Hideo Kojima recently spoke with PSM magazine, and they actually managed to get some new info out of the old man about MGS4. Here are some of the highlights. It seems that MGS4 is going to feature some sweeping changes, some that may not even reflect what we saw in the trailer. Apparently almost everything is still not 100% nailed down. Here are the highlights.
"The whole environment changes in real time, so the player controling Snake has the option to make any sort of involvement they would like to in order to progress the game"
"...But in the near-future war, it's more like a business, so there's lots of money involved, meaning they'll hire mercenaries to fight on behalf of their country."
The whole Snake injecting something into his neck sequence in the trailer may not be featured in the game at all.
Stamina will most likely make a return in MGS4, and he is "...still undecided on the food capture system."
"Will you ever control it yourself to scout ahead or take pictures?" [Otacon's Robot]
"Yes. We're tyring to do it at this stage, but if the game comes out and those features are not in the game, please realize that it was because we couldn't do it for a good reason. We had the plan for a remote controlled robot for even MGS2, however, due to the specs of the PS2, we couldn't do it."
Apparently Kojima has even thought about having a second player or even using the PSP to control it, how cool is that.
Raiden is popular in Japan supposedly; they are making him a "cool" character this time around. "There's even potential you'll like him more than Snake!" Not likely.
"...in MGS4, yes, we will try to make Snake control anything that's possible" He was talking about vehicles.
Kojima said "I might have second thoughts about a younger Snake if everyone thinks he looks too old."
Kojima is still working out how many years after MGS2 this game will take place. He said it might be as many as 10 years, but nothing is set in stone.
PSM