From an interview at CES 2008, where Kojima’s Playstation 3 offering is being demoed to a lucky few, comes the confirmed news that Metal Gear Online will be included with the purchase of the single player game, MGS4. It is, however, an online starter pack.

News has been flip flopping over whether Metal Gear Online will be included with MGS4, or whether it will be purchased separately. In an interview with Gamespot, Konami’s director of marketing, puts the rumours to rest. A Metal Gear Online starter pack will be included in the shipped MGS4 game.

They haven’t yet disclosed how many maps there will be in the pack, but “there will be an element of the online component within Metal Gear 4, to capture that online experience.”

What does this imply? Does this mean the fully featured Metal Gear Online will be available separately, where MGS4 owners will own a fraction of this? It’s my belief that MGS4 will be the sole way to purchase Metal Gear Online, where the starter pack will then be fleshed out throughout 2008, adding new maps through downloadable content. If this is the case, then it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Getting a Metal Gears Solid game and an online component that will be further supported, is a dream come true. If the fully featured Metal Gear Online was available separately from the get go, it would make Metal Gear fans buy two games instead of one.

Konami’s director or marketing supports my suspicions that Metal Gear Online will only be purchasable through MGS4 in her following statement: “Within the rest of the year we will be stragically providing content.”

Kojima’s MGS4 is set for release in Q2 of this year.  The interview can be found here.