"Boss, the mission is to eliminate the targets; just putting them to sleep or knocking them out won't cut it!"..."What? You're extracting the targets?" Yes Kaz, I've been attaching balloons to soldiers for the past few months, what do you think I'm doing?!

After putting over 70 hours in Ground Zeroes over the past 8 months, I'd say that's probably my favourite mission in the game. The one where you have to get the tape is fun as well. (Also I recommend listening to the Pre-Mission Briefing tapes if you haven't already).

Also Steam updated, and the ETA until unlock looks correct now; gonna install it overnight.

@Mike: It's amazing how much time I got out of Ground Zeroes, and how many mechanics are NOT in that game. From what I've been hearing, TPP tightens up all of the little control issues GZ had (better cover interaction, more fluid jumps and dives), so if you like playing GZ, TPP should handle even better.

Not exactly a meltdown. I pretty much told them what happened, as I've done in the past with errors on their part. Not like I flipped out on them or anything. With that approach, they have indeed come through for me in various ways over the years.

Maybe Amazon has a different level of customer service than your tech company. Their retail end isn't a tech company, it's based on customer retention through service. When a complaint is justified, they'll take care of you.

Oh man the hype is real! Haven't been this excited for a game in freakin ages. Truly feels like the good ol' days of waiting in line at a midnight release at your game store with like minded people.

@csl316: Newegg is the best for this. I told them Arkham Knight (which was given out as a promo code with a GPU purchase) ran like ass on my new 980 Ti and was so busted they had to stop selling it, and they tossed me a TPP code within two minutes. I don't usually recommend services to people, as there are so many different factors influencing your potential experience, but their Customer Service department might as well be called a Customer Retention department.

Sorry to hear that you got screwed, duder. Just remember; your revenge will be waiting for you, whenever you get your chance at it. :D

@mirado: Newegg is awesome with that stuff. My 980 at the time only came bundled with The Witcher 3, but then a couple weeks later they announced Arkham would be bundled in addition to the Witcher. Newegg was AOK with giving me a code even though I purchased the card before the deal. Then when Arkham was busted and they changed it to be The Phantom Pain, they took zero convincing to throw a code for it at me.

Newegg's customer support is pretty great.

Funny you mention Newegg, since I was thinking about moving over to them for online purchases. I kind of just want to cancel Prime at this point, so it's a good opportunity to leave Amazon behind at the moment. Again, they're not terrible, but their problems are becoming more frequent as they diversify into every industry available.

Whoops, I'm derailing this thread. Picking up MGS in one hour and three minutes!

I hope the time on Amazon proves to be wrong...Right now it looks like I am getting my code at 12am PST. Lame. I want to start this install before I hit the sack tonight (EST here)

@magicwuff: set an alarm and take 2 minutes to set it up?

Steam code? Why would they wait to give you a steam code, it won't unlock anyway. That's super weird, i don't think I've ever had to wait for a code from there

I'm absolutely bouncing off the walls. This feels like "Surprise we got you a SNES" levels of excitement, which video games haven't done for me in quite a long time.

Just remember, that The Best Is Yet To Come:

If you're like me, you've been waiting for three years for this. Just sit back and drink it in.

I'm with you guys. I was super excited for Witcher III earlier this year and it really delivered. This is Metal Gear though so it has a special kind of hype and scale that can't be matched.

@l1ghtn1n: Yeah what the hell is up with that? My timer still says 38 minutes but if it doesn't work at 12am that is gonna be a real piss off. I've been steadily going crazy all day waiting to play.

I have to be at work in like 5 hours, but I sure as hell can't sleep until I start that download

GET HYPE SON.

@bceagles128: Beat you by a bit, but then again, I can never have too much hype.

Just 30 more minutes.

haha, I noticed. Had to change it.

Also if anyone missed this last night, Skip to 27:36

Not to turn this into video spamming hour, but you should really go back and watch the first VGA 2012 trailer for, at that time, Moby Dick Studio's The Phantom Pain.(Since that actually contains some spoilers for the opening of the game, be aware if you've somehow managed to avoid it.) We've really come a long way, and it all started with a fake company and a guy with face bandages.

I've been really lucky with that. Think the only things I've had spoiled for me in this game are the things that they managed to drop into the bombcast without any spoiler tags >:o (regarding the areas, etc.)

@bceagles128: And more power to you for being able to do so. I'm far too curious for my own good and ate up every piece of official info that was thrown out there, so I often have to take a step back and realize not everyone has seen it all, hence the disclaimer.

So time to start this track in anticipation:

Are we certain the Steam version will unlock at midnight? The store page says "approximately 1 hour"...(maybe this is normal, every game I've pre-ordered off Steam has been able to pre-load before release)

You guys are in for a ride. The game has one hell of an opening. Quite possibly my favourite of the series.

@jaypb08: They've updated the time from whatever wrong number they had earlier to this one, so I assume we're on track.

I don't think it counts minutes sometimes.

I'm not watching it until I've played a few hours anyway, but just FYI.

Arrrrghhhhhh....... Why isn't it 9:00pm yet? No steam pre-loads is terrible.

It is in the real world

in 6 minutes someone is going to come by and post:

This post is preemptive. it is to let them know... yes. yes we are waiting.

4 more minutes >_<!!!

What a thrill~

2 minutes!

Scariest four words... "Logging in to server"

Coming soon? COMING SOON??????

It's 12:01! Konami! Konami?!!? KONAMIIIII?!?!?!!!!!

EDIT: Here we go! See you on the battlefield!

Steam just changed to: "Coming Soon: This Item is not yet available"...

I see achievements in the game library, where's the install button!

Install is up!

Now the real wait begins.

restart Steam ya'll

Edit-Hey hey it works!

Konami: "Kept you waiting, huh?"

It's happening!

The race begins! Good luck gentlemen!

fucking exactly lol

Setting my alarm for when the download finishes!

time remaining: 3hours 13minutes

welp, guess I'm not staying up after all!

Now the question is two fold. Which among us has speed to download quickly enough for the time tommorow allows us, to get anywhere.

And how many of us, during the wait, give in and watch the QL because, you know, any content is good? Even if it spoils the part we are likely to play before we sleep.

Hmmmm

Only one hour remaining. Awesome. Thanks Valve servers!