Whether 2008 is truly the "year of the PS3" is up for debate, but Sony knows it's got some momentum with a Blu-ray victory over HD DVD and hot titles like Metal Gear Solid 4 in the pipeline.

To further push PS3 hardware into consumers' hands, today at the annual retail and publisher conference Destination PlayStation, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) announced that it will introduce a special PS3 bundle in North America in conjunction with the late Q2 2008 launch of Konami's PS3 exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. For $499, the bundle will come packed with Solid Snake's latest (last?) adventure, an 80GB PS3, and a DualShock 3 wireless controller.

The DualShock 3 itself will also go on sale separately for $54.99 this April. Sony said its rumble feature will work with over 100 PS3 titles.

Sony also mentioned that a Metal Gear Online "Starter Pack" will be launched to support online gameplay (for up to 16 players). Those consumers who pre-order in the nationwide pre-sell promotion will be guaranteed access to a multiplayer beta test for Metal Gear Online scheduled for late April.

"Working closely with our retail and publishing partners and sharing our hardware and software roadmaps at Destination PlayStation gives us a great opportunity to outline some key milestones for the year. In response to incredible demand, we will be manufacturing more 80GB PS3s for North America and the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 80GB PS3 bundle is an ideal way to offer that continued value to our consumers," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. "With Blu-ray having won the format war, our stellar software line-up and a broad product portfolio, we will continue to drive the incredible momentum we've been generating since last fall."

At the same retail and publisher event Sony also announced a limited-edition God of War PSP Entertainment Pack for $199.99, set to launch in June. The new PSP bundle will include a "Deep Red" PSP with game protagonist Kratos, silk-screened on the back of the unit, a copy of God of War: Chains of Olympus, the movie Superbad on UMD from Columbia Pictures, and a PlayStation Network voucher to download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops from the PlayStation Store. God of War for PSP goes on sale separately on March 4.