Metal Gear Solid 4 is coming to the Xbox 360. This is not a rumor. This is straight from a Konami distribution representative’s mouth. The game is already in production and has been since early 2007. Complete details after the jump: 

No, the rep will not be named, but this is pretty concrete. Speaking to a Konami rep at an undisclosed distribution meeting, I was told, after a lot of nagging, that yes indeed MGS was in development for the 360. The rep stated that Metal Gear Solid will be released for the Xbox 360 between 12 to 14 months after the PS3 version hits shelves. This is not a rumor.

I contacted Microsoft’s own John Porcaro via email shortly after I spoke to the Konami rep to see if I could get anything from Microsoft’s public relations team. Below is the response I received. Needless to say it’s the most I’ve ever gotten out of MS PR team member.

Thanks for the heads up, [name removed].  For anything that resembles any shift in strategy, or product announcement, or even news of something happening with a third party, we’re always going to stick with “we haven’t announced anything about <fill in the blank.>”   Every day we see rumors, most false, but some true, and we can’t confirm/deny everything out there for any number of reasons.

Publishing rumors doesn’t rub us the wrong way.  If it weren’t for sites publishing rumors, there wouldn’t be much for most sites to talk about J.  There really only are a few things that will rub us the wrong way: publishing content given under NDA, getting/publishing confidential information from people who are under NDA, invading/hacking systems where confidential information is housed without permission to gather information, making false/racial/sexual/inappropriate personal attacks, deliberately publishing false/misleading information, you get the idea.  

As for retailers/employees/partners intentionally leaking information, we pay rather close attention to how/when those occur.  If it happens that one site happens to get regular access to confidential information, I end up getting bombarded with questions from around the company about the relationship we have with the site, with what kind of access we’re giving the site, etc.  Not pleasant for my team, especially because we’re doing everything we can to help community, not limit their access in any way.

I appreciate the note.  I certainly will share everything I can, and I’ll often rattle enough cages to get to an acceptable answer.  In this case, there’s really nothing we can say other than the obligatory “no comment.”

You can call this a rumor, as the news may be hard to swallow for many who have read the constant denials from Konami, but this is straight from a Konami distribution rep’s mouth. And I have never gotten a response like this from Microsoft before. To write that much, I can’t help but think Porcaro had no idea what to say. The fact that he brings up "leaking information" has us a little worried, but again, we're not naming any names.

Again, Metal Gear Solid will be on the Xbox 360 12 to 14 months after the PS3 version hits shelves. That means we already know one of the biggest titles for 2009. It doesn’t mean too much considering the game will be a year old, but it does finally put to rest the rumors and speculation.