If the names Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Big Boss and Raiden mean anything to you then I'm guessing today is an important day.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots hits the shops today as a flag bearer for the PlayStation 3 console.
The game hasn't launched with the marketing hype and blitz of titles like Halo 3 or Grand Theft Auto IV, and I'm guessing that hardcore fans of the series are probably thankful - the franchise has tended to attract a more cerebral player over the years.
There was a decent sprinkling of fans at the San Francisco launch, reports Kotaku and a modest crowd in Tokyo, according to Famitsu.
PS3Fanboy has some photos of creator Hideo Kojima at the New York launch in Times Square.
But it's been interesting to see how expectations for the game have become slightly dampened over the course of the last few months.
Once held up as an example of how the PlayStation 3 was going to revolutionise gaming, even the title's creator Hideo Kojima has seemed a bit more pragmatic about his achievement. He even seems to suggest that the PS3 itself constrained his vision, which may be why Sony itself has not tried to extract a marketing dividend for the console from the game's launch.
Review scores for the title have been modest, with lots of eight out of 10s.This perhaps reflects the game's high barrier to entry.
Gamerankings.com, says the average score for the game is 92%. I don't trust aggregators by and large - but I will say that the two outlets I place my trust in habitually - Edge and Eurogamer - both gave it an 8 out of 10.
If you haven't followed the intricate twists and turns of the plots then you are going to struggle. Metal Gear Solid is so complicated it makes an episode of The Wire look like Balamory. The plot does span six games and about 20 years, to be fair.
Here's some of the reviews:
1Up - A
These parts are also a stark reminder that video games have a long way to go before their narrative comes within spitting distance of the best Hollywood has to offer. Fans of balletic violence will be in heaven watching the gloriously rendered mayhem on display, but those who prefer solid acting and effective emoting are likely to be disappointed by the game's uneven performances and scripting.
Edge - 8/10
The cutscenes here are sure to invoke that thousand-yard stare, two in particular coming perilously close to the 90-minute mark.
Eurogamer - 8/10
Flawed, intractable, unspeakably tedious at times, and yet blessed with incredible production values, imaginative design, and a brilliant, brave willingness to think and do the unexpected and impossible.
The fact there are two almost 90-minute cutscenes seems, to my mind, a touch absurd.
There are those who argue that video games can be that mix between films and interactivity -
but I prefer something a little more subtle that Kojima's offering.
More than six years ago reviewing MGS 2, I wrote: "Computer games should be about interaction and not just passive viewing. If you want to watch a DVD movie on your PS2 you can simply rent one."
The games industry may have upped the polygon count in the intervening years but Metal Gear Solid 4 still feels like a long way from the breakthrough game that will deliver on action, narrative and interactivity.
Despite all those reservations I am very much looking forward to sticking my copy of MGS4 into the Playstation 3 - not least for the opening sequence.
As all MGS fans know, no-one does an intro sequence quite like Hideo Kojima.
All together now: "Da da daaaa, da da da da daaaa, da da daaa, da da da daaaaa....."
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