With Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots just about ready to ship this June 12, Konami president Fumiaki Tanaka assured gamers that Hideo Kojima, the game's creator, will still be busy making new games despite the completion of his latest masterpiece.

Unfortunately, Tanaka was rather tight-lipped regarding the game Kojima will be working on. While the new title may no longer be about Snake (with MGS4 marking an end to the series), we can all expect more news about as soon as MGS4 is released and Metal Gear Online has been given some exposure.

Tanaka was quite optimistic about the upcoming MGS title's sales in Japan as well as in Europe and North America. He estimated that the company should sell at least one million copies in Japan alone. This should also give rise to additional sales of the PS3 hardware with the release of the game.

With regards to Konami's other future projects, the company president mentioned that gamers can expect remakes of more classic titles and the tapping of other classic franchises in the future. While he didn't mention anything specific, Tanaka did hint about download services such as WiiWare playing a part in these future projects.

Finally, it seems that Konami will stay solidly behind Sony and its next-gen console. He admitted that he enjoys the open nature Sony gives Konami regarding its online platform.

With that said, we'll just have to see how Konami decides to play its cards in the near future. Keep coming back to this spot for more updates.