‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ Says Nuts to Nukes

If you're a veteran of the Metal Gear-verse, you'll have noticed one obvious theme of the games: the whole nukes are bad, mmkay message they've got going on. 1998's Metal Gear Solid taught us that it's fine to fire ballistic missile up big ol' muscular dudes' asses while their backs are turned, and The Phantom Pain shows that's it's a-okay to weaponize horseshit, but nukes? Screw that. Nukes, we do not eff with.

We've got to fear and respect the horrifying power of these weapons, that's the message here. We've got to, y'know, try to stop making huge mecha-weapons of mass destruction to fire them from. Because a studly dude armed only with a cardboard box and some cigarettes will always blow them up in the end. For any megalomaniac, that's time better spent elsewhere.

True enough, the latest Metal Gear release lets you develop nuclear weapons from your multiplayer base of operations. But that's a huge commitment of your resources, and Konami don't really want you to be doing it. Not judging by this spangly new in-game event, they don't.

The Secret Nuclear Disarmament Event is underway right now, and It tasks the community as a whole with getting rid of their nukes. Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC players are being watched separately, and all are trying to get down to zero.

How's it going? Here's Destructoid with the skinny:

‘Ever since the company started counting on November 1st, nuclear stockpiles on all six platforms have dropped dramatically. As of Friday's count, the Xbox 360 leads the charge to peace, with just 65 nukes left in circulation from a high of 1,011, a disarmament rate of almost ninety-five percent. The Xbox One's mere 50 nukes, from 525 at the beginning of the month, is no figure to sneeze at, either. The PS3 and PS4 communities have also boasted impressive disarmament rates, of about 90% and 82%, respectively, despite a larger total number of nukes present.'

It's going well, all told. Hit the link to see how you can take part in the effort yourself.