The confusion and frustration of MetalGear Online

I’m writing this on the day that the MetalGear Online Beta was put up for download on the American and Japanese PlayStation Network stores, but not the European one. Don’t ask me what’s going on beyond that, because it’s all bizarre, frightening and disorientating. I’ll attempt to describe the situation in better detail, though.

At the start of the month, Konami had said that American and European gamers would be able to receive a free DVD if they pre-ordered MetalGear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots in April. In this DVD is a code that would allow you to download a timed “Beta” [read: Demo] of MetalGear Online; the multiplayer component in MGS4 (though it’s being advertised as a separate game).

Americans pre-ordered at Gamestop stores and received their DVDs without a hitch, but there was no sign of a European DVD. While this was happening, a Japanese Beta was announced, which would be free to all those with a “Konami ID”. Many gamers then fumbled through the pages of kana, attempting to gain a code that would later let them download the Beta.

Soon after that, there were reports (though I still haven’t seen a press release confirming this) that the European Beta was now free to download from the PlayStation Network Store in mid-April. Now, everyone is busy creating fake PAL PSN accounts.

Today, the download went online (no gameplay yet). There are reports of people being denied access to the Beta, as they have signed up to the wrong territories’ version. There is also a complete lack of official information regarding the European release. I have seen a couple of “NOW PLAYING: MetalGear Online” signs next to some of my PS3 contacts’ names, but apparently they can’t do anything more than just look at the title screen.

You’d have thought they would want to make this easy for people, but I am utterly lost on what to do. I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to play this until MGS4 comes out now. Oh well, GTA4’s out soon enough; who cares about a glitchy, cut-down version of MGS4’s online mode?