Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima (小島 秀夫, Kojima Hideo, born August 24, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer.

Hideo Kojima
小島 秀夫
Kojima at the 2011 Tokyo Game Show
Born (1963-08-24) August 24, 1963[1]
Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
OccupationVideo game designer, writer, director, producer
Years active1986–present
Notable work
Metal Gear, Snatcher, Policenauts, Zone of the Enders, Death Stranding
Signature

Regarded as an auteur of video games,[2] he developed a strong passion for action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired by Konami, for which he designed and wrote Metal Gear (1987) for the MSX2, a game that laid the foundations for stealth games and the Metal Gear series, his best known and most appreciated works. The title that consecrated him as one of the most acclaimed video game designers is Metal Gear Solid (1998) for PlayStation. He is also known for producing the Zone of the Enders series, as well as writing and designing Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994), graphic adventure games regarded for their cinematic presentation.

In 2005, Kojima founded Kojima Productions,[1][3] a software house controlled by Konami, and by 2011, he was appointed vice president of Konami Digital Entertainment.[4] In 2015, Kojima Productions split from Konami, becoming an independent studio. Their first game was Death Stranding, which released in 2019.[5] Kojima has also contributed to Rolling Stone, writing columns about the similarities and differences between films and video games.[6] On November 10, 2019, Kojima was awarded two Guinness World Records for most followed video game director on Twitter and Instagram.[7]

Early life

Hideo Kojima was born on August 24, 1963, in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan,[8] and was the youngest of three children.[9] His father, Kingo, was a pharmacist who frequently travelled on business, and named Kojima after the most common name among doctors he met.[10] When he was four years old, his family moved to Osaka, Japan. Describing that stage of his early life, Kojima said it was an abrupt change of environment, and he spent much of his time thereafter indoors, watching television or making figurines.[11] While the family lived in Osaka, his parents began a tradition of the family watching a film together each night, and he was not allowed to go to bed until the film had finished. They were fond of European cinema, westerns, and horror, and did not limit the type of films he was allowed to see.[9]

Kojima took an interest in filmmaking when a friend brought a Super 8 camera to school. They began filming movies together, charging other children 50 yen to see them.[12] Kojima tricked his parents into funding a trip to an island off the coast of Japan without telling them he wanted to film there. Instead of filming, he spent his time swimming, and on the last day changed the plot to being about zombies.[13] He did not show the film to his parents.[14]

By Kojima's teenage years, the family had moved to Kawanishi, Hyōgo, in the Kansai region of Japan.[15] When he was 13 years old, his father died.[16] Kojima has discussed the impact of his father's death in interviews, and the subsequent financial hardship faced by his family.[17][18][19] He enrolled at university to study economics,[20] and it was there that he decided to join the video game industry.[21] He wrote fiction while studying, even including a short story on his thesis.[22]

Career

Early career

At the beginning of his career, Kojima was initially searching for a way into film production. He hoped that, if he were to win awards for his written fiction, he would be approached about directing a film.[23] Although Kojima said that he had no friends interested in cinema to encourage him,[24] his friends were not supportive when he announced he intended to enter game development. He would frequently lie about his occupation in the early days of a career, when a word for game designer did not exist in the Japanese language, and instead told people he worked for a financial firm.[25][26]

Kojima joined video game publisher Konami's MSX home computer division in 1986. He applied to Konami because it was the only games developer listed on the Japanese stock exchange.[27] He was disappointed with the job initially, hoping to make games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and feeling that the 16 bit colour of the MSX was too restrictive.[28] The first game he worked on was Penguin Adventure, the sequel to Antarctic Adventure, as an assistant director.[29] It significantly expanded upon the gameplay of Antarctic Adventure, adding more action game elements, a greater variety of levels, role-playing elements such as upgrading equipment, and multiple endings. In 2019, Polygon's Julia Lee wrote that for "a game made over 30 years ago, Penguin Adventure had some in-depth features".[30] After Penguin Adventure, Kojima started to design a game called Lost Warld [sic], but the game was cancelled when it was found to be too complex to run on the MSX.[31]

Metal Gear and Snatcher (1987-1990)

Kojima was asked to take over a project, Metal Gear, from a senior associate.[32] Hardware limitations hindered the development of the game's combat, and Kojima altered the gameplay to focus on a prisoner escaping instead of fighting, inspired by The Great Escape.[33] It was released on July 13, 1987, for the MSX2 home computer in Japan,[34] and later that year for parts of Europe. The player controls 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 game genre.[35][36][37] A port of Metal Gear was released for the NES in 1987, with altered graphics, difficulty, and an abridged ending without the titular weapon.[38] Kojima has openly criticized many of the changes made in the port, including poor translation and the abridged ending. In an interview, a programmer on the NES version of the game said his team were asked to complete the port in only three months, and the NES hardware was not capable of implementing the Metal Gear fight.[38]

His next project was the graphic adventure game Snatcher, released for the NEC PC-8801 and MSX2 computer platforms in Japan on November 26, 1988.[39] Kojima wrote and directed the game.[40] Kojima planned for the game, a graphic adventure with visual novel elements, to have six chapters, but was instructed to trim it down to two.[41] The team wanted to create a third chapter, but were already over the allowed development schedule so were forced to end the game on a cliffhanger.[42] The cyberpunk-influenced game has a semi-open world design. Kojima and character designer Tomiharu Kinoshita treated the project like making a film or anime rather than a game.[43] Former Konami artist Satoshi Yoshoioka designed many of Snatcher's characters, said he was persistently guided by Kojima to make the game as cinematic as possible, which later critics have cited as a staple of his work.[44] Adrian Chen of The New York Times wrote that one of his innovations was "the way he applied cinematic storytelling to console video games".[45] Snatcher draws heavily from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), and includes enough references that the game strays near copyright infringement.[46] A port for the Sega CD was made without Kojima, but the amount of text and length of the script made localisation expensive and time-consuming, taking three months.[47] Snatcher was modestly successful in Japan, but the western port was a commercial failure, selling only a few thousand units.[48] It has developed a cult following in the west.[49]

In 1990, Kojima directed and wrote a remake of Snatcher, SD Snatcher, a role-playing video game which adapted the storyline of the original Snatcher but significantly changed the environments, details of the plot, and core gameplay mechanics. The "SD" stands for "super deformed" in Japanese media, another way to reference chibi character designs.[50]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. It abandoned random encounters and introduced a first-person turn-based battle system where the player can aim at specific parts of the enemy's body with guns. Such a battle system has rarely been used since,[51] but similar ones can later be found in the role-playing games Square's Vagrant Story (2000), Bethesda Softworks's Fallout 3 (2008), and Nippon Ichi's Last Rebellion (2010).[52] In 2007, J. C. Fletcher of Engadget said that Kojima's choice to stylise the character designs "was some postmodern playfulness from Hideo Kojima [...] downplaying the dramatic aspects of his game and overlaying obvious video game conventions on top of it", and connected that to a similar playfulness in his later games.[53]

Metal Gear 2 and Policenauts (1990-1994)

The original Metal Gear was a commercial success for its release on the NES, and Konami decided to create a sequel to the game, Snake's Revenge, without the involvement of Kojima.[54] When Kojima was riding on the Tokyo transit system, he was told about Snake's Revenge by a colleague working on the project, who asked him to make a new Snake game of his own.[54] As a result, Kojima began work on his own sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and the two were both released in 1990. Kojima's game would not be released overseas in North America and Europe until its inclusion in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (2006).[55][56] Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was a commercial success. The game has received positive reviews from retro-reviewers. IGN notes that Metal Gear 2 introduced stealth mechanics such as making noise to attract guards, crouching and crawling on the ground, disarming mines, and enemies having view cones.[57]

After memory limitation issues prompted him to take a break during the development of Snatcher, Kojima began to explore concepts for Policenauts.[58] He wanted the game to remain in the adventure genre, feeling it was the best method to express what he wanted with video games.[58] He was also growing frustrated with game development and wanted "a way to take creative control back from the programmers".[59] After the release of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990), he developed a scripting engine so he could decide when animations and music played instead of the programmers. Development on Policenauts, originally called Beyond, began in 1990,[60] and lasted four years.[61]

Policenauts was released in Japan on July 29, 1994, for the PC-9821. In Japan, critics praised Policenauts for its high level of presentation. Both Sega Saturn Magazine and Famitsu praised the quality of animation, voice acting, and its engrossing setting.[62][63] Retrospective reviews have regarded the game generally positively, and sought to contextualise Policenauts within Kojima's body of work, as heavily stylised and influenced by films.[64][65]

Metal Gear Solid subseries and mainstream success (1994-2012)

In 1994, Kojima began to plan a 3D sequel to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, titled Metal Gear Solid and originally planned for release on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.[66] After the 3DO was discontinued, development shifted to the Sony PlayStation. For the transition from 2D to 3D graphics, a new engine had to be developed by Kojima and his team.[67] A gameplay demo was first revealed to the public at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, and was later shown on day 2 of E3 1997 as a short video.[68] The game was released to critical acclaim.[69][70][71] Many outlets noted the game's cinematic qualities and innovative stealth gameplay. Kojima became a celebrity in video game news media, and was surprised when he began to be recognised in public.[67]

In early 2001, 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 at the time.[72][73] 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 Metal Gear Solid 2 appealed to gamers with the discussion of these, the bewildering maze of dialogue and plot revelation in the final hours of the game was a disappointment for many gamers, who expected the Hollywood-style resolution of its forerunner.[74]

Before Metal Gear Solid 2 was released, 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, which 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 enhanced remake of the first Metal Gear Solid with all the gameplay features of Metal Gear Solid 2 and with cutscenes redirected by director Ryuhei Kitamura. It was released in 2004.

Afterwards, Kojima 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 Soviet jungle during the height of the Cold War in 1964, and features wilderness survival, camouflage, and James Bond styled espionage. 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. Kojima has said that his mother played it, "It took her an entire year to complete Metal Gear Solid 3. She would get her friends to help her. When she defeated The End, [a character the player faces off during the game] she called me up and said: 'It is finished'."[75]

At that time, Kojima produced 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. A turn-based game, it 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 Acid 2, was released on March 21, 2006.

Kojima wanted Solid Snake to appear in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but Nintendo refused, due to development cycle problems. When Super Smash Bros. Brawl was in development, series director Masahiro Sakurai contacted Kojima to work and add Snake and content related to the Metal Gear series, including a stage based on Shadow Moses Island (the main setting of Solid), into the game.[76]

Released in June 2008, Kojima co-directed Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots with Shuyo Murata. Initially, Kojima was not going to direct it, but death threats made the team nervous and he decided to work with them.[77] 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".[78]

Before E3 2009, Kojima stated interest in working with a Western developer.[79] This later turned out to be a collaboration between him and Spanish developer 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,[80] he announced at E3 2009 that he would return to help on two Metal Gear games: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, as a producer and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as writer, director, and producer.[81] 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".[82]

Kojima (right) with translator Aki Saito in 2010

Kojima was at E3 2010 to show off his team's latest project, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. 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. This game ended up being a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 titled Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D. In late 2011, Metal Gear Solid: Rising was renamed Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance with PlatinumGames being involved in developing it alongside Kojima Productions. Nevertheless, Kojima is the game's executive producer and showed interest in working in the game's demo.[83] Kojima was satisfied with the final product and expressed the possibility of a sequel if Platinum were to develop it.[84]

On April 1, 2011, Kojima was promoted to Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer in Konami Digital Entertainment.[85] At E3 2011, he revealed his new innovative gaming technology labeled as "transfarring", a portmanteau of the verbs transferring and sharing. The technology enables gamers to transfer their gaming data from the PlayStation 3 to PlayStation Portable in a quick data transferring process and bring it on the go from home into the outside world.[86]

Later that year, he stated he was working on a new intellectual property with Goichi Suda, tentatively titled Project S, and preparing new projects. On July 8, 2011, Kojima announced that Project S was a radio-show sequel to Snatcher, titled Sdatcher as a reference to the show's producer Suda. The show would air on Fridays on Kojima's bi-weekly Internet radio show, starting with episode No. 300 which was broadcast in August 2011.[87] In October, Kojima announced that he would be collaborating with Suda and 5pb. director Chiyomaru Shikura in producing a new adventure game visual novel.[88] It was initially speculated that the game would be the third entry in 5pb.'s Science Adventure series, but it was later confirmed to be a separate title.[89] The game was planned to have an overseas release and an anime adaption.[90] As of 2018, no further news regarding the project has been released.

Final Konami projects and departure (2012-2015)

In mid-2012 and in the following years after Kojima finished work on the Fox Engine, Kojima has been connected to the Silent Hill series. During this time, he indicated that he was interested in making a Silent Hill game and the first instance of this was on August 18, 2012. He described his excitement regarding the potential use of the Fox Engine on the eighth generation platforms via a tweet of an image of the DVD for the Silent Hill film:[91][92] Later, he added what he had in mind for this game in a series of tweets: "Silent Hill is in closed room setting and doesn’t require full action so that we can focus on the graphic quality. Enemies featured in the game do not have to be consistent or move fast. It only requires scariness by graphics and presentation. As being a creator, making action games in an open world setting, such a type of game is very enviously attractive. If only someone could create this on the Fox Engine."[93] After a while, and as a result of Kojima's interest in making a Silent Hill game, Konami asked him to do so. Kojima explained the story in an interview with Eurogamer:

In the past I've mentioned Silent Hill in interviews, and as a result of that the president of Konami rung me up and said he’d like me to make the next Silent Hill. Honestly, I'm kind of a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies, so I'm not confident I can do it. At the same time, there's a certain type of horror that only people who are scared of can create, so maybe it's something I can do. That said, I think Silent Hill has a certain atmosphere. I think it has to continue, and I’d love to help it continue, and if I can help by supervising or lending the technology of the Fox Engine, then I'd love to participate in that respect.[94][95][96]

Additionally, in an interview with Geoff Keighley, when a fan asked "which game do you want to direct or reboot?" Kojima stated without hesitation, Silent Hill.[97][98][99] Keighley jumped in and asked "What do you want to do with Silent Hill?" Kojima responded: "A guy [like myself] that is such a chicken and is so easily scared – making a scary game – I'm very confident that something horrifying would come out from that. But on the other hand I would have to prepare myself to have nightmares every single day. Hopefully sometime in the future I'm able to work on this, but I would really need to prepare to have daily nightmares".[98] In August 2014, PT was released on the PlayStation Store revealed that a new game in the Silent Hill franchise titled Silent Hills was being directed by Kojima for the PlayStation 4, alongside Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro.[100] In April 2015, the playable teaser was removed and the game was cancelled.[101]

At the 2013 Game Developers Conference, Kojima unveiled Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which was set to be his final Metal Gear game, noting that this time unlike previous announcements that he had stopped working on the series, was very serious about leaving; it was preceded by Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, a shorter game released in 2014 and serving as a prologue to The Phantom Pain.[102] In March 2015, reports began to surface that Kojima would part ways with longtime publisher Konami after the release of The Phantom Pain.[103] Konami later stated that they were auditioning for new staff for future Metal Gear titles and removed Kojima's name from the series' marketing material.[104] Despite reports that Kojima left the company in October 2015, a spokesman for Konami stated that he was "taking a long time off from work."[105] At The Game Awards 2015, Metal Gear Solid V won the awards for Best Action Game and Best Score/Soundtrack, but Kojima did not attend the event, being reportedly barred from attending by Konami.[106] Instead, the award was accepted by Kiefer Sutherland on his behalf.[106] On July 10, 2015, regular Kojima collaborator Akio Ōtsuka revealed that Konami had closed Kojima Productions.[107]

Independent studio and Death Stranding (2015-present)
Kojima promoting Death Stranding in 2018

On December 16, 2015, Kojima announced that Kojima Productions would be re-established as an independent studio, partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment, and that his first game would be exclusive to PlayStation 4.[108] At E3 2016, Kojima personally announced the game's title as Death Stranding in a trailer.[109] The trailer featured Norman Reedus, whom Kojima had previously worked with in the cancelled Silent Hill.

In 2016, Kojima launched his own YouTube channel, where he and film critic Kenji Yano discuss their favorite films and matters pertaining to Kojima's studio.[110] Starting in 2017, Kojima became a regular contributor to Rolling Stone, often discussing recent film releases, and occasionally drawing comparisons to his own works.[111]

Death Stranding was released on November 8, 2019, and became a commercial and critical success.[112][113][114][115][116] It also won a number of awards, including "Best Game Direction" and "Best Score/Music" at The Game Awards 2019.[117]

In November 2019, talking to BBC Newsbeat as part of a documentary about Death Stranding, Kojima said “In the future Kojima Productions will start making films. If you can do one thing well, then you can do everything well”. Kojima went on to explain that he sees that movies, TV shows, and games competing in the same space in the future, thanks to streaming technology, and that this will encourage new formats to emerge. “I’m very interested in the new format of game that will appear on there and that’s what I want to take on,” Kojima added.[118]

Influences and mentality

Kojima has cited Yuji Horii's The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983)[119] and Shigeru Miyamoto's Super Mario Bros. (1985)[120] as the games that inspired him to enter the video game industry. Portopia Serial Murder Case, a murder mystery adventure game, was an important influence because, according to Kojima, it had "mystery, a 3D dungeon, humor, and a proper background and explanation of why the murderer committed the crime. That is why there was drama in this game. My encountering this game expanded the potential of video games in my mind."[119] Portopia had an influence on his early works, including Metal Gear and particularly Snatcher.[121]

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. He cited a contrast between films and games as while in his games he intends to portray violence like in a movie, in the game it is up to the player to decide. He wants people to understand the effects of violence. As he considers the games too stressful, he also wants comic relief to contrast it.[122]

Snatcher is inspired by many science fiction films, particularly from the 1980s, including Blade Runner,[123] Akira,[124] The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers,[125] and The Terminator.[124] Examples of influence by films include Solid Snake's codename (named after Snake Plissken from Escape from New York),[126] Snake's alias in MGS2: Pliskin (in reference to the last name of Snake Plissken from the Escape movies), Snake's real name (Dave from 2001: A Space Odyssey),[127] and Snake's trademark bandana (The Deer Hunter[128]).

Film would also have an influence on other aspects of his games. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich (named after HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey and film director Roland Emmerich),[127] Sniper Wolf shooting Meryl in Metal Gear Solid (Full Metal Jacket),[126] Psycho Mantis (inspired from the film The Fury)[126] and the whole Metal Gear stealth concept (The Great Escape[126] and The Guns of Navarone[129]). James Bond also had a large influence on the Metal Gear series,[130] with Metal Gear Solid 3 having a James Bond-like introduction sequence. Kojima has written that Metal Gear was "strongly influenced" by the "anti-war and anti-nuke" themes of the Planet of the Apes film franchise.[131]

In an article he wrote for Official PlayStation 2 Magazine, Kojima described the influence of the film Dawn of the Dead on the Metal Gear series. The zombie classic inspired "the maximum three-dimensional use of a closed area like a shopping mall with elevators, air ducts, and escalators". These aspects are similar enough in his view that "[Metal Gear Solid] is [Dawn of the Dead] if you replace soldiers with zombies."[132]

He also received inspiration from anime. His early works, particularly the cyberpunk adventure game Snatcher (which uses anime-style art), were influenced by cyberpunk anime, most notably Akira (mentioned above).[124] In an interview, he mentioned that his Zone of the Enders series was inspired by mecha/robot anime, such as Neon Genesis Evangelion. Mecha anime was also an inspiration for the Metal Gear series, which features mecha robots, such as Metal Gear REX and Metal Gear RAY; this is referenced in Metal Gear Solid, where Otacon mentions mecha anime as an influence on his Metal Gear REX designs.

In regards to storyline development and interaction with them, he said:

Storytelling is very difficult. But adding the flavor 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.[133]

In terms of reverse influence on film, his work on the storylines of the Metal Gear series was cited as an influence by screenwriter David Hayter, the voice actor for Solid Snake, on his screenwriting for Hollywood films. He stated that "Kojima and I have different styles (...) but I've certainly learned things from him, especially about ambiguity and telling a story without giving all the answers".[134]

Kojima has also influenced a number of actors and auteurs in the film industry. Hollywood actors Mads Mikkelsen and Léa Seydoux have voice roles in Death Stranding, and celebrated director Guillermo del Toro is amongst his biggest fans.[135]

Legacy

Kojima has been noted for predicting and exploring themes in his works years before they gained mainstream notoriety on numerous occasions, ranging from the sociological to the scientific.[136]

The main example of this pertains to the plot and themes of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, released on November 13, 2001, which delved into ideas and concepts that would become culturally significant in the 2010s. Among these themes were post-truth politics, alternative facts, echo-chambers, fake news, AI-curated news feeds, information overload in the Information Age and political correctness.[137] While the game received universal acclaim upon release for its gameplay and attention to detail, the plot became a divisive topic among critics, with some calling it "absurd" and "stupid".[138] Reinterpretations of the game's plot began to surface in the 2010s, with some calling it "misunderstood" in its time, eerily prescient, and "necessary for the political climate to come" for predicting some of the cultural issues of the 2010s with striking accuracy and similar concepts.[139][140] GamesRadar+ has cited the prescience of the game in relation to the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[141] The concept of "Selection for Societal Sanity" presented in the game was one of the bases for the paper Filtration Failure: On Selection for Societal Sanity written by Adrian Mróz and published in the academic journal Kultura i Historia.[142]

In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, released on September 1, 2015, the Wolbachia bacteria is used to halt the reproduction of the fictional "vocal chords parasite". At the time, large-scale uses of Wolbachia to control insect-transmitted diseases like malaria and dengue only existed in simulated computational models and field-test releases in Australia.[143][144] Deployment of Wolbachia was proposed the next year at the peak of the Zika epidemic in the Americas.[143] Large-scale deployments of the Wolbachia bacteria became the most effective way to control and eradicate mosquito-related epidemics as of 2019, with successful deployments in Malaysia,[145] Singapore,[146] Sri Lanka,[147] Indonesia, Vietnam, and Brazil.[148]

In Death Stranding, released on November 8, 2019, Kojima presents a post-apocalyptic setting in which people live isolated in cities and prepper shelters, unable to go outside because of the hazardous conditions brought by an event named the "Death Stranding". Thus, the inhabitants of the world rely on "porters", people who risk their lives making deliveries, to receive and exchange the resources they need to survive. Similarities with the COVID-19 pandemic were noted by numerous journalists in early 2020, including the game's focus on the themes of isolation, loneliness, and political divide.[149][150]

Personal life

Kojima is very private about his personal life. He has at least one brother.[151] His father died when he was 13 and his mother died in early 2017.[152][153] He is married and has children, including at least one son.[152][26]

In 2019, Kojima picked 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, High and Low, Mad Max 2, and Taxi Driver as his five favorite films of all time, adding "As a creator, I have periods of difficult times, but whenever I feel particularly in need of a pick-me-up, I watch 2001. It’s a perfect movie for me."[26]

Awards and accolades

Newsweek named Kojima as one of the top ten people of 2002.[154][155] In 2008, Next-Gen placed him seventh in their list of "Hot 100 Developers 2008."[156]

In 2009, IGN placed him sixth in their list of top game creators of all time.[157] At the 2008 MTV Game Awards, Kojima was given the award show's first Lifetime Achievement Award for a game designer and was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Game Developers Conference.[158][159] In 2014, UNESCO's Bradford City of Film gave Kojima the inaugural award for Cinematography in Videogames, "for his astounding directing, storytelling and cinematography" in video games.[160]

At the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards, Kojima was credited for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes' nomination for the category Game, Franchise Adventure.[161] In December 2015, Kojima was invited to accept an award from The Game Awards 2015 for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but was prevented from attending by Konami.[162]

In February 2016, Kojima received the AIAS Hall of Fame Award at the 19th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.[163] In December 2016, Kojima was able to attend The Game Awards 2016 and accepted the Industry Icon Award.[164]

On October 12, 2017, Kojima received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brasil Game Show.[165]

Kojima was named a BAFTA Fellowship in 2020, to be awarded to him during the British Academy Games Awards in April 2020, making him the second Japanese to receive the award for work on video games after Shigeru Miyamoto.[166]

Kojima holds the distinction of having directed three games (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) out of the 27 total to have achieved a maximum possible score of 40 from the Japanese video games magazine Famitsu.[167][168][169]

Works
For games by Kojima's studio, see Kojima Productions#Games. For all Metal Gear media, see List of Metal Gear media.

Gameography
Year Game Credited as
Producer Director Writer Designer Note
1986 Penguin Adventure Assistant Designer
1987 Metal Gear
1988 Snatcher
1990 Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
SD Snatcher
1994 Policenauts
1997 Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 1
1998 Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 2
Metal Gear Solid
1998-2002 Beatmania console ports
2000-2002 Beatmania IIDX console ports
2000 Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
2001 Zone of the Enders
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
2003 Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner
2004 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Acid
2005 Shin Bokura no Taiyō: Gyakushū no Sabata
Metal Gear Acid 2
2006 Lunar Knights
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Kabushiki Baibai Trainer: Kabutore!
2007 Kabushiki Baibai Trainer: Kabutore! Next
2008 Metal Gear Solid Mobile
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Online
Twelve Tender Killers
2009 Gaitame Baibai Trainer: Kabutore! FX
Metal Gear Solid Touch
2010 Metal Gear Arcade
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2013 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
2014 Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
P.T.
2015 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
2019 Death Stranding

Cancelled games
Year cancelled Game Ref
1986 Lost Warld
2015 Silent Hills

Voice roles
Year Title Role Source
1994PolicenautsAP officer no.2 (uncredited)
1998Metal Gear SolidHimself (Japanese version only)
1999Metal Gear Solid: VR MissionsGenola
2008Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsGod (Himself)[170]
Metal Gear OnlineSoldiers
2010Castlevania: Lords of ShadowChupacabra (Japanese voice)
2014Metal Gear Solid V: Ground ZeroesHimself[170]
2015Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
2019 Control Dr. Yoshimi Tokui [171]
2020 Cyberpunk 2077 Oshima [172]

References
  1. "IGN: Hideo Kojima Biography". Archived from the original on November 16, 2007. Retrieved March 12, 2008.
  2. "Hideo Kojima – video gaming's first auteur – Screen Robot". Screen Robot. July 2014. Archived from the original on April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  3. "Announcement of Personnel Changes (March 17, 2009)". Konami. March 17, 2009. Archived from the original on May 6, 2009. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  4. "Hideo Kojima becomes VP of Konami Digital Entertainment". March 30, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
  5. "Death Stranding Release Date For PS4 Revealed In New Gameplay Trailer". GameSpot. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  6. "Hideo Kojima". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  7. "Hideo Kojima Has Been Awarded Two Guinness World Records, But Not For What You Might Expect". GameSpot. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  8. "IGN: Hideo Kojima Biography". IGN. Archived from the original on November 16, 2007. Born on August 24, 1963, Hideo Kojima is the Konami Digital Entertainment, Operating Officer and Studio Head of Kojima Productions.
  9. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. It was during that time that my parents introduced a family tradition: every night we would all watch a film together. I wasn't allowed to go to bed till the film had finished: the opposite of how it is for most children. My parents were huge fans of westerns, European cinema and horror in particular. They wouldn't just show me kids' films. I'd even see the sex scenes.
  10. Dawkins, Dan (June 12, 2018). "Why MGS4's final scene is more powerful than we ever realised". gamesradar. Retrieved September 7, 2020. Kingo Kojima, a pharmacist, named his son based on the most common name among the doctors he met. He travelled a lot on business and watched a lot of movies, a trait he impressed on young Hideo.
  11. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. "I was born in a countryside town," he says. "But when I was four years old we moved to Osaka. It was a huge environment change and after that I would spend much more time at home, watching television or making figurines.
  12. Itoi, Kay (December 30, 2001). "Hideo Kojima". Newsweek. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  13. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. We managed to trick our parents into giving us the money to go on a four day trip to an exotic island off the coast of Japan. But when we arrived we spent the first three days swimming in the sea. On the final day we realised how little time we had left so I changed the plot … to another zombie movie. The idea was still that the plane had crashed and high school student had survived. But this time they found zombies on the island.
  14. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. "Did you show your parents the film?" I ask. "No," he replies, breaking into a generous laugh.
  15. "Hideo Kojima: Gaming's Designer-in-Chief". Business Week. May 6, 2011. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. Retrieved September 7, 2020. As a teen in Kawanishi in western Japan, Kojima's obsessions were movies, Japanese manga comics, and novels.
  16. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. It was in the midst of this time of his life, watching movies and starting out on the journey to create them, that Kojima's world fell apart with the death of his father. "I was just 13 when he died," he says. "It was hard and lonely but, in a way, it strengthened my resolve to become a filmmaker."
  17. Parkin, Simon (March 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  18. Goldberg, Harold (November 27, 2019). "A Video Game Auteur's Quest for Connection". Vulture. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  19. Chen, Adrian (March 3, 2020). "Hideo Kojima's Strange, Unforgettable Video-Game Worlds". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  20. Schramm, Mike (October 6, 2011). "Hideo Kojima talks life, influences at USC presentation". Engadget. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  21. Parkin, Simon (March 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. Retrieved September 7, 2020. Kojima was studying economics at university when he made the decision to join the games industry. "I wrote novels in my spare time while studying," he says.
  22. Schramm, Mike (October 6, 2011). "Hideo Kojima talks life, influences at USC presentation". Engadget. Retrieved September 7, 2020. His economics thesis even included a short story "to surprise my professor, and he was very surprised," said Kojima through a translator, "but it didn't help my grade much."
  23. Parkin, Simon (March 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. "Even this pursuit was related to film as I wanted to win awards for my novels and thought that if that happened perhaps I would get the chance to make a movie.
  24. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. Retrieved September 7, 2020. But I had no friends that were interested in cinema; nobody to encourage me in that career.
  25. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. The groom stood up to introduce me. He said: 'Welcome everybody. This is Mr Kojima. He's a very talented and otherwise likeable person. But I am sorry to say that, for some unknown reason, he has decided to join a video game company.' Everybody laughed. You see: working in the games industry was seen as a very low status job at that time. There wasn't even a word in Japanese for the job of game designer back then. I would lie at parties. I told people I worked for a financial firm ...
  26. https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/death-stranding-director-hideo-kojimas-five-favorite-films/
  27. Parkin, Simon (May 23, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 1". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 7, 2020. I began looking for a company to work for and settled on Konami, not because of the type of games they were making at the time, but rather because they were listed on the stock exchange," he says. "They were the only games company to be listed at the time; not even Nintendo had that accolade.
  28. Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famous". Retro Gamer (35): 74: It was really disappointing because they assigned me to the MSX division. I had joined a company in the game industry, wanting to make Famicom or arcade games, and then I was assigned to MSX. Back then MSX had only 16 colours, and on top of that, if you excluded all the colours that were hard to use, such as pink or purple, you were left with only eight colours.
  29. Lee, Julia (November 4, 2019). "Hideo Kojima made a penguin delivery game before Death Stranding". Polygon. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  30. Lee, Julia (November 4, 2019). "Hideo Kojima made a penguin delivery game before Death Stranding". Polygon. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  31. Lambie, Ryan (September 1, 2015). "Why 1987's Metal Gear Is Still Important". Den of Geek. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  32. Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famous". Retro Gamer (35): 74. "The company asked me to create a combat game. Actually, a senior associate had been in charge of it but he was stuck and I was asked to do it."
  33. Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famous". Retro Gamer (35): 74. "You could not have more than four bullets with MSX, and that meant you could only have two to three enemies. You cannot make a combat qame with that. So I came up with a game like The Great Escape where the prisoner had to escape. It was an idea born from adverse situations."
  34. "METAL GEAR 25th ANNIVERSARY 「メタルギアソリッドの真実」". Konami.com (in Japanese). July 13, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2020. (Metal Gear [1987.7.13] MSX2
  35. "A Brief History of Stealth Games". VentureBeat. October 10, 2010. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  36. Patterson, Shane (February 3, 2009). "The sneaky history of stealth games". Games Radar. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  37. "From 'Castle Wolfenstein' to 'Dishonored 2': A Brief History of Stealth Games". Vice. November 4, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2020. The Metal Gear series has been a huge cornerstone of the stealth genre, right from its first appearance in 1987 [...] Metal Gear games had elements of stealth, like line-of-sight, box-based camouflage and noise detection
  38. "Hardcore Gaming 101: Masahiro Ueno Interview". Hardcore Gaming 101. April 1, 2012. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2020. My team was asked to port the original MSX2 version to NES in three months and we had to make some changes per management and due to the hardware limitations.
  39. "SNATCHER". Super Soft Magazine Deluxe: A.V.G & R.P.G (in Japanese). Vol. 10. 1988. pp. 3, 54. Archived from the original on October 7, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  40. Tieryas, Peter (June 16, 2017). "Snatcher Is Cyberpunk Noir At Its Best". Kotaku. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  41. Gifford, Kevin (November 4, 2009). "Kojima Reflects on Snatcher, Adventure Games". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  42. Kalata, Kurt (May 8, 2011). "SD Snatcher – Hardcore Gaming 101". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  43. Konami (1989). スナッチャーライナーノーツ. Snatcher (Radio Play CD) liner notes. pp. 3–4. Archived from the original on October 13, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  44. Hardawar, Devindra (April 29, 2017). "Hideo Kojima on his cinematic influences, 'Death Stranding' and VR". Engadget. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  45. Chen, Adrian (March 3, 2020). "Hideo Kojima's Strange, Unforgettable Video-Game Worlds". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  46. Gifford, Kevin (October 22, 2012). "Kojima Reflects on Snatcher, Adventure Games". 1Up. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  47. "EGM's Nob Ogasawara Interviews Mr. Yoshinori "Moai" Sasaki..." (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 66. January 1995. p. 176. Archived from the original on October 7, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  48. "Interview with Jeremy Blaustein by Chris Barker". JunkerHQ. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  49. Tieryas, Peter (June 16, 2017). "Snatcher Is Cyberpunk Noir At Its Best". Kotaku. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  50. "Super deformed". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  51. Kurt Kalata, Snatcher Archived July 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Hardcore Gaming 101
  52. European date fixed for the action / RPG Last Rebellion Archived April 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (Translation), Jeuxvideo.com
  53. Fletcher, J. C. (March 1, 2007). "Virtually Overlooked: SD Snatcher". Engadget. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  54. "Interview with Hideo Kojima". Gamers Today. Archived from the original on November 3, 2005. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  55. Kasavin, Greg (June 25, 2007). "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence Review". GameSpot. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  56. Lewis, Greg. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". IGN. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  57. Sliva, Marty (August 25, 2014). "7 Weird Metal Gear Games You Probably Never Knew Existed". IGN. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  58. やっぱり、サターン版が一番可愛くなった. Sega Saturn Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 15. September 13, 1996. pp. 200–201. (Translation, Archived on February 14, 2019, at the Wayback Machine). Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  59. Parkin, Simon (May 24, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 2". The Guardian. Retrieved September 8, 2020. It was hugely frustrating making games at that time for me. I wanted to control everything. So, after the second Metal Gear launched, I developed my own scripting engine and decided to work on adventure games so that I could have complete control over when the animation played or when the music triggered. That's when I developed Snatcher and Policenauts. It was a way to take creative control back from the programmers.
  60. Gantayat, Anoop (August 13, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: Policenauts Was Originally Known as Beyond". Andriasang.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  61. "監督　小島秀夫が語るポリスノーツ". Konami.com. 2003. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  62. "Sega Saturn Soft Review: ポリスノーツ". Sega Saturn Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 15. SoftBank Creative. September 13, 1996. p. 241.
  63. "ポリスノーツ みんなのクロスレビュ ー". Famitsu. Archived from the original on October 3, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  64. Parkin, Simon (September 17, 2009). "Policenauts". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on December 24, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  65. Mackey, Bob (January 7, 2013). "Policenauts and Hideo Kojima's Adventure Game Roots from 1UP.com". 1Up.com. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  66. Kojima, Hideo (July 22, 2011). "KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS - HIDEOBLOG" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  67. Parkin, Simon (May 24, 2020). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 2". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  68. E3 1997 - E3 Wiki Guide - IGN, retrieved September 11, 2020
  69. "Metal Gear Solid". PlayStation Official Magazine – UK (42): 88. February 1999.
  70. Nelson, Randy (October 21, 1998). "Metal Gear Solid review". IGN. Archived from the original on June 14, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2007.
  71. "Metal Gear Solid". GMR: 97. February 2003.
  72. Kasavin, Greg (November 13, 2001). "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 9, 2009. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  73. "Metal Gear Solid 2 Sells-In 1.8 Million". IGN. November 28, 2001. Archived from the original on December 7, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  74. Parish, Jeremy (December 10, 2011). "Metal Gear Solid 2: Gaming's Greatest Con Job". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  75. Parkin, Simon (May 24, 2012). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 2". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  76. "Super Smash Bros. Brawl revealed for Wii, featuring Solid Snake!". May 10, 2006. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  77. "MGS Creator Received Death Threats". November 21, 2005. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  78. Nelson, Randy (November 24, 2008). "Hideo Kojima receives lifetime achievement award from MTV". Joystiq. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  79. "Hideo Kojima: The Kikizo Interview 2009". Kikizo. April 15, 2009. Archived from the original on November 4, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  80. Doree, Adam (August 24, 2008). "Hideo Kojima: The Kikizo Interview 2008". Kikizo. Archived from the original on November 5, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  81. "PSP-only MGS slated for 2010 release; four-player co-op hinted". GameSpot. June 2, 2009. Archived from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  82. Robinson, Martin (August 20, 2009). "GC 2009: Hideo Kojima Q&A". IGN. Archived from the original on August 26, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
  83. "Hideo Kojima Checks Metal Gear Rising's Demo". Andriasang. May 15, 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
  84. Akerman, Nick (February 22, 2013). "Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes will tackle many taboos, may not release in its current state". VG247. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  85. Rose, Mike. "Konami Promotes Hideo Kojima To Vice President". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  86. E3 2011 KONAMI Special Interview with Hideo Kojima on YouTube
  87. "Kojima announced Snatcher radio show". Joystiq.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  88. "Kojima And 5pb Collaboration Will Be A Game And Anime". Siliconera. October 16, 2011. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014.
  89. Ashcraft, Brian. "Hideo Kojima is Making an Adventure Game". Kotaku. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  90. "Game by Metal Gear's Kojima, 5pb's Shikura Has Anime Plans". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  91. "Hideo Kojima expresses interest in Silent Hill. Here's how he could (very easily) make it better than it's been in a decade". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on August 14, 2014.
  92. "TwitLonger – When you talk too much for Twitter". Archived from the original on October 15, 2014.
  93. "TwitLonger – When you talk too much for Twitter". Archived from the original on August 17, 2014.
  94. "Policenauts, Silent Hill and a Metal Gear JRPG – an audience with Kojima". Eurogamer.net. September 27, 2012. Archived from the original on October 15, 2014.
  95. Michael McWhertor (September 27, 2012). "Konami wants Hideo Kojima to make a Silent Hill game". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 2, 2015.
  96. "Konami has asked Hideo Kojima to helm Silent Hill". Destructoid. Archived from the original on July 20, 2013.
  97. "Twitch". Archived from the original on August 8, 2014.
  98. "Kojima Wants to Reboot Silent Hill, but Not Until He's Ready for Daily Nightmares". Rely on Horror. March 13, 2014. Archived from the original on August 7, 2014.
  99. "Kojima Twitch interview summary: discussing Japanese gaming industry, Portable Ops canonicity, and possibility of remakes". Metal Gear Informer. March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014.
  100. Grayson, Nathan. "Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro Team Up for New Silent Hill". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 15, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  101. Tassi, Paul (April 27, 2015). "'Silent Hill' Lives, 'Silent Hills' is Dead, And Konami Is Almost Certainly Dying [Update]". Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  102. "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Kojima Interview". GameTrailers. March 28, 2013. Archived from the original on March 31, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  103. Brown, Peter; Crossley, Rob. "Kojima Expected to Leave Konami After MGS5, Inside Source Confirms". Gamespot. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  104. Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 20, 2015). "Konami announces plan for brand new Metal Gear series". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  105. Matulef, Jeffrey (October 20, 2015). "Hideo Kojima left Konami earlier this month – report". EuroGamer. Archived from the original on October 21, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  106. Luke, Reilley (December 3, 2015). "KONAMI BANS METAL GEAR SOLID 5 CREATOR KOJIMA FROM GAME AWARDS". IGN. Archived from the original on December 6, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  107. Hussain, Tamoor (July 12, 2015). "Kojima Productions Has Disbanded, Says Metal Gear Solid Voice Actor". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  108. "Hideo Kojima confirms departure from Konami, forms new studio and partnership with Sony". Polygon. December 16, 2015. Archived from the original on December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  109. Crossley, Rob (June 13, 2016). "Kojima Reveals New PS4 Project, Death Stranding". GameSpot. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  110. Scimeca, Dennis (February 12, 2016). "Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima just launched his own YouTube channel". Daily Dot. Archived from the original on January 14, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
  111. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  112. "Death Stranding (PS4)". Gamstat. April 12, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  113. "Hideo Kojima: Death Stranding was profitable and recouped costs; profit secured for next title". Gematsu. May 29, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  114. "日本に本物のクリエイターはいるのか？ 小島秀夫監督が「作家性」にこだわる理由". Livedoor News. May 29, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  115. "Death Stranding for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 1, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  116. "Death Stranding for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  117. Goslin, Austen (December 13, 2019). "All the winners from The Game Awards 2019". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  118. "Kojima Productions Plans to Make Films in the Future", IGN, November 4, 2019, retrieved July 10, 2020
  119. Kasavin, Greg (March 21, 2005). ""Everything is Possible": Inside the Minds of Gaming's Master Storytellers". GameSpot. p. 2. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
  120. Hall, Kenji (May 6, 2009). "Hideo Kojima: Gaming's Designer-in-Chief". Business Week. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  121. John Szczepaniak (February 2011). "Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken". Retro Gamer. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2011. (Reprinted at John Szczepaniak. "Retro Gamer 85". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on April 12, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2011.)
  122. "Interview: Hideo Kojima Talks About Metal Gear Solid V's Humor, Violence and Finality". Time. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014.
  123. "Blade Runner's Influence on Videogames from". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  124. Hopper, Ben (February 20, 2001). "Great Games – Snatcher". GameCritics.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  125. "Snatcher Review". Siliconera.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  126. Steven Kent. "Hideo Kojima: Game Guru, Movie Maniac". Archived from the original on November 3, 2005. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  127. The Making of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty DVD packaged with European version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
  128. "「MGSシリーズに影響を与えた偉大なる15の映画作品」特集 – 2" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 29, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009. それまでとは違った視点からベトナム戦争を描いたマイケル・チミノ監督の出世作。スネークのバンダナは「ランボー」から来ていると思われているが、実はこの映画のデ・ニーロから来ている (in Japanese)
  129. "「MGSシリーズに影響を与えた偉大なる15の映画作品」特集 – 1" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 8, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009. メタルギアのゲームコンセプトである「潜入ミッション」というイメージの元になったアリステア・マクリーン原作による戦争冒険映画の名作。まさに孤立無援で敵要塞に潜入、不可能を可能にする男達の物語。 (in Japanese)
  130. "「MGSシリーズに影響を与えた偉大なる15の映画作品」特集 – 3" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 29, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009. メタルギア誕生に最も影響を受けたのは、諜報アクション映画である007シリーズ。ショーン・コネリー演じる初代ボンドの作品の中で最も娯楽性に富んでいるのがこの作品。のちのボンド映画の手本となった。 (in Japanese)
  131. The Ultimate Guide to Metal Gear Solid 1987-2015. Future Publishing. 2015. p. 104. ISBN 9783598202216.
  132. "Hideo Kojima at the Movies: Dawn of the Dead". Archived from the original on October 14, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  133. "Hideo Kojima: The Kikizo Interview 2008 (Page 3)". Kikizo. August 24, 2008. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  134. Fitch, Andrew (May 7, 2008). "Anime Expo: David Hayter Critical of Some MGS Moments". 1UP.com. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  135. Dawkins, Daniel (November 16, 2019). "Why Hideo Kojima is gaming's most divisive figure". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  136. Moran, Miguel (March 30, 2020). "Every time Hideo Kojima predicted the future". Looper.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  137. Wiltshire, Alex. "How 'Metal Gear Solid 2' Foretold Our Post-Truth Future". Glixel. Rolling Stones. Archived from the original on November 19, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  138. "25 Most Overrated Games of All Time". Game Spy. 2003. Archived from the original on 2004.
  139. "Metal Gear Solid 2 – The Misunderstood Entry in the Series". Gaming History 101. August 21, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  140. Kunzelman, Cameron (January 20, 2017). "VICE - The Scary Political Relevance of 'Metal Gear Solid 2'". www.vice.com. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  141. Dawkins, Dan; March 2018, Chris Parnell 30. "How Metal Gear Solid manipulated its players, warning us of an age of Fake News, Cambridge Analytica and data surveillance". Official PlayStation Magazine. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  142. Mróz, Adrian. "Filtration Failure: On Selection for Societal Sanity". Kultura i Historia.
  143. Gale, Jason (February 4, 2016). "The Best Weapon for Fighting Zika? More Mosquitoes". Bloomberg.
  144. Vastag, Brian (August 24, 2011). "Field tests show bacterial oddball can be a dengue destroyer". The Washington Post.
  145. "Malaysia Wolbachia trials: Battling dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses". Outbreak News Today. November 22, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  146. "Singapore releases Wolbachia mosquitoes as dengue cases soar | New Straits Times". NST Online. May 8, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  147. "Sri Lanka releases Wolbachia-injected mosquitoes to combat spread of dengue - Xinhua | English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  148. "Dengue infections dive where Wolbachia established in mosquitoes in parts of Asia, Australia, and Brazil". EurekAlert!. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  149. Ashcraft, Brian (March 16, 2020). "Death Stranding Makes More Sense Now Than Ever". Kotaku. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  150. Frank, Adam (May 14, 2020). "Playing 'Death Stranding,' Even In Isolation, You're Not Alone". NPR.org. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  151. https://twitter.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/1238252559598485504
  152. https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/hideo-kojima-death-stranding.html
  153. https://twitter.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/833145450408448001
  154. "Mr. Kojima, Konami Videogame Designer Was Selected One of Ten "Who's Next?" of NEWSWEEK". January 22, 2002. Archived from the original on April 12, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  155. "Newsweek Names the Men and Women of 2002: 10 to Watch". December 23, 2001. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  156. "The Next-Gen Hot 100 Developers 2008". February 19, 2008. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
  157. IGN. "IGN – 6. Hideo Kojima". IGN. Archived from the original on April 2, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
  158. "Hideo Kojima Lifetime Achievement". November 24, 2008. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  159. "GDC 09: Kojima To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award". February 17, 2009. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  160. "Metal Gear Solid Creator Hideo Kojima Receives Bradford City of Film Cinematography Award!". Bradford City of Film. UNESCO. November 19, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  161. "NAVGTR Awards (2014)". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  162. "Konami stop Hideo Kojima attending The Game Awards". BBC. December 4, 2015. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016.
  163. DICE2016 Archived April 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
  164. Campbell, Colin (December 1, 2016). "Kojima takes Game Awards stage in triumph". Archived from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  165. @KojiPro2015_EN (November 6, 2017). "Hideo Kojima's lifetime achievement..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on February 22, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2017 – via Twitter.
  166. "Hideo Kojima to receive BAFTA Fellowship". www.bafta.org. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  167. "MGS4 receives 'perfect' score from Famitsu". Engadget. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  168. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker Deemed Perfect By Famitsu - IGN, retrieved January 16, 2021
  169. Barder, Ollie. "'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain' Tops The Japanese Charts, Boosts PS4 Sales". Forbes. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  170. "Hideo Kojima - 4 Character Images | Behind The Voice Actors". behindthevoiceactors.com. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.
  171. "'Control' features a wonderfully surreal Hideo Kojima cameo". Engadget. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  172. "https://twitter.com/ludo_216/status/1337328165610459136". Twitter. Retrieved December 11, 2020. External link in |title= (help)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.