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New Metal Gear game for PSP

Nothing to do with cards this time.

If you're still nursing the emotional wounds from the searing burn of Metal Gear Acid on the PSP, it's time to take off the bandages and let it breathe, because there's a new Metal Gear game on the way.

Spilling the beans on his audio blog, Hideo Kojima has confirmed the development of a more action-based (i.e. decidedly less card-based, with a bit of luck) handheld version of Metal Gear Solid, set some six years after MGS 3.

The year is 1970, the star is Big Boss, and the mission is to eliminate a familiar renegade unit known as Fox. According to Kojima, players will control a limited amount of troops throughout the single player game, gaining additional soldiers with different skills by successfully winning battles.

Likening the troops to marbles - no, it doesn't sound right, but let's just go with it for now - Kojima hopes to make each character a vital part of the army and as collectible as possible. He plans to make things a little more interesting and ensure you don't go charging in with your best men and all guns blazing, by making death a more permanent state than traditionally found in videogames. So if you screw up and lose your favourite trooper, that's that and he's gone forever. Sheesh!

Assuming you manage to keep your men alive long enough, the storyline will eventually link directly into Metal Gear Solid 4, and Kojima has promised graphics comparable to the PS2, chopping down on some of the polygons in areas that aren't immediately visible to keep things running as smoothly as possible.

No release date yet, but we'll keep you posted as soon as we hear more.