UltimateOtaku: Kojima Productions

Sunday, 12 February 2017

5 Things We Learned From 'Metal Gear Solid' Mastermind Hideo Kojima

The Japanese game developer reveals more about his next project, 'Death Stranding', and his love for movies

Hideo Kojima is currently working on 'Death Stranding' starring Mads Mikkelsen Illustration by Bram Vanhaeren

Hideo Kojima's work in video games, creating the strange, huge and best-selling series Metal Gear Solid for publisher Konami has won him an army of devoted fans and plenty of awards. Those fans and peers alike were shocked when, in 2015, it became clear he was leaving Konami and Metal Gear Solid behind under not entirely amicable circumstances.

Now he's back with a new studio, Kojima Productions, and a new game, Death Stranding, that stars Mads Mikkelsen, Norman Reedus and Kojima's friend and cult movie director Guillermo Del Toro. In an in-depth interview with Glixel – the new video game site from the makers of Rolling Stone – he spoke about the new project, his passion for movies and gave his take on the new Nintendo Switch console.

He sees the Nintendo Switch as an evolution of a 2011 Metal Gear Solididea"You might be familiar with a thing we created called 'Transfarring' which let you transfer data between a PS Vita game and a PS3 game. I see the Switch as an evolution of that idea, where you can play something at home and play it to go. This is the main attraction of this system."

His next game Death Stranding isn't horror, and will even be funny"Death Stranding is not a horror game. I just wanted to make something that looks very unique, something you haven't seen before, something with a more artistic slant to it. I’m not pursuing a dark aspect to the game."

He also explains that lighter moments are important when you're putting a player through stressful situations. "So we'll have humor in this game too, but to a degree that it doesn't ruin the world setting. It will be at an appropriate level."

He believes that the difference been watching a movie and playing a game will disappear
"I believe that in the very near future, games and movies will meld together. Also the way games and movies are created now are basically interchangeable; you can interchange assets," he says.

"But if we move to what we were just talking about – VR and breaking out of the frame – that'll happen with movies. So now with movies people will be able to look anywhere, so you’ll need to design assets, you'll need to design the movie with the same mentality as designing a game to service the viewer, to cover all those bases. So in that respect they'll become the same type of entertainment."

He's seen Mad Max: Fury Road - Black And Chrome Edition 18 times"I really enjoy that even though it doesn't have any color, for some reason you feel colors, and even smells and sounds that aren't there. Maybe it's because I've seen it so many times it sort of puts itself back together in my mind."

He's very into La La Land’s lead actress"Right now I’m really into Emma Stone. [Laughs] There are many actresses I like, like Alicia Vikander from Ex Machina," he says. Alicia Vikander is my favorite actress, but right now I'm really into Emma Stone because of La La Land. I've seen it three times already.

You can read the full interview on Glixel.

‘Death Stranding’: Mads Mikkelsen Talks Meeting Hideo Kojima, Differences In Acting For Video Game Vs. Films

Mads Mikkelsen had no idea who Hideo Kojima was or what he’d created until he asked his son. Spoiler alert: excitement ensued.

Mikkelsen appeared on a recent episode of HideoTube, brought to you by Kojima himself to discuss Death Stranding. The actor discussed his first meeting with Kojima and his experiences developing the game. The most endearing part of Mikkelsen’s interview was when he spoke about discussing the project with his son.

"[My] son knew him, knew his games. And when I told him I was gonna meet you he was like, 'Oh! I have to come with you!' But obviously he's a brilliant man and very, very nice, and it's just an honor to be part of this. It's something that I've never done before, and to do it straight in the super league is fantastic,” Mikkelsen said (via Games Radar ).

When your kid is excited about a project, there’s no way you’re turning it down. Mikkelsen went on to discuss his experiences on the motion capture set for Death Stranding. The actor was impressed by Kojima’s push for improvisation on set. Mikkelsen liked being able to contribute to developing his character.

"As I said before, it's a very interesting universe,” Mikkelsen said, referring to Death Stranding . “It's not story driven in the sense that we go from A to Z, like we do in a film. We can make up the background, but we don't necessarily have to, because it is out of time, out of space. It is in the moment. So I think the opportunity of doing things we've never done before, as you say, that is not necessarily linked to a psychological base, but it's based to the moment. It could be very interesting, which we normally don't do when we do characters.”

For what we can tell from the Death Stranding trailers, Mikkelsen is likely playing a villain in the video game. We don’t know much about his character, but we have faith in Kojima’s ability to create interesting storylines. Death Stranding is currently in development through an exclusive partnership with Sony.