Here's a bit of a bummer for people who were expecting to play with people from all over the world in Metal Gear Online: The Asian Konami site reveals that online play will be region-locked.

The text on-site is in Japanese, so pardon the rough translation. We quote Konami Asia:

The game itself is a server in Japan. Whether in English or Japanese. However, the purchase of the licensed importer of the same players, the Japanese version of the English players and players can not Versus. If you need to play games with your friends, you must purchase the same language version. Not a licensed importer of commodities, have the opportunity to be well connected. Moreover, we will not provide any assurance and have the opportunity unable to provide any services.

There have been assertions that this message only applies to the on-going beta for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. We'll have to look into that. For the meantime, make sure that you ordered a copy of  with the right region code. We'll keep you posted.