Oh Metal Gear Online, where did it all go wrong? Well, Kojima has a pretty good idea. Still, Konami hasn't given up on its multiplayer extension of MGS4, revealing a second major content update, the "Meme Expansion," which will be featured at TGS next week.

Included in the expansion are three new maps: Silo Sunset (from Portable Ops), Forest Firefight and Winter Warehouse. In addition, Liquid Ocelot and Mei Ling will be added to the perpetual battlefield. The Meme Expansion has yet to be priced and dated.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

In anticipation of next week's E3 Media and Business Summit, we've prepared bingo cards for each of the big press conferences, filled with some likely (and some not-so-likely) predictions for what each of the big three console makers intends to announce at arguably the biggest trade shows of the year.

Today's card is for Microsoft (special thanks to X3F). We're going out on a limb and giving Avatars away as the free space. Click on each of the slides above for more information about our predictions. Microsoft's E3 press conference is scheduled for next Monday at 10:30 am PT (that's 1:30 pm Joystiq Time / ET). As always, we'll be liveblogging the event, so you can play along in real-time with us.

Stay tuned for more press conference bingo cards in the days leading up to the conference. (Also: check out our bingo card for Sony's press conference.)

Download a copy (PNG file) and play along!

Update: Only hours after we post this ... N2, you hit my battleship!

Metal Gear Solid 4 may be in the can, but development of Metal Gear Online continues. When we last spoke with Kojima Productions associate producer Ryan Payton, he confirmed that the MGO team would be busy for some time expanding and patching the multiplayer Metal Gear experience. Today July 4 saw the release of one of the fruits of its labor: a new game mode.

Called "Team Sneaking," the mode is similar to "Sneaking" in that one team – not just Snake as in the latter mode's case – is invisible until detected and must hide from the opposing team until the Caution expires. The sneaking team also has an objective to complete inside their opponents' base.

Today's update also adds a "Headshots Only" option for game hosts. As the name implies, games with this modifier will only reward points for headshots. (Kills from shots to the body will actually subtract points from players' scores.) The update is live now and free of charge. Just fire up MGS4, head into MGO, and you're good to "Go! Go! Go!"

Grand Theft Auto IV? 10! Halo 3? 10! The Orange Box? 10! And Metal Gear Solid 4? 10, of course! The UK's Official PlayStation Magazine has given Snake's stealthy send-off full marks, sticking a nice, round "10" at the end of a lengthy justification. "Ultimately, this is a game for fans -- and you should be one," writes Paul Fitzpatrick. "As for Snake? It turns out his last stand really is his finest hour."

Yes, we know. "No game is perfect!" You're right. "10 doesn't necessarily mean perfect!" That's true. "The promise of next-generation technology is finally paying off with increasingly immersive, detailed and hitherto impossible experiences!" Could be. "Snake's last stand is only an hour long wtf?!" Okay, you are an idiot.

We can't wait for more reviews to roll in, if only to see further evidence of Kojima stubbornly sticking to his comically over-the-top guns. You can cry about cutscenes all you want, but the man is finishing his story.

We've got three extra Metal Gear Online beta codes and we'd really like to share them with you. Not you ... you! Follow these five, deceptively simple rules to enter and see if we're talking to you:

• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling us your favorite made-up Metal Gear Solid character (we like Plasma Snake, he's neither Solid nor Liquid ...)
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec -- sorry folks, but there's no French Canadian Snake).
• Limit 1 entry per person (or you'll be banned).
  
• This entry period ends at 8:00pm ET on Wednesday, April 30th. We'll randomly select the winners at that time (please check your email!).
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

If you spent your entire weekend sneaking through Blood Bath and Gronznyj Grad, Metal Gear Online's first two levels, you may be ready for a change of scenery. Introducing Midtown Maelstrom, a Middle-Eastern town full of narrow alleyways. Maybe you're also looking for something new to do, as long as you've got a new map.

Sneaking Mission is the name of the newly added game mode and here's how it works: one lucky player will be chosen to play as Solid Snake himself – replete with OctoCamo, Solid Eye and, if more than ten players join, another player will help snake out as Metal Gear Mk II – while the remainder of the less fortunate players will be divided into Red and Blue teams. In order for Snake to win, he must snag a set number of tags from other players; for either team to win, they must take out Snake within a set time. Not a bad way to celebrate three stable days of the Metal Gear Online beta, eh?

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Quick! Boot up your Metal Gear Online beta, download that one final patch (it doesn't take too long, we promise) and report for duty. The highly anticipated demo just went live a little earlier than expected (delay notwithstanding) for all territories. You'll need to create a character (fyi: you won't be able to change your name, face, or 'voice') and pick your initial skill set before firing up a match. After a couple unsuccessful attempts, we got into one but conveniently had no idea what to do so we're going to recommend you spend some time training.

Want to play some MGO with your pals at Joystiq? Leave your character name in the comments. To add someone to your MGO-specific friend list select "Personal Data," then "Player Search," enter their name and select "Add to Friend List."

The regrettably delayed Metal Gear Online beta is fast approaching; in fact, with the servers going online in less than a day, it's close enough that we could probably sneak up behind it, snap its neck, and shove it in a locker somewhere. But, before all that, Konami has one (we hope) last patch, to "modify the way in which the beta client connects to their server."

We'd love to tease them and suggest they add more than one "server" but the patch's release note also contained the following apology: "We would like to first offer our most sincere apologies to our customers who had waited eagerly for the start of the 'Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta' test for all the inconvenience and confusion caused thus far." You know what, Konami? We wanted to stay angry with you, but we can't pout at a classy apology like that. We know it's a beta and we know you're taking this opportunity to iron out all the kinks before the real deal starts June 12. But hey, as long as we're still working out the kinks, might we humbly suggest you lose the ridiculous Konami ID + Game ID + PSN ID requirement?

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

There's nothing "quick" about having to register three unique IDs to play the Metal Gear Online beta. But, assuming most would-be participants have already got a PlayStation Network account, the real pre-game obstacle has been the Konami ID and its supplementary Game ID. Since the beta (with its laggard update patch) was released for download last Wednesday, the Konami ID registration site has been a case study in how not to prepare for a traffic spike. Thankfully, the site is now back online with a temporary "quick registration" option for those of you eager to push past the bureaucracies and land in some actual gameplay, um, rather, return to the waiting room...

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Konami has updated the status of the Metal Gear Online beta delay, now listing the "planned" start date and time as: 04/25/2008 24:00 (PDT). "While the start is planned for the weekend, it may change due to unforseen [sic] circumstances," reads an additional warning on the Metal Gear Online teaser site. Sheesh, guess it ain't called a "beta test" for nothin'...

[Thanks, DavidB]

On the eve of its debut, the Metal Gear Online US public beta has gone AWOL. More accurately, Konami has announced that the beta has been delayed due to "extraordinary levels of traffic from all around the globe" causing service problems.

Konami did not give a new starting date for the beta, only to say that more information will be coming tomorrow, April 22. The end date, however, has been pushed back from May 5 to May 11. (Update: fixed date.) For those who need a fix desperately can peep the online manual for the game, including a listing of the 16 skills you can choose from to enhance your stealth killer.

Update: Konami has set a tentative start date and time: 04/25/2008 24:00 (PDT) -- more here!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

[Update: Entry period is over, folks. We're contacting our winner by email, so go check!]

Sure, in Europe the Metal Gear Online "Premiere Beta" is open to any and all who wander into the PlayStation Store beginning, well, right now. But that's just not how we do things here in America! ( ... and Canada.) We prefer our beta testing to be ultra-exclusive. We prefer passing a crisp bill across the counter in exchange for an entry code (and a DVD of some old footage). But, if you've been feeling distinctly un-American (shame on you!) and have failed to pre-order Metal Gear Solid 4, here's your chance to sneak right into the Metal Gear Online beta. Joystiq wants to welcome you to Konami's swanky 14-day parté by giving away one, single, solitary entry code into the beta (just one). Follow these five, deceptively simple rules to enter:

• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment crying out for Snake. (You know, something like: Snake? SNAKE? SNAAAAAKEE??!!)
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec -- sorry folks, but Snake just can't hear you from there).
  
• Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day. (We can only take so much of your yelling.)
  
• This entry period ends at 12:00pm ET on Monday, April 21st. We'll randomly select the winner at that time (please check your email!).
  
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

After double checking our Men of Metal Gear Solid pinup calendar (April is Raiden's month) we thought some of you had gone crazy. The Metal Gear Online beta is live now? Oh no, it couldn't be. You see, it's only the 16th and, as we all know, it won't be available for download until the 17th. But evidently the PSN gatekeepers have let this 741MB download loose a day early so, if you've got a preorder voucher for the beta (see above), you may want to get downloading. Or not ... you still won't be able to snap your buddies' necks until the beta kicks off on April 21.

The US PlayStation Blog has unleashed a massive amount of Metal Gear Online details in preparation for the oncoming beta. The client becomes available for download on April 17, with online play beginning April 21. According to the blog, a Konami ID will be required for play. You can register in the client or go ahead and make one now.

You'll be able to customize your character's appearance extensively, which will likely only deter people for a few minutes from playing as (a now self-made) Solid Snake. Skills in the game will be upgradeable, and you choose four to specialize in. Said the blog, "Close Quarter Combat (CQC), knife fighting, quickness, alertness, heavy weaponry mastery, demolition, and sniper mastery are just some of the skills you can specialize in."

Also revealed are a list of weapons and items you can use in the game, two new sepia-infused maps are also revealed, Blood Bath and Groznyj Grad, and the best idea so far: catapults for launching your character across maps.
[Via PS3 Fanboy]