Ground Zeroes prequel to Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain

I need scissors! 61! Also, clarification!

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During the yesterday’s Metal Gear Solid V reveal (find the fabulous gameplay demo and trailer here) I was sort of sure I knew what was going on. To my understanding, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain were actually the same game, forming a subtitle-free Metal Gear Solid V. However, more than a few people got the idea that the announcement was for a Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain that is separate to Ground Zeroes. Still following?

In an effort to clear things up — that would be a first — Kojima issued this tweet, calling Ground Zeroes the prologue of Metal Gear Solid V, stating that the “main game,” The Phantom Pain, takes place nine years later. Kojima’s tweet, in short, seemed to have confirmed my initial theory: that the two parts made up the whole of Metal Gear Solid V. One game.

Except Konami confirmed to Joystiq that Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain are in fact separate games. So…that clears things up, maybe? At the least we understand the temporal relationship between the two, though I imagine Konami’s confirmation of two games should take precedent over a Kojima tweet that isn’t explicit in its statement. Anyway, I’m left with more questions than answers.

Like, when did the series nomenclature divert toward Roman numerals? Also, where can I get that song that played in the trailer? It’s kind of great.

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Steven Hansen
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