That June 12th date is NOT set in stone btw. According to SONY this is what they reveal in the press release:
In additional news coming from Destination PlayStation, SCEA announced Metal Gear Solid®4: Guns of the Patriots will be available in North America in late Q2 2008.
Remember that June 12th is a Thursday and not a traditional launch day.
If sales of the PS3 in the US hit 5 million this year and the 80GB sells at a 50/50 split with the 40GB (this has been the case so far by reports) your are automatically selling 2.5 million MGS4 games by Xmas.
Don't think this is too much of a stretch dependant on how long this bundle is around.
Not sure. Sony will push very hard on this one. They've got something to prove ( BTWhere's the boxhttp://kotaku.com/361158/metal-gear-solid-4-the-ps3-bundle-the-cardboard-box)
Those who preorder MGS4 will have guaranteed access to the online BETA test for Metal Gear Online, whose Starter Pack will launch alongside the single player version of the game this coming June. The BETA test is due to begin in late April.
Most likely it is to create hype much like the Halo 3 Beta more than actual play testing but its still nice to have anyway.
1