So I get home from a midnight sale with my brand new copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Partiots. I pop the disc into the Playstation 3 and start the egg timer I got from the kitchen. I also have a sandwich, a coke, and my Nintendo DS for good measure. Considering that Konami expressly forbade reviewers with early copies from discussing the installation time, there's no telling how long I'm going to be here. It could be a long night. Maybe I should make some coffee just in case.

It turns out it's a complete non-issue. Snake is barely starting on his third cigarette by the time the install is done. At 8 minutes and 17 seconds from putting in the disc, I'm pressing the start button to begin a new game. It's no longer an install than, say, Devil May Cry 4 or Haze. Way to freak out for no good reason, Konami.

Of course, according to my egg timer, it's another 27 minutes and 50 seconds before I actually get to any gameplay, but that's another story…

UPDATE: A-ha, so it turns out that the reason Konami didn't want reviewers talking about install time is because there are multiple installs! I just reached the end of the first act and had to sit through a second install. Pretty sneaky, Konami!