[nabs]

90-Minute MGS4 Cut-Scenes A "Gross Exaggeration"

HA! We are vindicated once again. You may recall when the whole 90-minute MGS4 cut-scene rumor started, and as you can see in that first article, we questioned its validity. Personally, I've seen gamers and even critics over-exaggerating the length of cut-scenes for years, and it's only because of psychology: when our gameplay is interrupted, the interruption always seems to last a lot longer than it really does. This is why people were claiming games like Xenosaga had hour-long cut-scenes all the time, when in fact, the average length was about 15 minutes. It also doesn't help that certain gamers have the attention span of a gnat.

I assumed this phenomenon had taken place again with this rumor, and it seems I was right. After PSW and EDGE claimed there were 90-minute cut-scenes in MSG4, assistant producer Ryan Payton has come forth to completely shoot down this rumor. Here's what he told Kotaku:

I'm surprised nobody has stepped forward to debunk this rumor. There are no 90 minute cutscenes in MGS4. The ending is long, but 90 minutes is a gross exaggeration.

Bingo. We're certain there are going to be some very long cut-scenes in this game, and the ending may even creep close to 45 minutes or an hour or so. But when the rumors began to swirl that multiple cut-scenes lasted an hour and a half, I had to hearken back to the days when some of the insanely ignorant were calling Final Fantasy games "movies," and that they'd rather "play than watch." ...considering FFs take about 40-50 hours to beat, and considering not a one held more than a couple hours of cut-scenes total, this was the type of exaggeration that drove me nuts. It was going to happen again with MGS4, but thankfully, we have a clarification. Thank you, Mr. Payton!