To dispel any doubt, series director Hideo Kojima and artist Yoji Shinkawa held a stage event at Konami's TGS booth to prove that the visuals are indeed running in real time on the next-generation console. "This trailer isn't a CG or something that we've rendered on a high-spec PC," said Kojima "This is the real thing on a PlayStation 3 development kit."
After showing the full eight-minute MGS4 trailer, director Kojima and an assistant began a real-time demonstration on a PS3 development kit featuring scenes from the preview. The first sequence was from early in the trailer, when Snake peeked through the broken walls of a building. There, he paused the game and moved the camera around to show that the real-time rendering was authentic. "He's a bit pigeon-toed because he's being cautious," joked Kojima, while the camera rotated to show Snake's feet, which weren't visible in the original trailer.
To further show off the PS3's capabilities, Kojima zoomed in to a detailed close-up of Snake's costume. Clearly visible was a detailed "Ota-Damacy" (Otacon-Soul) patch on his chest, the logo for which can be seen on MGS4's official Web site. "All the equipment created by Otacon have this mark on them," added Kojima.
Kojima's development team has been concentrating on MGS4's shadow and lighting effects. "We can change the shadows in MGS4 in real time. We can also place shadows on Snake himself, using [the PS3's] self-shadow effects. This is the first time that we've been able to do it in the series. We always wanted to use self-shadowing effects, and it's finally become a reality," said Kojima. "We're using high-dynamic range rendering this time and creating extremely natural visuals as a result," added Kojima's assistant...
Kojima then showed another effect with the PS3 dev kit. As he focused in on the tip of Snake's gun as he held it in front of the screen, Snake and the rest of the background became blurry, as they would if shot by a real camera. "We can give focus to specific things on the screen," said Kojima, and he demonstrated how he can focus in on other objects, like the trailer's landscape and Snake's nose... Switching to a scence where Snake is having a conversation with Otacon through the small Metal Gear MK-II robot's LCD screen, Kojima joked about the screen. He then zoomed in to the image on the screen, revealing that Otacon and his room environment on the LCD screen are actually rendered in real time, just like the rest of the trailer. To prove it, Kojima played around with the light source for Otacon's shadow. "We've added a grid on top of it to give it the look of a realistic LCD screen," he said. "Otacon will come out as a full [polygon] model in the game. It's not like we've only created his upper body...