Five is the magic number. Today five state employees pleaded not-guilty to staging pit fights between the mentally ill, crude oil went up 5%, Napster cut its subscription to $5, and SG Radio put out their 5th episode. Clearly the eagerly anticipated SGR episode is the big news, straddling the gaming landscape like a mighty colossus going commando.

However, running a very close second in big 5 news is the Mysterious Ticking Clock put up at Kojima Productions. Wild rumourmongering up next….

Launched today on the home site of game director and visionary fruitcake Hideo Kojima, creator of four very popular ‘tactical espionage action’ games, the mysterious countdown is due to reach zero at about Friday 2am GMT and 9pm Central. The screen shows a stormswept, vaguely eastern European field with a looming ‘5′ ghosting in and out to the rumble of distant thunder.

With the utter paucity of hard data anyone has anything could happen when the numbers hit zero – from a lone flower blooming in the wilderness, to Snake, Psycho Mantis and Dennis Hopper riding out on chromed Harleys to the music of Steppenwolf. Does anyone here think that Kojima is not sufficiently bonkers to do that?

The last Kojima epic ended conclusively, and despite making even the end of Lord of the Rings look like a haiku, felt like it had closure. The series was a rite of passage for a whole generation of gamers, growing up with them and despite myriad flaws set the benchmark for passion in big-budget production. A new entry in the series so soon?

The smart industry money is leaning towards some manner of triple-A high profile announcement, rather than a new iPhone version, so in the spirit of responsible journalism I suggest we all start wildly speculating right about…now.

http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/

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