Konami announced the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots exclusively designed for PS3 on June 12, 2008, and for the first time, the event will take place simultaneously in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia.

The game already entered a beta testing period prior to the official launch date, as Kojima representatives announced. The highly awaited sequel of Metal Gear Solid 2 will be the last of the Metal Gear series to feature Solid Snake.

All the major characters will play a role in the story that takes place in 2014 and spreads around several continents, including Middle East, South America and Europe.

The Metal Game series proved to be a great success, with over 22 million units sold worldwide, and this year MGS4 has been awarded a prize for excellence at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival.

As it became more and more popular, the game developers decided to create Metal Gear Online, separated from the standard single player version, featuring 16-player online battles. The beta version will become available starting April 21, 2008.

At the same time with the game’s launch, Sony announced the availability of the PS3 bundle, which will include an 80GB PS3, along with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and the DualShock 3 wireless controller, all for $499.99.

“In response to incredible demand, we will be manufacturing more 80GB PS3s for North America and the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 80GB PS3 bundle is an ideal way to offer that continued value to our consumers," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA.

The DualShock 3 wireless controller for North America will become available as of April 2008 for $54.99, and will be compatible with over 100 PS3 games.