This doesn’t seem to happen very often lately, but it looks as though the Playstation 3 may finally be getting some good news. The news comes in the form of the consoles flagship allstar title Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots getting an early release date. As early as the 2nd quarter of this year. They won’t pin down an exact day, or even a month, but the game is said to be in the final stages or “last push” as assistant producer Ryan Payton revealed on the weekly Kojima Productions Report podcast, of testing and “polishing” the game.

Shack News has Payton quoted as saying: “Mr. Kojima of all people is really committed to [the date] because he really hates to disappoint people, and I know he is embarrassed by what happened with the 2007 slip into 2008.” Some features may be added, but “for the majority of the team, this is the end.”

If the rumors are true, this is also good news for Xbox 360 gamers, as they’ll potentially get the game on their console of choice sooner as well.

Boom!