IGN has put up quiet a few guides now for Metal Gear Solid 4 covering the following:

• BASICS // Extensive strategies for stealthy play. Read this first to dominate the PMCs.
• WEAPONS & ITEMS // Our picks for best weapons plus tips for using items.
• WALKTHROUGH // A Metal Gear Solid 4 walkthrough—beat every boss and find the best items.
• MULTIPLAYER // Multiplayer strategies to help you destroy your opponents.
• SECRETS // Unlockables and completion emblems discovered.

Be sure to click here for all of their guides for MGS4 and future updates.

(source: IGN)

IGN reports~

Kojima’s latest is selling like hot Metal Gear!

June 26, 2008 - With Metal Gear Solid 4 confirmed at half a million sales in Japan and one million in Europe, the big question is, just how many copies has the game sold overall. While we don’t have sales figures just yet, we do know the game’s shipped number: three million.

Famitsu.com, in its coverage from a Sony investor meeting in Tokyo today, reported that the game has topped this milestone in worldwide shipped units. Speaking at the meeting, Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai also noted that the game helped shift hardware.

Games were put a bit on the back burner for this particular briefing though, as Hirai announced a number of non-game initiatives for the PS3 and PSP, including new video and news services.

(source: IGN)

Kotaku reports~

For those who missed meeting Hideo Kojima in the States and Europe and for those living in Japan, listen up. Konami has announced dates and places for the Metal Gear Solid 4 autographing spectacular. Kojima, illustrator Yoji Shinkawa and actress Yumi Kikuchi are slated to appear with signing pen. The dates and places and times are:

June 28th, Saturday
•Yodobashi Camera Shinjuku 10:00AM - 11:00AM
•Sofmap Omiya 2:30PM - 3:30PM
•Yodobashi Camera Yokohama 5:30PM - 7:00

June 29th, Sunday
•Nagoya Station Bic Camera 10:30AM - NOON
•Osaka Yamada Denki Labi1 4:00PM - 5:30PM

Seems like signatures are mostly being limited to game packaging (Premium Pack is okay!), so that means no Kojima signed cigarette boxes. Bummer.

(source: Kotaku)

Celebrating MGS4’s release two weeks later.

PS3.IGN.COM reports~

June 25, 2008 - Konami had to cancel the Japanese launch festivities for Metal Gear Solid 4 at the last minute, but fans in Hideo Kojima’s home country aren’t being totally left out of the fun. Two weeks after launch, and Konami has announced a plan for a weekend tour that will take Kojima and other key staffers to five locations throughout the nation.

Set for June 28 and June 29, the "Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of Patriots World Tour in Japan" event will reach major locations from Nagoya to Tokyo. Kojima will appear alongside series character designer Youji Shinkawa for talk shows and signings and will offer attendees some neat bonus goodies.

If you call yourself a resident of Nipponland, of if you don’t mind paying the $400 fuel surcharge fee to cross the Pacific, check out Konami’s website for details.

(source: PS3.IGN.COM)

(source: Zero Punctuation)

Tech Reporter Ben Hoffman checks out the midnight release of this highly anticipated game in a very funny video.

(source: Thanks Jason)

SarcasticGamer reports~

"…in association with Konami. The appearances of an iPod and several Apple computers in MGS4 were just the start of a fruitful business relationship between these two corportate giants. More of these 100% genuine, SarcasticGamer.com-exclusive posters after the jump."

(source: SarcasticGamer)

…..now if this were true that would be cool but its not, but hey the pictures look cool :P.

N4G reports~

"The Japanese version of the MGS4 Database is up at the Japanese PSN!!

After installation it is not found under Extras in the game menu but rather a separate DLC game. The Japanese download has the option of Japanese, English, French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. It does indeed asks you if you want to use your save file to unlock any spoilers. Spoilers are locked by default and you need a save of the cleared game to unlock it. There’s also a menu for "Briefing" which is for people who have already beat the game, so maybe you get an extra Mission Briefing.

Log on to the Japanese PSN if you want this MGS Encyclopedia one day early!"

(source: N4G)

The official PlayStation blog reports~

+ Posted by Brandon Laurino // Konami Online

"Hi all – Firstly, we’d like to thank you for helping us make the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots a tremendous success, with a special thanks to the many of you who attended our midnight launches to support it. It was great to meet so many of you in person, and the some of the MGS related costumes were truly spectacular. We had a lot of fun, and we hope you did too.

Of course, the launch of MGS4 is just the beginning – with it now in your hands, surely you are finding that there is much to discover within the game itself. It’s packed with so much, in fact, that there is bound to be new revelations, strategies, and details in the coming months as everyone makes their way through every nook and cranny. Add in Metal Gear Online, with its endless and deep multiplayer game play, as well as new downloadable content forthcoming - there is truly so much more to come, with our continued support of MGS, that will extend well through this year.

With that, we are happy to reveal a very special surprise, upon the PLAYSTATION Store update tomorrow (Thursday June 19th) we will be releasing the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Database!

Metal Gear Solid 4 Database

The MGS4 Database is a free, downloadable interactive application that contains the official knowledge base of everything that is Metal Gear, reaching all the way back to the very beginning of the franchise. Including complete storylines, character profiles, relationship diagrams, and much more! The MGS4 database is a great way to catch up for someone new to Metal Gear, as well as a useful resource for any veteran of the series, with complete official details on every aspect of the intricate Metal gear lore.

The MGS4 Database also contains a special feature – if you want to make use of the database, but have not yet fully played through MGS4 yet and are worried about spoilers – all MGS4 spoilers are “blacked out” until you’ve beaten MGS4. Give it a try!

But that’s not all, within MGS4, check out the EXTRAS option of the main menu (if you haven’t already). There’s already new, free downloadable content available for the game - with new camouflage and a new music track for the in game iPod. There will be more forthcoming, so be sure to check this often!"

(source: PS Blog)

Kotaku reports~

"Isn’t she lovely? This lovely Limited Edition Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots timepiece, now up for preorder at UK online retailer Gamestation, has been lovingly crafted using the finest stainless steel, engraved and numbered, and packed in a lovely black box with a silver MGS4 logo stamped on top along with a certificate of authenticity from Konami. Approved by Kojima himself, only 500 of these babies are being released on October 31st of this year, and they’re only going to be available through Gamestation…who only ships to the UK, making me sad.

One of the team responsible for creating the limited edition dropped us a line to let us know that Gamestation accidentally put it up for order before the big announcement, so this would be an excellent time to order one before the rush. At £99.99 it makes an excellent gift for any member of the American gaming press sitting at their computer desk drooling over a watch."

(source: Kotaku)