Wario64 said:
Summarize Kojima interview plz
Found this over at the IGN MGS boards.
Except for unveiling of the PlayStation itself, it's safe to say that there was no more exciting moment in 2005 than the first teaser trailer for it's flagship game, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. PSM was in Japan for the game's unveiling, and we were just as amazed as everyone else who saw it.
Of course, what we saw immediately had our minds racing with possibilities and filling up with questions. Fortunately, we'd also gone to Japan for a rare opportunity to interview Hideo Kojima, creator of the series - rare because he and his team have been locked away since E3 working on the game and trailer.
In the limited time we had, the imminently cool "gaming god" (who's actually a very down to Earth guy) revealed a treasure trove of new secrets for us to smuggle back to his favorite contingent of fans - those that read PSM.
PSM: Now that the trailer's out, is there anything more you can tell us about the story or environment?
Hideo Kojima: Well, first of all, this time, Snake is on a mission not to go to a certain place, but to a battlefield. In the past Metal Gear games, it was pretty obvious that Snake had to sneak into the enemies' facilities - meaning everyone around you was an enemy. The biggest change we have for MGS4 is that, where Snake sneaks in - whether that's a country or location or battlefield - it doesn't mean that everyone around him are enemies. When Snake goes into a battlefield, it's a battlefield, meaning that there are at least more than two sides that are fighting each other, where Snake is maybe the third person or the third aspect of the battle. That means that what you do with Snake could affect that battle.
The whole environment changes in real time, so the player controlling Snake has the option to make any sort of involvement they would like to in order to progress in the game. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen that it's a battlefield, not a specific one. And this happens to be true in the game also - it's not set in a specific location, because Snake goes into several battles, and that creates the whole drama in MGS4.
In MGS3, it was set in the Cold War with the Soviets versus the U.S., but they were not directly fighting. It was the spies of each country who were fighting on behalf of the Soviet Union and the U.S. That was in the 1960s. That was MGS3.
So for MGS4, it will be, of course, the type of war we have today. This is what we have in mind for MGS4. We're also predicting what will happen in the wars of the near future as well, and how those wars will happen. This will all be in MGS4. All the wars in the past were between nations or ideologies or polotics. They were fought for those kind of reasons. But in the near-future war, it's more like a business, so there's lots of money involved, meaning they'll hire mercenaries to fight on behalf of their countries. And that is the setting for MGS4.
In the near future, I predict that war will be like this. There is already a company that lets you hire a bounty hunter who will fight on behalf of you or your country. It will be a more indirect war in this sense. In the trailer, you saw the new gadgets and robots, meaning that war won't necessarily be man against man. Even in war now, there are remote-controlledrobots and weapons and A.I. So it's not a human being versus a human being. It's more nations fighting bounty hunters and robots - not humans physically fighting each other. To wrap the whole thing up, the battlefield that Snake goes into this time won't have an apparent enemy. It will be more complex because it's more of a made-up business war, and Snake goes into that setting. And that's what MGS4 is all about.
PSM: How many years after MGS2 does this game take place?
HK: Right now, I'm still working out the scenario so there won't be any [continuity] mistakes, but I'd say a couple of years - maybe as many as 10.
PSM: Snake looks significantly older in MGS4. Is he aging faster because he's a clone of Big Boss?
HK: [Laughter] You're exactly right! You're right, he is a clone. He was a copy, but the cloning technology was from the '70s. It was a very new technology back then. It's not like today with our technology. Snake is aging very fast. If you look at Otacon, you'll notice he has not aged very much, but Snake has.
PSM: In the trailer, Snake appears to have a heart attack of sorts and injects something into his neck. Is that to slow the aging or wase his pain? What is that?
HK: I can't say really specifically because I am still figuring out the whole game system. But as a story background fact, you're right - he is aging fast and his health, power, and stamina are not as good as they were when he was younger. So, yes, he is injecting some sort of power, but we're not sure if we're going to actually put that in the game or not so I can't really say what that is.
PSM: Is there ever a time you play as a younger Snake?
HK: That's not planned at the moment. What were your impressions of the old Snake? I might have second thoughts about a younger Snake if everyone thinks he looks too old.
PSM: Will we see the return of CQC, eating, stamina, etc.?
HK: I can say that CQC will return, but it doesn't really make sense because that's Big Boss' technique. People will have question marks if Snake can do CQC, but if you follow the story, you'll understand why he has it. Stamina will probably remain in MGS4, but we're still discussing most of the aspects of the game. We're not even supposed to say this because we might upset the team members, but we're still undecided on the food capture system.
PSM: In the trailer, Snake has the eyepiece that looks like it might replace the radar, though without showing any cones of vision. Can you talk about that?
HK: You're actually right about that gadget that he has over his eye. That will replace all his different vision modes, such as thermal, etc. I can't say very specifically how the system works, but you're pretty close.
PSM: How about the little Metal Gear that comes out where Otacon appears on the screen. Will that replace the codec and be the main form of communication?
HK: Yes.
PSM: So he'll be talking to more people through it than just Otacon?
HK: That's a secret.
PSM: Will you ever control it yourself to scout ahead or take pictures?
HK: Yes. We're trying to do it at this stage, but if the game comes out and those features are not in the game, please realize that it was because we couldn't do it for a good reason. We had the plan for a remote-controlled robot for even MGS2, however, due to the specs of the PS2, we couldn't do it. We especially wanted to do it in MGS3, but of course the story and the background prevented us from doing so.
PSM: Have you ever thought about having a second player, or even using the PSP to control it?
HK: Yes, I'm thinking about it.
PSM: The bigger robots in the trailer look like Metal Gear Ray on the bottom and Metal Gear Rex on the top. Can you explain this?
HK: I cannot say what that is or what it will do because of the plot. What I can say is that the leg part of what you saw is not 100% robot. It's like biotechnology. It's kind of like a cyborg. Think of it as the ninja suit in MGS1. If you shoot the leg, blood comes out. But it's very fast because it's not a robotic thing - it's got muscles. So it can move quite fast.
The upper part, like you said, is a robot and is AI-controlled. It's not very smart. We're going to let you in on a little secret regarding that machine. If you watch the trailer again, when it comes out, you can hear the crying noise of the cicada bug. In Japan, when you hear the cries of cicada, to most Japanese people, it automatically brings you back to your childhood, because there was so much nature in the past; so many cicada.
The footstep sound it makes is actually a horse. When it approaches you, you have the cicada sounds and the sound of a horse approaching you, Also, the cries of that machine are from a cow. So there's a horse, a cow, and a cicada. All that combined gives you a natural feeling. This is the mental, psychological way to kill an enemy. See, in a battlefield you have a tense feeling. But when this machine approaches you, you have the horse sound, and the cow cry, and the cicada cry, and it makes you forget where you are and think about your childhood. You feel a little peaceful.
PSM: And then they strike?
HK: Yes, then they attack. So it's very psychological.
PSM: Can you talk about how Raiden is involved in the story?
HK: Should Raiden appear? [Laughter]
PSM: We think so!
HK: In Japan, Raiden is quite a popular character. He will, in fact, appear in MGS4. We know he's not very popular in the U.S., but this time we're making Raiden a very cool character. You'll probably like him very much. There's even potential you'll like him more than Snake! You should forget the image that appeared in MGS2 because as you can see, Otacon has changed dramatically in the trailer. He's much more of a hard-boiled character. So Raiden will make this type of personallity change as well.
PSM: Is there any chance of Snake actually controlling some vehicles this time?
HK: In the Metal Gear series, we've never done that before. But in all the so-called "popular" games available now, you can control or ride anything. So in MGS4, yes, we will try to make Snake control anything that's possible.
PSM: At the end of the trailer, it says that the Cell processor is the key to the console war. Does that mean you prefer the PS3 over the other next-gen consoles, or think it will be the next reigning game console?
HK: I mentioned the console war, but I actually think there won't be a console war. It will be more of a war of creators. You see the new controller. For the Revolution, the game concept or idea has to be designed for that machine. So it will be a war of if the creators have great ideas or not.
It won't be possible to do multi-platform games like today where you have one title and have it on PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. This will not be the way in the near future. For the high-spec machines like the PS3 and the 360, you will need a lot of time and money to make a game to the standard of those machines. The creator must be a gifted creator, because expressing their ideas will be very difficult using those high-spec machines.
It won't be the publishers' way that will win the game industry battle. No matter how good the publisher is, you must always have good production; how many of these titles and creators you have will be the key. It will not be a matter of the platform.
In 10 to 20 years, the company the company that remains will be the one with the with the most talented, innovative creators, and not the one with just well known franchises. It's important that we have good production. So in the next era, if you could imagine this example: in the movie industry, it won't be the Disney that's important, it will be Pixar. Who has the Pixar? That's what will be important.
Game is still going to sell better than it deserves to though 
