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Metal Gear Solid 5: 5 Things to Know Before You Pre-Order

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With the Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain release date getting close, some of you might be getting tempted to put in an early order. With that in mind, we want to take a look at a few things you should know before you pre-order Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 5.

Earlier this year, Konami and Hideo Kojima finally revealed the specific Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain release date. The Metal Gear Solid 5 release date is confirmed for September 1st and that means that we only have a few days to go before players can once again assume the role of Big Boss.

The game is one of the year’s highly anticipated releases thanks to its story, open-world gameplay, mix of action and stealth, and the fact that this could very well be Kojima’s last hurrah with Konami. The series creator is reportedly leaving the company before the end of the year.

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With the Metal Gear Solid 5 release heating up, we know of several people who are throwing the pre-order idea. Thanks to the details and gameplay videos that have emerged, pre-ordering Metal Gear 5: The Phantom Pain right now, ahead of its release date, is extremely tempting.

Before you put in an early order there are some things that we think you absolutely must know before the game’s arrival. These include details about the Metal Gear Solid 5 release date and they also include some tips for those of you thinking about ordering before September 1st. Keep this in mind as you make your decision.

You Can (And Maybe Should) Play Ground Zeroes First

The first thing you’ll want to know, and this is especially important if you’ve never played Metal Gear before, is that there is another Metal Gear Solid 5 game called Ground Zeroes.

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes was released last year and it serves as a standalone prologue for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. It’s a much smaller game than the title coming in September but it’s still an important piece to the puzzle for those thinking about pre-ordering.

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If you’re new to the series, you might want to try out Ground Zeroes before you buy The Phantom Pain. Not just for the story elements but for the gameplay as well. Metal Gear Solid 5 might become one of the best games of the year but it won’t be for everyone and you’ll want to be sure that it suits your style before ordering the The Phantom Pain.

If you own an Xbox and you have an Xbox Live Gold account, you can download the game for free during the month of August. If you own a PS4 or PS3, you’ll need to shell out a little money. (Note: If you pre-order Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain through Steam, you’ll get Ground Zeroes for free.)

If you don’t want to buy Ground Zeroes or if you’ve played it and still can’t make up your mind about a pre-order, you should wait for Metal Gear Solid 5 reviews to come out. Reviews typically arrive a few days before or on the release date itself. So be on the lookout in late August and early September.

There Are Deals

If you don’t want to pay full price for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, you don’t have to. There are several Metal Gear Solid 5 deals out there though only a few of them knock the price of the game down from its $60 perch.

Best Buy Gamers Club Unlocked members can enjoy the usual 20% discount. That drops the price of the game to $48 across all platforms. If you’re not part of the GCU program, you can still get $10 in Best Buy rewards if you pre-order the game ahead of its release. If you do a lot of shopping at Best Buy, this might be worth it.

There are two other deals that we outline below. A deal through NVIDIA that will net you a free copy of the game and a deal through Microsoft that gets you some extra spending money for the Xbox Store.

If you want the best Metal Gear Solid 5 deals, you may not want to pre-order. The best video game deals typically come after release and not before. And with Black Friday and the holidays coming up, you might want to sit back and wait for retailers to drop the price of the game. It’s bound to happen.

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If you’re looking to pre-order Metal Gear Solid 5 Collectors Edition, you should know that you’re going to run into some problems.

The game is currently sold out at most retailers and while we’ve seen Walmart issue new stock online, that stock usually dries up within a few minutes. If you’re willing to pay more than $99 for the game, you can buy it through resellers on Ebay. There, the asking price is around $150.

We’re not expecting this game to come back into stock ahead of its release date so you’ll want to be absolutely sure about this bundle before buying. You won’t want to waste any money.

Important PC Metal Gear Solid 5 Release Details

If you’re planning to buy the Metal Gear Solid 5 on PC, there are a few important details that you need to know about.

First, know that the release date has been moved up. The PC release was originally scheduled for September 15th but Konami has moved it up to September 1st along with the PS3, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.

You’ll also want to look into the minimum and recommended requirements. If you haven’t seen them yet, you’ll want to commit them to memory:

MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7×64, Windows 8×64 (64-bit OS Required)
Processor: Intel Core i5-4460 (3.40 GHz) or better; Quad-core or better
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) or better (DirectX 11 card Required)
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 28 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 7×64, Windows 8×64 (64-bit OS Required)
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 (3.60GHz) or better; Quad-core or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (DirectX 11 graphic card required)
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 28 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card (Surround Sound 5.1)

If you don’t meet the minimum requirements, you’ll want to think about upgrading your computer or buying a copy for console instead.

It’s also worth mentioning that it’s still not clear if the company will deliver Windows 10 support in time for the game’s release date. The company is apparently looking into post-release patches though it says basic performance should be on par with previous versions of Windows. Something to keep in mind if you already made the move to Windows 10.

Digital vs. Physical

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain comes in two flavors. A physical copy that comes with a disc and a virtual copy that doesn’t. There are pros and cons of each.

If you buy the physical version of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, you’ll be able to sell it after you’re done or share it with a friend. That’s a huge plus for those of you that don’t typically revisit games after playing them to completion.

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If you buy digital, you’ll cut down on the clutter in your game room, and you’ll also be able to pre-load the game so that you can play it right away at midnight on September 1st provided you own a PlayStation or Xbox. If you don’t own a console, you’re not going to be able to pre-load the game.

Today, Konami confirmed that you will not be able to pre-load the PC version of Metal Gear Solid 5 ahead of its release in September. If you want to play it right when it comes out, you’ll need to stay up until Midnight EST to start downloading/installing the files in order to play.

Choose Your Pre-Order Carefully

And finally, you’ll want to pick the right place to pre-order. If you’re still on the fence about the game, or money is tight, you should pre-order from a retailer like Amazon. Amazon won’t charge you until the game ships. That way, you can make sure you have enough money saved.

You’ll also want to look into the timing of your pre-order. If you want to play the game the second it comes out, you won’t want to order a physical version from a place like Amazon. It won’t come until the next day. Instead, you should opt for the PS4 or PS3 digital code.

If you’ve bought video games before, you already knew this. If you don’t buy games on a regular basis, you’ll want to keep this in mind for the future.

Metal Gear Solid 5 Release Date: 10 Important Details

Metal Gear Solid 5 Deals

Metal Gear Solid 5 Deals

If you still haven't pre-ordered a copy of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and you own an Xbox, know that Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is available for free for Xbox Live Gold Members.

The game is the first part of the Metal Gear Solid 5 series and if you're not sure about a Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain pre-order, it might be worth a download. 

There are also a number of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain deals floating around ahead of the game's release date. 

Best Buy is offering two deals. One is for My Best Buy members and it nets them $10 in Best Buy Rewards if you pre-order the game. The retailer is also offering the game to those in the Gamers Club Unlocked program. Those in GCU can get the game for $48. 

Microsoft's also offering a deal that will give pre-orderers a $10 Xbox gift card digital code within 10 days after the game's release on September 1st. 

NVIDIA is also offering a free copy of the PC Metal Gear Solid 5 if you purchase a qualifying graphics card. In order to qualify, you'll need to pick up a a GeForce GTX 980 Ti, 980, 970, or 960 GPU or 980/970M notebook.

Those deals are static. We've also seen some other deals floating around (including one recent one at Dell) that knocked the price down. If you're not looking to pay full price, you'll want to keep your eyes peeled for deals as we get closer to the release date. 

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Shanden

    08/20/2015 at 7:14 pm

    note, that the game MGSV GS was free last month for ps4. So if you where like most of us, you didn’t put out a single buck.

    • Shanden

      08/20/2015 at 7:15 pm

      miss type “GZ”

  2. Robin Cripe

    08/31/2015 at 4:22 pm

    5 things you should know before you pre-order Metal Gear Solid 5:
    1. Don’t pre-order
    2. Don’t pre-order
    3. Don’t pre-order
    4. Pre-order culture is a cancer on the video game industry
    5. Don’t pre-order

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