By now, most of you have probably seen the massive Metal Gear Solid 5 unveil at this week’s GDC conference in San Francisco. As expected, the game is the concluding result of the Phantom Pain teasers that been going on, but there is one big debate that is threatening to overshadow the release of MGS5 – the voice of Snake, David Hayter will not be in the game.

David Hayter and Snake, is the equivalent of Ikue Ōtani as the voice of Pikachu, Jeff Pescetto as the DuckTales theme singer and so on – you just can’t replace these sort of guys. But it is really happening in Metal Gear Solid 5 and most of you had already spotted it straight away when we didn’t hear his voice in the debut trailer for the game.

David Hayter has already spoken out on the issue, revealing his emotions on Twitter to shocked fans. He said that he ‘has had a good run’ with the series but more alarmingly, revealed to one user that Kojima Productions didn’t even ask him to be in the game next game.

If true, we find that quite astonishing, since he has helped to create a massive part of the success that the Metal Gear Solid franchise has gone on to achieve. Since his comments on Twitter, it is worth pointing out that the information where he said that he wasn’t asked to be in the game, has been deleted entirely – so draw your own conclusions on this.

As a result, Kojima and Konami are actually taking a little heat on the exclusion of David Hayter in the game, as some have said that they won’t buy the game if the real voice of Snake isn’t included. There is now a petition online over at Change.org, pleading with Mr Kojima and the powers above to put Hayter in the game as the voice of Snake and Big Boss.

Are you going to sign and lend your support? If you are a big Metal Gear Solid fan, let us know your thoughts on MGSV without the voice of Snake – will you still buy it or not?

That is obviously a bold claim to be making and your first thoughts are probably that this is impossible, since the graphics shown in the trailer are too good to be on a handheld game, an exclusive one at that. Then again, Hideo Kojima is full of surprises and there is a good point to be made that the visuals shown in the Phantom Pain trailer are definitely not as nice as the graphics we saw in the Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes footage – if the two are really linked.

The claims made by PushStartSelect also includes another interesting piece of evidence, in the fact that we never actually see Roman numerals used for Metal Gear Solid games. Metal Gear Solid V as secretly hidden in the Phantom Pain trailer logo can’t be Metal Gear Solid 5 on this basis, so V standing for Vita definitely comes into more significance.

We think everyone has now come to the conclusion that this is definitely a Metal Gear Solid game and Kojima’s plans to keep it under wraps with a false developer studio by the name of Moby Dick has failed. The matter at hand though is what type of Metal Gear Solid game it will be and what platforms it will be coming to.

We also think it would be fantastic if this did turn out to be an exclusive project for the PS Vita, as don’t forget that current consoles also have Ground Zeroes on the way and after the excellent Peace Walker game on PSP, it does appear logical that the next step for handheld Metal Gear is a new title for the Vita.

Do you agree that the quality of visuals do not add up between the ones seen in Phantom Pain and the old Ground Zeroes trailer? Would you be pleasantly surprised if this is a Vita game, or do you think there’s a chance that it could even be a cross-platform game between Vita and PS3? We can’t wait until the secret is finally out.

If you watched the trailer live at the event, you wouldn’t be a fool to think that this was the work of Hideo Kojima, unveiling a brand new game to the world as part of his secretive Project Ogre plans. While many were expecting to see Konami, Metal Gear Solid and Kojima Productions towards the end of the trailer, we instead saw a game called Phantom Pain, with no platforms announced and no apparent publisher behind the game either.

Alarm bells were immediately raised and detective work began on the likes of Neogaf. Inevitably, it looks like Hideo Kojima’s plans to keep Phantom Pain in its current disguise have failed at the first hurdle, as there are more than a few pieces of evidence which suggest that the game is definitely a new Metal Gear Solid title in the works.

You only have to look at the apparent CEO of Moby Dick Studios, who has been listed as Joakim Mogren. Look closely at his first name, and you’ll see that Joakim is actually an anagram of Kojima. Look closely even more and you’ll see that Mogren contains the word Ogre, which could be a reference to ‘Project Ogre’.

There are other clear cut references to Metal Gear in the Phantom Pain trailer itself – look out for a sinister looking character engulfed in flames who suspiciously looks like Volgin from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The protagonist in the trailer himself bears a resemblance to Big Boss, while the doctor shown has also been identified as Kio Marv – a character who appeared in MSX2 classic Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

Has Kojima already been rumbled with all of this mounting evidence, or did he intend to reveal Metal Gear Solid 5 in this way anyway to die hard veterans of the franchise who would be able to put the pieces together? Either way, it is looking like another exciting chapter in the Metal Gear Solid universe and it looks like it may have close ties with Ground Zeroes.

It can’t be a next-gen title looking at these graphics, can it? Let us know your initial impressions of Phantom Pain and if you believe the strong rumors that this is Metal Gear Solid 5 that we’re looking at.

After watching the beautiful ending to Metal Gear Solid 4, you would have thought that Snake’s days as a solider would be up, especially after Big Boss’ recommendation that he continue to live life as a ‘man’. However, it appears that Snake is an immortal and will continue to live on for at least one more Metal Gear Solid game.

When speaking in an interview with French magazine IG, the legendary developer revealed the following crucial information about the game. Firstly, it will be built using the Fox Engine, which is meant to be Konami’s engine specifically designed for the next-generation of video games.

Secondly, the game will feature elements of social interaction this time around. Kojima specifically mentioned Deus Ex: Human Revolution as an inspiration and gave hints on how you’ll need to interact with certain characters and get them to ‘do you a favor’.

It is also worth mentioning that Kojima appears to be at the mercy of Konami as well. He mentioned that if it was up to him, Solid Snake would have died at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4. Konami obviously think that there is a lot more left in the tank for their primary franchise though and with the next-gen consoles on the way, a new Metal Gear Solid game would be perfect for Snake’s return.

The game will be using the Fox Engine, but what console will the game be on? There is plenty of talk on how the game could still remain on current consoles, but obviously the majority of fans would love for the game to be on next-generation consoles instead. Will MGS5 stay as a PlayStation exclusive like MGS4, or will Konami extend the game to the Xbox again like they have done with the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

There’s so many questions to be answered. Let’s hope that Konami and Kojima will make Metal Gear Solid 5 the main event at this year’s Tokyo Game Show in September. Let us know your reaction to seeing Snake again and Kojima’s omission that he wanted Snake to die at the end of Guns of the Patriots.

Hideo Kojima was recently quoted as saying that he’ll ‘probably have to make Metal Gear Solid 5′ and who is going to oppose that thinking. Fans would obviously love to see another game in the series, especially since Metal Gear Rising is a big change up from the stealth style Metal Gear games that we are used to seeing.

When the game will appear though remains to be seen and it is probably a long way off since don’t forget that Kojima is also working on an unannounced open world game known only as ‘Project Ogre’ at the moment. That hasn’t stopped the Metal Gear Solid 5 rumors from stopping though, as we have heard this week that a Japanese analyst company believes that Metal Gear Solid 5 will release sometime between April 2013 and May 2014.

As noted by Eurogamer, Nomura Securities are the company in question and probably base their presumption on the fact that Kojima himself makes no secret of the fact that a new Metal Gear game is very likely to happen. Using his Twitter account, he has even shared some of his initial storyline ideas, one of which includes a possible setting in Normandy.

“I had several ideas for a game featuring The Boss and the Cobra Unit during the invasion of Normandy. I then handed these plans over to the team so they could take over and make the game.”

In the meantime though, it is all about Metal Gear Rising. Kojima will not want to reveal too much about Metal Gear Solid 5 until Platinum Games have released their title. After divided opinion on the new look action adventure Raiden, it will be interesting to see how gamers take to playing Metal Gear in an entirely new format. Will it prove to be a correct decision by Kojima Productions to hand the game over to Platinum Games, or will the game end up bombing upon release with fans begging Kojima to save them with a new Metal Gear Solid title?

If you enjoyed MGS4, let us know your thoughts on a potential MGS5 game coming out within the next two years. Would you welcome the idea of a Normandy storyline setting or not?