Gamestop taking pre-orders for MGS4, to be released on June 17?

In case you missed it, Gamestop tagged a release date to Konami‘s widely anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. June 17, 2008 supposedly marks the coming of Hideo Kojima‘s final entry to the stealth action espionage series. More details at the full article.

Kojima plot twist or not, we sure were surprised after running into Gamestop‘s website which posted Konami‘s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots among the titles that can be pre-ordered. What’s more interesting is the release date tagged to Hideo Kojima‘s Sony PlayStation 3 exclusive, which is June 17, 2008.

Konami previously nailed Q2 of calendar year 2008 as the stealth espionage action’s release window, and June sounds solid. If Gamestop-EB Games is right on the money, gamers can reserve a copy of MGS4 for themselves by paying the extra US$ 5. After that, the game will ship come June 17 next year.

Metal Gear Solid 4 assistant producer Ryan Payton did say he expects Kojima Productions’ next big thing to be 2008’s constant top-seller from launch through Christmas. Since he stated that “I’m thinking we’re going to have steady sales all the way through to Christmas 2008,” we’re led to believe no delays will push the game’s release. Or at least, it will be in the market before the next holiday season.