via Kotaku


So Kojima's address at GO3 contained...not much, aside from a casual stroll down memory lane. Straight afterwards, though, I had a chance to sit down with Mr. Kojima (sadly, no tea OR biscuits) and talk Metal Gear, movies and "the rumble guy".

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Metal Gear. 20 years. It's a long time to be making the same game. So I ask him if he's surprised that he's still churning out Metal Gear games this far down the line. "I'm very surprised", he says. "Twenty years ago when I created my first one, I thought it'd just be over. To be more extreme, I didn't think the fist one would sell at all!".

Oh, but sell they did, and when games sell, you make more of them. "But I have kept making Metal Gear games", he says. "When I look back, while it looks like the same game, I've been adding new features and using new technology each time, so it's never felt like I've been making the same game."

This focus on new tech was a big part of his address, as with each advance in console hardware he says he was able to make fundamental changes to the series, culminating in the crazy wartime escapades of MGS4. "I have to say, the evolution of technology, that has helped me to keep 'creating' Metal Gear", he adds.

Since Metal Gear Solid 4 has come up, I do the polite thing and ask how it's coming along. "Its almost at the 'shooting stage' of creating a movie", Kojima says. "All the design and scenarios are finished, we're just completing the actual game".

It's been a long time coming, so it can't have been easy. Kojima agrees. "Nothing was easy", he says. "Everything has been hard, because we've set not just a high bar for ourselves but a number of bars. So there's nothing easy, everything is hard!"

With rumble having been a key aspect of the series thus far, I ask him his thoughts on the issue now that Sony and Immersion have made kissy-kissy. "I want to use rumble, yes", he says, "but it's a race against time. If it can make it in in time I'd like to use it, yes."

"The part that's troubling me, I cant really say...". He pauses. Oh, do go on: "...but we always designed the game without rumble, and I had great ideas without rumble, so if rumble comes back we have a decision to make whether to leave that new feature in or to take it out and replace it with rumble".

Could you patch it? A later update would at least give players the choice. "I want to implement it, rumble, yes", he says. "I'm not thinking about a patch, though". Oh. Well, early days, I guess. Maybe rumble and motion-sensing can't get along after all?

He won't say, but if he had to choose between the two, it looks like rumble would win out. His "other" idea doesn't have a nickname and a long-term relationship with the company. "Ever since MGS1 there was a specific guy, nicknamed the 'rumble creator', who worked on it for us", he says. "But he's been on a long vacation since we didn't think rumble was going to be in MGS4, so we're calling him back right now". Hmm. Long vacation sounds...ominous.

Moving on, I remind him of a comment he made last year comparing each of the three current consoles to "different kinds of dinner". Did he still think that was the case, now that all three are on the market? Nope. "They're more like a movie theatre metaphor", he says.

"The PS3 is like the theatre, it's a little bit high-priced but it has to be high quality as well. The 360 is a DVD, it still needs to be high quality but you need more variations, while the Wii is almost like a TV channel, because every game you have it with your family".

I look for a funny/revealing insight into the comment, then realise he's probably quite close to the mark. Still, by that admission, if the PS3 is Hollywood, is he feeling the heat of being the system's first big, exclusive title? "Yes, there is pressure", he admits, "but there is Final Fantasy XIII coming out as well, so it's not all me!".

Still on MGS4, I ask whether this really is the end. He's said repeatedly he wants to walk away at the end of this game, and the trailers seem to show everyone from the series getting together for one final shootout. So when MGS4 hits, will you hang up your boots? "Well, atually its really up to the users, its up to them to decide", he offers.

"If users want more Metal Gear, then I will probably step up as producer, like the James Bond series does", he says. "That way I can have new, upcoming directors making MGS while I oversee the project, and then perhaps I can move onto something ...