Sony Officially Announces Metal Gear Solid 4 Bundle, Release, Beta, DualShock 3 & God of War Bundle

As of a few minutes ago, Sony Computer Entertainment has officially announced that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will be released in the late second quarter of 2008. Along with that, SCEA will introduce a PLAYSTATION 3 bundle, which will include an 80GB PS3, the upcoming blockbuster Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and a DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller for $499.

In more Metal Gear Solid news, Metal Gear Online will be available in Q2 2008 as well. The "Starter Pack" will be launched to support online gameplay with Metal Gear Solid 4. In Metal Gear Online, you can take the action online with up to 16 players and battle it out using the latest weapons and stealth techniques. A beta is scheduled for late April 2008, and your guaranteed access if you pre-order Metal Gear Solid 4.

"Working closely with our retail and publishing partners and sharing our hardware and software roadmaps at Destination PlayStation gives us a great opportunity to outline some key milestones for the year. 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. "With Blu-ray having won the format war, our stellar software line-up and a broad product portfolio, we will continue to drive the incredible momentum we've been generating since last fall."

Sony will also be introducing the DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller in North American in April 2008 for $54.95. As you know the controller features rumble.

Last but not least, SCEA announced that in June 2008, the availability of a God of War PSP Entertainment Pack for $199.99. The pack will will include a "Deep Red" PSP with God of War himself, Kratos, silk-screened on the back of the unit, a copy of the highly anticipated upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus game for PSP, the hit comedy movie from Columbia Pictures, Superbad on UMD and a PLAYSTATION Network voucher to download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops from the PLAYSTATION Store.

One hell of a press release. Period.