Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - Today, in an interview with Gamespot at the E3, Hideo Kojima unveiled many details about the new Metal Gear Solid game, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance.

The platforms and the release dates
The game will be released for Xbox in the U.S. in November 2002; the Japanese release date was not announced. Kojima clearly stated that this is the game that was called Metal Gear Solid X in the past months. Anyhow, this is not an exclusive. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance will be released both for PS2 and PC, but Kojima didn't unveil the release dates for these versions. He also didn't talk about exclusive features for the Xbox version. Konami Of America will publish the game in the U.S.

The Story - Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance vs Metal Gear Solid 2
The story of Sons Of Liberty is basically the same; anyhow, Substance will feature five new episodes called "Snake Tales" in which Snake is the main character.

The gameplay
The new Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance will have many unique features that will be introduced to give the player more freedom and variety. Basically, Kojima stated that Substance will be less centered on the story and more on the gameplay. It will give the players a sort of "pure" Metal Gear Solid gaming experience.

Features:

• Possibility to play as Snake or Raiden; for example, players will be able to play as Raiden in Tanker chapter and as Snake in the Plant chapter. Is not clear if the path to follow will be different according to the chosen character.
  
• 200 VR missions
  
• 100 "alternative" missions
  
• Five new episodes called "Snake Tales"
  
• The game is so big that the Xbox version will be released on a double layered DVD.
  

The trailer of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance will be unveiled in the next days at the E3.