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Vic Viper
Sep 4th, 2003, 12:01 AM
Konami's legendary games designer speaks in-depth about his latest masterwork, Snake Eater - full unmissable interview inside!

19:29 The undoubted highlight of an otherwise largely disappointing ECTS 2003 was a brand new Metal Gear Solid 3 trailer, exclusive to London Games Week, and hand delivered to the event by none other than series creator, vice president of KCET, and gaming celebrity, Hideo Kojima.

While the first crowds gathered to be wowed by Snake Eater footage on the first day of the show, Kojima-san and his young son Roman, went into stealth-tourist mode, infiltrating the capital city in a camouflaged open-top tour bus.

But on the following day, the man voted by Newsweek as one of the ten people most likely to influence American culture was very much on the showfloor, mingling quietly with the crowds and checking out his new trailer from a distance. Despite all this, he still found time to sit down with us in a secret chamber deep within Konami's stand (which was shaking thanks to over-enthusiastic Dancing Stage action along the perimeter) to talk in-depth about the latest addition to the massive, hugely influential Metal Gear series.

Without further ado, here's the full, revealing transcript, with translation assistance provided by Konami's mighty international PR manager, Scott Dolph:

You've personally brought over a brand new MGS3 trailer to show at ECTS and the PlayStation Experience, which is a real coup for Europe - why was it important for you to reveal this here?

Kojima: First of all, this is the first ECTS I've attended, and because it's my first time here I thought I'd bring a new trailer. And another reason is that all my European fans have to wait because of the localisation - it's always the US version that comes out first - so I decided to bring this new footage here with me.

Obviously we've seen a lot of new things in the trailer - since the game's last showing at E3, what have you've been focusing your efforts on in terms of development?

Kojima: I cannot really give you details, but as I said last time, we've changed the game engine and at the same time we're working on a totally new game system. I cannot give you details, but that's something I look after daily - to make sure this new, improved game system works in the game.

For example, in the trailer you see alligators, birds, fish and all of these animals. Yes, Metal Gear is a stealth game, but this time it's also a survival game. You're going to have to hunt these animals down and eat them, so I'm trying to figure out how this eating system works and blends into the whole game system. It's a trial and error process to make sure that it works.

The trailer seems very much geared towards teasing the player and dropping subtle hints, as has been the case previously, and you seem to enjoy playing these mind games with fans, keeping us all guessing. Do you pay particular attention to the press and are you amused by the endless speculation?

Kojima: Yes, I do pay attention - I enjoy that. But when people speculate I try to make sure we don't go in the direction of the speculation, because if we simple meet what people expect, it won't be fun. So what I do is create a trailer based on what people think, then based on people's responses I start adjusting/shifting the game again.

We do have to betray people's expectations in a certain way. The games industry is a unique industry in that it takes two or three years to create a game and you also start showing trailers from the very beginning of the process, which you don't see in other industries. In a way, us showing trailers at E3 and ECTS, all these trailers are part of the Metal Gear Solid 3 game experience.

For example, we showed the E3 trailer in May with the jungle - if we felt that people did not like the theme of the jungle, then maybe the game would have changed into something else. We could have dropped the jungle concept.

The credit sequence in the trailer also seems to reveal an emphasis on close-quarter combat. Is this part of the new game system? Will it be part of the in-game engine or as part of cut-scenes?

Kojima: Till now, Metal Gear games have focused on a dependence on firepower. Although everything's done using stealth, it wasn't really focused on close-quarter combat until now.

With this game, it's set in the jungle and the mountains and you won't be depending on firepower - you'll be close to these guys and you won't know if they're friends or enemies - that's where the close-quarter combat comes in. We've also had our military advisor train us. He actually took us to mountains and showed us how to get around and fight in the mountains when there are people right near you.

The previous Metal Gear Solid titles have always been the most impressive-looking games on their respective systems, really pushing the boundaries of what could be done. With MGS3 being developed on the same hardware as before, have you found this frustrating in anyway, or do you simply relish the challenge of raising the bar still further on what you achieved last time?

Kojima: MGS2 was the first Metal Gear for PS2 so in a way it was easy for us to stun people. This time we have to go even further, but now we have the experience and the know-how, and we have a lot of ideas to use for an MGS3 so we can still push it further.

But it's still the same platform, so you cannot expect a giant leap, graphics-wise. That's why we're changing the game engine and the game system, so we can give the game a giant leap not graphically, but in a different way.

The answer to trying to give this new Metal Gear a giant leap is a new setting, new era and new gameplay.

To what extent is Snake able to interact with animals? We've seen him eat them; will animals also injure him? Is this element mainly scripted?

Kojima: This time not only are soldiers your enemy, the natural environment is also fighting against you, which includes the animals. You can eliminate them, they can hurt you - but at the same time you can make use of them by hunting them and eating them. There are fruits, poisonous snakes, rats - if it's a poisonous snake you might be able to throw it at someone.

Vic Viper
Sep 4th, 2003, 12:02 AM
You've brought your son, Roman, here with you - is he a fan of the Metal Gear series, and do you take into account what he thinks of your games during the creative process?

Kojima: He's still a bit young to play the Metal Gear series, so he hasn't played any of them yet. He doesn't seem interested! [laughs] It seems like his friends don't know Metal Gear in Japan, so they think his father is creating games that don't sell very well! [laughs]

When I showed the new trailer to my son the other day, he was like: "Are the English people really going to enjoy this?" [laughs]

If you choose to play MGS3 without a radar, how will Snake know where his enemies are?

Kojima: First, I would recommend playing without the radar. For those who cannot play without it, it will be there - you can turn it off. But - and I cannot talk too much about this - there are moments in the game where you use a special item and the radar pops up when necessary.

Since you're in the jungle and the mountains, it's a lot of fun trying to find out where the enemy is yourself, without using the radar, so I really recommend not using the radar. If you use the radar you know where the enemy is hiding so it spoils it.

Gameplay aside, by setting the game in the sixties, is MGS3 in some way a game made specifically for the fans, giving them a deeper overall understanding of the Metal Gear saga?

Kojima: That's part of it, but not much of it. The first Metal Gear was about genetics, the second was stuff beyond genetics - how you learn music, speech etc. Then we're sort of adding a timeline to that double-theme. I can't really talk too much about it, but this trilogy, these three parts compose the grand theme of Metal Gear Solid.

How does camouflage work? How do you know how camouflaged Snake is in a particular situation and, without a radar, how will you pick out camouflaged enemies?

Kojima: It's a trial-and-error process. We do know that there are some times you cannot see Snake anymore; the thing is, the enemies are even harder to spot, so we might tweak the brightness or the colours of the enemies so that they become a little more visible - we're not sure what we're going to do yet.

Maybe we might end up putting a little cursor over their heads - we don't want to do that, but we might have to do it. When you move Snake around you can see him, but when he's stationary he really blends in.

A cardboard box is not going to work in the jungle - that's why you saw that alligator cap in the trailer. You will find these new items in the game. When you go into buildings in the game, then you'll be able to use the cardboard box just like in previous Metal Gear games.

What buildings do you get in the jungle?

Kojima: If you go beyond the jungle there could be an enemy base... There are a lot of artificial buildings in the game like that - if you go into the mountains, there could be an underground base, for example.

To move away from Metal Gear briefly, Boktai on GBA is a fascinating game. Was it a case of you having the idea for the game, then fashioning technology to make it a reality, or the other way around?

Kojima: It was a parallel thing. I always had the idea of a vampire-using-sunlight game and I was sorting of waiting for the technology to become cheap enough for me to implement it. It had to be able to be done business-wise. One day the technology became cheap enough to use, and the two things just merged.

Has it been refreshing to work on something that isn't Metal Gear?

Kojima: I enjoyed it very much.

Back to Metal Gear, Snake is caught in a man trap in the trailer - will Snake be able to set traps himself?

Kojima: That thing that was hanging and the rope which pulled Snake up - those things are set by the enemy. What Snake can do will be different things; there'll be certain traps he can use to capture animals he normally cannot.

There's a different focus in MGS3 to previous titles, something you've called 'process of infiltration' - can you elaborate on this?

Kojima: In previous Metal Gears you already start right outside the base, but in Metal Gear Solid 3 you're starting out in an area that's pure survival, with no particular enemies, that you have to come through.

As you approach the base you'll have survival and the enemies, then when you get into the base, you have conventional Metal Gear gameplay where there enemies and you have to go through buildings.

Thanks for your time.

Link (www.computerandvideogames.com)



:ghost:

MakgSnake
Sep 4th, 2003, 11:19 AM
Excellent interveiw..... very intresting......too bad Snake cannot put up traps against the enimies. But oh well.....atleast he can blend into the envoirnment.

I would actually like the fact that the Soldiers can blend in nicely too. A red mark on top of their head could ruin the game. Dont do it Kojima.... dont.

Now all I have to do is find this new trailer. Its killing me.

Vulcan Raven
Sep 18th, 2003, 03:47 AM
[COLOR=blue]WOW! that is amazing! great interview.
although i still think kojjima is playing around with us.
Remember that MGS2 trailer? with snake running around the big shell? and raiden standing on the tanker with rain pouring down with a look as he could be evil?

Anything's possible so guys, don't lose hope!

Apparently in the jungle, you may play as Big Boss!
How cool would that be? And apparently the jungle is only the start of the game (such as the tanker on MGS2) because the jungle is a Prequel and then Snake carries on is a trequel to MGS2 and carries on tracking down the patriots.

there is some massive storyline details at this website (if you dare to look, even though i have doubts if it is actually real or made up. And where would they get this info from? Kojjima dosent just go blab it out to some random site does he?)
Here it is: http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin/newspro/fullnews.cgi?newsid1057667383,17363,

It also has a file you can download that has a codec briefing from campbell (better not be the AI version from MGS2!!!)

I read it and if it is true.......WOW!!!!!!

check it out...... ............ if you DARE!!!!

Vulcan Raven
Sep 30th, 2003, 05:35 AM
uh huh

Vulcan Raven
Sep 30th, 2003, 05:40 AM
I'm Sorry m8 but i actually posted this a long time ago..


and yes i said exactly the same thing,

kojjima ud not blab out stuff like that!
2 some crap site!!!!!

yep


okay then