The chart on the left represents Konami's video game software sales for the April to June quarter from 2007. The chart on the right? The same quarter from 2008, the quarter in which Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released. The Kojima Productions game helped boost PlayStation 3 game sales from 1.3% to a solid 57.3% of Konami's total game sales, with MGS4 representing about 56.8% of that.

The other sad little .53% of PS3 sales is presumed to include stuff like Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and Professional Baseball Spirits 4, legacy software.

Konami lists Metal Gear Solid 4 sales for the quarter at 3.94 million, just a bit higher than the figure revealed by Sony's Kaz Hirai last month. Sales may have tapered off after the initial push, as the game has already been discounted by some Japanese retailers.

Sure, it may not be moving PS3 hardware at a "killer app" rate, but we're pretty sure that Hideo Kojima can continue to do whatever the fuck he wants if he keeps this pie chart tacked up outside his office.

Alert reader Jonny L. was watching the bonus features disc that came with Metal Gear Solid 4, thought he spied something funny, backed up a few frames, and grabbed the above: Why, that looks like an Xbox 360 devkit on someone's desk at Kojima Productions!

Now what on Earth would he need that for? Kojima Productions has produced all of about zero titles for the 360; he's flatly said MGS4 isn't meant for that platform, and MGS4 openly disparages (spoiler, kinda) the HD-DVD format in a codec call.

Maybe he was just using it for "research". That's the excuse I give when the credit card company asks me to validate certain, uh, Interwebs purchases.

Jonny says the above frame came from the segment "Hideo Kojima's Gene" in the bonus features disc, for those who have it and want to watch. The large size version, without graffiti, is after the jump, if you want to get down and sleuth this and argue the details of the frame.

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A lot of detail went into Metal Gear Solid 4. A lot. Why, just check out how much care went into rendering the face of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder suffering, Beauty and the Beast Corps member Laughing Octopus — plus the care given to her rear and crotch. No, wait! That's after the jump as some might find the screenshots spoilerific. Others might find them NSFW. And others will applaud Kojima Productions' attention to detail, S&M gear and helmet slime.

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Metal Gear Solid 4 is a Sony product smorgasbord! The game has Snake using a SIXAXIS controller, Otacon talking up the power of Blu-ray. Not to mention the in-game Sony cell phone! Now, add the PSP to the list of Sony product cross promotion. Bet Sony thinks it's a shame Kojima Productions chose to have MGS4 include an iPod and not a Walkman. (Bet Sony thinks it's a shame nobody buys Walkmans!)

Hey, You Put A PSP [PSP Fanboy]

To ring in the post-MGS4 era in a suitably festive tone, Konami had planned to hold a big launch "event" in Tokyo tomorrow, one of those meet-and-greet, get-your-sleeve-signed deals. Now, though, due to "various reasons", it's cancelled it. With no explanation given, only a notice on the game's official website that it'll instead take place sometime later in the month. It could be down to Kojima and co. being a little pooped after the worldwide promo tour for the game, but there's always the chance Konami are a little spooked following the tragic events that took place in Akihabara earlier this week.

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So Kojima Productions has responded to the review limitation problems regarding Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and that's nice and all, but did you guys catch the top paragraph of Assistant Producer Ryan Payton's e-mail?

Believe it or not, I've been so busy working on a special surprise for MGS4 buyers (that not even those who have leaked copies of the game can spoil! Haha!), that I haven't had time to catch up on most of the pre-launch excitement.

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Late last month, magazine PSW stated that upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 has 90 minute cutscenes — which, the magazine pointed out, could be skipped. Website GamePro fired back, confirming that the game does have "occasionally lengthy" cutscenes and calling the 90 minute cutscenes "a pretty big exaggeration." Magazine EDGE offered this in its review: "The cutscenes here are sure to invoke that thousand-yard stare, two in particular coming perilously close to the 90-minute mark." But what's the official word from Kojima Productions? Metal Gear Solid 4 Assistant Producer Ryan Payton tells Kotaku that the 90 minute cutscene claim is a "gross exaggeration." Hit the jump for his full statement and POSSIBLE SPOILER.

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Here are a series of phony ads Konami showed before the Metal Gear Solid 4 press conference I went to earlier this month in Roppongi. They're pretty humorous viral type spots that knowingly refer to the game's PMCs. Probably cost Konami a fuckton of cash to produce. We doubt, though, they are going to be used to actually promote the game as they're a little too inside baseball for Joe Q. Public. Still, kinda neat that Kojima Productions had them made!

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As Metal Gear Solid 4's release date draws near, more and more info about the game's expected to spill out. Some of it from people who have played through the thing already. People who sat through a lotta cutscenes. Some of them up to 90-minutes long. Nintety. Minutes. Sure, you can pause them, and skip them, but ninety minutes? Bring popcorn.

MGS4 has '90 minute' cut-scenes [CVG]

Metal Gear Solid 4 isn't even out and whaddaya know, the game's creator Hideo Kojima is already thinking about Metal Gear Solid 5. While MGS4 was supposed to be Kojima's last entry the series, he seems to have had a change of heart recently. Isn't he ready to move on to other things? Dunno. What we do know is what he told Famitsu [*spoilers ahoy!*]:

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