Metal Gear Solid 5 announcement this week?

A new visual tweak on an already heavy speculated Konami teaser site has given the biggest hint yet that Metal Gear Solid 5 will be revealed early on Friday morning.

The site, which is tentatively entitled ‘Next’, has been updated with the number five now appearing briefly every few seconds. The rest of the graphic depicts a stormy sky above a grassy field.

Everything aside from that is down to guesswork. If the new game follows in the footsteps of its predecessor and is a PS3 exclusive, it will prove a further shot in the arm for Sony’s PS3, which already looks set for a strong 2009.

However, Konami has recently released a brand new Metal Gear title on iPhone, and the publisher has previously expressed is multi-platform aspirations, so a big surprise could yet be in the works.

The countdown on the site will reach its conclusion early on Friday morning – May 22nd 02:00 BST.