As the last bastion of exclusivity, all the pressure seems to mounting on 4 as the killer app that can deliver Sony's new console from the arms of its detractors. Appropriate, then, that looks set to up the ante with the new stealth-action title, promising psychological effects and battles, while speaking at Australia's GO3 Entertainment Expo.

Like fellow design veteran Peter Molyneux, Kojima-san wants to increase the emotional strains in his games, revealing some of his thoughts in a speech which charted the progress of the MGS series through to its evolution on the PS3.

"To make it very simple, in the past Metal Gears, Snake was going into enemy environments - so everyone apart from Snake was an enemy," Kojima was quoted as revealing by GameSpot Australia. "This time it's a warzone, so you have country A or country B, so Snake could interfere with either of the countries. It does not necessarily mean that everyone is an enemy to Snake. This creates a new tension in playing this new hide and seek."

"I would also like to challenge the PS3's CPU power for not only what you can see, but also psychological effects, or psychological battles, where it can affect your gameplay," the designer added.

Kojima spoke also of his interest in the and the PC, though the publisher remind us that MGS4 remains firmly a PS3 game at present. More soon.

By Luke Guttridge