While it's only a matter of days before Konami shows off its first real trailer of Metal Gear Solid 4 at the Tokyo Game Show, the latest issue of Famitsu disclosed preliminary details on what event attendees will be seeing. As gamers may expect, the trailer will show how Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the most realistic-looking MGS yet, thanks to the PlayStation 3's high-quality graphics.

But the greatest change in Metal Gear Solid 4 may not be on its surface. In what may come as a huge surprise to gamers, screenshots in Famitsu show a character resembling series hero Solid Snake--as an elderly man with gray hair, wrinkles, and a moustache. Though the older man hasn't been confirmed as Solid Snake, he seems to have all the hero's trademarks, including a gray bandana, muscular physique, and the habit of smoking cigarettes. The man wears a mechanical patch on his left eye (making him look similar to Metal Gear Solid 2's Solidus Snake), which seems to be a high-tech scope connected to his new small mech partner, Metal Gear Mark II. Metal Gear Mark II looks identical to the robot that appeared in Konami's classic game Snatcher, one of Kojima's early works. A screenshot from another scene shows a man resembling Otakon, who looks like he's in his thirties or forties.

Other screenshots hint that Metal Gear Solid 4 will take place in a desolated, futuristic city rather than in a jungle like Metal Gear Solid 3. Soldiers, tanks, and two-legged mechs are seen on the roads. Talking to Famitsu, Director Kojima confirmed that Metal Gear Solid 4 will take place in a war zone. The game will feature multiple countries waging external wars and suffering from internal strife. Kojima plans to add realism to the relationships between Snake and the countries to make it more than just a simple character-enemy relationship. For example, if Snake kills a soldier from one country, he may end up allying with its opponent.

Director Kojima says that he hopes to make Metal Gear Solid 4 more "natural" than previous installments in the series. With the hardware shift to PlayStation 3, the developers will be able to give natural motions and facial expressions to the characters--eliminating the need for exclamation points to appear above soldiers' heads when they recognize something.

During E3, Kojima said that he wants to develop elements that aren't "visible by the eye" in Metal Gear Solid 4. He revealed to Famitsu his plans to include "mind games," which will have opponents' concentration depend on their mental condition. For example, soldiers may become weaker if they get intimidated.