At this moment, some lucky bastards are playing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in their living room simply because their local game store sold the game early. A Konami spokesperson spoke on this matter:

Unfortunately, these things happen. As much as we like see that no one breaks streets dates, no one can monitor every single moment that a title gets packed up for shipment and when its on its way to the stores… The store could be at fault as well, for letting someone get a copy before the street date.

We haven’t got much longer to wait anyway. It’s only three more days after today.

[Konami Talks MGS4's Early "Release"]

Someone over at NeoGAF has posted the install times for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It seems it will install between chapters. The breakdown below.

8 Minutes = first install, when you start the game.

Then before each act, the time it takes to install is as follows

Act 2 – 3 mins
Act 3 – 3 mins
Act 4 – 2 mins
Act 5 – 1 min

And thanks to GameStop, we know that the total disk space required is 4600MB.

[NeoGAF]

Hideo Kojima really seems to like his PLAYSTATION 3 hardware choice. In a codec call in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Otacon tells Snake that it is time to switch to disc two, but then realizes they are on a PLAYSTATION 3 and there is no need for it since it is a Blu-Ray disc. Nice one Kojima!

At E3 2006, the first sight of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots stunned the world. A new comparison video shows the 2006 video compared to the video this year, 2008. The new video has much more detail, effects, and less piss green. Enjoy!

We envied Ed from GADGET MADNESS!!! when he received his Metal Gear Solid 4 official headset in the mail. When we were watching his review, those feelings changed. While the headset is sleek and sexy, the audio quality basically sounds like crap. Take a look at the video to see what I’m talking about.

[MGS4 Bluetooth Headset Gets Reviewed]

PlayStationBlog.net have obtained the official copy of the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots guide and have leaked some images online. There aren’t any pieces from the guide about the main mission, but there are some of the weapons and control pages. See them at the link below.

[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots Official Guide Leaked Early!]

Some more images from leaked copies of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots have surfaced today. We aren’t going to say anymore but these images may contain spoilers so view them at your own risk. They are rather nice, for those who view them.

[Leaked MGS4 Screens]

Ryan Payton, Assistant Producer at Kojima Productions stated today that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots buyers will get a special surprise.

“Believe it or not, I’ve been so busy working on a special surprise for MGS4 buyers (that not even those who have leaked copies of the game can spoil! Haha!), that I haven’t had time to catch up on most of the pre-launch excitement.”

So what can the surprise be? Free launch DLC like a new outfit or weapon or something? Oh Ryan, why must you tease!

[So What's Our Metal Gear Solid 4 Surprise?]

Konami have released images today of the European Limited Edition version of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PLAYSTATION 3. The Limited Edition contains, in addition to the game, a making-of Blu-ray disc, the game’s original soundtrack, and a six-inch figurine of Old Snake. Take a look at Old Snake at the jump.

[Old Snake in figurine in Metal GEAR Solid 4] (more »)

A recent IGN interview featured none other than famous Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima. In the interview he says that Metal Gear Solid 4 has been made for those who followed the series the past decade.

“It’s been ten years since Metal Gear Solid was released in the US for the first time,” said the Metal Gear Solid developer. “People who are experiencing Metal Gear Solid for the first time will enjoy it, but it also adds more enjoyment to the people who have followed MGS for ten years, because you can always look back and think about what you were doing ten years ago, or five years ago, and look back to your life, to yourself.

“I want people to play MGS4 and feel what they were doing ten years ago, or four years ago… I’ve chucked all those elements in there, so you could look back to your life, to yourself, so that you can absorb that and go beyond that in the future as well. That’s the part where I emphasise it is for the users. It is for the people who love the Metal Gear series.”

He added: “We finally finished creating the game, and also we got assurance that we can release the game simultaneously worldwide. That’s why overall I said I’m relieved not. But also I’m kind of excited and nervous and how [the game will] be perceived.”

They also speak about including things such as the iPod in the game as well as the Assassin’s Creed costume. View the interview at the jump. [VG247] (more »)

If your still anxious waiting for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to arrive on June 12, 2008, we have you covered. Try checking out the game’s official site. They have some new training missions, narrated by Otocon, that will help you earn DP to unlock downloadables. If you beat all the training missions, you can unlock the full site. It is always something fun to do, even if you are bored.

[MGS4 Official Site] [PS3Fanboy]

Anxious for Metal Gear Solid 4? Dying for new info? Well, then today is your lucky day. The official PlayStation Blog ran an article helping you prepare yourself for the greatness that is Metal Gear Solid 4. The article, titled “Top 12 Tips for MGS4!” is written by none other than one of the members of Piggyback Interactive Limited, the company responsible for writing the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: The Complete Official Guide.

The article goes into detail about 12 accessories/aspects/strategies that the game employs. The list at the jump. (more »)

While Metal Gear Solid 4 has been getting great reviews from early reviewers, Electronic Gaming Monthly became the exception. They didn’t give MGS a bad score, they gave it no score at all.

It was rumored that Konami has said that details about the length of cutscenes, install time, and a number of other quirks must be omitted from early print reviews.

The editors of EGM decided against giving out scores due to “the limitations Konami wanted to impose on our comments.” They instead printed a five-page roundtable discussion instead, one mostly filled with praise but with a few “not quite so excellent” comments such as saying that the control system is not as good as Splinter Cell’s.

Instead, the next issue will contain the review for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots with a score.

[EGM No Score]

Since we were first shown Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots back in E3 2006, the game has made a lot of major improvements. WhiteSharingan of GT Forums has made a topic of character improvement comparisons showing some significant changes in graphics. Hit the link to see the major improvements that you may have never noticed.

[MGS4 Character Improvements Comparison]

YouTube member JesusDosier has managed to upload the entire soundtrack from Kojima’s upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PLAYSTATION 3 onto YouTube. The soundtrack in this game is magnificent and requires more attention than it is getting. Listen to one of the tracks above, and view the rest at the link.

[MGS4 Soundtrack YT]

A lucky gamer has somehow gotten a leaked copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PLAYSTATION 3. He’s posted screenshots of images such as the “Press Start” screen, the main menu (shown on left), and the game’s disc image. They can all be seen at the link, but damn this guy is one lucky bastard.

[Screenshots as promised]

The latest Famitsu featured some new scans of Konami’s upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In the scans, two new characters are revealed: Rosemary and Mailing. They were featured in previous Metal Gear Solid titles. [Thanks Band-Aid!]

You can view the scans by clicking the image on the left.

[Via Japanesy of GT Forums]

Looks like our friends in Korea will not be left in the dark. They are getting that same gunmetal PLAYSTATION 3 bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4, a DUALSHOCK 3, a special Blu-Ray movie, and a 40GB PLAYSTATION 3. View the images at the link.

[Gunmetal for Korea]

The latest issue of LEVEL (issue #26), a German gaming magazine, reviewed the upcoming and highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. What score did they think fit this awesome title? You guessed it! Another perfect 10 out of 10. Kojima does it again.

[Level #26 Review Scores]

According to a GamePro writer who will be reviewing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in their upcoming issue, the game has long cutscenes, but not as long as 90 minutes.

“I’ve beat the game twice, and am the author of the forthcoming [GamePro] review,” Shuman said. “Ninety-minute-long cinemas in MGS4 sounds like an exaggeration. Like the other MGS games, MGS4 definitely has a cinematic quality. And yes, some of the cut-scenes in the game are elaborate and occasionally lengthy. But not a one, to my recollection, even approaches 90 minutes.”

It’s good to hear. I didn’t want to sit there most of my time playing just watching the scenes. For people who don’t care about the story, they have confirmed that cutscenes are skippable.

[GamePro]