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Can it be? Can the words I read be true? Is a Metal Gear Solid 4 demo coming to the Playstation Network next month? I do not believe it.

Ryan Payton, the game’s Assistant Producer, who we interviewed at E for All, gave us the impression that there would be no hope of a Metal Gear demo on the Playstation Network:

Considering how much we’ve changed since TGS/E for All, it would be a huge undertaking to create a new demo. Sorry guys.

To be honest, why would they need a demo for existing Playstaiton owners, when it’s almost certain that they are going to go out and buy the game anyway?

Nevertheless, perhaps Payton’s choice of words when he said a “new demo” wasn’t on the cards, should have been enough to place doubt in our minds. You would, however, expect Kojima to desire a demo that was representative of their final engine, so they might have taken that huge undertaking and updated the demo’s game engine.

So what leads us to believe that an MGS4 demo is on the way to the Playstaiton Network? Well, we can read it in the Playstation World magazine:

Want more MGS4? Well you’ll get it very soon. The stage we played here will be on the PSN Store in the next month.

What a tasty little surprise if true. But don’t forget, magazines have been known to get things wrong. Still, PSW sound very confident after their play time with the game.

While you ogle at the photograph of these edible words, we’ll try to keep you informed.

Update:  The PSW Editor has been in contact with MGS4.net to let them know that a demo for the PSN Store is indeed planned, and they expect it to land in February.  Though they do say that’s if the game is coming in May…when I was expecting it in June anyway:

At the time of writing the article a Konami rep told us a demo, the demo we played in our office for the magazine article, would be on the PSN Store. It’s finished, we played it, so something should be appearing this month.

It could all depend on the game’s final on sale date, if it has moved to May then a demo could appear later, possibly February.

Sources: Gametrailers Forums and MGS4.net