The Metal Gear Solid franchise is no stranger to product placement. Previous MGS titles have featured iPods, Doritos, Axe Deodorant, and snazzy Mountain Dew shirts. The franchise's upcoming Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain looks to continue this proud tradition of corporate shilling by releasing an exclusive branded Sony Walkman to coincide with the release of the game. And getting one of these branded MP3 players will only set fans back $1,128.

Konami announced that these collector’s edition Walkman’s are expected to release alongside the hotly anticipated title next month. But considering the music player retails for ¥140, 000, Konami made sure the Metal Gear Solid 5 Walkman would be the must-have product for any Big Boss fan. The Walkman NW-ZX2 features a laser etched Outer Heaven logo on the back, a leather case also emblazoned with the Outer Heaven logo, 128 GB of storage, comes pre-loaded with ten musical tracks from the game, the iconic “!” sound effect, and four exclusive wallpapers.

For fans that aren’t looking to drop quite so much on a MP3 player, Sony is also offering a more reasonably priced Walkman NW-A16 model, which features the Outer Heaven logo, 32 GB of storage, and two songs for the soundtrack, all for $229.

The Walkman won’t be the only MGS branded tech item on the block, though, as it will be accompanied by two Metal Gear Solid Xperia tablets. The tablets come pre-loaded with a Metal Gear Solid wallpaper, two tracks from the upcoming games’ soundtrack, a digital Metal Gear Solid V artbook, and a ¥1,000 coupon towards the purchase of a tie-in Metal Gear Solid novel. Rouding out the gadgets is an Xperia phone, which features the same Outer Heaven logo, four musical tracks, a MGS wallpaper, and comes pre-loaded with the Radio Call sound effect as a ring tone.

While Japanese gamers will have plenty of MGS approved gadgets to pick from come September, Konami has not yet stated if these items will make it overseas. But considering that Japan has also received exclusive Metal Gear Solid Mountain Dew Cans and MGS branded Doritos that never made it outside of Japan, the odds are likely slim.

While Hideo Kojima’s mysterious departure from Konami has left many wondering what will become of the Metal Gear franchise, Konami seems confident in Metal Gear Solid 5, releasing no less than 4 editions of the game for fans to clamor over. There are some that would accuse Konami of simply cashing in on the beloved series, but Kojima has never been against tie-ins and special editions, even taking a hands-on role in developing the controversial figure of half-naked sniper Quiet.

Over a $1,000 certainly seems steep for a branded MP3 player, but there are sure to be plenty of Metal Gear Solid fans lined up on release day. Crafty gamers might even shove the Metal Gear Solid V device in a Fallout 4 Pip-Boy, and the sure oddness of the combination will cause the universe to collapse.

Source: Siliconera