Sony has not been one to do many special edition versions of their gaming consoles in the past. Sony, however, wants to make a big impact for the release of Metal Gear Solid 4; and part of this celebration will be the release a special edition gunmetal grey PlayStation 3.

From what we are hearing, this will be produced in very limited quantities and for North America. At least initially, Sony is claiming that once they are gone, they are gone. In Japan, Konami was selling the limited edition gunmetal edition of the PS3 in the Konami store in Japan.

Unlike the black finish of the standard version of the PS3, which is a fingerprint and dust magnet, the grey gunmetal special edition is finished in a matte finish, which should be more immune to picking up fingerprints and dust.

It is unclear what the configuration will be for this special edition unit, meaning that backwards compatibility with the PS2 and hard drive size are unknown. Sources suggest that the gunmetal special edition will include a limited edition Metal Gear Solid 4 DualShock 3 controller in the package.