PSM: Now that you've introduced the new Raiden, can you tell us what his relationship with Snake will be in MGS4?
Hideo Kojima: He's on Snake's side; he's his backup.
PSM: Raiden doesn't look quite human - in fact, he reminds us of Gray Fox as the "Cyborg Ninja" from the first MGS.
Hideo Kojima: (smiles)
PSM: So there's something to that? Something that might have happened to Raiden between MGS2 and MGS4?
Hideo Kojima: There are many events that occured between MGS2 and MGS4; lots of small stories. It will be very difficult to work all of them in MGS4; some may only be explained in just a couple lines of dialog.
PSM: Raiden looks like a ghost in his new suit, and his agility is definitely superhuman. We saw him, thought back to Old Snake saluting at a grave during the trailer and thought, "What? Was Raiden killed sometime between MGS2 and MGS3?"
Hideo Kojima: I've been asked a lot about whose grave that really is. I'm sorry, but I can't reveal whose it is yet.
PSM: Speaking of the graveyard, were the white flowers and the petals blowing in the wind an homage to Snake Eater?
Hideo Kojima: Yes. (laughs)
PSM: Just for the record, our official story is, in fact, Raiden's grave.
Hideo Kojima: Well... Raiden's blood isn't real.
PSM: !
Hideo Kojima: It's white, actually, and artificial - which is why his face is so pale.
PSM: !! So... he is a cyborg?
Hideo Kojima: (smiles)
PSM: Okay, on to other "characters." What happened to Snake's companion robot from the TGS trailer, the Metal Gear Mk. II?
Hideo Kojima: Mk. II will still be in the game. It just wasn't in the trailer. However, we're still debating whether or not the player will actually control it in any way.
PSM: The Solid Eye System was M.I.A. from this trailer...
Hideo Kojima: Don't worry; it will still be in the final game.
PSM: So at the point in the game this trailer's events came from, he wasn't just using it yet?
Hideo Kojima: To put things in perspective chronologically, the TGS trailer comes after the E3 trailer - thought not all of the dialog that's spoken over certain scenes does, obviously.
PSM: The trailer ends with Old Snake putting a gun in his mouth, but in the TGS trailer he's wearing the Solid Eye System and seems more or less okay. Is the E3 trailer chronologically accurate from beginning to end?
Hideo Kojima: That part of the trailer [with the gun in Snake's mouth] actually happens later in the game.
PSM: When we last spoke, you told us the Middle East isn't the only location MGS4 will be set in. Can you now tell us if it's the first or last location in the game?
Hideo Kojima: I can reveal that it is the first location in the game, after which players will travel all around the world.
PSM: That's interesting, since, during the scene when he's placing the gun in his mouth, it looks like Snake's still in the same Middle East setting.
Hideo Kojima: For this trailer, in order to keep everything visually consistent, almost all of the events are made to look like they take place in the Middle East. I actually wanted to trick the fans a bit here. A lot of current first-person shooters are set in similar locations, so I thought I'd poke a fun at that a little.