Prep your Fulton Recovery Devices and dust off your Love Box! Today we’re confirming that the critically acclaimed PlayStation Portable version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will be available on PS Vita as a PlayStation Store download later today!

Step into the shoes of the legendary Big Boss and infiltrate the lush forests of Costa Rica, recruit soldiers and construct your own Mother Base as you lay the groundwork for your band of Militaires Sans Frontières (Soldiers Without Borders).

Or work together with other players in special, four-player CO-OPS (Cooperative-OPerationS), and six-player competitive matches using the PS Vita’s Ad Hoc capabilities in this title originally released for the PSP in April 2010. (Note: Transfarring functionality not available in this version of the game.)

Will you be picking up Peace Walker today? Let us know in the comments and share your favorite Peace Walker moments on our official Metal Gear Solid Facebook Page.

E3 may have come to a close, but we couldn’t be more excited by the plethora of great games and content available for PlayStation fans. Along with PlayStation Move and a host of exclusive titles coming from our first party developers, our publishing partners were out in force taking full advantage of everything PS3 and PSP have to offer.

One of the biggest surprises at E3 was Gabe Newell from Valve’s arrival on the stage at the press conference earlier this week. He acknowledged his appreciation for the PS3 as “the most open platform of all the current generation consoles.” He went on to not only announce that Portal 2 was coming to the PlayStation 3, but also to state that it’ll be the “best version on any console.”

EA also introduced several exclusives to PS3 including the special edition version of Medal of Honor that comes with the 2002 classic Medal of Honor Frontline, which has been updated and re-mastered with HD visuals. And those of you looking forward to Dead Space 2 can pick up the premium edition, which includes Dead Space Extraction. A prequel to the original Dead Space, Dead Space Extraction will be fully Move compatible and also offer trophy support. Offering these packed-in hits like Medal of Honor Frontline and Dead Space Extraction is something only possible on PS3 because of Blu-Ray.

Fans of Assassin’s Creed can look forward to an exclusive beta of the new multiplayer campaign within Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, with the beta hitting PSN in late summer. 2K Games’ Mafia II will also feature unique content for PS3, including exclusive day-one content including missions, story and gameplay. There’s also the much-anticipated shooter from Crytek, Crysis 2, which will sport 3D-compatible graphics on the PS3.

These along with other great titles, including Kojima’s recently-released masterpiece Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Sony Online Entertainment’s much-anticipated MMO DC Universe Online, are expanding our library of titles and offerings for gamers, and help make our family of products some of the best of the industry.

Once you’ve digested all things E3, keep an eye out in the coming weeks and months for further news and updates from our publishing partners.

Before starting with the PlayStation.Blog, I was well aware of the legendary community events. And I’d gotten my first taste in March, when hundreds of crazed God of War players packed into a big red tent for the PlayStation.Blog God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup and took disturbing photos like this.

But nothing could have prepared me for the size and intensity of yesterday’s PlayStation.Blog E3 2010 Meetup. If I were Chef Gordon Ramsay from TV’s Hell’s Kitchen, I’d have to say I was “gobsmacked.”

The line kept growing…and growing…and growing… Right: The first 150 entrants got one of these wicked signed Kevin Butler posters.

Devoted PlayStation fans starting lining up 24 hours early in the hot California sun, setting up a Sony shantytown of sorts in front of L.A.-based restaurant Cuidad (great, friendly place, tell Annie we said hi!). Eight hours before we opened the doors, the line stretched to 170 fans. By the end of the night, well over 300 gamers had packed through the doors. What a turnout!

Then Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima showed up, and… well, this YouTube fan video below can do a way better job explaining than I ever could:

Hideo Kojima walks into a bar…and gets the kind of reception only Kojima-san can get!

Amidst screams from the fans, Kojima-san gave out five signed Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker PSP Entertainment Packs (but we saved one signed PSP pack just for you guys, and we’ll be giving it out soon right here on the PlayStation.Blog). The E3 2010 Meetup also had a special guest appearance by Arne Meyer from Naughty Dog, who gave away a one-of-a-kind Art of UNCHARTED 2 Folio Edition that was signed by the entire Naughty Dog team. And “Professor PlayStation” himself, Jeff Rubenstein, confirmed that the first 150 Meetup attendees would be attending the PlayStation E3 press conference (that’s tomorrow at 12pm Pacific!) and gaining access to the E3 show floor. At this point, I think my eardrums burst from the screaming.

Record-breaking attendance, a surprise visit from Hideo Kojima, and new games like Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip, Invisimals, and of course, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Sounds like a success to us!

Now only one question remains: What do we do for the PlayStation.Blog E3 2011 Meetup?

To celebrate the release of the first ever DLC for what is inarguably one of the biggest titles of the current generation — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 — the Community Management team will be in the Gamer’s Lounge this Friday, May 7th at 4:00pm PT (7:00pm ET) to launch into the new multiplayer maps of the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package. You make the call as to whether you want to jump into the Bailout, Salvage, Storm, Crash, or Overgrown maps — just let us know when the time comes to set up the multiplayer session. More details, including host accounts, will be posted in our Message of the Day prior to the event start time this Friday.

Also coming this week into the ever-growing PlayStation Home universe (which is currently expanding at the rate of your average supernova) are special items from the upcoming remake of the classic martial arts film The Karate Kid. Available from the LOOT store in the PlayStation Home Mall, these hot new items are essential for fans of the classic film that are anxiously awaiting the June 11th release of this highly-anticipated remake. Be sure to grab yours first thing Thursday morning.

Those of you that, like me, obsessively collect each and every unlockable reward from your favorite PS3 and PSN games in PlayStation Home will be stoked to learn that Rockstar’s upcoming sandbox-style western game Red Dead Redemption (available for the PS3 on May 18th) will unlock exclusive outfits for your avatar upon reaching in-game milestones. We don’t want to spill any beans concerning the plot of this sure-to-be-hit title, so we’re not going to tell you how to earn these rewards just yet but trust me when I say that, if you love Red Dead Redemption, PlayStation Home is the place to be when you are looking for people to challenge to a good ol’ fashioned Mexican standoff in the 16-player max multiplayer.

In other news, Sodium is getting yet another update this week. Be sure to keep an eye out for Vendy – the artificially intelligent vending machine-bot conveniently placed in the Sodium Hub to provide all you scorpion stompers with Vetoxade, the anti-venom needed to stomp the fiendish blue scorpions.

Finally, we want to alert you to a pretty awesome event in which PlayStation Home will play a pivotal role. As the excitement builds for the highly-anticipated release of METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER for the PSP, Konami, Best Buy, and Sony Online Entertainment will feed the frenzy by hosting a code-collecting contest that begins the month before the game’s launch. The CODE HUNT will have contestants 18 and older in the United States scouring locations for elusive Peace Walker codes, each of which gets them closer and closer to the grand prize. Hint: Hunters that visit PlayStation Home should keep their eyes peeled. The contest begins today, May 5th and will end just in time for the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker release on June 8th. Join the hunt now at http://www.konami.com/mgscodehunt and win big (official rules can be found at http://www.konami/user/rules)!

See you in Home!

Check out the new trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker below, and read on for more details and new screens.

That’s right, the Bearded One himself — Naked Snake, aka Solid Snake’s pops — returns to the lead role in Peace Walker. Set in 1974′s Central America, in a war-weary time at the tail end of the Vietnam Conflict, Peace Walker will further explore the philosophical and political ramifications of war as commerce, as well as its longterm deleterious effects on society, the economy, and ourselves.

But don’t worry. You’ll still be able to blow stuff up real good, too.

Peace Walker has earned much press for being a “true” sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and also for harnessing the strengths of the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots development team at Kojima Productions. Thus far, the results are undeniably impressive: Peace Walker looks and plays like a full-fledged console MGS title.

Take the graphics, which look terrific in still screenshots but positively explode off the screen when seen in motion. Peace Walker is clearly pushing the PSP hardware into uncharted territory with its intricately detailed human faces and lush, MGS3-quality jungle environments. Visually, Peace Walker is right up there with PSP graphical heavyweights like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. But you don’t have to take my word for it — check out the MGS: Peace Walker playable demo on the PlayStation Store and see for yourself.

Snake doing what he does best: look really, really cool

On the gameplay side, Peace Walker could perhaps be best described as a hybrid of elements from MGS3: Snake Eater and MGS4: Guns of the Patriots. MGS4 fans will feel right at home with the heavier action and shooting emphasis, while MGS3 fans will appreciate the return of classic characters and continuing story threads, such as Snake’s lingering guilt over (SPOILER!) killing his mentor at the conclusion of Snake Eater.

The PSP is a different beast than the PS3′s DualShock 3 controller, but Peace Walker successfully scales MGS4′s legendarily fluid controls to fit the PSP’s button layout. The results are tight and responsive. I quickly learned how to free-aim in the over-the-shoulder aiming mode (while aiming with R, just tap L). With a little practice, I was soon popping headshots and body-slamming fools just like in the old days.

One new feature that caught my eye is the ability to equip Snake with various armor and weapon loadouts, depending on your play style and tactical preference. Some armor sets are more suited to full-on assault tactics; other loadouts are better suited for pure stealth or absorbing incoming fire. This kind of character customization is a promising addition to the series’ classic gameplay, giving newcomers a more forgiving way to get their toes wet while enabling MGS veterans to sneak their hearts out the old-school way.

The custom character loadouts will also make a major impact on Peace Walker’s cooperative play modes, last seen in the previous PSP installment, Portable Ops. Peace Walker takes co-op to the next level by enabling two players to coordinate on main missions; up to four players can team up against the series’ trademark bosses. A host of new co-op maneuvers will give you plenty of reasons to buddy up over WiFi.

Peace Walker’s cooperative play introduce plenty of new tactical approaches, and the four-player boss fights look downright epic.

The wait is almost over, and the pieces are all in place. Peace Walker struts its stuff on June 8th, only on the PSP.

(Protip: Check out the Peace Walker PSP Entertainment Pack, and the ultra-limited PSP “Big Boss” Pack.)

MGS-PW-84b2d-2db48ff Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Code Hunt Contest

We have something very special for all of you ULTIMATE fans out there! Launching with the game on June 8, you can pick an exclusive limited edition “Big Boss” Pack for METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER, which will be available only at GameStop locations in the U.S. for $199.99 (MSRP). This premium package combines the highly anticipated title from legendary developer Hideo Kojima with a “Camouflage” PSP-3000 system, which was inspired by the Central American setting for the game.

So, what’s in it you ask? The limited-edition “Big Boss” Pack will include the following:

• “Camouflage” PSP-3000 system
• METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER game on UMD
• Voucher for in-game content unlockable early on in the game
• PlayStation Network downloadable movie voucher — title to be announced
• 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo
• Premium carrying case

METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER is amongst the first of several premiere PSP titles from both first and third-party publishers coming in 2010. Don’t forget — make sure you mark your calendars for June 8, when the stand alone METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER game on UMD, METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER PSP Entertainment Pack and “Big Boss” Pack will each be available.

As always, we look forward to hearing you comment and enjoy!

The new METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER PSP Entertainment Pack will include:

• “Spirited Green” PSP-3000 system
• METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER game on UMD
• PlayStation Network downloadable voucher for special in-game content which will be unlocked at the start of the game
• PlayStation Network downloadable movie voucher (US residents only); title TBD
• 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo

As most of you already know, METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER marks the return of Hideo Kojima’s world-renowned stealth-action series. This highly-anticipated METAL GEAR SOLID sequel picks up where METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER for the PlayStation 2 leaves off. With an extensive amount of gameplay that will revolutionize previous notions of a handheld game experience, METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER introduces an exciting new storyline, stunning visuals and a console-quality gaming experience, all of which is only possible on the PSP platform.

The METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER PSP Entertainment Pack brings the same incredible value you’ve seen in previous PSP packages and introduces a never-before seen color to the PSP-3000 family. It will be available at major retailers in the United States and Canada for $199.99 (MSRP). Let us know your thoughts and enjoy!

Join Christina Lee for a look at the exclusive Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker PSP demo as well as the first Dante’s Inferno demo that’s hitting the PS3. The staff also put together 10 Gotta See Movies from 2009 that are still available from PlayStation Store and the list has some surprises. Remember, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, right?

You also don’t want to miss the Top 10 Game Downloads for 2009. Actually, no surprises, except for the order in the list.

We’ve had a terrific year bringing you this biweekly program. Hard to believe a year has gone by since PULSE made it’s premiere on PlayStation Network. I mean, it feels like we just recovered from our E3 coverage! Thanks for supporting the show and we look forward to an exciting 2010.