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10 Metal Gear Solid 5 Release Date Tips

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The Metal Gear Solid 5 release date for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC is just a few short hours away. With the release on the horizon, we want to provide you with a release date tips that should help those of you that already bought the game and those who are on the fence.

Earlier this year, Konami confirmed the Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain release date for September 1st. The game is the follow-up to last year’s Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and it once again puts players into the shoes of Big Boss. It’s a game that we, and many others, have been looking forward to for some time.

The game has already received critical acclaim with some sites rating it a ten out of ten on their rating scale. The score is reserved for the best of the best and it looks like Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain will find itself amongst the best video game of all time. Naturally, there’s a ton of excitement in the air ahead of its arrival.

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With a Metal Gear Solid 5 release date just hours away, we want to arm you with some release date tips that will help those of you that have already ordered and those of you who are thinking about adding this game to your collection of Xbox, PlayStation or Windows games. These are our Metal Gear Solid 5 release date tips.

You Can Still Pre-Order

As a reminder, there are a few reasons why you might want to put in a Metal Gear Solid 5 pre-order. You can still put in a pre-order today so you’ll want to decide if the perks are worth it.

The Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain pre-order comes with several notable bonuses including a physical map and a special handgun. They are in-game items. And while they’re nice additions, they aren’t required to beat the game so you’ll want to be absolutely sure that you need them.

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There’s also a Metal Gear Solid 5 Collectors Edition though retailers appear to be sold out ahead of the game’s release date. The Collectors Edition comes with a number of bonuses including a Half Scale Replica of Snake’s Bionic Arm. It normally costs $100 but since it’s sold out, resellers are asking for $150 or more.

If you want the Collectors Edition tomorrow, you’ll have to pay a premium. If you wait, the price might fluctuate a little bit though it could go up rather than down so you’ll want to keep your eyes on the market if you’re unable to find a pre-order or don’t want to spend more than $100.

Pre-Load Now

If you’ve already bought a digital copy of the Xbox or PlayStation version of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, you should pre-load it right now so that you can play at midnight (9PM PST) today. Both Microsoft and Sony are allowing pre-loads and it’s one of the benefits of a digital pre-order.

If you bought the PC version of the game, note that there is no way to pre-load. Instead of a pre-load, you’ll have to wait until midnight EST to download and install the game on your computer. If you don’t want to deal with staying up late and the potential for download problems, we recommend waiting until tomorrow. Installing during non-peak hours could help.

It’s also worth noting that the PC version of the game reportedly features a Steam installer on the game disc rather than the actual game itself.

Midnight Release

If you didn’t buy the game digitally and you want a copy as soon as humanly possible, you’ll need to look into the game’s midnight release.

GameStop is holding midnight launch events at select locations. Key word, “select.” In other words, you’ll want to call ahead today to make sure that your local store is holding one. If it is, you might be able to pick up the game later on today so that you can play it until the wee hours of the morning. Select Walmart locations will be open as well but again, make sure to call ahead.

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It looks like GameStop is the only one doing this. Best Buy hasn’t confirmed a Midnight Release so if you pre-ordered through its channels, you’ll have to wait until the sun comes up tomorrow.

Download the Companion App

If you’ve already bought the game, make sure you download the companion application. The app isn’t available for the PC or Xbox 360 but those of you with a PS4, PS3 or Xbox One can take advantage of it.

It’s not necessary to beat the game but it could help you in your travels as it provides a real-time look at mission intel as you play the game.

Free Up Space Now

If you plan to play the game on its release date, you’ll want to set aside some time to install Metal Gear Solid 5. This way, you’ll be able to properly deal with and wait out download and installation problems if they occur.

Konami says that the game will need 27GB of free space on the Xbox One and PS4 and just 12.5GB of space on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Over a fast connection, it shouldn’t take too long to download. If you have a slower connection though, you’ll want to put aside some extra time.

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You’ll also want to start figuring out the storage situation on your console. If you’re tight on space, you’ll want to start looking into ways to free some of it up in time for the release date. For those of you that don’t own an external hard drive, this could get a little tricky so start preparing right now.

We highly recommend buying an external hard drive, especially if you plan to buy a ton of titles this year. Other games like Fallout 4 should require a ton of free space as well.

Prepare for Metal Gear Solid 5 Problems

Konami has done a ton of testing ahead of the game’s release but Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is a massive and complex game so problems are bound to pop up in the days, weeks and months ahead.

The companies involved aren’t going to forget about this game once it hits shelves. Rather, we should see the developers provide support for it for the long haul. This is a big game and a special one and it won’t be abandoned anytime soon.

You will, however, have to remain patient. Fixes typically don’t come overnight. It could be days or even weeks before we see Konami release the game’s first patch for critical issues. If you do see a problem, point it out to Konami (or even Kojima) on social media.

If you don’t want to deal with some initial hiccups, we recommend waiting a few weeks for the company to iron out the initial bugs and problems. We should see the game start to stabilize over the next few weeks as the developer continues its testing and gathers feedback from players.

Keep an Eye on the Forums

Make sure you keep an eye on Metal Gear Solid 5 forums and the Metal Gear Solid Reddit. We recommend doing this for a few different reasons.

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One, users might be able to provide you with a temporary (or permanent fix) for your Metal Gear Solid 5 problem. And two, users will almost certainly provide their own feedback about the game.

If you’re on the fence about buying it, you’ll want to dig through feedback from Metal Gear Solid fans and feedback from average gamers.

Read Metal Gear Solid 5 Reviews

We also recommend digging into Metal Gear Solid 5 reviews from critics, especially if you’re trying to decide between a pre-order or waiting.

It’s very rare that we see sites like IGN and GameSpot give out perfect ratings for a game. Both of these sites, and a number of other critics, have given the game high scores. And while those make it worthy of consideration, it still might not be the right game for you.

Dig into critics reviews and watch gameplay videos that pop up in the next 24 hours. If you can’t decide, wait. You’ll be able to gather more feedback and you’ll probably be able to get the game for cheap.

Current Metal Gear Solid 5 Deals

If you’re planning to buy the game today or soon, you’ll want to take a look at Metal Gear Solid 5 deals.

Best Buy’s pre-order deal will net you $10 in Best Buy Rewards. The retailer is also offering the game to those in the Gamers Club Unlocked program though you’ll need to pay a membership fee if you want to take 20% off the game.

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Microsoft is currently offering a pre-order deal that nets you a $10 Xbox gift card digital code within 10 days after the game’s release. And for a limited time, NVIDIA is offering a free copy of the PC Metal Gear Solid 5 if you purchase a qualifying graphics card.

If you have a bunch of old games lying around, you’ll want to take a look at Best Buy’s trade-in offer as it’s offering a 30% trade-in bonus.

If You Want the Best Deals, Wait

If you’re not interested in any of those, you’ll have to wait.

We don’t expect to see huge price cuts emerge in and around the release date, especially with the game receiving top notch reviews.

If you’re looking to score a major Metal Gear Solid 5 deal, you’ll want to hold out for a few weeks as the smoke around the release starts to settle. We tend to see price cuts emerge a few months after release and with Black Friday coming up, we should see a number of offers emerge.

If you’re on the fence about the game or simply want to save some money, we’d hold out for a bit.

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. 

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