HIDEO KOJIMA

is a Japanese video game designer originally employed at Konami. Formerly the vice president of Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, he is currently the head of Kojima Productions, a new team devoted to creative game development leaving behind all the business and administrative decision making. He is the creator and director of a number of successful games, including the ''Metal Gear series'', ''Snatcher'', and ''Policenauts''. He has also produced both the ''Zone of the Enders'' and ''Boktai'' series.
Idiosyncrasies of Kojima's game design include intricate plots that grapple with philosophical and social issues in a dense and verbose fashion, from cloning and meme theory to the state of the military-industrial complex, as well as equally unique and oftentimes wacky approaches to game mechanics. In this regard, he has been deemed by some as a maker of so-called postmodern games; the ''Metal Gear'' series contains elements of magical realism and often breaks the fourth wall. His love of film is also noticeable in his games, where he pays homage through his stories and characters, often to the point of pastiche. He is also well known for a quirky and somewhat irreverent sense of humor, and his frequently disarming and powerful plot twists.

Contents

Life

Kojima Productions

Works

''Boktai'' series

''Zone of the Enders'' series

''Tokimeki Memorial Drama'' Series

''Snatcher'' series

Other Games

Movies

References

External links

Life

Born in Setagaya, Tokyo in 1963, Kojima moved to western Japan at the age of three. In an interview with the gaming cable channel G4, Kojima explains much of his earlier career and influences for game design. Early in life Kojima grew fond of watching films at the local cinema, an influence that would impact his style of game design later on. While studying economics in college, Kojima found himself playing video games during his free time - namely, games on the Famicom. Kojima cites Shigeru Miyamoto's Super Mario Bros as the defining influence. In his fourth year in college, Kojima surprises colleagues by announcing his intentions to join the video game industry, despite initially having ambitions of becoming a film director. He joined video game publisher Konami's MSX home computer division in 1986 as a designer and 'planner'. Kojima's innovative 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 stuck on.
The first game he worked on was ''Penguin Adventure'', as an assistant director. The first game he actually developed was ''Lost Warld'', a war-themed platform game starring a masked female wrestler, in 1986. However, it was cancelled by Konami.
His first released game was ''Metal Gear''. It was released in 1987, to critical success, on the MSX 2 home computer. The MSX system was a huge success in Japan, Europe, Brazil and Soviet Union, but due to its obscurity in the USA and some other nations, many people (especially Americans) did not play the game until it was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, and even then the game went through numerous changes during the conversion process with which Kojima was not directly involved. The game featured Solid Snake, a rookie soldier who has been sent to the fortified state of "Outer Heaven" to stop a nuclear equipped walking tank known as "Metal Gear." The game was unique by being the first known stealth-based game, in which the player is encouraged to avoid visual contact with the enemy as opposed to engaging in direct confrontation. He also released the critically acclaimed ''Snatcher'', a graphic adventure game with a cyberpunk setting and Cold War themes, in 1988.
In 1990, Kojima released '' for the MSX only in Japan. The game was critically acclaimed in Japan for its sophisticated gameplay and intricate storyline, as it introduced many significant changes and additions to the ''Metal Gear'' series, most of which were later carried over to ''Metal Gear Solid''. Of particular importance was the significantly improved characterization of the game's cast and the bigger emphasis given to the game's storyline, which was advanced through the use of cut scenes and covered themes regarding the effects of war. Other changes include significant enhancements to the enemy soldiers' behavior and AI, the ability to crawl, and the introduction of the radar, among other improvements. Despite the game's success in Japan, it was never released in the West until its inclusion in '' in 2006.
He remade ''Snatcher'' in 1992 for the PC-Engine under title of ''Snatcher CD-ROMantic'' (which would then be ported to the Sega CD, the game's only official English-language version) and designed ''Policenauts'', a film noir/sci-fi-themed adventure game set in a space colony (often regarded as a "spiritual sequel" to ''Snatcher''), in 1994; ''Snatcher'' and ''Policenauts'' were both huge successes in Japan. He also produced a series of adventure games based on the ''Tokimeki Memorial'' dating sim series dubbed the ''Drama Series'', which were made on the same game engine used by ''Policenauts''.
With the release of ''Metal Gear Solid'' in 1998 for the PlayStation, Kojima became an international celebrity among gamers. ''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'', '', for the PlayStation 2. The game's highly detailed graphics, physics, and expanded gameplay quickly made it one of the most anticipated games ever. 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, 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 '' 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 also began work on '', 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 '' 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 also worked on ''Boktai's sequel, '' 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 Ac!d'' 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.

Kojima Productions

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On April 1, 2005, after Konami merged several of its subsidiaries, Kojima's team at Konami Computer Entertainment Japan was transformed into "Kojima Productions." With this new team, Kojima is no longer burdened with the business management and administrative responsibilities he had as KCEJ's vice president, and thus is able to focus solely on creating games. [1] Kojima Productions has already released five products under the new management: '', ''Metal Gear Acid 2'', '', '' and ''Lunar Knights''.
The studio is currently working on '' for the PlayStation 3. After completing ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', Kojima openly opposed the idea of working on a new ''Metal Gear Solid'' game.^[1] However, he later retracted his comments in the June 3, 2005 issue of ''Weekly Famitsu'', claiming his earlier statement that "he will focus more on producing" was misinterpreted as stepping down from the director position. During the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, he confirmed that he is assuming the role of director and designer. Co-directing ''MGS4'' with him is Shuyo Murata, director of ''.
Other upcoming projects include ''Project 'S''' and ''Metal Gear Online(PS3)''
Next to these revealed projects, Kojima and his team are also working on a game for the Wii console. After the revelation of the controller, Kojima showed interest and excitement^[2] about its possibilities and later stated that he will be making a game to utilize its features specifically for the Wii. No further details have been revealed on this project. It is possible that this is the aforementioned Project 'S'. Kojima has stated that he would rather make a game for the Wii rather than continue on with MGS4. ^[3]
Kojima personally requested for Solid Snake to appear in ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', and got his chance with the upcoming ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' for Nintendo's Wii console (the former could not have been done due to the fact that Melee was already far in production at the time of the request). It is confirmed that he will be working on Snake's stage for SSBB. He commented on the game after playing a build of it with the game's director (Masahiro Sakurai) and said that if it were to be released now, it would sell millions. [2]

Works

===''Metal Gear'' series===

★ '' (2008) - writer/producer/director

★ ''Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops+'' (2007) - writer/original

★ '' (2007) - producer/director

★ '' (2006) - writer/original concept/executive producer

★ '' (2006) - producer/director

★ '' (2005) - writer/producer/director

★ ''Metal Gear Ac!d²'' (2005) - producer

★ ''Metal Gear Ac!d'' (2004) - producer

★ '' (2004) - writer/producer/director

★ '' (2004) - writer/producer/original director

★ '' (2002) - writer/producer/director

★ ''The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2'' (2002) - producer/director

★ '' (2001) - writer/producer/director

★ '' (2000) - producer/supervising director

★ '' (1999) - producer/director

★ '' (1999) - writer/producer/director

★ ''Metal Gear Solid'' (1998) - writer/producer/director

★ '' (1990) - writer/director

★ ''Metal Gear'' (1987) - writer/director ("game design")

''Boktai'' series

★ ''Lunar Knights'' (2006) - producer

★ '' (2005) - producer

★ '' (2004) - producer

★ '' (2003) - producer

''Zone of the Enders'' series

★ '' (2003) - producer

★ ''Zone of the Enders'' (2001) - producer

''Tokimeki Memorial Drama'' Series

★ ''Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 3: Tabidachi no Uta'' (1999) - executive director

★ ''Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 2: Irodori no Love Song'' (1998) - planner/producer

★ ''Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 1: Nijiiro no Seishun'' (1997) - planner/producer/drama director

''Snatcher'' series

★ ''Snatcher CD-ROMantic'' (1992) - writer/director

★ ''SD Snatcher'' (1990) - original writer

★ ''Snatcher'' (1988) - writer/director

Other Games

★ Project 'S' (unknown) - Co design with Suda 51, possibly a Snatcher game.

★ ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' (2007) - Designer of Solid Snake's stage.

★ '' (2006) - Unknown

★ ''Policenauts'' (1994) - writer/director

★ ''Lost World'' (1986, Cancelled) - writer/director

★ ''Penguin Adventure'' (1986) - assistant director

★ ''Sonic Triple Trouble'' (1994) - written in special thanks for unknown reasons. It is uncertain whether or not Kojima was actually involved in the game as the credits read "H. Kojima" rather than his full name.

Movies

★ ''Versus'' (2000) - Cameo (Extra)

★ ''Azumi'' (2003) - Cameo (Extra)

★ ''Metal Gear Solid'' (2008) - Executive Producer/Writer

References

1. http://www.gamestm.co.uk/pma/271
2. http://www.nintendo.com/pop_video.vm?url=/mediaFiles/rAhlxHQx9EE1x5egfQsa33Pk4wrG2tKb.mov&width=400&height=320
3. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=140020&site=psw

External links

★ Konami Entertainment (Japanese)

★ Kojima Productions

★ Hideo Kojima Blog (Japanese)

★
★ Official English translation

★
★ A summary of his blog in English as of 9/27/05 (by IGN)

★ Hideo Kojima at the Internet Movie Database

★ IGN's Hideo Kojima Interview at the 2005 Game Developers Conference

★ Hideo Kojima interview for Metal Gear Week on 1UP.com

★ ''Hideo Kojima'' profile at MobyGames