Version 2.0
Released: May, 2005

After the initial five months run of Version 1, the TUS staff came to the decision of rereleasing the site with an all new design and an automated news system, to make updating and posting news lot easier. This initial plan set Pavel off to experiment with numerous of design ideas for version 2.

After the preliminary planning and experimenting, the finalized design was made from scratch, and was scheduled for March 2005 release. Unfortunately, unexpected delays caused the re-launch to actually happen in May. The newly added news system was a noticeable update in the design, which allowed every TUS staff member to add news effortlessness. Another prominent feature that received acclaim from the visitors was the huge image gallery that consisted of thousands of images dealing with Hideo Kojima games. Rest of the website sections sadly never got completed apart from the news and the few feature articles. Only the large media gallery, up-to-date news and the forum kept the visitors coming and TUS alive.

This period was clearly a low point in MGS: The Unofficial Site history, with the Pavel's and Ramesh’s plans of leaving the website, the unfinished and almost empty sections & pages on the site and the major depressing event... the tragic death of Mitch that occurred in the beginning of 2006.

Mitch’s death caused a lot of commotion and bought public’s attention towards TUS. This public attention was generated because of the slanderous lies of certain news agencies that manipulated details surrounding Mitch’s death to create sensational news. The whole ordeal got even worst when the infamous lawyer, Jack Thompson made a public announcement that demoralized and insulted every video gamer and close friend to Mitch. Some major new agencies even went as far as to suggest TUS was secretly a website for suciders. During the same period, MGS: The Unofficial Site was closed down by it’s host for almost three weeks because of a certain government organization’s inquires regarding TUS’s content.

Soon this misunderstanding was cleared up and put behind us, thanks to the support and help from gamers all around the world, not just metal gear fans. Their dedication helped spread the truth to everyone in the gaming community, which in turn caused the news agencies to take notice and correct their false news and mistakes. With the worst behind them, the TUS staff went back to work on the site and renewed their old Konami contacts, which ultimately got TUS official Kojima Productions recognition.

The high point of version 2 history happened during E3 2006, when one of the TUS staff members, Ryan (alias “Nitroid”) was able to go to E3 thanks to the tremendous amount of donations from the visitors. He was able to represent the TUS staff by meeting many key figures of Kojima Productions like Hideo Kojima, Ken Imaizumi and Ryan Payton.
With the hype for Metal Gear Solid 4 and the recent assurance by Kojima Productions that they care for TUS, the staff decided to make a completely new version of the site that will include all the promised features that were never delivered with version 2. This redesign idea came out of discussions between staff members on how to finish version 2 pages and fill up content. They came to the conclusion that the best way to get a fresh start and forget the dark past was to replace version 2 with a more colorful and original design, that’s also practical for updating and adding content to.