Hideo Kojima is a Blogger
New personal site from Metal Gear creator gives inside look at game development.
by Anoop Gantayat
September 27, 2005 - Metal Gear fanatics who, following the impressive debut of MGS4 at the Tokyo Game Show, are now hungry for every tasty morsel of info director/writer/ designer Hideo Kojima throws their way may end up getting a few bones every day from here on out. Kojima has started up a blog at the Kojima Productions website, and the first few entries have already managed to serve up some insider info on the Metal Gear series, from the original games all the way up to current productions like MGS3 Subsistence and MGS4.
The latest entry in the blog begins with Kojima revealing that he underwent numerous interviews from foreign press during TGS, and the most frequent questions asked were "Why is Snake an old timer in Metal Gear Solid 4" and "Why have you returned again for MGS4?"
The answer to these two questions are apparently related, with Kojima beginning with a discussion of themes. The grand theme of Metal Gear Solid, Kojima recaps in the blog entry, is "What things need to be passed on to the next generation." The original Metal Gear Solid dealt with the theme of GENE (passing on genetic information from parent to child), with MGS2 dealing with MEME (passing on cultural genes -- that is, ideologies, emotions, culture, art and other things that aren't encoded genetically). MGS3 dealt with the more complicated idea of SCENE (the idea that as human values change with generations, the things that we must pass on to our children also change). The three games formed the Metal Gear Solid trilogy, with Kojima adding, "MGS was concluded with 3."
Kojima has, in the past, stated that he would distance himself from the Metal Gear Solid series with subsequent entries. According to the blog, with the conclusion of the trilogy, he'd hoped to have conveyed the "soul" of the series not just to users, but to the his staff as well. The younger generation developers would then take over on the new battle field of Metal Gear Solid 4.
However, Kojima feels that he was unable to convey the game's soul and his intentions neither to gamers nor to his staff. Kojima uses the English word "Sense" to describe the area that remains to be conveyed. "Sense" refers to his intent with the MGS series and is something that he himself has to show. This is why "a 42-year-old middle aged game designer" has returned for Metal Gear Solid 4. "The last remaining thing that must be communicated to the next generation is an aging figure that still continues to change," Kojima states.
Kojima feels that "creators" in the game industry, including himself, are for the most part, just standard white collar workers. Most game creators, once they've had a hit, advance with their company and end up separating from hands-on development. Some even form their own companies. In the end, these creators focus on the business side of game creation.
Although grouping himself into this category, Kojima clarifies with "However, I like game creation. I want to continue making things." Apparently, we will be able to see some of Kojima's determination as a middle-aged game creator in the old Snake that appears in Metal Gear Solid 4.
In closing today's entry, Kojima states that he interviewed a number of people for jobs during the day, and he expects the interviews to continue into the future because Konami handed out fliers at TGS soliciting employees for Kojima Productions. Creation is half set when you meet people, Kojima states, and he goes on to wonder what kind of people he'll meet.
Going through the blog's previous entries (the first one was on the 24th, so there isn't too much material), we get a few insider peeks at Kojima Productions development as a whole. Development on Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence is nearing completion, Kojima reveals, with the development staff currently working on fine tuning and debugging. Until the 23rd, the game lacked save features, so those checking the game had to restart from the beginning.
Kojima himself is checking the Metal Gear Solid 3 part of the game using a freshly pressed disk. Subsistence adds a new "3D" camera option to the game, which Kojima states gives the game a fresh feel. He expresses surprise at this, considering that he, obviously, played a whole lot of the game in its original package when it first hit the PS2 last year. When using the new view, north is no longer the top of the screen, giving players the feeling of really being in a jungle.
There are some problems with the camera, he admits. For smaller rooms, it's better to use the standard top-down camera. Also, when lost in the jungle, players will probably want to use the right analogue stick to switch to the top-down view in order to find out where they should be heading.
Kojima finishes his MGS3 commentary by suggesting that MGS4 may end up with two camera systems, similar to Subsistence. He also adds that in the seat next to him, Subsistence producer Yoshikazu Matsuhana was testing Metal Gear 2, which comes as a bonus with the Subsistence release.
The sight of Metal Gear 2 gets Kojima talking about the past, first stating that, despite the switch from 2D to 3D, the feel of the series and the idea of "metal" hasn't changed since the original Metal Gear hit eighteen years back. He notices Matsuhana entering an elevator, then comments that MGS3 didn't have an elevator in it. Elevators are an important gameplay contraption in the Metal Gear series, Kojima states, but the idea to put an elevator into the games was inspired by an elevator scene in the movie Zombie. "What will we do for MGS4?" he asks.
Of course, Kojima shares non-gaming commentary in his blog. He recently saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, he states, and seems to be quite impressed with Johnny Depp, both in this particular movie and in general. Also, Kojima reveals that he has an iPod. The other day, he left work after loading up his iPod with Capture/Release, the first album from The Rakes. That night, he went swimming at the gym, and in the sauna, he came up with some ideas for Metal Gear Solid 4, which he said he'd share with Shuyo Murata, writer and director of MGS4 come Monday (Kojima refers to Murata as "Shoomoo").
If MGS4 has a sauna scene, you'll know the likely origins of the idea.
Kojima's blog can be accessed here. The page is in Japanese, but if we see any interesting bits of info in his updates, you can bet we'll let you know.
http://www.konami.jp/gs/kojima_pro/japa ... _blog.html
et bien je vais donner mon avis par rapport à la vidéo.
c'est pas possible .... dîtes-moi qu'il le fait exprès ou je me 
bah moi aussi et avant lui ... c'est pour ça que j'ai dit ça !
ouf tu m'a fait peur micka ! 
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