The Postponed Release of Metal Gear 2

The division head wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully put the weighty MGS2 proposal back into his briefcase, as if he were stowing away a dud shell that could explode at any moment.

"Understood, Executive Director. I'll arrange for it to be sealed in storage immediately."

Watching his subordinate leave, Nakayama Takuya sat back down and rubbed his throbbing temples.

Hideo Kojima was probably going to be depressed for a while, but there was no helping it. At a juncture like this, political correctness mattered more than any AAA blockbuster.

After all, Sega was still draped in the golden mantle of a "disaster-relief hero." That layer of gold dust was worth far more than a few million in sales.

But once he tore his gaze away from that suffocating pile of post-disaster reports, the days on the calendar actually flew by.

Though the country was steeped in a grim atmosphere of "self-restraint," Nakayama Takuya knew full well that the battlefield across the ocean would not wait for anyone.

Less than three months remained until the first E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, to be held in Los Angeles in May.

This was the Interactive Digital Software Association's first major move after breaking away from the CES Consumer Electronics Show to strike out on its own.

Nintendo, Sony, and Sega would clash head-on at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Even the lukewarm 3DO and the half-dead Atari, with its "Cheetah," were coming to join the festivities, since they too were co-founders of the IDSA.

Since they had to play the obedient grandson in the domestic market for now, they would go be the grandfathers in the United States.

Nakayama Takuya tossed that stack of PR documents into the shredder, rose to his feet, and headed for the Development Department.

He needed