Peace Walker-branded Walkman continues chain of MGS tie-ins

By Mikel Reparaz
published

Be just like 1970s Naked Snake with sweet-looking digital music player

First, we found out that Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker would carryridiculous amounts of product placement- strange, for a title set during the '70s, but not out of the ordinary for the series. Then came the announcement that the game would be available with a camouflaged, Peace Walker-brandedPSP, which made a sort of sense. Today, however,Sony slapped us upside the head with the announcement of a limited-edition, Peace Walker-brandedW-Series Walkman, and now we don't know what to think.


Above: Metal... Gear?

To be fair, the Walkman, which goes on sale in June atSony Style, seems like a pretty solid deal for Metal Gear fans.Retailing for $60, it only sports a puny 2GB of storage, but it comes pre-loaded with the Peace Walker soundtrack, something the press release was careful to point out won't be available elsewhere in the US. It also comes with a coupon code that will let Peace Walker players download original characters and Walkman-themed merchandise (because apparently it wasn't enough that the game already has an in-game Walkman). Also, it looks like this:

Also, as the images from Sony Style attest, you can put the earbuds back to back to fold the whole thing into a heart shape:


Above: Awwwww...?

All cynicism about excessive product tie-ins aside, an audio player that's basically just a pair of earbuds is going to be just a little bitirresistible to pathological technophiles (like us). Expect these to hit the market around the same time as Peace Walker's June 8 release.

May 12, 2010

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.