@MikeGosot: Honestly, I was really disappointed when I read that about The Pain. I don't remember that ever being said in any of the games, so I have no idea where that's from. Though, maybe that was just in an optional radio conversation in MGS3, I dunno.

@Hunkulese said:

@Akrid said:

Seems solid logic to think it's in the UK, but no evidence really to indicate that it's Zero and not Big Boss or Solid Snake.

This all seems fishy to me though, since so far the whole riddle has been way too easy to crack for people. Within an hour of that trailer being released, people had already gone oh that's Volgin, oh that title says MGSV, oh that's Big Boss 'cuz scar. If it really ends up that the prevailing theories are true, I'll be disappointed in Kojima. This was the man who made the world think that MGS2 starred Solid Snake!

It's easy because of how connected everyone is now. If there are any clues at all there are enough people working together that they'll figure it out in no time no matter how difficult Kojima intended it to be.

It's easy to say it's easy because you read a rundown of what everyone else had already figured out but you probably wouldn't have noticed a majority of the connections if you had watched the trailer than turned off the internet.

The first time I watched the trailer, I thought to myself: Oh, this looks like that OGRE engine or whatever. Oh, that dude looks like Volgin. Oh, that guy looks like Snake. Oh, Moby Dick's logo is way too terrible for a new big studio. Oh, Kojima is at this event for some reason. The more obscure things that surfaced later were just the cherry on top.

I agree though that if a riddle is solvable, it will be solved on the internet. The difference is, when I heard about what people found in Fez, my jaw hit the floor. With this, I was just confused why they tried. There's still plenty of mystery around the trailer, but the whole totally-not-MGS veneer is kind of boringly thin to the point where it's kind of a wonder why they attempted it.

@Mikey2D said:

To be honest - I'm not sure who it is. IF this is Big Boss - this would have to be before Peace Walker. The reason I say this, is that the character model here doesn't feature the large snake like scar which ran the length of Big Boss' upper body in Peace Walker. So this would be before Peace Walker and before Ground Zeroes.

No, the character is WAY too old for it to be before Peace Walker. Big Boss still looked like Snake then, not older with a grey beard. This is a few years after that, towards the end of his life (assuming it is Big Boss)

@MooseyMcMan said:

@BigBoss1911 said:

@Gabriel said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Marz: Liquid had normal arms in MGS1, and he lost his right arm when Ocelot stole an arm from Liquid.

What if the Phantom Pain takes place after MGS1?

Then it couldn't be Zero he was too old at this point, and it cant be snake because he never had an anesthetic arm. Is gonna be funny if this game has nothing to do Metal Gear.

I would love it if it turned out this really was a new IP and had nothing to do with Metal Gear. That's my secondary theory about Phantom Pain.

If only, it's so clearly FOX engine though. I just can't see anyone having assets this polished in FOX when it hasn't been licensed to anyone outside of Kojima Productions. At least they are taking the presentation in a new direction, this doesn't look like the tone of any Metal Gear I have ever played.

As far as the speculating goes I think everyone is probably trying to link it too much to the other games, chances are there is going to be a fair amount introduced in Ground Zeroes. So what we're seeing may not even be elucidated yet, but it seems a stretch to think the one armed man in the footage isn't a clone of Big Boss, whether that means one of the 3 brothers or another, who can say.

All I know is I don't look forward to another four years of people complaining about how Kojima ruined the Metal Gear series with retcons. The way I look at it, we simply don't have all the information yet, ;)

@Akrid said:

@Hunkulese said:

@Akrid said:

Seems solid logic to think it's in the UK, but no evidence really to indicate that it's Zero and not Big Boss or Solid Snake.

This all seems fishy to me though, since so far the whole riddle has been way too easy to crack for people. Within an hour of that trailer being released, people had already gone oh that's Volgin, oh that title says MGSV, oh that's Big Boss 'cuz scar. If it really ends up that the prevailing theories are true, I'll be disappointed in Kojima. This was the man who made the world think that MGS2 starred Solid Snake!

It's easy because of how connected everyone is now. If there are any clues at all there are enough people working together that they'll figure it out in no time no matter how difficult Kojima intended it to be.

It's easy to say it's easy because you read a rundown of what everyone else had already figured out but you probably wouldn't have noticed a majority of the connections if you had watched the trailer than turned off the internet.

The first time I watched the trailer, I thought to myself: Oh, this looks like that OGRE engine or whatever. Oh, that dude looks like Volgin. Oh, that guy looks like Snake. Oh, Moby Dick's logo is way too terrible for a new big studio. Oh, Kojima is at this event for some reason. The more obscure things that surfaced later were just the cherry on top.

I agree though that if a riddle is solvable, it will be solved on the internet. The difference is, when I heard about what people found in Fez, my jaw hit the floor. With this, I was just confused why they tried. There's still plenty of mystery around the trailer, but the whole totally-not-MGS veneer is kind of boringly thin to the point where it's kind of a wonder why they attempted it.

It's Kojima's plan dude. He has it all worked out. A few months from now there will be a new trailer with a bunch of different stuff that will make us even more confused to the oint where we don't even care anymore about this stuff. He's done crazier things in the past.

@MikeGosot: Honestly, I was really disappointed when I read that about The Pain. I don't remember that ever being said in any of the games, so I have no idea where that's from. Though, maybe that was just in an optional radio conversation in MGS3, I dunno.

@MikeGosot said:

@Snail said:

@MikeGosot said:

I still believe that the guy actually has an arm, and he just FEELS he doesn't have one. That's why he feels a phantom pain. I also do not understand SHIT about the Metal Gear universe.

I think "Phantom Pain" refers to a symptom (with a similar, or maybe even equal, name) that is the opposite of that: when a limb is gone, but the victim of the severing still feels said limb.

That makes more sense. I still suspect there's going to be a twist involving his arm.

Which is essentially how he lost it. BOOOOM!!!

What so you say to the fact that the man in Phantom Pain has an oddly shaped facial scar identical to the one on the face of Big Boss in all the Ground Zeroes material.

@Reisz: No, it's very clearly a game being made by some part of Kojima Productions, that much is clear by the engine, the name of the lead on the game being an anagram of Kojima, and the game being published by Konami (or at least guys with shirts for it were at Konami's party after the VGAs).

I just think it'd be cool if it was a Kojima made game that wasn't a Metal Gear game.

And yes, we definitely don't have all the information yet. And I'm not one to complain about retcons, because the MGS story as a whole has been kind of a mess for years. I just appreciate the individual stories in the games for what they are, because those are usually pretty good.

@StarvingGamer: I was watching that GZ trailer earlier today, and he didn't really look like he had a scar to me.

Edit: Okay, maybe he does have a scar in GZ.

But what say you to when they straight up lied about who you played as in MGS2, so maybe we'll all crazy and shouldn't be taking anything out of this trailer at all because it could all be lies?

Can anyone explain the enormous flaming whale that eats the helicopter? That is the part I am most interested in.

@RenegadeDoppelganger: Drugs. He's hopped on on painkillers.

It might not be much to go on, but the brief glimpse of the area surrounding the hospital doesn't look very UK-ish or urban to me, unless the hospital is in some confined area like a military base. Instead I wonder if the hospital might be in some (perhaps formerly, today) British colony? Somehow that even looks to me like a weird place to hang a small flag of your country unless it's somewhere abroad. I can't really back that feeling up with anything. But they would drive on the left and most likely insert similar electrical systems.

@MooseyMcMan: Any connection to the studio's name/logo or you think just a big COINSIDENCE

#followthemoney

@RenegadeDoppelganger: It's not a sperm whale in the trailer. Moby Dick was a sperm whale.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@RenegadeDoppelganger: It's not a sperm whale in the trailer. Moby Dick was a sperm whale.

Also, he's clearly hallucinating, since a blue whale like the one in the trailer couldn't possibly swallow anything larger than a grape fruit.

Humbug.

I still want to believe it's Liquid and that the trailer is mirrored. It'd be the right kind of subtle bullshit for Kojima to do.

Mostly I just want MGS5 to be post-4, because putting distance between that retarded climax and the rest of the series can't be anything less than a good thing.

@Oldirtybearon said:

I still want to believe it's Liquid and that the trailer is mirrored. It'd be the right kind of subtle bullshit for Kojima to do.

Mostly I just want MGS5 to be post-4, because putting distance between that retarded climax and the rest of the series can't be anything less than a good thing.

OH DUDE!

That first image released for Ground Zeroes was mirrored!

!!!!

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Oldirtybearon said:

I still want to believe it's Liquid and that the trailer is mirrored. It'd be the right kind of subtle bullshit for Kojima to do.

Mostly I just want MGS5 to be post-4, because putting distance between that retarded climax and the rest of the series can't be anything less than a good thing.

OH DUDE!

That first image released for Ground Zeroes was mirrored!

!!!!

that's what made me think the first trailer for MGS5 was mirrored. It'd be clever and an ah-ha! moment for Kojima.

Maybe it's just my monitor, but the Snake's hair looked blonde, not grey or brown or any other colour. Even his beard looked to be blonde. He's also thinner than Big Boss or Solid Snake, more lanky. It'd also make sense that he's waking up now after shit has hit the fan. The hallucinations can be genetic memory stemming from him being a clone. You know, stuff like that. At least, that's my hope.

@Oldirtybearon: His hair looks grey to me, but we shouldn't forget that Major Zero had blond hair as well, so who knows.

But the Liquid theory makes a lot more sense now.

Conversely, Liquid waking up and being that old would mean that it would have to take place at least at the time of MGS4, for him to age about as much as Snake had. And I'd think that a prosthetic arm from MGS4 would be better than a simple hook (real prosthetic arms today are (the best ones at least)).

Who knows! MYSTERIES!

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Oldirtybearon: His hair looks grey to me, but we shouldn't forget that Major Zero had blond hair as well, so who knows.

But the Liquid theory makes a lot more sense now.

Conversely, Liquid waking up and being that old would mean that it would have to take place at least at the time of MGS4, for him to age about as much as Snake had. And I'd think that a prosthetic arm from MGS4 would be better than a simple hook (real prosthetic arms today are (the best ones at least)).

Who knows! MYSTERIES!

In order for a prosthesis to be mechanical and cool and slick like that shit in Deus Ex 3, you need to pay for it. Doctors don't just hand free arms and legs out to everyone. If they have to amputate then you'll be getting the pirate treatment until you pay for something better.

So I can totally see Liquid waking up with a hook hand.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Oldirtybearon said:

I still want to believe it's Liquid and that the trailer is mirrored. It'd be the right kind of subtle bullshit for Kojima to do.

Mostly I just want MGS5 to be post-4, because putting distance between that retarded climax and the rest of the series can't be anything less than a good thing.

OH DUDE!

That first image released for Ground Zeroes was mirrored!

!!!!

Finding out whether the trailer is mirrored shouldn't be a problem. The first shots from the hospital bed have plenty of text, for example the doctor's nametag, as well as a map on the wall. I thought at first that watching which way the ceiling fan turns and checking the slant of the blades might give a hint, but I'm not sure a ceiling fan would blow "wrong" when mirrored, only reversed. Also, there are a few shots here and there in the trailer of "Snakes" wrist band, which might give a clue. Regretfully, I'm not able to properly pan, zoom and enhance quality images at the moment.

@Penzilneck said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Oldirtybearon said:

I still want to believe it's Liquid and that the trailer is mirrored. It'd be the right kind of subtle bullshit for Kojima to do.

Mostly I just want MGS5 to be post-4, because putting distance between that retarded climax and the rest of the series can't be anything less than a good thing.

OH DUDE!

That first image released for Ground Zeroes was mirrored!

!!!!

Finding out whether the trailer is mirrored shouldn't be a problem. The first shots from the hospital bed have plenty of text, for example the doctor's nametag, as well as a map on the wall. I thought at first that watching which way the ceiling fan turns and checking the slant of the blades might give a hint, but I'm not sure a ceiling fan would blow "wrong" when mirrored, only reversed. Also, there are a few shots here and there in the trailer of "Snakes" wrist band, which might give a clue. Regretfully, I'm not able to properly pan, zoom and enhance quality images at the moment.

Yeah, there's definitely readable text in the hospital in the trailer, but since it was all "running in real time," maybe it was only the character model that was mirrored.

But now even I'm starting to think that I'm talking crazy talk if I'm saying things like that.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Penzilneck said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Oldirtybearon said:

I still want to believe it's Liquid and that the trailer is mirrored. It'd be the right kind of subtle bullshit for Kojima to do.

Mostly I just want MGS5 to be post-4, because putting distance between that retarded climax and the rest of the series can't be anything less than a good thing.

OH DUDE!

That first image released for Ground Zeroes was mirrored!

!!!!

Finding out whether the trailer is mirrored shouldn't be a problem. The first shots from the hospital bed have plenty of text, for example the doctor's nametag, as well as a map on the wall. I thought at first that watching which way the ceiling fan turns and checking the slant of the blades might give a hint, but I'm not sure a ceiling fan would blow "wrong" when mirrored, only reversed. Also, there are a few shots here and there in the trailer of "Snakes" wrist band, which might give a clue. Regretfully, I'm not able to properly pan, zoom and enhance quality images at the moment.

Yeah, there's definitely readable text in the hospital in the trailer, but since it was all "running in real time," maybe it was only the character model that was mirrored.

But now even I'm starting to think that I'm talking crazy talk if I'm saying things like that.

Yeah, it's far too crazy to think that the man who hid Raiden from all MGS2 promotional material--going so far as to recode scenes featuring him with Snake instead--could just mirror a character model for a trailer to throw people through a loop.

heh.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Penzilneck said:

Finding out whether the trailer is mirrored shouldn't be a problem. The first shots from the hospital bed have plenty of text, for example the doctor's nametag, as well as a map on the wall. I thought at first that watching which way the ceiling fan turns and checking the slant of the blades might give a hint, but I'm not sure a ceiling fan would blow "wrong" when mirrored, only reversed. Also, there are a few shots here and there in the trailer of "Snakes" wrist band, which might give a clue. Regretfully, I'm not able to properly pan, zoom and enhance quality images at the moment.

Yeah, there's definitely readable text in the hospital in the trailer, but since it was all "running in real time," maybe it was only the character model that was mirrored.

But now even I'm starting to think that I'm talking crazy talk if I'm saying things like that.

Someone who knows cars could look at the few, clear frames of the "cockpit" of the car during the crash. The only thing I can recognize is that the gear stick is in the upper-left position, so unless they were hit on the side by another car while still idling in first gear, they are in 5th. And so, finding out whether the gears are mirrored in left-side driving cars vs. right-side might give a clue.

@Oldirtybearon: Indeed. Kojima is just laughing right now at how he has us all talking about this game, and coming up with all these crazy theories that could very easily be true.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Reisz: No, it's very clearly a game being made by some part of Kojima Productions, that much is clear by the engine, the name of the lead on the game being an anagram of Kojima, and the game being published by Konami (or at least guys with shirts for it were at Konami's party after the VGAs).

I just think it'd be cool if it was a Kojima made game that wasn't a Metal Gear game.

And yes, we definitely don't have all the information yet. And I'm not one to complain about retcons, because the MGS story as a whole has been kind of a mess for years. I just appreciate the individual stories in the games for what they are, because those are usually pretty good.

Absoloutely man, I just can't see a FOX engine game from Kojima's studio that is obviously already pretty deep in development not being a Metal Gear title, and that is ignoring all the rest of the visual similarities. Either way I am as ready for a new Kojima IP as anyone, though I do always have a Metal Gear itch to scratch.

I want to be clear too, I wasn't referring to anyone in particular with that retcon comment, more referring to the vitriolic tone of places like mgsforums.com I don't even know why any of those guys play these games any more.

@RenegadeDoppelganger said:

Can anyone explain the enormous flaming whale that eats the helicopter? That is the part I am most interested in.

Maybe a figurative reference to the book. "Moby" games and a giant whale. We know Big Boss ends up becoming the bad guy in MG1 and 2. Maybe it references his journey to becoming that bad guy. Ahab chases the white whale and loses sight of everything else, dooming himself.

Maybe that's out there, but the whale is the only thing in the trailer I can't really place.

@Penzilneck said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Penzilneck said:

Finding out whether the trailer is mirrored shouldn't be a problem. The first shots from the hospital bed have plenty of text, for example the doctor's nametag, as well as a map on the wall. I thought at first that watching which way the ceiling fan turns and checking the slant of the blades might give a hint, but I'm not sure a ceiling fan would blow "wrong" when mirrored, only reversed. Also, there are a few shots here and there in the trailer of "Snakes" wrist band, which might give a clue. Regretfully, I'm not able to properly pan, zoom and enhance quality images at the moment.

Yeah, there's definitely readable text in the hospital in the trailer, but since it was all "running in real time," maybe it was only the character model that was mirrored.

But now even I'm starting to think that I'm talking crazy talk if I'm saying things like that.

Someone who knows cars could look at the few, clear frames of the "cockpit" of the car during the crash. The only thing I can recognize is that the gear stick is in the upper-left position, so unless they were hit on the side by another car while still idling in first gear, they are in 5th. And so, finding out whether the gears are mirrored in left-side driving cars vs. right-side might give a clue.

So, ya, I finally found out that the top-left gear in a UK car is the 1st gear, as in others. So, this is most likely mirrored. Or something. What do I know...

@Penzilneck: If it is mirrored, then that would be an American style vehicle, and it's the right arm that is missing.

The mystery deepens!

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Penzilneck: If it is mirrored, then that would be an American style vehicle, and it's the right arm that is missing.

The mystery deepens!

But then the UK flag would again make less sense, unless it's there because the patient is in fact British and now I've gone cross-eyed.

@Penzilneck said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Penzilneck: If it is mirrored, then that would be an American style vehicle, and it's the right arm that is missing.

The mystery deepens!

But then the UK flag would again make less sense, unless it's there because the patient is in fact British and now I've gone cross-eyed.

Liquid does sound British...

Doctor guy and bandage face weren't British, so maybe they aren't in the UK...

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Penzilneck said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Penzilneck: If it is mirrored, then that would be an American style vehicle, and it's the right arm that is missing.

The mystery deepens!

But then the UK flag would again make less sense, unless it's there because the patient is in fact British and now I've gone cross-eyed.

Liquid does sound British...

Doctor guy and bandage face weren't British, so maybe they aren't in the UK...

I thought Liquid sounding British was the primary reason people were excited to chase that possibility. I know I am.

Also, some more evidence that Kojima is just screwing with us...

The Moby Dick studio webpage (http://www.mobydickstudio.se/) was only registered 2 weeks ago and expires in early 2013. Not to mention the fact that the page looks like it was made in 15 minutes from freewebs.....

They basically came out of nowhere with this AAA game in development and a full length trailer.... That just doesn't happen in the game industry. And in 2 weeks? No fucking way.

@Stonyman65 said:

@Akrid said:

@Hunkulese said:

@Akrid said:

Seems solid logic to think it's in the UK, but no evidence really to indicate that it's Zero and not Big Boss or Solid Snake.

This all seems fishy to me though, since so far the whole riddle has been way too easy to crack for people. Within an hour of that trailer being released, people had already gone oh that's Volgin, oh that title says MGSV, oh that's Big Boss 'cuz scar. If it really ends up that the prevailing theories are true, I'll be disappointed in Kojima. This was the man who made the world think that MGS2 starred Solid Snake!

It's easy because of how connected everyone is now. If there are any clues at all there are enough people working together that they'll figure it out in no time no matter how difficult Kojima intended it to be.

It's easy to say it's easy because you read a rundown of what everyone else had already figured out but you probably wouldn't have noticed a majority of the connections if you had watched the trailer than turned off the internet.

The first time I watched the trailer, I thought to myself: Oh, this looks like that OGRE engine or whatever. Oh, that dude looks like Volgin. Oh, that guy looks like Snake. Oh, Moby Dick's logo is way too terrible for a new big studio. Oh, Kojima is at this event for some reason. The more obscure things that surfaced later were just the cherry on top.

I agree though that if a riddle is solvable, it will be solved on the internet. The difference is, when I heard about what people found in Fez, my jaw hit the floor. With this, I was just confused why they tried. There's still plenty of mystery around the trailer, but the whole totally-not-MGS veneer is kind of boringly thin to the point where it's kind of a wonder why they attempted it.

It's Kojima's plan dude. He has it all worked out. A few months from now there will be a new trailer with a bunch of different stuff that will make us even more confused to the oint where we don't even care anymore about this stuff. He's done crazier things in the past.

That's really what I'm hoping for. Feels wrong to actually understand anything related to MGS.

Someone on Neogaf posted that the map in the hospital is Cyprus. The UK has a military base on Cyprus so guess that must be it?

@Sarge506: I was going to say something about the map, but I didn't know what it was of.

Interesting, to say the least.

Holy crap this isn't Zero.

You're wrong, I didn't think "Moosey, you've really lost it this time.".

Regardless, the trailer has a huge amount of info, this will take some time to flesh out any theory.

@maverick_76 said:

Regardless, the trailer has a huge amount of info, this will take some time to flesh out any theory.

I really recommend people check out NeoGAF, long thread but they've done a lot of great detective work if you are interested enough to dig through it. People were analyzing the damn electrical sockets to figure out where the hospital could be (it seems to certainly be Cyprus).

If it is definitely Cyprus and set in the 70's/80's that could tie in with some nice Cold War action as I think the UK had Vulcans (nuclear bombers) stationed there and the US had a few U2's at the base.

There's also the conflict with Turkey which could play a part.

I don't reckon that is Major Zero because personally I don't think he looks anything like him and Zero had a particular look to him that didn't include a mullet. For all I know he could be Frank Yeiger at this point since Grey Fox was apart of the Fox unit and was also experimented on which might explain the arm.

@Akrid said:

@Hunkulese said:

@Akrid said:

Seems solid logic to think it's in the UK, but no evidence really to indicate that it's Zero and not Big Boss or Solid Snake.

This all seems fishy to me though, since so far the whole riddle has been way too easy to crack for people. Within an hour of that trailer being released, people had already gone oh that's Volgin, oh that title says MGSV, oh that's Big Boss 'cuz scar. If it really ends up that the prevailing theories are true, I'll be disappointed in Kojima. This was the man who made the world think that MGS2 starred Solid Snake!

It's easy because of how connected everyone is now. If there are any clues at all there are enough people working together that they'll figure it out in no time no matter how difficult Kojima intended it to be.

It's easy to say it's easy because you read a rundown of what everyone else had already figured out but you probably wouldn't have noticed a majority of the connections if you had watched the trailer than turned off the internet.

The first time I watched the trailer, I thought to myself: Oh, this looks like that OGRE engine or whatever. Oh, that dude looks like Volgin. Oh, that guy looks like Snake. Oh, Moby Dick's logo is way too terrible for a new big studio. Oh, Kojima is at this event for some reason. The more obscure things that surfaced later were just the cherry on top.

I agree though that if a riddle is solvable, it will be solved on the internet. The difference is, when I heard about what people found in Fez, my jaw hit the floor. With this, I was just confused why they tried. There's still plenty of mystery around the trailer, but the whole totally-not-MGS veneer is kind of boringly thin to the point where it's kind of a wonder why they attempted it.

That was the point. The trailer never tries to hide the fact that this is a Metal Gear Solid game and the only mindfuck comes when the title and studio aren't what you were expecting. You're judging their entire ad campaign and comparing it negatively to Fez based off of their initial reveal?

I like the theory but I don't think its Zero but I could be wrong. The character in the trailer just didn't have that feel. Now if you said the guy help the Snake looking character in the trailer was him, you might be right. I actually think that the guy with his face all wrapped in bandages in the trailer is the guy with the hat and burned looking face in the Ground Zeroes trailer which I have no idea who that is. I think it's Big Boss in the trailer because of the look and his eye. Also I noticed the wheel and the flag but found it odd the doctor had more of a Russian accent or something else. Not saying you couldn't have a Russian doctor in the UK but still. Good theory though. I don't think he will be in the game since he wasn't that big of a character in 4 but I guess that shouldn't rule him out.

Don't know if someone said this but it could be Solidus Snake (George Sears), it would explain his ability to.....crawl. Why he hates the patriots in 2 and we never "saw" his actual arm so you never know.

I've been pretty sold on it being Big Boss, but having just recently rewatched...

I'm wavering a bit. On the other hand, at that point we've seen advanced cybernetics, cloning and limbs fully transplanted, so who's to say what's possible by then.

As for location... I was going to bring up the map, as I'd seen people speculating about South Africa, but seeing @Sarge506 mention Cyprus, 3-prong power outlets and @MooseyMcMan talking about left-hand traffic. Turns out... all these things are true in Cyprus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#BS_1363 Cyprus and the UK uses the same Power Plug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#Jurisdictions_with_left-hand_traffic Cyprus has left-hand traffic.

Also, Cyprus was leased to the United Kingdom 'till 1960, which explains the flag in the hospital... so Cyprus is looking pretty good right now :)

I'm still trying to piece together the timeframe. The Psycho Mantis child-lookalike suggests we're talking about a chronological prequel to Metal Gear Solid (by 10-20 years, I'd guess?), though it could certainly be just a lookalike. More interestingly, I've seen some in-depth comparisons between the gear used by the soldiers attacking the Hospital and the gear worn by the XOF unit in the Ground Zeroes... which we know a lot more about when that takes place (because Chico is still a kid, if nothing else), as it seems to be taking place shortly after Peace Walker in 1974... of course, that's not a great dating mechanism, especially as I don't know how often a military unit typically replaces their gear :P

I find the straight speedometer in the car (carcrash scene) to be quite interesting, but I can't find any good articles about when those fell out of style...

@Mnemoidian: As to the timeframe I'd put this at around 1975-1977. I'm basing this simply on the fact that if the kid is Psycho Mantis, he was born in 1970 and looks around 3.5' tall.

This in turn would put Big Boss at 40-42 years old which is slightly problematic as he looks a bit too grey for someone in their very early 40's. Guess he's had a stressful life!

@Sarge506: I agree, and I especially agree that if it is Big Boss (which I'm leaning towards), then it's really problematic that he's so greyhaired, considering that Kojima went out of his way to provide additional material for us to see that Big Boss isn't greying in Ground Zeroes (ie: your avatar).

@Mnemoidian: Then again, Ground Zeroes is supposed to be a prologue (as konfirmed by Kojima himself). At the start of the PP trailer the dr says to Snake that he's been in a coma for quite some time. Thinking about it I know a guy who's 39 who is starting to grey a little bit.

I think the timeframe I mentioned could be right as Big Boss is still dominantly brown: