:
Story: There is word of a new Metal Gear RAY. RAY is being carried by a tanker, and SS gets on to the tanker to destroy it. LO hijacks the tanker and steals RAY. SS is accused of this and goes into hiding. FOXHOUND agent Raiden is sent to rescue hostages from a terrorist group called Sons of Liberty (SoL). Leader of SoL claims to be Solid Snake. Raiden meets a guy called Pliskin on the way, who helps him out. Turns out, Pliskin = Real SS and leader of SoL = SDS. SDS took name of SS to frame him for terrorist activities. There is a huge Metal Gear at the facility which has one of the Patriot AIs inside. Ocelot reveals that this was all a simulation to see how well a soldier could be created. Patriot AI contacts him and blackmails him and orders him to kill SDS. Before the fight, SDS reveals he is Raiden’s foster father. Raiden kills SDS. Raiden is angered at the Patriots manipulating him and vows to destroy it.

Plot Twist: SS now has only one year to live. LO fled with last Metal Gear.

MGS4 – the last one:
Story: LO now controls all military companies of the world. SS is sent in to kill LO. LO wants BB’s body, use it to access the Patriots’ AI and control every single soldier in the world. SS is now fighting multiple Metal Gears. A cyborg ninja (none another than Raiden) assists SS. But LO manages to acquire BB and access the Patriot system; he shuts every army other than his own army down. LO gets REX (which ain’t dead) and plans to launch a nuclear attack on the central Patriot AI. SS and Raiden plant a virus into the Patriots’ AI core and destroy it. All soldiers are shut down. SS fights and kills LO.


SS doesn’t have much time remaining, so he goes to BB’s grave and plans to commit suicide. At this moment BB arrives with Zero, kills Zero to prevent formation of another organization like the Patriots, reveals to SS that LO never acquired BB’s body – he acquired SDS’s body, which gave him access to the Patriot AI as SDS was the perfect clone. He also says that SS has actually been injected with FOXDIE twice – the second strain, which killed off the first strain, is meant to kill only BB, Eva and Liquid Ocelot. BB reconciles with SS, and asks him to stop being a soldier and go lead a normal life, shortly after which BB dies.

Phew! That was quite long. Hopefully I win! 😀

 

[dramnei]

As far as i know,some dude with an eyepatch is something of a ninja/seal/chuck norris with an eyepatch.He takes missions from some legit organisation/government,and is trying to protect the world from terrorists.I'm probably wrong,but nevertheless,this game might be interesting to play through.

 

[GObonzo]

as far as i remember, back in the 1980s, Metal Gear was a computer game released on the MSX about a cool-ass guy(Solid Snake) who was fighting for some tech-fueled government agency. the main enemies were soldiers, robots, and people wearing mech-style suits.

over the years the universe was bent and twisted and character's roles changed and timelines emerged and faded.
now in 2015's The Phantom Pain you are Snake again further along in his future and fighting the same type of tech fueled terrorists.

 

[trev77]

hmm I guess I'm too late but meh Ill do it for fun:

MGS is a long and convoluted lesson about the multiple physical states of the snake (except gas hehe)

 

[Ubrales]

This will end up placing all the names in a hat and drawing one!

 

[Zanderif]

Solid Snake was all 'I'm a clone?' and Liquid Snake was all 'I'm a clone?' and everyone was a clone and lived happily ever after.
THE END

 

[pepegamez19]

Man i have no clue what these people are talking about but i guess ill leave a reply to enter the giveaway 😛

 

[xenokalson]

Stealth, Exposed, Repeat. A man (Big Boss) was used by his country to kill his own mentor, so he decided to build his own private military faction. Every time his organization was established, some drama happened (eg betrayal), causing him to leave the organization and initiate a new one. This cycle continued until he built Outer Heaven, where a clone of him (Solid) was sent to destroy Outer Heaven. Another series of drama occurred. Finally, Solid killed The Boss and went into retirement. He came out of retirement later to rescue the world again, only to find out at the end that Big Boss was still alive, and an emotional exchange ends MGS.

 

[BooshiBaba]

All the best to everyone who is participating! May the best post win!

 

[yozhik]

So an aspiring artist, Mr. Hideo Kojima, takes over a project that would be known as Metal Gear. Rather than taking out all enemies that approach, this is a stealth game in which you sneak about undetected (an almost unique concept in the days of its development) whilst engaging "puzzles." Solving these puzzles involves thinking outside of the box, possibly while you are hiding in a box. I recall in Metal Gear Solid (at least in the Japanese version), the frequency to call Mei Ling wasn't explicitly given. Instead the frequency was in a screenshot of the game on the back of the game case! Or how about the "strategy" used to defeat Psycho Mantis! (Don't want to spoil it for anyone that hasn't played.)

Then, Mr. Hideo Kojima, being the genius that he is, takes the generic boss name of "Big Boss" from the original Metal Gear game and somehow makes it an acceptable boss name, even by today's standards of character naming. And to think Konami is pushing him out! Where's my full blown version of Silent Hill PT?

 

[Titillating]

Hey all,

Some bad news, unfortunately. Due to the general lack of votes, some questionable entries, and other factors, we will be closing contest entry early. In addition, the selection methods will be reversed and altered slightly.

Eligible entries (those that made a passing attempt at following entry guidelines) will be entered into a random drawing. Two winners will be selected, and both will receive a copy of MGS V: Ground Zeroes.

As for the the main course, MGS V: The Phantom Pain, staff members will be hand selecting the winner for that. We will be reviewing each entry closely and voting on our favorite one internally.

This process may take some time and the announcement of winners may be delayed up to 24 hours. Many apologies for this inconvenience, folks.

 

[Titillating]

Apologies for the delay, folks. For those of you who have been hasslin' me, it's a Saturday, it's a holiday weekend, I don't get paid overtime--cut me some slack, guys 😛


First, your randomly selected winners! Congrats to AlecWallce and clonazepam! You may have gotten the consolation prize, but I hope you both enjoy MGS V: Ground Zeroes!

Now for the grand prize! A big congratulations to tech-wreck for a very original summary! It might not be a very accurate summary, but gosh darn it, we love a good twist and the occasional Terminator reference! This reminded us of the "Ash is in a coma and none of the things in Pokemon actually happened" theory. Mind boggling!


All winners will receive a PM from me with instructions on how to claim your prize. Fair warning, the games will likely not be sent out until Tuesday, after Labor Day Weekend. And with that, I'm off to enjoy what's left of my weekend.

Check back next week for another Tom's Hardware Giveaway!

 

[BarelyLegalAlien]

🙁

 

[IWantDatHammer]

Aye gratz and thanks for doin the giveaway!

 

[RazerZ]

Congrats to the winners, hopefully next week's turn out will be more eventful

 

[GObonzo]

It is also funny that most people forget that the first game was Metal Gear on the NES. Then (in everywhere but Japan, MGS is MG2 then so on. In Japan they had a MG2: Snakes Revenge.

the original computer game was quite a bit different than the NES port. if i remember correctly, in the ported NES version content was cut, the story\stages were mixed around, and Kojima was not involved. was disappointed when i first tried it on nintendo because they had hyped it like it was a better version.
seems even more people forget about the real first game.

 

[Anton_1]

Yo how to hmm =) Anton_1 must win

 

[GObonzo]

"Top content" emails this week are still pointing towards this contest's page offering to enter for Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain. may want to update the news on this contest to all those subscribers.