Konami may have printed its retail posters and opened up its "Piece Walker" official website, but it looks like the game won't be arriving on its announced release date. Originally scheduled to arrive in Japan on March 18, the title has been pushed back to April 29, and the one person that seems to have taken the news the worse is the series' creator himself, Hideo Kojima. Following the official announcement made on Friday, Kojima posted its sincere apologies on his blog, saying that, "There is no greater crime as a game developer" than a delay that followed an official release date.

"I always preach to the staff, 'You must not have a delay after a release date has been announced. There is no greater crime as a game developer.' Official announcement of a release date is nothing less than a promise to fans and business partners. In other words, a release date change is like betraying the expectations of everyone," something that developers do on a daily basis. But to see so much remorse coming from the publisher is something rare. Most likely, Kojima himself is dying to play the game too.

"It probably takes a long time to earn back trust that has been lost," Kojima further added. "However we will work hard, with the hope that we will one day earn the support of everyone again. At present, Kojima Productions is putting our full efforts on final tuning and brush ups, in aim of completion," Kojima concluded his post. This apology is directed mainly at the Japanese gaming community, since the North American release date for Peace Walker, of May 25, and the European one, of May 28, remain unaffected.

His apologies did not fall on deaf years, and as andriasang reports, the fans rushed to show their support and understanding, something that rarely happens in the West, where delay announcements are most likely to get greeted with burning torches and pitchforks. This could be a cultural thing, but the Japanese aren't really known for being all that lenient. Then again, we haven't really seen a western developer announce a delay with anything more than a mild disinterest, at best, either.