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Metal Gear Solid 4 Delayed To 2008
Gamespot is reporting that Konami has delayed Metal Gear Solid 4 until Q2 2008. Just the latest in the long lineup of huge title delays, Konami delayed the game for the same reason all the others were: polish. "According to Japanese and English language press releases on the Konami Web site, the game will now be coming to Japan in the first quarter of 2008, and other regions in the second quarter. The game had been due for a simultaneous worldwide pre-Christmas release exclusively for Sony's PlayStation 3 console. A statement from Konami gives the reasoning behind this decision, 'Konami has decided to delay the title's release in order to make further improvements to the quality of the game and provide even greater enjoyment for more customers worldwide.' It added that it would continue to work on the game to make sure it will 'meet everyone's expectations.'"
That pretty much confirms that Sony will massively fail at even coming near their PS3 shipment forecasts for the fiscal year. They are forecasting 11 million shipped during the fiscal year, and have shipped 2 million in the first half.
With MGS4 now out of the fiscal year (ending March 31 2008), a new round of doom and gloom for Sony has been ordered from the media. Publishers will pay attention to it, and Konami will too. If Microsoft is trying to get Konami to port MGS4 to the 360, this will make it much easier.
PS: Does it make any sense to release this game during the slow summer season? There could be further delays up to 2008's holiday season.
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
The 360 isn't *all* doom and gloom. The attach rate (games sold per box) is huge compared to either of its competitors, compared with the Wii where attach rates are pretty dismal. MS *needs* a high attach rate due to their loss-per-box, whereas Nintendo will rake it in from selling hardware alone. Game publishers, on the other hand, rely on attach rate, because hardware sales mean nothing if everyone is still playing Wii Sports and not the *other* games. The 360 is getting all that publisher love for a very good reason - it is the platform that promises to help the people that prop a console up - the developers and publishers.
The PS3 is undoubtedly doing well in Japan, though my question would still be... what exactly are they playing? I've perused the shelves at the local Best Buy numerous times, and I'm hard pressed to find any game I want to play on PS3 that isn't available elsewhere. RE4 on Wii is very cool, and there are a *slew* of 360 games (Mass Effect being the big one for the next month) that I'm looking forward to. The PS3... besides MGS4 there isn't much on the horizon, and sadly that is even further away now.
State-side, it's pretty clear that Wii and 360 will wipe the floor with PS3 this holiday season. Of that I have no doubt, considering Sony doesn't have a single compelling (non-timed) exclusive coming out this holiday season.