Hideo Kojima (小島 秀夫 ) | |
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Hideo Kojima at GO3 2007 in Perth, Australia |
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Born | August 24, 1963 Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan |
Occupation | Video game designer |
Years active | 1986-Present |
Website | |
Hideo Kojima's Blog (Japanese) |
Hideo Kojima (小島 秀夫 Kojima Hideo , born August 24, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer originally employed at Konami. Formerly the vice president of Konami Computer Entertainment Japan[1], he is currently the Executive Corporate Officer Director of Kojima Productions.[2] He is the creator and director of a number of successful games, including the Metal Gear series, Snatcher, and Policenauts and also produced both the Zone of the Enders and Boktai series. Kojima is consistently named by fans and industry experts alike as being one of the most influential and innovative video game directors and writers of all time. Newsweek named Hideo Kojima as one of the top ten people of 2002.[3][4] In 2008, Next-Gen placed him #7 in their list of "Hot 100 Developer 2008."[5] In early 2009, IGN placed him sixth in their Top 100 Game Creators of All Time list.[6] He has also been awarded the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award handed to a game designer at the 2008 MTV Game Awards[7] and was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Game Developers Conference.[8]
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Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1963[1], Kojima moved to western Japan at the age of three. Kojima has said that early on in his life he often had to deal with death.[9]
When he was little the Kojima family moved to a small city called Shiraski.[9] Just as quickly, his family soon moved to Kawanishi, Hyōgo[10] in the Kansai region.[9] Kojima has noted that growing up he was a latchkey kid, often having to watch television and look after himself when he came home from school.[9] Staying at home by himself in isolation still affects him to this day stating, "[whenever] I travel and stay at a hotel I put the TV on as soon as I enter the room, just to deal with the feeling of loneliness."[9]
Initially wanting to be an artist or illustrator, he was often discouraged by societal norms of Japan which favored finding safe and well paying jobs. He was also discouraged because his uncle was also an artist but suffered from financial difficulties.[9]
He eventually started writing short stories and began to send them to Japanese magazines but was never able to get anything published. He cites that his stories were often 400 pages long while most magazines wanted their short stories to be around 100 pages.[9] Eventually he shifted his focus to making films with his friend who had an 8mm camera.[9]
In an interview on G4's TV series, Icons,[11][12] Kojima describes much of his earlier career and influences for game design. Kojima grew up early in life watching movies with his parents. While studying economics in university, Kojima found himself playing video games during his free time, mainly games on the Famicom. In his fourth year in university, Kojima surprised colleagues by announcing his intentions to join the video game industry, despite initially having ambitions of becoming a film director.[13] He felt a career in video games would be more satisfying.[14] Kojima has cited Shigeru Miyamoto's Super Mario Bros.,[10] as well as Yuji Horii's Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken[15] as the games that inspired him to make this decision.
Kojima joined video game publisher Konami's MSX home computer division in 1986 as a designer and 'planner'. Initially, he was disappointed with his assignment, and desired to work on Nintendo Entertainment System and arcade games instead—Kojima felt the color palette of the system was too restrictive.[14] Kojima's gameplay ideas were often overlooked initially, and due to his lack of familiarity with programming was repeatedly snubbed for his failures in his initial years at Konami. At one point Kojima considered leaving the company, but he hung on.
The first game he worked on was a sequel to Antarctic Adventure, Penguin Adventure,[9] as an assistant director. The first game he actually developed was Lost Warld, a platform game starring a masked female wrestler, in 1986. However, the game was ultimately rejected by Kojima's superiors at Konami.
Kojima was asked to take over a project, Metal Gear, from a senior associate. Hardware limitations hindered development of the game's combat. Inspired by The Great Escape, Kojima altered the gameplay to focus on a prisoner escaping.[14] It was released in 1987 for the MSX2 home computer in Japan and parts of Europe. The game centers around a special forces operative codenamed Solid Snake, who is sent to the fortified state of "Outer Heaven" to stop a nuclear equipped walking tank known as "Metal Gear." Metal Gear is one of the earliest examples of the stealth action game genre, where avoiding encounters from the enemies is emphasized over direct combat. A port of Metal Gear was also released for the Nintendo Entertainment System through Konami's Ultra Games division. Kojima was not directly involved in the production of this version and he has openly criticized some of the changes made in this version.[16]
His next project was the graphic adventure game Snatcher, released for the NEC PC-8801 and MSX2 computer platforms in Japan in 1988. The game, heavily influenced by the movie Blade Runner, centers around an amnesiac detective who faces a race of cyborgs (the titular Snatchers) that kill their victims, copy their likeness and assume their place in society. While Kojima and his team wrote the entire story of the game, they were forced to leave out the final act of the game due to time constraints.
In 1990 Kojima was involved in the productions of two MSX2 games: a spinoff of Snatcher titled SD Snatcher; and a sequel to Metal Gear titled Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which further evolved the stealth game genre. The player had more abilities, such as crouching, crawling into hiding spots and air ducts, distracting guards by knocking on surfaces, and using a radar to plan ahead. The enemies had improved AI, including a 45-degree field of vision, the detection of various different noises, being able to move from screen to screen, and a three-phase security alarm. The game also had improved graphics and a complex storyline dealing with themes such as the nature of warfare and nuclear disarmament.[17][18]
SD Snatcher is an RPG which adapts the storyline of the original Snatcher, while featuring its version of the originally planned ending. The characters are depicted in a "super deformed" art style, in contrast to the original game's realistic style. Like the original computer versions of Snatcher, it was only released in Japan.
Due to the success of the original Metal Gear on the NES, Konami decided to create a sequel to the game, Snake's Revenge, without the involvement of Hideo Kojima. During a ride home on the train, Kojima met one of the staff member who worked on the game who asked him if he would create a "true" Metal Gear sequel.[11] As a result Kojima began plans for his own sequel titled: Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The game was only released in Japan for the MSX2 as one of the last games Konami produced for the computer system. The game would not be released overseas in North American and Europe until its inclusion in 2006's Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.
All of his subsequent projects after Metal Gear 2 were produced primarily for disc-based media, allowing for the inclusion of voice acting in his games. He remade Snatcher in 1992 for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM². An English localization of the game was produced for the Sega CD in North America and Europe in 1994. Kojima was not directly involved in the Sega CD version nor the subsequent PlayStation and Saturn ports released in Japan in 1996.
In 1994, Kojima released Policenauts, a film noir/sci-fi-themed adventure game set in a space colony, for the NEC PC-9821. Kojima oversaw the subsequent ports released for the 3DO in 1995; and the PlayStation and Saturn in 1996, which all featured animated cut-scenes not in the PC-98 release. Despite announcements for an English release in 1996,[19] problems with synching the English dialogue with the cut-scenes stopped its production.[20] An unofficial English translation patch was released to the public at midnight (JST) on August 24, 2009, to coincide with Hideo Kojima's 46th birthday.[21]
With the release of Metal Gear Solid in 1998 for the PlayStation, Kojima became an international celebrity among the video game media. Metal Gear Solid was the first in the Metal Gear series to use 3D graphics and voice acting, which gave a more cinematic experience to the game. MGS was highly regarded for its well-designed gameplay and for its characters and storyline, which featured themes of nuclear proliferation and genetic engineering.
In early 2000, Kojima released the first details of the sequel to Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, for the PlayStation 2. The game's highly detailed graphics, physics, and expanded gameplay quickly made it one of the most anticipated games ever.[22][23] The game was highly successful and critically acclaimed at release, due to its graphics, gameplay and storyline, which dealt with myriad philosophical themes as specific as memes, censorship, manipulation, patricide, the inherent flaws of democracy and as grandiose as the nature of reality itself. While "MGS2" broke ground with the breadth of its subject matter, the lengthy exposition of these issues, particularly in the bewildering maze of dialogue and plot revelation in the final hours of the game, left a sour taste in the mouths of many gamers, who expected the Hollywood-style resolution of its forerunner. The game also received negative fan reaction due to the unexpected introduction of a new protagonist named Raiden, a rookie soldier, the polar opposite in place of the series' taciturn main hero, Solid Snake.
Before MGS2's release, Kojima produced the game and anime franchise Zone of the Enders in 2001 to moderate success. In 2003, he produced Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand for the Game Boy Advance. In this, players take the role of a young vampire hunter who uses a solar weapon which is charged by a photometric sensor on the game cartridge (forcing them to play in sunlight). Another team inside Konami (in a collaboration with Silicon Knights) began work on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, a GameCube remake of the first Metal Gear Solid with all the gameplay features of Metal Gear Solid 2 and with cutscenes redirected by action/horror film director Ryuhei Kitamura. It was released in 2004.
Afterwards, Kojima also designed and released Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the PlayStation 2. Unlike the previous games in the series, which took place in the near future and focused on indoor locations, the game is set in a Russian forest area during the year 1964, and involves wilderness survival and camouflaging. The North American version was released on November 17, 2004, with the Japanese counterpart following on December 16. The European version was released on March 4, 2005. Critical response to the game was highly favorable.
At that time Kojima produced on Boktai's sequel, Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django for the Game Boy Advance. Released in summer 2004, it makes more extensive use of the cartridge's sunlight sensor and allows players to combine various new solar weapons.
Also released was Metal Gear Acid for the PlayStation Portable handheld. This turn-based game is less action-oriented than the other Metal Gear games and focuses more on strategy. It was released in Japan on December 16, 2004. Its sequel Metal Gear Ac!d 2 was released on March 21, 2006.
Kojima wanted Solid Snake to appear in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but due to development cycle problems Nintendo was unable to add Snake in. When Super Smash Bros. Brawl was announced, series producer Masahiro Sakurai, contacted Kojima to work Snake into the game. Kojima also worked on Snake's stage for SSBB.[24]
Released in June 2008, Kojima co-directed Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots with Shuyo Murata.
Kojima received a lifetime achievement award at the MTV Game Awards 2008 in Germany. In his speech, he said in English, "I have to say, even though I received this award, let me state that I will not retire. I will continue to create games as long as I live."[25]
Before E3 2009, Kojima stated interest in working with a western developer.[26] This later turned out to be a collaboration between him and MercurySteam to work on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
Although he announced that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots would be the last Metal Gear game he would be directly involved in,[27] he announced at E3 2009 that he would return to help on two Metal Gear games: Metal Gear Solid: Rising, as a producer and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as writer, director and producer.[28] When interviewed at Gamescom 2009, Kojima stated that he got more involved with Peace Walker because, "there was a lot of confusion within the team and it didn't proceed as I wanted it to. Therefore I thought that I needed to jump in and do Peace Walker." [29]
He recently stated he is currently working on a new IP with Suda51, tentatively titled Project S, as well as preparing new projects.[29]
Hideo Kojima was at E3 2010 to show off his team's latest project, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, but a report from CVG says the game developer has a "massive PS3 exclusive" to unveil at Tokyo Game Show. He was also seen in Nintendo's 3DS interview video, where he stated he was interested in making a Metal Gear Solid game for the 3DS and wondered what it would be like in 3D.
Kojima's love of film is noticeable in his games where he pays homage through his stories and characters, sometimes to the point of pastiche, as in Snatcher. Snatcher is inspired by many science fiction movies, particularly from the eighties, including Blade Runner,[30] Akira,[31] The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers[32] and The Terminator.[31]
Examples of influence by films include Solid Snake's codename (named after Snake from Escape from New York),[16] Snake's alias in MGS2: Plisskin (in reference to the last name of Snake Plissken from the Escape movies), Snake's real name (Dave from 2001: A Space Odyssey),[33] and Snake's trademark bandana (The Deer Hunter[34]).
Movies would also have influence on other aspects of his games. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich (named after HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey),[33] Sniper Wolf shooting Meryl in Metal Gear Solid (Full Metal Jacket),[16] Psycho Mantis (inspired from the film The Fury)[16] and the whole Metal Gear stealth concept (The Great Escape[16] and The Guns of Navarone[35]). James Bond also had a large influence on the Metal Gear series,[36] with Metal Gear Solid 3 having a James Bond-like introduction sequence.
In regards to storyline development and interaction with them, he said:
“ | Storytelling is very difficult. But adding the flavour helps to relay the storytelling, meaning in a cut scene, with a set camera and effects, you can make the users feel sorrow, or make them happy or laugh. This is an easy approach, which we have been doing. That is one point, the second point is that if I make multiple storylines and allow the users to select which story, this might really sacrifice the deep emotion the user might feel; when there's a concrete storyline, and you kind of go along that rail, you feel the destiny of the story, which at the end, makes you feel more moved. But when you make it interactive - if you want multiple stories where you go one way or another - will that make the player more moved when he or she finishes the game? These two points are really the key which I am thinking about, and if this works, I think I could probably introduce a more interactive storytelling method.[37] | ” |
Year | Game | System | Credited as | Other | |||
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Director | Producer | Writer | Game Designer | ||||
1987 | Metal Gear | MSX2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2004: Mobile Phones, 2005: PlayStation 2, 2006: i-revo | |
1990 | Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake | MSX2 | Yes | Yes | 2004: Mobile Phones, 2005: PlayStation 2 | ||
1998 | Metal Gear Solid | PSX | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
1999 | Metal Gear Solid: Integral | PSX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Microsoft Windows | |
2000 | Metal Gear: Ghost Babel | GBC | Yes | Supervising Director | |||
2001 | Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | PS2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
2002 | The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 | PS2 | Yes | Yes | |||
2002 | Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance | PS2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Microsoft Windows, Xbox | |
2004 | Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes | NGC | Yes | Yes | Original Director | ||
2004 | Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater | PS2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
2004 | Metal Gear Acid | PSP | Yes | ||||
2005 | Metal Gear Acid 2 | PSP | Yes | ||||
2005 | Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence | PS2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
2006 | Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel | PSP | Yes | Yes | |||
2006 | Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops | PSP | Yes | Yes | Original Concept | ||
2007 | Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus | PSP | Yes | Yes | Original Concept | ||
2007 | Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Desinee | DVD | Yes | Yes | |||
2008 | Metal Gear Solid Mobile | MP | Yes | ||||
2008 | Metal Gear Acid Mobile | MP | Yes | ||||
2008 | Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots / Metal Gear Online | PS3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
2008 | Metal Gear Online: Gene Expansion | PS3 | Yes | ||||
2008 | Metal Gear Online: Meme Expansion | PS3 | Yes | ||||
2009 | Metal Gear Online: Scene Expansion | PS3 | Yes | ||||
2009 | Metal Gear Solid Touch | iPhone | Yes | iPod Touch, iPad | |||
2010 | Metal Gear Arcade | PS3 | Yes | Amusement arcade | |||
2010 | Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | PSP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | PSP Go |
TBA | Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D | 3DS | Yes | Yes | |||
TBA | Metal Gear Solid: Rising | PS3 | Yes | PS3, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 |
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