After flaunting their superior product, could Activision finally have some competition? If Konami has anything to say about it, Activison won't even know what hit em'. The Metal Gear Online Beta (downloadable beginning April 17, playable from April 21 until May 5) seems to be shaping up quite nicely, although Call of Duty 4 might feel a little miffed upon viewing MGO's feature set.

Most noticeably, Metal Gear will be taking a page from Call of Duty's war-torn book by implementing a persistent character customization system. Skills will upgrade as you sneak and slaughter, with the ability to equip four perk...er, specialties at once; among these specialities are CQC, knife-fighting, quickness, alertness, heavy weaponry mastery, demolition, and sniper mastery.

Battle will be waged across the aptly-named Blood Bath -- a Konami-described "kill house" -- and Groznyi Grad -- a weapons factory with ties to Metal Gear Solid 3 and open rooftops that'll quickly be over- flowing with snipers. Two maps might not seem like much, but you won't be at a lack for things to do; Konami's filling our plates with four gameplay modes: deathmatch, team deathmatch, Base Mission, and Capture Mission. Throughout the chaos, you'll be able to use the Sons of the Patriots (SOP) system, which will give you information on the location of your team-mates and who they're fighting.

And of course, as with every Metal Gear game, there'll be a giant catapult.

Wait, what?

We suppose there's no quicker way into enemy territory than soaring over all obstacles, and, as Brandon Laurino of Konami says, "it allows for some very unusual strategies." And really, it fits with Metal Gear naming conventions; can you say "Winged Snake"?

Also, don't forget to grab a Konami ID. You'll be required to sign-up before you can play the beta, and signing up now will add a few precious seconds to your time spent in Kojima's crazy online world.