Back at E3 this past year, Konami put together a short, non-interactive demonstration for the Nintendo 3DS that showcased the handheld's graphical power and glasses-free stereoscopic 3D technology. What made that demo particularly interesting (apart from, you know, the 3D-ness) was that it was rendering scenes and scenarios straight out of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the PS2. Immediately, speculation began as to whether the “ Naked Sample” demo would lead to, or was evidence of, a port of MGS3 for the 3DS.
And today, at the Konami Press Event held at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, series creator Hideo Kojima confirmed those suspicions. Joystiq is reporting that Metal Gear Solid 3 will, indeed, be ported over to the 3DS in 2011. Nope, this isn’t a side story or a tactical card game. Unlike the Metal Gear games released for the PSP, Metal Gear Solid 3 for the 3DS will be a proper, straight port of the 2004 game released on the PS2 (or technically, the upgraded Subsistence version of the game that was released in 2005).
== TEASER ==Putting the entirety of MGS3 on a handheld system (and on a cart, no less!) is an impressive technical feat, and plenty of Metal Gear franchise fans still hold the third entry up as the high point of the series. However, this game runs into the same dilemma as those Metal Gear ports for the PSP, or any console game that has been transferred to a handheld; why would you want to play a console game on a handheld? The best games for a handheld system are specially tuned and catered for quick, short bursts of play, like Lumines, Elite Beat Agents, or the Pokémon franchise. MGS3 is many things, but an ideal handheld release is not necessarily one of them.
If you can play MGS3 on a big TV with a control scheme that has been designed for a full-sized controller, why would you want to play it on a smaller screen and with limited controls? The “It’s like a console game, but portable!” rationale didn’t exactly work out so well for the PSP.
Still, Konami and Kojima are no strangers to using the Metal Gear franchise to push the technical limitations on the platform it’s being released on, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on a handheld is certainly a cool feat. We’ll wait and see just how MGS3's stealth gameplay translates onto the 3DS. In the meantime, while we’re waiting for MGS3 to hit the 3DS sometime next spring, let’s try and think of the dumb name/subtitle they’ll slap on this portable port. My early bet is Metal Gear Solid 3DSnake Eater. And if Konami calls it that, the game could include a 3D version of Snake! That would be a great fit for a handheld.