Konami is "looking into" Metal Gear Solid 4 on Xbox 360

Posted by Al Warmington on Thu 16 Oct 2008

Read: 'Yes, yes it is coming, thanks for asking'.

Since the dawn of the current-gen console wars, one title has been a jewel in the PlayStation 3's crown: Metal Gear Solid 4. Despite frequent rumours, and despite the monstrous development cost of the game, Sony somehow kept hold of it as an exclusive. And even in the darkest times of the PS3's early life, it was a beacon of hope on the horizon.

But in all that time, there were rumours that Konami might consider an Xbox 360 port. The speculation was frequently denied and in the end, the never did happen. MGS4 went on to shift PlayStation 3 consoles in their hundreds of thousands.

End of story? Apparently not. Although Konami seems to have made back its sizeable investment, it still did Sony a massive favour, apparently out of the goodness of its heart. And with Xbox 360 still leading in global sales, there's the potential to shift another few million copies, either to new players caught up in the series' phenomenal hype or maybe to those who tried Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance on the original Xbox.

So are we surprised the Xbox 360 port rumour has slithered out of the woodwork again? Not at all. And this time it's not all denial and dismissals - one Konami spokesperson admitted that the team is actually investigating the possibility right now.

"The worldwide demand for an Xbox 360 version (of MGS4) is quite high, and it is something we are currently looking in to," revealed Konami's Yoshitaka Arai.

Having designed MGS4 so specifically for the PS3, there will be a number of limitations for the developers to overcome. First of all, on the PS3, the game had to use a number of installs throughout the game. Second of all, the sheer number of game assets is rumoured to have nearly filled the MGS4 Blu-ray disc. Xbox 360's reliance on DVD, and the fact it can work without a hard disc, are both major obstacles to the port.

Then again, Microsoft is just about to launch a game install option in the New Xbox Experience update coming in November. It wouldn't be hard to imagine that it would be willing to bend its rules even further for a title as massive as Metal Gear Solid.

MGS4 (via Kotaku)