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.

Tags: kojima, Konami, metal_gear, MGS4, online_game, playstation_3, single_player, starter_pack

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2 Comments » Solid_Snake on January 10, 2008 3:38 am Well thats nice which it will be nice MGS4 + MGO= in one box and this element that we can capture our online gaming thats nice^^ 360fanboy on January 10, 2008 1:05 pm WOW, a game that comes with BOTH single player AND multiplayer online, Konami is so generous! /going back to playing Halo 3, COD4, Gears of War… RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.