Once again, those of you out there who were clicking your heels together with ruby slippers wishing for your copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 for the 360 will once again be disappointed. HMV is actually not offering preorders of the game.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, an admin was responsible for creating this mess. “In his enthusiasm, one of our online games team indicated that hmv.co.uk would start taking pre-orders for MGS4 on Xbox 360, when, in fact, he simply meant to ask customers if they wished to receive an alert in the event of this title one day coming out on this platform,” the HMV retailer told GamesIndustry.biz.

As you know, we have covered quite a bit of the confusion surrounding the idea that this could happen, the past rumors have died, and so has this one.

via GamesIndustry.biz

Alright Konami, you win. We surrender. Metal Gear Solid looks to be everything we thought it could be. Between the recent gameplay footage, and these amazing screenshots, it seems you have made something less like a game and more near liquid awesome. PS3 or Xbox 360, we don’t really care at this point. When it comes out, we will buy it, offering our pithy sacrifices to the visual masters behind this developer.

See the rest of these amazing screens below:
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MGS 4: Guns of the Patriots Gameplay Trailer
Last night, Hideo Kojima gave a 15-minute gameplay demonstration for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. As you can see, a lot has changed from previous games in the series. Almost every move shown off has never been in a Metal Gear Solid game before. As many people requested, the camera can now move more freely by using the right analog stick, and there’s a new over-the-shoulder view for quick aiming (similar to Splinter Cell and Resident Evil 4, respectively). This time around, instead of switching between different camo suits, Snake’s suit can be activated to mimic the textures around him. Snake can also (finally) take enemies’ weapons and even frisk them for additional supplies. And after all the talk from Snake about being “on the battlefield,” he’s being thrown into the middle of an actual war zone, where he can influence the outcome of the battles.

I said it after E3, and I’ll say it again: Hideo Kojima just sold me a PS3.

There’s nothing quite like a good rumor, and usually good rumors never die. Like Elvis Presley being alive, for instance.

And of course, so many people want to see Metal Gear Solid 4 come out on the Xbox 360. While there’s still no confirmation, Xbox Fanboy caught wind of just enough to make them release this post about the possibility of the port becoming reality. It’s so frustrating.

You know what we need? We need universal translator for all games. That way we wouldn’t need to care about rumors like these, and we could go on with our lives knowing we could play any game we wanted, no matter what system had exclusive rights to it. Of course, I guess that would kill the whole idea of exclusivity.

Metal Gear fans breathed a sigh of relief today as the Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay was finally premiered by Hideo Kojima. This was the first time anyone had seen the gameplay on the PS3 hardware.

According to 1up.com, the audience got to see Snake using his camo suit to disguise himself as a bronze statue, as well as hide in barrels and trash cans. And now you don’t even have to blow your cover to disable the enemy. Snake was seen knocking soldiers down while rolling around in the barrel.

The most exciting part is that an online multiplayer mode will be included in the game, and more details will be announced next week.

Oh, and the most interesting tidbit was Snake “reviving” himself as he is given a female idol magazine. Is this a masturbation reference?

There was much mystery surrounding Konami’s press conference announcement today but as Mark Franklin took the stage there was little hint of what was to come. Initially the company began with the expected – two new DDR titles (Wii and 360) and a next gen entry to the popular Silent Hill series. Interestingly this Silent Hill seems to take a far more active character to the fray in the haunted locale – centering on Alex a former military man who is searching for his brother.

The military character is a break in the series. Silent Hill has always centered on showing the every-person in a dangerous situation reacting to the events in the psychological town. Also it is being developed by Westerners, not Konami in Japan so we’ll have to wait for more information to see how the story develops.

Other titles announced include Hellboy, Contra 4 for DS, Dracula X Chronicles and Silent Hill Origins for PSP,

Hideo Kojima took the stage moments after the general announcements and the crowd exploded. Then the same trailer shown at the Sony event earlier today for MGS4 rolled. Yes, it is the last Kojima MGS game. Yes, it is delayed. Yes, it is still PS3 exclusive at the launch of the title. Oh and Kojima wants the old E3 back, he says this year is all business and boring.

So what was the big mystery? Silent Hill 5. As psyched about this as I might be it doesn’t have as much impact as the build up insinuated.

MGS 4: Guns of the Patriots E3 2007 Trailer

Earlier in the day, we covered Metal Gear Solid 4’s presence during Sony’s press conference at E3 2007. Well now we actually have the brand new trailer that director Hideo Kojima unveiled at that show. As you can see, it’s nothing short of amazing. Kojima also promised that he would reveal some actual gameplay footage next week, so keep your eyes open for that.

The Sony conference has just ended and not surprisingly a sizable chunk of the show was devoted to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Hideo Kojima, the famed director of the series, took the stage to discuss the game and unveil a new trailer, along with a tentative release date of “Early 2008.” We should have the trailer up here soon, but it mostly revealed some more of the story with the usual vague references and foreshadowing. Unfortunately, the trailer did not have any gameplay footage — just a cut scene — but Kojima stressed that he would be showing off a demo in Tokyo next week. It seems the plot will revolve around Snake and some pals (including Meryl from MGS1) being hired to assassinate Liquid, who of course seems to have taken over Revolver Ocelot’s body entirely. There was also a surreal fight scene between a ninjafied Raiden and Vlad from MGS2, in which they both get horribly sliced up and broken, but still continue fighting. One noteworthy surprise during this scene too was at one point when Raiden slashes off the leg of a smaller Metal Gear, exposing flesh and blood. Be sure to check back here to see the trailer; it seriously gave me chills.

Sadly, Kojima also made the announcement that this game will end the story of Solid Snake, and that it will be the last game from him in the series. I doubt this is the last we’ve heard of him in the gaming world, but it’s still unfortunate to lose such an influential visionary from the ground-breaking franchise.

Over on Wired, Chris Kohler has posted a blog in reference to the exclusives that Sony has lost to the Xbox 360 and the Wii. He refrained from listing franchises exclusive to Sony systems that now have Xbox versions, because it was not relevant to the article and I understand his reasoning. I have posted the list of titles that are no longer exclusive, and with E3 looming we can only guess at how many other publishers and devs will also jump ship.

1. Grand Theft Auto IV – PS3 & Xbox 360
2. Assassin’s Creed – PS3 & Xbox 360
3. Devil May Cry IV – Multi-platform
4. Virtua Fighter 5 - PS3 & Xbox 360
5. Beautiful Katamari – Supposedly an Xbox 360 ONLY, but we have heard that it is possibly in the works for the Wii
6. Fatal Inertia – Xbox 360 Exclusive (made by the same developers as Bladestorm which may also be a possible PS3 no-no)

Chris goes on to say that it would not be in the realm of fantasy for Metal Gear Solid 4 or FF XIII to go mutli-platform as well, considering that Konami has done it before with Twin Snakes and Substance. He also mentions that Square Enix (FF XIII) is not blind to market changes.

Whether Sony loses more exclusives remains to be seen. Like I mentioned earlier, E3 is just around the corner so we should not be too surprised if we hear of more deserters in the next week or two. Does this spell the end of title exclusivity for consoles? Personally I do not believe it does – Microsoft has too much sway in the computer and gaming industry to never receive an exclusive from a dev other than themselves, and Nintendo can always rely on their own development team. Mario and Zelda still hold sway with a lot of gamers, and the Wii is gaining tremendous momentum.

As for Sony – give the PS3 some more time, get developers that can figure out how to build a game using Unreal Engine 3, lower the console price, and the PS3 will be just as huge as the PS2 was and still is – eventually.

There are moments when it looks like the PS3 is going to shine. This is definitely one of those moments.

I have to be honest–I really do want a Playstation 3. The truth is that I’m not willing to spend the money on it, but this new trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 looks amazing.

The cinematics and production value for video games has increased impressively over the years, and this is a shining example of how far games have come. And being a film buff, I’d have to say I love it.