Konami today confirmed the North American release date for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and shed light on the game’s online multiplayer options.
First things first: the release date. Konami revealed that the final chapter in Solid Snake’s saga will arrive in North America on June 12. As you likely know, the game will ship exclusively for the PlayStation 3.
Konami also confirmed today that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will launch with the Metal Gear Online “Starter Pack” to support online gameplay. In addition to the single-player experience, this will let gamers take the action online with up to 16 players who will “battle it out using the latest weapons and stealth techniques.”
In our estimation, that sounds an awful lot like the multiplayer options in Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell series, but we’ll have to wait and see for sure.
And finally, Konami shed light on the Metal Gear Solid 4 pre-order program. Beginning in April, gamers who pre-order Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will receive the Metal Gear Saga 2.0 DVD, which contains a Prologue recapping the Metal Gear franchise, a 20th Anniversary retrospective, character bios for Big Boss, Liquid Snake, Solidus Snake and Solid Snake, and a collection of international trailers for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
The pre-order package, available at all game retailers (while supplies last, of course), will also contains an insert with a download code and special instructions for accessing the Metal Gear Online beta test, which will go live in late April.