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The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was an annual trade fair for the video gaming industry taking place in Los Angeles. It generally took place during May/June each year since 1995 until 2020 (where it initially was shut down due to the COVID-19 lockdowns before ultimately being discontinued altogether by December 12, 2023[1]).

Relation to the Metal Gear series[]

Aside from Kojima Productions and Konami frequently showcasing the new Metal Gear games in development since 1997 (where Metal Gear Solid was first unveiled to the U.S. public), Kojima Productions generally created special sites advertising their new games, as well as giving out merchandise relating to the franchise during this time. Because of Kojima Productions being a Japanese-based company, the sites also largely had language settings of English and Japanese.

In 2006, they created a website for E3, titled "Kojima Productions Next Revolt: The Battle for E3," that depicted a sidewalk with some cars being heard in the background, as well as a push broom while sweeping leaving behind symbols. The symbols on the main page depicted the title of the site as well as several arms raising their fists in revolt. Each fist represented a new game, which was labeled in one word. It also contained links to the special E3 report on and a brief overview of the Hideoblog (called "Regale on the actual page) as well as a brief overview of Kojima Productions (called "Refine" on the actual page). On the English site, there were four arms, representing the following games with the following slogans: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops ("Return"); Lunar Knights ("Rebirth"); Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots ("ReArm"); and Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel ("Respect"). Each section had an option to turn on or off the screenshots on the page, as well as a brief description of each game. Portable Ops only had screenshots and the basic description, while both Lunar Knights and Metal Gear Solid 4 had those as well as the E3 trailers for each game, and the MGS DGN had those and a link to the official site. When the site opens, it has sounds akin to spray-painting. The Japanese site is largely similar, only Lunar Knights/"Rebirth" is omitted, there's no link to the official site on the MGS DGN/"Respect" portion of the page (called Bande Dessinée here), and the Hideoblog/Regale portion of the page includes an additional link to the Hidechan Radio portion.

Although there was no specific Kojima Productions-owned E3 website in 2007, the Kojima Productions 2007 Event website did have a section dedicated to E3. The E3 section contained the PlayStation Premiere trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, as well as 11 teaser screencaps and key artwork for the game depicting Old Snake and Vamp (the former twice).

In 2009, after the Next website had been exposed as being a teaser for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, the site was largely converted into a joint E3/Gamescom special site for Kojima Productions. Namely, the site that originally featured the main features of "Next" (ie, the slightly cloudy wheat field/forest with a stone wall) was dedicated to E3, containing eight pictures of Peace Walker, a link to the Lords of Shadow website, a poster for Metal Gear Arcade, and two large images with Peace Walker and Rising being depicted, each also containing a trailer for the respective games. It also contained a sign that directed the user to the Gamescom version of the site. On the Japanese site, the content was largely the same, only it also contained cassette tapes giving a link to the Hideochannel radio.

In 2010, it had three site choices the viewer could make after verifying that they were of age: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D. The Snake Eater 3D site had a background depicting The Boss and Naked Snake on Rokovoj Bereg as well as 10 screenshots taken from Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D - The Naked Sample, as well as a link to the official E3 Nintendo site. The Castlevania link led to the Castlevania website. For the Japanese site, it had the same options.

In 2011, it was in Japanese only, and covered Transfarring, a special interview with series creator Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection (both the standard Japanese release and Peace Walker HD Edition), Zone of the Enders: HD Collection, and Snake Eater 3D, alongside links to the various sites covering them. It also had a bit part in the first Pre-E3 Show. A trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D was also issued during this time, which primarily utilized scenes from the opening for the original game while advertising various features of the game, with the ending featuring Snake, while scouting Dolinovodno, glimpsing the Nintendo character Yoshi on a tree stump in the distance, to his bewilderment (foreshadowing that Yoshi would replace the Kerotans from the original game).

The 2012 site, also Japanese only, contained three primary elements: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (the revamped version of Metal Gear Solid: Rising), Zone of the Enders HD Collection, and the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary. It also contained video excerpts detailing various elements from the Pre-E3 Show, including an interview about Metal Gear Rising with members of both Kojima Productions and Platinum Games, the Mega64 teaser for Metal Gear Rising and Zone of the Enders HD Collection, and excerpted elements from Zone of the Enders coverage, including footage of a revamped opening sequence. It also contained a link to the websites of the materials covered, as well as a link to the E3 Report and a link to Hideradio.

Although no E3 site has been posted as of yet, Konami has done a presentation for Metal Gear Survive in 2017, the first such presentation since Tokyo Game Show 2016. They had a demo released to the press. They also announced that the game will be released in early 2018.

Pre-E3 Show/E3 Battle[]

During E3 between 2011 and 2013, Kojima Productions was involved with the show Pre-E3 Show that gave hints on what was to be covered. For 2011, they discreetly showed the first look at the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection. In 2012, it covered the 20th Anniversary for the Metal Gear series as well as covered the development of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Zone of the Enders HD Collection. In 2013, they covered a bit of Metal Gear Solid V, also unveiling that Kiefer Sutherland was going to voice Big Boss in the game.

Aside from the above, Various Kojima Productions and Konami works were also involved in E3 Battle, a game site used to keep people occupied before E3 2012 occurred.

See also[]

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