Metal Gear Solid movie confirmed

Metal Gear Solid looks set to follow in the footsteps of Tomb Raider , and, er, Super Mario Bros. and Hitman , in becoming yet another video game to be ported over to the silver screen.

Spider-Man producer Avi Arad appeared at the Metal Gear Solid 25th Anniversary event in Japan and announced that Sony Pictures will be pushing a film version into development, ending long-standing speculation that the game was ripe for adaptation.

"For many years I fought to bring comics to theaters," said Arad during a brief speech on-stage, "and videogames are the comics of today." Given that comic-book movies are still arriving at a rate of knots, we're not sure that the analogy holds water, but you get what he's trying to say.

The Metal Gear Solid series follows the exploits of one Solid Snake, a kind of super-soldier / spy / mercenary figure, charged with taking down a mysterious nuclear-weapon-sporting mecha known as Metal Gear. Needless to say, he's a total badass.

Nobody is yet in place on the directorial or casting front, but expect the usual Hemsworth / Gosling / Hardy / Jackman / Bale rumours to soon begin in earnest. A movie adaptation of a videogame… who'd have thought it, eh?

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.