Kojima: "Not many ideas come from the team"

Coming up with the ideas behind an AAA videogame is a team effort, right? Not at Kojima Productions; boss man Hideo Kojima thinks of almost everything. That's how good he is.

[Noctis Aftermath]

What else can you expect? the man is a genius, he's in a league of his own, so why would he want to implement peoples ideas when most of their ideas are inferior to his own?

[Sangria]

I don't think Kojima is that much arrogant, he probably accepts each others ideas as long as they are good, but the studio isn't called "Kojima Productions" for nothing, he is the head of that entity and he created K-Prod in order to be independent and realize what he wants.

Are the other people just executors or do they work differently, such as brainstormings, roundtables, etc...? I don't know. But we can assume if people keep working in K-Prod it's because they like it so they're not forced to shut up and work (cf the Rockstar controversy regarding their employees).

[Pillage05]

It sounds arrogant but I will just assume there was something lost in the translation, it happens a lot.

[StanLee]

I think he means, "not many GOOD ideas" come from the team.

[bacon13]

Well at least we know he is solely to blame for Raiden in MGS2. Thanks for letting me play as Solid Snake for 40 minutes. /s

The man is a genius and it is obvious that each Metal Gear game is his child so to speak. From what I read about the man, getting an idea implemented into one of his games is an incredibly hard task for the dev team member. I still think he is a robot that never smiles though.

[Lightsaber]

The guy in just an arrogant ass that is taking credit for other peoples ideas. Funny thing is he hasnt made a good game in 15 years he living off a rep that he made 20 years ago.

[Eamon]

Did you rike it?

[Microsoft Xbox 360]

On his level, that's being humble. Kojima is the man.

[Aquanox]

Wow! I didn't know his arrogant side until now.

No wonder why he's so close with Itagaki XD

[doctorspakles]

Well not many ideas were any good in MGS4 so...Get a better team.

[gaffyh]

Well tbh, that's his job, he is the game designer.

[Whitefox789]

Actually that's partially true about Raiden story goes a female fan of MGS 1 sent a letter to Kojima saying she didn't like playing as an old man, which is ironic with MGS 4 but either way so, Kojima kept the idea in mind when making a sequel to make a character that's new to the series and that would appeal more to women which it did. After that Raiden became more of a joke especially in MGS 3 with his similar like character Raikov. Then for MGS 4 Kojima wanted everyone to like Raiden so mission accomplished.

[bacon13]

@Whitefox789

Did not know that, thanks. Always appreciate some video game facts.

[mega BIG time]

i do hope that kojimas comments are sort of lost in translation and he's not really the egotistical douchebag that he's comes across as. With that being said i'm looking forward to the next title from kojima productions; i just hope ill get to play more than I get to watch this time.

[hagla]

But how big is his head to be saying this? He isn't in a league of his own or there would be a massive gap between his games and other top titles. I don't like him after reading this...

[commodore64]

Sounds exceptionally narcissistic.
oh wait..

Surely he meant to say:
"Kojima: "Not many MOVIES come from the team"

uh...

no, still narcissistic.

[evrfighter]

wow looks like even the most respected of dev's can let it get to their head lol

a fine example...

john carmac

[pixelsword]

...Who's footprints are these?

"!"

sonofa...

Best moments on my PS1, despite the fact it took me days before I got my first silent kill.

Then I remember playing Kill.Switch and thinking I could sneak past the soldiers because the person you played dressed like Snake.

[ThanatosDMC]

Lost in translation? Maybe someone misunderstood him? Just like the idea of humbleness, you know?

Anyway, click on the link and read how funny the comments are. You can tell which ones dont have PS3 and never played the game. "but it's too long a movie," "it's an on rails shooter," "there's no story," etc.

The on rails shooter was one of the funnier ones. Then someone brought up Uncharted 2 being overhyped but lack luster like MGS4?! One thing that annoyed me was that somebody thought DMC4 was a masterpiece. Sure it's his opinion but damn he needs to be slapped by DMC1 and DMC3.

Anyway, MGS3 still needs to be topped. Hunting for food was great.

[AAACE5]

Now if it was someone like Itagaki to say this, everyone would push hate at him! But Kojima says it, and everyone praises him!

I think the difference is, Itagaki looked too arrogant and confident, so it drew alot of hate. Kojima doesn't look like the type that would be arrogant or full of confidence (aka he's the typical nerd type), so people just kind of accept it!

...As long as good games keep coming, who cares!

[PirateThom]

Every Metal Gear game is Kojima's, he's the lead designer, director, writer. It's his game. I'm sure it's not that he doesn't listen to his staff (if he did, I'd say MGS4 would have had a lot of cutscene edits), it's more that they understand it's not their game, it's his.

[BeaArthur]

I don't know if cut scene edits would have been such a bad idea. The cut scenes in MGS4 were way too long.

[Shane Kim]

There is askip option. We die hard MGS fans like myself love them.

[BeaArthur]

Well if I skipped them I would miss something. I'm not saying I wasn't interested in the story I'm just saying that it probably could have used some editing to either break up the cut scenes or make them shorter.

[Eamon]

I completely agree with Shane Kim.

Although I have nothing wrong with the lengths of cutscenes I did have a problem with the fact that there isn't much gameplay. MGS3 felt like a longer game in my opinion.

[Whitefox789]

MGS 3 did feel like a longer game but hey I got to say the cutscenes in MGS 4 are better then the 20 min codec call at the end of MGS 2 even trying to skip all that takes 5 mins.

[Dark General]

I actually really missed the Codecs seeing as they added character depth and intrigue. Instead of everything being through cutscenes. Having Drebin calling in and telling you the B and B's story was cool but what about if you could chat with him about weapon's like signit? You probably could have learned some really interesting details.

[sikbeta]

Ah...there we go again, teh cut scenes are too long....

Please, the Game is Amazing and the cut scenes are long cuz the Game has a Great Story, is not like the generic hero that save the world in 24hs story

-_-

[pixelsword]

...I'm going through my fourth time playing it, and I haven't skipped a cutscene yet (at least on the fourth time, I can't remember what I did the second time).

[RealityCheck]

I've seen a few attempts of "design by consensus", where a product is designed by contributions from everyone and all decisions go to majority vote. In all cases it led to complete failures, mismatch products trying to please everyone and ending up disappointing all.

It takes someone with a clear unique vision to be in charge of a top level design so that all aspects contributed by the team matches and fits well with the overall design. So I think Kojima is doing the right thing.

[duplissi]

well... thats pretty much how both uncharted games were made.

[Redempteur]

actually if you watch the behind the scenes videos , everyone at naughty dog wanted to " make the game awesome"

so they did ..
i'm pretty sure they had a firm line to hold to while adding all the stuff they wanted to make the game awesome

[Blaster_Master]

MGS2 > MGS4 IMHO

[BlackTar187]

Mgs2 = worst MG game ive played.

IMHO

[Oldsnake007]

Metal Gear Solid 3 : Subsistance > any game ever made

[Eamon]

A lot of people hated MGS2 because you played as Raiden instead of Snake for majority of the game and people hated the man-in-tight-suit-that-shaped- his-crotch.

In my opinion, in terms of story, MGS2 was the best. I can't remember a game where the twists and turned shocked me so much nor a game that broke the fourth wall so much in one go.

FISSION MAILED <--- C'mon, I shat myself after seeing that.

[Method]

007 has it

With nostalgia goggles off it goes MGS 3 >>>>>>> MGS 4 > MGS 2 > MGS 1

[BlackTar187]

I can see alot of people like part 2 which is weird almost everyone i know except for the few friends that first MGS game was part 2 all say it was the worst. Mine go
1>3>4>2

although i was a huge metal gear fan on NES. anyways cool i thought the story in 2 was a little to much for the one game but to each his own.

but its all prefrence so i respect your guys opinion and raiden wasnt why i didnt like 2 i didnt like the bad guys except for vamp

[dredgewalker]

MGS3 >MGS4 >MGS1 >MGS2.....i guess its different for metal gear fans but MGS3 was the best MGS experience i ever had.

[Cold 2000]

IMO MGS1 is under-appreciated, to me its obvious thats its the best MGS.

I cant understand how come more people dont see how completely out of this world MGS1 was. Way better than MGS2 and MGS3 thats for sure.

[BlackTar187]

#4 had the most spine tingling moments when the music comes on etc when your fighting ocelot was just prob the best feeling ive had playing a game.

[Whitefox789]

I need scissors 61!

Colonel: Raiden Turn off the game console!

Raiden: What did you say?

Colonel: You've been playing the game for awhile now haven't you? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?

Rosemary: You'll hurt your eyes playing so close to the screen.

I was actually tempted to turn off the PS2 when I heard that codec call

[sikbeta]

MGS2 is almost Perfect, the only bad thing is Raiden

The PLOT of MGS2 is the Most Complex and Amazing than any other Game

[ThanatosDMC]

MGS3 > 4 = 1 >>>>> 2

Raiden ruined it for me. Ending too. Suddenly Snake pops out from nowhere and says something blah blah... i cant find the word for it.

MGS3 had the best boss fights except the ones in MGS4 Liquid vs Solid and also Liquid vs Solid in MGS1.

[Cyb3r]

This guy is a legend

[SuperStrokey1123]

Kojima is great but hes gotta be careful with what he says here, dont want to alienate his team and other people that have helped him.

[ThanatosDMC]

I'm thinking mistranslation. Kojima never talks in english during interviews or awards ceremonies. He only says one liners in english though.

[Corrwin]

Others work best as a dictatorship.

All the same, somebody should have acted as Editor of MGS4, and trimmed all that dialogue!

Edit: Jebus I didn't say MGS4 was horrible! It just needed some damned editorial control. Have you seen Apocalypse Now: Redux (with the full length, uncut scenes), it's far worse than the original because it drags too much. Same thing here.

Hi should have released a cut version, then a year later, release a directors cut for those who could be bothered.

[BeaArthur]

Agreed, I understand there were a lot of loose ends to tie up but those cut scenes felt like they would never end.

[bjornbear]

MGS is his child, since he was told to make it from scratch with Metal Gear 1

However, he's not working on Rising much is he? Not a Kojima child...Just a Metal Gear Spin off

still curious about it =)

[Whitefox789]

Curious but I don't trust it we've seen what people did with the MG port to the NES and Snake's Revenge.

However some other people have made good MG games such as Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel, MG Ac!d, and MG Ac!d 2

[N4Garbage]

Anyone ever wonder what would happen if Kojima came across a Death Note?

[Lou Ferrigno]

haha i see what you did there.. ;)

[Eamon]

I didn't get the joke =(

[chewmandinga]

even "not many ideas" must be a compliment, it implies that one or two ideas are from the team.

what an honour.

[Batzi]

As good as he is, this is worrying me a bit, not because he's good but because of what he said and that is "all the ideas are pretty much coming from me". Not that I don't appreciate that or anything but this makes me worried about "Rising" and how this game is going to turn out to be without the full assistance of Mr.Kojima. Only time will tell, and soon at E3, everything will be finally revealed.

[jackdoe]

Well, yeah, that's why there is a position known as project lead.

[LazyRobot]

Sounds like Kojima needs a better team ;)

[EvilBlackCat]

ARROGANCE???

[Trebius]

TROPHIES!!!!!!

[mesh1]

MOST OVERRATED THIS GEN ,this guy makes kids game which the mgfranchise has become he is garbage

[4point7BillionLoss]

word

[Monkey521]

A complicated story like Metal Gear should not have too many people involved in its creation. You start to have complications of where to go, what characters have impact, what the main point is. Since Kojima created the story from the beginning, it's only fitting that he is the only voice that matters. He's the only one that can completely make sense of it.

[Guitardr85]

cough...metal gear: rising...cough~~~

[Eamon]

oh come on, stop complaining.

Kojima is almost finished with Peace Walker so I'm sure he'll take over the Rising team

[Guitardr85]

Come on!!! We all know that MG:R is gonna suck the big one!

[Unicron]

I'm guessing this is a lost in translation statement, as if you watched the Document of MGS2 you'd see that isn't really true.

[Ether]

lol, I bet his staff is fuming right now.

[Sir_Ken_Kutaragi_]

...will be SH!T then!!! ;-D

Poor ChatBots&ModBots will NEVER get to play MGS:4, but are stuck with...

...MGS:R = NO SNAKE??? NO Kojima??? = NO GOOD!!! ;-D

[nogolis]

I bet you anything half of you people praising him for sayign this would be the same ones calling any other dev out for saying the same thing. What if Gabe Newell said this? You all would lash out. What if Mark Cerny said this? What if Jason Rubin had said this?

You all are jokes. Kojima is an arrogant ass and you all just kiss it all better. Sad.

[wollie]

none of them are as awesome as he is.

simple really.

[nogolis]

Let's put it this way... Mark Cerny has had a hand in near very Sony game you've played and loved. What's Kojima done besides offer up 15 year old stale Gameplay? No jumping in MGS?? Please. Jason Rubin had built 2 viable multi million selling franchises for Sony... 1 that's still viable to this day.

Kojima isn't that good... I've never completed 1 of his games since making games for Sony. Not 1. I got bored of every one of his MGS games. They're boring and bland and stale and tripe and melodramaic.

However, I've beated every game Cerny has been involved in. Everything from Ratchet & Clank to Spyro The Dragon to Tomba. On Jason Rubin's side, I've beaten all the Crash Bandicoot games and Jak games. What's that say? It says they actually have the gifts to keep you entertained.

[BlackTar187]

so your saying you cant complete a kojima game but you play and beaten all the spyros and ratchets? Seems to me this type of game isn't your style and should prob stay away from it.

Hes got follower because unlike most video games you have to use your brain to think thru the huge plot line etc. but its not for everyone.

i respect your opnion but it falls on deaf ears.

[reaferfore20]

Well I've completed every MGS game and haven't completed any of those games you just mentioned.

They must be "boring and bland and stale" because I never cared to finish them. /s

[thebudgetgamer]

you think cliffy b isnt or myamoto or monyleux most people in those positions are arrogant asses. except ted price, that guys all class.

these games have kojimas name on them if it fails he is the one that takes the blame not some tester on the third floor. look up how myamoto works with his people.

[King81]

just shut up and make a better MGS game. MGS4 wasn't that great imo. Way too many cutscenes. And yes I'm a MGS fan

[likedamaster]

Trust me, there was a lot of us that were disappointed with MGS4.

[silverbeld]

@king81

Why you don't shut up. If you have some good idea then try make our own game then!

[dredgewalker]

@King
Don't ever call yourself an MGS fan if you can't appreciate the effort put into the cut scenes that make the games background much richer. You could always skip it if you didn't like it.

[King81]

@silverbeld: why would i make my own game you dumba$$ if i'm paying $60 to play their game. I can have my opinion on it so shut the f*ck up.
@dredgewalker: I didn't say i didn't appreciate them read my post idiot. I said there were too many of them. I felt like i was watching a movie half the time not a game. I paid $60 for the game i can complain about whatever i want so i could care less what u say. I have MGS1, 2, 3, 4. I can say what i want about any of them

[DelbertGrady]

If your mouth isn't filled to the brim with Kojimas balls you are not a real MGS fan.

[dredgewalker]

@King
If you didn't like it the number of cut scenes then it simply implies that you didn't like them. True its your money but the point of playing a game like MGS is that long cut scenes are the norm and since MGS4 was supposed to be Snakes last mission the lengthy cut scenes were needed in order to tie up the loose ends.

@Soda
One ball should suffice.

[talltony]

the funny thing about opinions is that they are like a**holes, everybody's got one.

[Oner]

To me that sounds like a bad case of limited intellect if you can only "play" a game and not both "play" & "watch" together...but that's just my opinion.

[DelbertGrady]

You must have an incredibly small mouth then.

@Oner - Most modern games let you play & watch at the same time. It's called immersive storytelling I believe. Like in Mass Effect where you make choices during dialogue etc. Not play 5 mins followed by watch & wait for 15 mins. That's just old and out of touch.

[dredgewalker]

@Soda
I prefer watching the cut scenes and understand what is going on before going into action because it gives me motivation to play better. And i like Kojima's balls by the way, cause it takes a lot of it to make a game like this.

[Wrathman]

sometimes the cut scenes are very good.UC2 was a perfect example.but it made the gameplay a little dull for me.the acting and the story were fantastic.very immersive.id happily watch UC2-the animated movie or tv series.

but you must not be forced to watch cutscenes.

[Gobstoper]

MGS1>>>MGS4>>&g t;MGS3>>>MGS2

In my head anyways

[Unicron]

For me, it's MGS3Sub > MGS1 = MGS4 > MGS2Sub

[DevastationEve]

It never makes since to rank a series of games from different generation on one scale. They all did very well for their time.

Personally I think the original was the best, it was TOO MUCH for a game released on CDs. Every game after that was packed full of content, but the original MGS had HOURS of dialogue PLUS great gameplay PLUS amazing realtime cutscenes PLUS awesome weapons.

On CDs!!! Kojima did a lot with the first MGS game.

[xionpunk]

All of the Metal Gear games have been incredible so keep doing what yer doing Kojima.

[DocHoliday]

My preferance is this
MGS1 > MGS3 > MGS2 or MGS4

[PStu'rd]

Total douchebag. Easy to see why hes a sony fanboy..........thats still being forced to develop on gamers choice 360.

[Karooo]

shooter box 3fixme, does it even have innovative games like heavy rain?

360 sucks.

[keysy420]

i go to school for it and some of the ideas be so plain.were is the creativity that people get into the industry for

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

Maybe next time you're in school, take an English class.

[Pootangpie]

but hey sony fanboys will still praise him because he's a kojami a fanboy anyways

[DevastationEve]

Not many ideas come from the team? Then he pays them for nothing?

Even if it was lost in translation I don't see a logical reason to say that your team doesn't contribute to the whole of the company. Something that you little kids don't understand is that it's business world out there, so if you're not contributing then you get the boot.

I'm 100% sure Kojima didn't mean it the way you guys have it out to be. Because at the end of every MGS title is a long list of credits...read em.

[Tomonobu Itagaki]

A game isn't made only with ideas you know. Programmers, animators, modelers, designers, etc... exist to give birth to ideas. So Koji gives the ideas, the team develop the game around those ideas.

The only people arrogant here are those who believe only Koji is indispensable. He is a game designer, that's pretty much the definition of "the one who gives the ideas". This news doesn't highlight Koji's arrogance, it's only slating the obvious.

[Gladiator7]

the best ideas were in MGS1, with the poor hardware of the ps1..
now i didn't see kojima using the new tech to make cool ideas real in his games like what he did before..

[jalen247]

If he can't get many new ideas from his team, then he may need a new team...just saying...

Genius or not...if one man has to come up with everything, others are obviously not pulling their weight...

[Lykon]

the team probably don't have the time for ideas , they are probably too busy doing the actual work

[Dellis]

no wonder none of his stuff makes any sense...

I bet he goes on YT and watches Illuminati videos and all that

then makes his own version of everything.

[bluem00se]

I don't think he means in any way to sound arrogant. I think he's just telling it the way it is. More so than many other game directors can claim that a game/ game series is "their game", Kojima can claim MGS games to really be "his games".

[djfullshred]

Ego maniacs don't surround themselves with a team of equal or better talent. They either intentionally avoid that, or drive it away with their attitude.

[Homicide]

Wow, what an ass Kojima is.

[HINDERIZATION]

anything without Kojima is just... crap...

[ATi_Elite]

I wanna hear all these BOTS and Droids complain about cut scenes when Alan Wake and Heavy Rain come out.

Not to mention you guys have just been Hi Fiving each other over Mass Cut Scenes 2 I mean Effect 2

So don't bash the cut scenes in MGS4 when there are more cut scenes in the formentioned games.

[N4BmpS]

Hmm something got lost in translation; although, Kojima is probably still a little arrogant.

[Goodfella78]

what a pleb he is,.,.,.,.,.,

[infekt]

An that is why MG Rising is going to suck balls. lmao.