It is easy to hate on Konami now a days as they have seemingly abandoned or mishandled most of their gaming IP over the past few years. Along with the public issues with Hideo Kojima a few years back, their reputation as a company in the gaming world is somewhat sour, to say the least.
Still, credit where it's due when Konami does give back to gamers in their own unique way, and in this case, I see nothing wrong with investing in a Biometric company to help reproduce bionic arms for real-life amputees.
Yes, you read that right. Konami, teaming up with the company Open Biotics, has released a practical-working version of the Metal Gear Solid 'Venom Snake' bionic arm for real-life below-elbow amputees. The Venom Snake version is a cover for the standard 'Hero Arm' that Open Bionics has created, a flexible and affordable multi-grip bionic arm for both adults and children.
Venom Snake was the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, itself a game that featured a character who was an amputee, given a bionic arm equipped with multiple gadgets and weapons. The real-life version, of course, lacks the weaponry, but is still an impressive piece of ingenuity in the Hero Arm design philosophy of Open Bionics.
The first person given the Metal Gear Solid design was Daniel Melville, a 29-year-old from Reading, U.K. Melville is a fan of the Metal Gear Solid series, and despite being born without his right hand, he has been able to live a normal life for a long time.
“This is unbelievable." said Melville in a short quote on the Open Bionics website. "It’s everything I’ve ever wanted from a bionic arm. I’m an avid gamer and love Metal Gear Solid so much and to actually have Snake’s arm in real life is just insane.”
"We’re incredibly excited to collaborate with Open Bionics, who are at the cutting edge of robotics." stated Konami president Takayuki Kubo. "We’re thrilled to see the iconic Metal Gear aesthetic of Venom Snake and his bionic arm burst out of the screen and come to life, in a dynamic fusion of technology and design that is changing the lives of upper limb amputees all over the world.”
The Metal Gear Solid cover option is available on the Open Bionics website, as is their entire Hero Arm line of bionic arms.
