We know the news of Metal Gear Solid 4's delay has you down. Hell, you should see the bar tab we rung up after the announcement. Although we'd like to believe we're the most important people to be affected by it, that simply isn't the case. Konami's investors definitely take the cake this time, as they witnessed the company's shares fall 6.8% today, their biggest drop in four years.

You'd have to go back to a year when people still remotely cared about The Matrix Trilogy (2003) to find as large a drop for Konami. According to an analyst Bloomberg spoke with, investors "were active sellers today because of disappointment over the delay." On the bright side, at least spurned gamers aren't liquidating their pre-order portfolio.

HMV admits that a pre-order listing for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on Xbox 360 found on the site over the weekend was an administration error. The listing caused quite a stir over the weekend as the MGS4 rumor that the game will make its way to Xbox 360 just won't die, recently spurred on further by Konami executive statements. What lent the listing a strange twinge of respectability was that the date set for the Xbox 360 version was five months after the expected spring release of the PS3 version, giving Sony that extra time to still use that word "exclusive" which keeps being attached to the game.

HMV says that the error occurred because someone got overexcited and that the company originally wanted to simply "ask customers if they wished to receive an alert in the event of this title one day coming out on this platform." They say they didn't intend to start taking pre-orders. HMV says, "We're sorry to have caused such a stir." So watch out for those HMV listings, when they get excited, games magically appear.

Much of this Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer, embedded above, will seem familiar from previously-shown footage (Tokyo Game Show, E3), but what's noticeable is the graphical upgrade the title has gone through since its last public sighting. Plus, clocking in at 14 minutes, you've got enough espionage intrigue to fill a half-hour TV drama. Grab some popcorn.

Snake? Snaake? Snaaaaaaaaake!?

[Via PS3 Fanboy, PlayFrance]

In celebration of the illustrious franchise's 20th anniversary and in aid of those newcomers who still find themselves saying, "METAL GEAR?!" Konami has revealed plans to re-release every modern Metal Gear title in Japan, beginning with the PlayStation's monumental (and so very awesome) Metal Gear Solid. Other titles sneaking onto store shelves will be the rug-pulling Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, culinary diverse epic Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and the PSP's portable opus, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

IGN notes that the games will be sold seperately, as well as in a Metal Gear Solid Collection package. Unless the included version of Metal Gear Solid 3 contains the feature-laden Subsistence disc, it would seem that the original Metal Gear warranting the celebration in the first place has been left out of the all-important loop -- a situation Snake himself is intimately familiar with. Then again, this is from the same Konami that released The Silent Hill Collection sans, you know, Silent Hill. At the very least, this disregard for roots fuels the hope for a (re)release outside of Japan.

Twenty years after the first Metal Gear game, creator Hideo Kojima is surprised he's sill working on the multimillion-selling series. This and other interesting tidbits came up in a recent interview with Kotaku. Among the relevant bits:

• Kojima reconfirms that Metal Gear Solid 4 is "aimed for the PS3" and won't go multiplatform. He suggests that rumors to the contrary persist "because 360 owners want it on 360, obviously." Take that, 360 fanboys.
• Kojima would like rumble in the new game, but isn't sure the controller technology will be available in time. As of now, the game is being built without rumble support.
  
• Will MGS4 be the last game in the series (as its predecessors were once supposed to be)? "It's really up to the users ... If users want more Metal Gear, then I will probably step up as producer, like the James Bond series does."

Also see: Kojima apologizes for lack of edible koalas in MGS3

This one is a cute April Fool's Day joke, despite Turbine announcing it on Friday, they did give it a dateline of April 1. What Turbine says is that in their upcoming Lord of the Rings Online, you'll meet the Sméorufolc, a version of hobbit who wear caps of white wool. They also have a passion for mushrooms and eating them altered their skin color to blue. Yes, they are Middle-earth Smurfs. The "press release" looks to be full of subtle anagrams and generally playful nonsense. Only a few more hours till Blizzard, a company known for their April Fool's Day jokes, steps up to the plate. What will it be?

On the other end of the cute spectrum, a confirmation of Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Xbox 360. We still can't tell if this was intended as a joke, but VG Resource Center says they have confirmation of MGS4 on the Xbox 360. VGRC claims they have an email from Konami stating, "Yes, in fact, we are working on putting Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Xbox 360 and PC, which should both come out roughly 6 months after the PS3 release. However, we've been working with Microsoft so the 360 and PC versions will both take advantage of Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live, with such features as achievements and the ability for 360 and PC owners to play against each other in multiplayer. I'd love to give you some more details, but this is already pushing it. We are making the big announcement July 11th at this year's E3, so you'll just have to wait until then. Sorry!"

So, the source at Konami acknowledged the game, announced another platform, said it would have Live capabilities, says the big announcement won't be till July 11, puts it all in a perfect quote and then apologizes that they can't give away any more information? Damn, you already gave away the whole cow, what are you apologizing for? We don't need anything else!

As if hearing the collective cries of those tossing and turning in their beds, gripped by the nightmare of having the English Metal Gear Solid 4 cast be comprised of Pauly Shore, Gilbert Gottfried and Macy Gray, comes Konami and their announcement of the game's core voice cast. David Hayter, whose vocal chords can effortlessly grind cinder blocks to dust, unsurprisingly reprises his role of Solid Snake, lending some world weariness to the protagonist as he strangles inept soldiers, babbles into his codec and asks why nobody is telling him the damn truth. (You can sample the man's voice for yourself in the latest Kojima Productions Report podcast.)

Returning as Roy Campbell is Paul Eiding, who will once again regale you with tales of "the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork," as well as mention his unusual and unexpected desire for scissors. Rounding out the core cast is Christopher Randalph playing Hal "Otacon" Emmerich and Quinton Flynn portraying the widely reviled, androgynous nudist-turned-ninja, Raiden.

With Metal Gear Solid 4's over-the-top plot still a closely guarded secret, no other English character voices have been announced. Cam Clarke ("Liquid?") seems a sure bet, as do most of the great actors from the previous games. After all, there's no indication that Hideo Kojima's PS3 game ("so far") will be anything less than an "expertly crafted and customized" experience.

(See? Our clever choice of video still leaves us in the clear in case it's a disappointment.)

[Via press release]

Konami gives us a peek at Japanese toymaker Medicom's Metal Gear Solid 4 Snake figure. Standing at 12-inches tall, the figure is imbued with Medicom's RAH 301 technology, making Snake posable in a variety of realistic body stances. Art director Yoji Shinkawa oversaw production of the figure, which is scheduled to ship in November. Just in time for the game's release, eh?

Source - click on "Metal Gear series" tab, then "Goods Page" under MGS4.

[Thanks, Aaron]

In a recent Gamepro interview, Hideo Kojima makes it clear that his aspirations involve more than just the Playstation 3. The Metal Gear designer notes that he eventually wants to develop for the Wii, the Xbox 360 (he's a fan of Gears of War, you know) and the "world-wide platform" that is the PC. "I want to do it. But our staff, especially the younger ones, don't so much like to work on the PC. If it was PC, we don't have to go into some crappy things with the first parties."

Going by Kojima's earlier steak dinner and movie analogies, we suppose he can now be interpreted as a rabid film critic wandering about town, randomly bursting into houses and demanding delicious steaks. Of course, PC gaming needs to fit in there somewhere -- is it like leveling up your own livestock, shortly before slaughtering it and eating it alone?

Read the interview and make your own conclusions. Watch out for Kojima stating that "MGS4 is actually for the PS3 only so far."

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]

If the latest issue of Japan's Famitsu magazine is to be believed, Konami has quietly cancelled several of their upcoming PS3 and Wii projects. IGN reports that an updated release list for the company has been shortened by no less than six games, one of which was a Playstation 3 version of side-scrolling shooter, Gradius. Of course, since mere absence doesn't confirm outright cancellation, it would be best to treat this as a rumor for now.

One potential explanation is that Konami has now made enough progress on some of these titles (if they were even in development to begin with) to warrant less ambiguous descriptors. If "New Action Game" turned into Castlevania: Polka of Purgatory, the publisher would likely choose a grander announcement than simply having it pop up on a standard release list.

The removed titles are as follows:

• Gradius Series (PS3)
• Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball (PS3)
• New Action Game (PS3)
• New Role Playing Game (PS3)
• New Action Adventure Game 2 (Wii)
• Role Playing Game (Wii)

Games still appearing on the release list include two sports titles, a music game and an "action adventure" for the Wii. Pro Baseball Spirits, Winning Eleven and Metal Gear Solid 4 are also still slated for the PS3.

[Update: This rumor is bogus.]

The rumors that Metal Gear Solid 4 is not a PS3 exclusive continue to snowball. A little over a month ago came the first wave of speculation and the idea even graced the cover of EGM. Fanboys screamed and raged, "Kojima-san owes way too much to Sony to stab them in the back like this, his honour would be tarnished forever and the Japanese care deeply about their honour." Konami's PR simply said, "Metal Gear 4 [sic] is a PS3 title."

Now website Noooz states they have "exclusive" information that MGS4 is coming to Xbox 360. We spoke directly with the editor of Noooz, Daniel Boutros, who has been around the industry for a good bit. He says his source for the information is quite high up, "I rarely run with anything unless I'm 100% confident. I rarely break news stories as you can see." He jokes that from now on he's sticking to opinion pieces after the storm of comments his site received.

Boutros' source says that MGS4 will be coming to the Xbox 360 shortly after the PS3 release. The source says Konami is concerned that there will still not be enough PS3 units out there to make the game profitable. This is the same rationale being used by many publishers, including Ubisoft, to jump off the exclusive bandwagon. Somebody has to pay the bills and the wider the net, the more money publishers will make. We, along with probably everyone else, will be following up with Konami and Microsoft for comment tomorrow. This story isn't going away until somebody sneaks up on it from behind, chokes it senseless and drags it into a storage locker.

[Thank you to all the people who sent this in]

Our must-see-Tokyo Game Show list of videos delivers a jab straight to your optic core. This year's standouts are embedded after the jump. Click the links for larger and downloadable versions.

Tell us what your favorites were from the show and we'll add 'em to the lineup.

What can we say? Every time a new video of Metal Gear Solid 4 pops up, our mouths get all watery with anticipation for this game. This latest trailer captured from the show floor at Leipzig is no different.

Check out the video for yourself and prepare to dissect every detail. Even though it's only three minutes this time, it's a delicious three minutes. What's funny, though, is that you can hear some Sonic ring collecting in the background.

If you're interested in developing the online gameplay of Metal Gear Solid 4 or Metal Gear: Portable Ops, and not getting paid isn't a concern*, now's your chance -- join the 'improvemgsonline' club at 1up.com. You'll be able to vote in polls and post your gameplay ideas, which theoretically, could be chosen by Kojima Productions. There's already a plethora of suggestions blossoming on the forum, so you best get those 'gears' in motion!

*Technically, you could receive exclusive Metal Gear Solid wallpapers.

Metal Gear Solid creator, Hideo Kojima, has already ruled out Uwe Boll ("it's impossible") as a directorial candidate of a possible cinematic adaptation of the celebrated series, without confirming that such a project was even under way ... until now, that is. Gamespot reports that the Kojima Productions spoof of the E3 Show Daily, dubbed "Show Maybe," teases, "In a late-breaking surprise announcement, director Hideo Kojima revealed that his most famous creation -- Metal Gear Solid -- is getting the live-action treatment."

On the back page Kojima writes, "I have received many offers to adapt Metal Gear Solid. It has taken a long time, but we have finally settled on an arrangement ... False facts aside, a movie project is underway. I have finalized a Class-A contract with a party in Hollywood." Now that the cat's out of the bag, expect periodic updates leading up to the 2007 release of Metal Gear Solid 4. Who's directing? Whose starring? For once, fans can't complain about lengthy cut scenes!