LAS VEGAS--On the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show, Sony held an exclusive event at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to officially unveil its PlayStation Portable for the North American market. Of course, some hardcore gamers have already been playing their PSPs stateside since the system's highly successful Japanese release last month. One of the biggest games yet released in Japan for the PSP is Metal Gear Acid, a turn-based, card-battling take on Hideo Kojima's wildly popular cinematic stealth action series. Sony had a playable build of the game on offer at the event, and we couldn't resist trying it out once again.

　　The version of Metal Gear Acid on offer at the Las Vegas event was, alas, the same one we've seen a few times previously. It featured the same two initial training missions that we got to play at last year's Tokyo Game Show, during which Snake infiltrates Lobito Island in the near future. Under orders from a commander named Roger, Snake must attempt to rescue a rather important politician and uncover some dark, dirty military secrets in the process. The game eschews the typical action-oriented Metal Gear approach in favor of a tactical model that takes place on a grid and embodies Snake's classic abilities and weapons, such as the SOCOM pistol and the health-restoring ration, in cards that you'll draw from an invisible deck each turn. We'd hoped to finally try out the game in English, but, sadly, the version on offer at the event was identical to the final Japanese retail game, which we exhaustively previewed recently.

　　At least we know the game is coming out stateside (as if there were any chance it wouldn't), though Acid is currently listed only as a "2005" release. Whether or not its localization will be complete in time for the PSP's late-March launch remains to be seen, but Konami expects to show off an English-language version of the game toward the end of this month. At least Metal Gear fans will have plenty of meat to chew on when the game does come to light--one Konami staffer who is fluent in Japanese reportedly spent roughly 35 hours finishing the game. Hopefully Konami will complete the North American version of Metal Gear Acid sooner rather than later, giving the new PSP one of its first likely character-driven hits. We'll bring you more as soon as we get it.