| Hideo Kojima |
Article Index for Hideo |
Website Links For Hideo |
Information AboutHideo Kojima |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HIDEO KOJIMA | |
| 1963 births | |
| living people | |
| japanese video game designers | |
| konami | |
| hideo kojima games | |
| kojima, hideo | |
| video game producers | |
| video game directors | |
|
Hideo Kojima (小島秀夫 ''Kojima Hideo'', born August 24 , 1963 ) is a Japanese Video Game Designer at Konami . Formerly the Vice President of Konami Computer Entertainment Japan , he is currently the head of Kojima Productions , a new team devoted to creative game development leaving behind all the business and administrative decision making. He is the creator and director of a number of successful games, including the '' Metal Gear '' series, '' Snatcher '', and '' Policenauts ''. He has also produced both the '' Zone Of The Enders '' and the '' Boktai '' series. His trademark style is to address and approach a multitude of important, large issues and aspects of human life in a philosophical, verbose (some would argue heavy-handed) fashion. He also is sometimes interpreted as one of the few Postmodern game designers; the ''Metal Gear'' series contains Magical Realism and often breaks the Fourth Wall . His love of Movie s is also noticeable in his games, where he pays Homage through his stories and characters, often to the point of Pastiche . He is also well known for a quirky and somewhat irreverent sense of humor. CAREER IN GAME DEVELOPMENT Born in Setagaya, Tokyo , he later moved to Kobe at the age of three. Initially having ambitions of becoming a Film Director , he joined Video Game Publisher Konami 's MSX home computer division in 1986 as a designer. He was toying with so many ideas for so long that his co-workers joked "Why don't you finish a game before you die?" The first game he worked on was '' Penguin Adventure '', as an assistant director. The first game he actually developed was ''Lost Warld'', a War-themed Platform Game starring a Masked Female Wrestler , in 1986 . However, it was cancelled by Konami. His first released game was '' Metal Gear ''. It was released in 1987 to critical success, although due to the MSX home computer's obscurity, the initial MSX version of the game was barely well-known in Japan and Europe . Many people (especially Americans ) did not play the game until it was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System , and even then the game went through numerous changes during the conversion process with which Kojima was not directly involved. The game featured Solid Snake , a rookie soldier who has been sent to the fortified state of "Outer Heaven" to stop a nuclear equipped walking tank known as "Metal Gear." The game was unique by being the first successful Stealth-based Game , in which the player is encouraged to avoid visual contact with the enemy as opposed to engaging in direct confrontation (this was done due to the graphical limitations of the MSX, since the hardware could not handle scrolling very well, nor display too many moving objects at once). He also released the critically acclaimed '' Snatcher '', a graphic Adventure Game with a Cyberpunk setting and Cold War themes, in 1988 . Kojima later designed '''' in 1990 , remade ''Snatcher'' in 1992 for the PC-Engine under title of ''Snatcher CD-ROMantic'' (which would become the basis for the subsequent versions of the game) and designed '' Policenauts '', a film noir/sci-fi-themed adventure game set in a space colony (often regarded as a "spiritual sequel" to ''Snatcher''), in 1994 ; ''Snatcher'' and ''Policenauts'' were both huge successes in Japan. He also produced a series of adventure games based on the '' Tokimeki Memorial '' Dating Sim series dubbed the ''Drama Series'', which were made on the same game engine used by ''Policenauts''. With the release of '' Metal Gear Solid '' in 1998 for the PlayStation , Kojima became an international Celebrity among gamers. Noted not only for its well-designed Gameplay , ''Metal Gear Solid'' was also highly regarded for its characters and storyline, which featured themes of Nuclear Proliferation and Genetic Engineering . In early '', for the PlayStation 2 . The game's highly detailed Graphics , physics, and expanded gameplay quickly made it one of the most anticipated games ever. Before ''MGS2'' Afterwards, Kojima also designed and released '''' for the PlayStation 2, which is set in the year 1964 (during the height of the Cold War) and involves wilderness survival, unlike the previous games in the series which took place in the near future and focused on indoor locations. In this game, the player also needs to use camouflage to evade enemies. 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 has been more favorable than that of the previous installment and has increased interest in any future installments of the series. At that time Kojima also worked on ''Boktais sequel, ' for the Game Boy Advance . Released in Summer 2004, it makes more extensive use of the cartridge's sunlight sensor and allows players to combine various new solar weapons. Also released was '' Metal Gear Ac!d '' for the PlayStation Portable handheld. This Turn-based Game is less action-oriented than the other ''Metal Gear'' games and focuses more on Strategy . It was released in Japan on December 16 , 2004. Kojima Productions is that of the FOX unit from '' Metal Gear Solid 3 ''.]] On April 1 , 2005 , after Konami merged several of its Subsidiaries , Kojima's team at Konami Computer Entertainment Japan was transformed into "Kojima Productions." With this new team, Kojima is no longer burdened with the business management and administrative responsibilities he had as KCEJ's vice president, and thus is able to focus solely on creating games. {Link without Title} Kojima Productions is currently working on three projects: The first is '' Metal Gear Ac!d 2 '' for the PlayStation Portable. It features the same turn-based, strategic gameplay of ''Metal Gear Ac!d'', and uses brighter, Cel-shaded -style visuals. It will contain twice the cards of the original and a more User-friendly interface. The second is '''' (with the latter being released for the first time outside Japan), based on their 2004 Mobile Phone releases. The third is ''''. Next to these three revealed projects, Hideo Kojima and his team are also working on a game for the upcoming Nintendo Wii . After the revelation of the revolutionary controller, Kojima showed interest and excitement {Link without Title} about its possibilities and later stated that he will be making a game to utilize its features specifically for the Nintendo Wii. No further details have been revealed on this project. WORKS The Metal Gear Series
Boktai series
Zone of the Enders
Tokimeki Memorial volumes
Other Games
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|