Kojima: "Maybe I Should Quit Being Japanese"

What happens when Weekly Famitsu magazine sits Hideo Kojima and Toshihiro Nagoshi down in the same room? A lot of excitement for the new year -- and a lot of bellyaching about the state of the industry they work in. The producers of the Metal Gear Solid and Yakuza series respectively, the two both have years of experience in their chosen business, along with a shared love of movies and drinking alcohol -- the value of which cannot be understated for any would-be game maker...

[TOO PAWNED]

WOW what an awesome read.

[Nineball2112]

That was a great article/interview.

Very interesting...

[CwaIat]

Welcome Kojima to the elite Xbox team.

[Shadow Flare]

I wouldn't be so hasty there Hideo. The Japanese are smart. They don't buy xbox

[moreover]

@shadow flare
yup they are pretty smart they dont buy either 360 or ps3. just the wii. tool

[Shadow Flare]

@moreover, i disagree

the japanese buy wii's for there cute games.
the japanese buy ps3's but most of them are waiting for some rpg's to come onto the system.
the japanese look at the 360 and say, "definately not. No...i really don't think so. Yes it has some rpg's on it, but i live in a country where even my trash can play bluray's. No, be gone 360. Be gone." That's what the japanese say

[Ramtough]

From now on he will be known as "Hideo K. Jackson" and is now English born in London. That was easy. Good read though.

[Elven6]

Talk about "culture shock!"

Either way a interesting read.

[prowiew]

Kojima saying he is addicted to left 4 dead and quiting being japanese. mmm, New fps from kojima in 2009.

[Joey Greco RULES]

*goes back to watching youtube videos*

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Hiruma Youchi]

3Straight back to back Kojima Articles on the Front page. Kojima go gettem!

[Graphics Whore]

That was a really good article. Well spoken man.

[TheColbertinator]

LMAO

Well he is one of the few developers in Japan making graphical powerhouses and shifting gameplay enhancements.The rest of Japan is playing it safe with DS and PSP games except for Capcom of course

[showmethegames]

all they care is about RPG's with FEMININE looking characters........oh, and it has to look cartoonish too........most of them are still stuck on "last-gen"

[Graphics Whore]

Ignorance is bliss isn't it 'showmethegames'.

[Sev]

So true.

However I am currently playing Valkyria Chronicles that has both feminine and cartoonish characters, and the game is FN awesome.

But I totally agree Japanese games just aren't good enough anymore. They are too cutesy, and feminine.

Oh an Square Enix sucks now. Squaresoft was pretty much my all time favorite dev, and ever since the Enix merger, they have sucked royally.

Poor business decisions, turning their backs on traditional RPGs, delays, and less than stellar re-releases makes me not even be excited for FFXIII. I just don't have faith that they can make an epic game worth playing anymore.

[tristanmike]

To the American game companies who feel that every hero should be 250 pounds of raw muscle with a gruff sounding voice and somehow involved in the military and every heroine who are skinny, have a clear complexion and big hooters ?

There are few games that break this mold.

Really... every society is a slave to its stereotypes. Japan, the US and yes, even Europe aren't above this.

[LeShin]

OMG! A guy that speaks sense....on N4G?! I think I just saw a slab of bacon with wings outside my window.....

I absolutely agree with you. Japan style works for the Japanese, American style works for Americans and Europe gets to choose between the two :) Being from the UK, I prefer choice of both. If the gaming world starts turning into a big burly man shoot fest (read something into that if you will :)) I'll go back to the old consoles thank you very much.

[Sev]

I agree with you also though tristaan...

I was going to comment about main characters like Gears or War, but since I was talking about Japan only, I thought it would be off topic.

Which is exactly why I always loved Solid Snake, he is skinny (unlike USA characters) and not feminine (unlike Japanese characters)

I guess there is no winning.

For me its less the characters, and more the style I have problems with, I hate cutesty and cartoonish. That worked great for 16 bit era, but now when HD graphics are available, that is what I want.

[Death]

They too have recognized that in order to grow as a company they need to focus more on the West. Leasing out a game engine like the Unreal engine gave them an opportunity to create a new IP that has more of a western flare to it pretty quickly. It was never meant to be the best RPG in the universe, but still a very good game. Instead of giving it a chance, gamers cried they want Final Fantasy instead. Square can't grow if people demand FF games or big budget games only. There needs to be a compromise bt developers and gamers alike.

-Death

[ChampIDC]

The problem with that Death is that it was still a JRPG in nature. It just used a Western engine. If they were to make a game along the lines of Oblivion or Fable, it probably would have been a lot more popular in the West. Not saying it was a bad game, though. Sure, it had technical issues, but I thought it was pretty cool. I just think they could have done a better job at appealing to the West.

[PPnoPP]

What the hell is this all about i can,t be bothered reading well.

[Graphics Whore]

If you can't be bothered reading well maybe you should go back to school and learn to read? Just a suggestion.

[Surfman]

of course, he is bot. X bot.

[ActionBastard]

Kojima seems like the type of artist I would like to sit down and drink a vat of Yebisu Black with and just game. Talk games, play games, brainstorm games...and then go pickup some ass with the depth of Kojima's pockets. A guy can dream, can't he?

[showmethegames]

stop defending the japanese market........ can't YOU see that their games are not as good as they use to be?, of course, there are few exceptions. the japanese gamers are not as hardcore as they use to be

[ChampIDC]

Kinda true. It seems good games out of Japan are much fewer these days than they used to be, but I suppose that comes with the growth of popularity of gaming in other areas of the world.

Edit: Now that I think of it, it might just be other releases overshadowing them.

[ButterToast]

I don't think its that the Japanese games are not as good as they use to be but rather the console gaming landscape has completely changed since last gen. The big genre now has shifted from RPGs to FPSs. Western Developers clearly have the advantage with the latter. I don't recall any Japanese FPS games come to think of it. also A lot of games are really starting to blur the lines between genres something japanese games haven't been doing. The Japanese just haven't changed with the landscape which is what I think Kojima was saying in the article.

[micro_invader]

wow, 4 projects from Kojima and team! I can't wait until they announce something!

[mirroredderorrim]

Hideo Kojima is the person that I hold as a standard for how the industry should act!

The read was so good but as I got deeper into it, the interview ended..
It was like reading a short, but true story about one of my most beloved hobbies.

[Sir Daniel Fortesque]

Kojima should stop trying to make wannabe-movie-like games and go and make a real movie. It would probably be crappy, but hey, at least the man is doing what he always wanted to do.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Despite your amazing name and avatar, I have to disagree. I think Kojima would make a really good movie.

[ChampIDC]

He already made games that were like good playable movies in the MGS series, so why not a full fledged movie? I wouldn't doubt him for a second.

[Homicide]

Well you did fail in delivering on MGS4 because of the western approach. Stay with the Japanese touch.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

No.

[ChampIDC]

I don't see how one of the most highly acclaimed of all games could be a failure.

[floppyfeet]

PS3 ......

Murdering gaming one developer at a time

[TheColbertinator]

????

That is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.May God have mercy upon your soul ^__^

[PotNoodle]

Despite the fact it got to 3 million 2 weeks quicker than gears 2?

Metal Gear games have never really sold over 5 million, MGS4 is around 4 million at the moment - it'll easily get there.

[heyheyhey]

@Deathrow

tut, tut.. with your avatar you'd think you knew MGS history a little better

MGS2 sold 7 million... and MGS4 has sold 4.5mil, while i doubt it'll reach MGS2's sales it wil definitley reach 5 or maybe 6 mil

at the OP... wow

[PotNoodle]

I'm talking about on a single platform, it is hardly fair to compare a multiplatform game to an exclusive game, is it?

[InMyOpinion]

Three Kojima articles in a row. Hideomania!

[Foxgod]

Two treads about hideo liking western stuff.
I suppose this is his way to promote his upcoming more western styled games.

Which console is it again that moves the most western games ?
I suppose that means the all new Metal gear reboot in western style will go to what console ?

[Lon3wolf]

The Wii?

[NickIni]

Multiplatform.

Nice try. Think next time.

[ChampIDC]

I'd like to see a multiplat game from him, since I can't afford a PS3 while going to school, but he can do whatever he wants, because he's the man.

[NickIni]

Agreed.

It's almost certain his next game will be on the PS3 - having the experienced from making MGS4. It's likely it would be on 360 too, to tap into the western market even more so.

[Lon3wolf]

Excellent read and an bit of an eye opening moment with Kojima liking L4D (as he says "it wouldn't sell in Japan").

[ReBurn]

Kojima said "I'm addicted to Left 4 Dead right now, but people say to me that that game would never work in Japan."

He's not saying that it won't work in Japan, he's reiterating what he's been told. The subtext, based upon the next few sentences, is that he may believe that it would, but nobody will know because Japanese publishers wouldn't give the game a chance.

[Jikla]

all game developers were as honest and open as kojima :/

[JonahFalcon]

Kojima is addicted to Left 4 Dead. According to certain N4G posters, that game sucks and is massively overrated, etc. etc.

[ChampIDC]

Maybe they'll start liking it now?

[ButterToast]

I haven't played it so I have no opinion. Ofcourse most gamers on forums will blindly bash any game they haven't played as long as it meets one of the following criteria:

1) The game was met with low review scores.

2) The game was met critical praise.

you see "gamers" today don't actually play games, they read reviews and threads online about games and think they have an opinion.

[JonahFalcon]

It was more console fanboy attacks. "It's on the 360 but not the PS3 - it must be teh suXXorZ."

A ton of Japanese developers love FPS games. They just can't get the Japanese public interested in it. (yet).

[Mutley416]

Maybe I should quit...I would...J/K Asian chicks "make me Horny Baby"(Austin Powers)

[kesvalk]

i hope he have something for the Wii, i am drying with a MGS to play.... and i just don't have the money to buy a PS3 T_T

[BMS84]

A few weeks ago the PS3 sold 50.000 copies and the Xbox360 9.000

[Foxgod]

In france this week they sold more french bread then english thea, ZOMG.

[Sonyslave3]

lol he can't quit be japanese the only way out is death he must kill his self for honor

[BlueRevolvuR]

dont go the "Michael Jackson" path! keep making killer games!!!

[guiltyhunter]

games su## most of them anyway few exceptions(jak and daxter,uncharted,twisted metal)some japanese games su## too like(dynasty warriors gundam,the last remnant)americans games r mostly shooters that do not bring anything new to that boring genre.and japanese r focusing too much on handhelds.oh well

[ReBurn]

So if American developers aren't making games people want and Japanese developers aren't making games people want, then who is? American and European developers are both considered "Western" developers. So who is left?

[Gue1]

This interview is epic! LOL

Anybody that calls himself a gamer should read this sh1t. It presents a lot of interesting points about the evolution of gaming and the competence of japanese devs VS the overseas. (no console war here to feed the trolls and fanboys) =)

[Gue1]

This interview is epic! LOL

Anybody that calls himself a gamer should read this sh1t. It presents a lot of interesting points about the evolution of gaming and the competence of japanese devs VS the overseas. (no console war here to feed the trolls and fanboys) =)

[ReconHope]

go too western.

[Obama]

Japanese games are some of the most innovative games that I have played..that's all I have to say.

[Obama]

I agree with him that many of the Japanese games do not have the chance to be exported outside of japan. For instance, tatsuno vs capcom seems to be a great game, but it's not coming out in the NA.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

Michael Jackson went white, and look what happened to him!

Stay japanese Hideo, don't turn conform... stay true to yourself and your roots. F**k up too bad and your audience will indeed forget about you!

[djslapdash]

Kojima is wrong

The Japanese gaming industry does not need copy the americans, they need to re-invent themselves in order to be fresh and innovative.

You look back at the mid-90's when the PS1, N64 and Saturn were released and all the gaming world were waiting month after month for the next big title to come out of japan. Japan at that time gave us:

Tekken,
Ridge Racer,
Final Fantasy,
Silent Hill,
Resident Evil,
Metal Gear,
Air Combat,
Mario 64,
Zelda,
Etc, Etc,

These games were fresh and new mostly due to the fact because they were all now 3D games.

Now all the world are waiting for Euro/Americans games to come out, because they believe those makers are making the best use of the technology and making the best games.

The Japanese makers need to have fresh ideas just like they had in the 90's and use them on the current consoles.

[SprayandPreycom]

maybee i should stop being biased and only buy japanese made thing and open up to the games made in america ... and so should other japanese ....

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

I wish fanboys would stop being biased and just learn to enjoy everything as well. No matter what they think... they are missing out on the competitors great offerings by staying with a solo console!

[pumpkinpunker]

I'm always amazed that great western games like Halo, Left 4 Dead, Mass Effect, Bioshock, and many others don't have that a market in Japan. I mean these are all great games that are currently redefining the industry.

Japan used to be the Hollywood of the gaming industry. However, the reason Hollywood stays #1 in the movie industry on a global scale is because it readily absorbs and adapts to new cultural trends and innovations. The Japanese game industry refuses to adapt so it's market is becoming more and more localized.

[ReBurn]

The Kojima fan base is out in full force. I found the article rather mediocre, but a bit insightful. I've always thought at Kojima was a little spoiled and high-strung. The interview shows his frustration at Japan's closed-mindedness when it comes to things that are non-Japanese.

It does knock a bit of the wind out of fanboy sails when he says his current favorite game is Left 4 Dead. He's open enough to play and enjoy games on a non-Sony platform, so that's something for everyone to take away. A great game is a great game, no matter what hardware it runs on.

[solidosito]

esto significa que kojima se va volver un vacio, simplon americano, bala sin sentido, 200 kilos de anabolicos, y marcianos que no sabe que hacer con nosotros.............

[Lykon]

something about noodles and alcohol

[khellendros1]

The article make reference to no Japanese games being on the list of best games on Spike TV's award show. I don't think that Spike TV is a true representation of the US gaming community. At least I hope it's not. I know a lot of people who thought that MGS4 was the best game of 2008.