Tonight we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Metal Gear.

While I've only been a member of Kojima Productions for three of those twenty years, I still have a long-standing love for the series.

Metal Gear became a big part of my life when I first played Metal Gear Solid in my family's cold basement in 1998. My appreciation grew to new heights when I played through Metal Gear Solid 3 three times during a cold winter in Hamasaka, Japan in 2005. And my dedication to the series kicked off when I officially joined the development team in September 2005.

Walking to work today, a flood of thoughts ran through my jet-lagged brain -- so much to do today... Shame that some choose to focus on negative aspects of Metal Gear rather than celebrating it on the eve of the party... This new Interpol album is unbelievable... Can't wait to see my friends at tonight's party... Gotta blog about this...

These are exciting times. We're months, not years, away from finishing MGS4... We've got plenty of new stuff in the oven... And we've got an incredible fan base who drives us.

We celebrate Metal Gear with you all tonight.

And tonight, thanks to our kick ass web team and members of the press who traveled thousands of miles for this event, you'll be getting a full report of tonight's festivities. Check your favorite gaming site (or our official site) at midnight (Tokyo time) to see our 15 minute video presentation of Metal Gear Solid 4.

Tonight we'll also be announcing new MGS products. Now before you all go Krazy Kermit style and hype this all to megaton proportions, let me just say that MGO's triumphant debut on PS3 is a much bigger deal than the unannounced stuff. I know many of you will purchase and pick up the stuff we're announcing , but we've got no "Triology"-like game ready for a big unveiling tonight.

Now it's time for me to get back to work.

Thank you all again for all your support. It's been a terrific three years for me, and here's to twenty more years of Metal Gear!

ryan payton