Blushes and brow wiping all around the board today at Konami. The highly anticipated Metal Gear Online beta has come hurtling back to earth like a big world destroying metorite of failure. Yes, we won’t be playing MGO today.

Konami has issued an official response: “We would like to thank all players for their keen interest in taking part in the beta test. However, we regret to inform you that due to extraordinary levels of traffic from all around the globe, we have been unable to run the service to the level we expected. As a temporary measure, we will be deferring the start of the US public beta test until we are able to stabilize our server.” The response also says all the things one should say in a situation like this, like apologizing for “all inconveniences as well as confusion caused.”

For now, the new beta starting date is “to be announced.” Konami says the end date for the beta is now May 11 instead of the previous May 5 date, and promises to make an announcement regarding the new start date tomorrow.

The delay doesn’t just affect the US. The beta is down in every territory outside of Japan. Though it may be the case that we wake up tomorrow and Konami has issued another statement saying “this Thursday” or “next Monday”, it’s sill very dissapointing for all those dedicated gamers skipping work or school to get stuck into it today.

Is it surprising that the servers are suffering too much traffic? Not really. Judging by the Konami ID site going up and down like a poltergeist in an elevator and the awfully slow download speed of the beta update it was a near certanty that traffic was going to be an issue to some extent.

[See also: Metal Gear Online gallery]