
Kojima Productions - minimaxir
http://www.kojimaproductions.jp/
======
andresmanz
Wonderful, writing my application now. That's why I learned Japanese in the
first place, and some day it _has_ to pay off!

(Well, the experience alone was worth the effort, of course.)

~~~
tcfunk
Good luck to you!

~~~
andresmanz
Thanks, I'll need it! The chances are low, but hey, why not? I've been
planning this for 15 years.

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XorNot
If you look at what was finally released of MGS5, after how long in
development though, you can kind of see where Konami might've got fed up with
Kojima.

Duke Nukem Forever now gets to sit there forever as a reminder of why you
should definitely be worried about perfectionists for whom it's never done.

~~~
remnant5
It's rather the other way around: Kojima was fed up with Konami's new
management. The new CEO didn't really know anything about videogames or who
Mr. Kojima was. He treated Mr. Kojima very disrespectfully, telling him that
he wasn't really all that important to the Metal Gear franchise.

The new management is strictly business-focused. They believe that free-to-
play mobile titles are the future. From a business standpoint, such
reorientation may be the right thing to do. From a creative standpoint, this
is unacceptable to someone like Mr. Kojima.

I don't know what you mean by "look at what was finally released of MGS5",
either. The title was very well received by critics and sold very well, too -
unlike Duke Nukem Forever.

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WatchDog
As a long time MGS fan I can tell you that MGS5 was an unfinished mess. The
rushed release and the unfinished product was much heavily criticised and
discussed among the fanbase.

The most publicised issue is that the last chapter that was completely cut
from the game, but the issues with the game go much further then that. One of
the hallmarks of the MGS franchise is it long dialogue and cinema like
cutscenes, however MGS5 has hardly any dialogue or significant cutscenes.
Towards the end of the second chapter, the game forces you to replay old
missions to progress with the main story. Many scenes just feel janky and
unfinished, like the car ride with skullface where you sit and stare at each
other for a few minutes while the theme music plays. One of the major
overarching plot points is your characters descent into becoming a "demon",
yet I feel that the game really failed to convince me that any decision I made
was particularly evil. If Kojima had more time, maybe he could of done a
better job with that.

The best scenes are the ones that made it to the trailer, if the rest of the
game could of been at that quality it would of been fantastic. Perhaps the
most disappointing thing about the game is that it clearly had a lot of
promise and if Kojima was given the time he needed, it could of been an
amazing game.

~~~
rangibaby
I was happy with the lack of cutscenes. MGS4's narrative basically collapsed
under it's own weight in a (misguided, IMO) attempt to explain everything,
which is a shame because the short gameplay segments in-between the cutscenes
were quite fun.

I think splitting the prologue mission off from the main game and releasing it
as it's own game hurt TPP. The core game mechanics are polished and fun in
MGSV, so I'm happy with that. It was obviously released in an incomplete
state, but it looks like that wasn't Kojima's fault. Maybe in a few years
he'll be able to do a "director's cut" of it.

~~~
cholantesh
I think that balancing plot and gameplay segments has been a problem with the
series as far back as the second entry - I seem to recall there being a half-
hour long, unskippable cinematic fairly early on in that game. And the plot
itself is kind of a mess, which sapped a lot of my motivation to commit to the
series.

~~~
rangibaby
At least MGS2 only has epic cutscenes at the beginning or end of each
"chapter". That's actually bearable compared to MGS4.

MGS2 is my favorite entry in the series. It certainly had the most ambitious
plot (about information control, and how being a soldier in a game is nothing
like being a real soldier.), the mixed reaction to which made Kojima dial it
back for all of the subsequent games.

It also has incredible production values, being one of the best looking games
on the PS2 while holding an almost-solid 60FPS.

The series certainly has it's ups and downs, but on the whole I enjoy it. The
worst parts are a silly science fiction-themed soap opera, but the best parts
are some of the most compelling and exciting gaming I've ever experienced.

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minimaxir
Context: This is the reformed Kojima Productions after the _kerfuffle_ between
Hideo Kojima and Konami.

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johnchristopher
> [https://youtu.be/7ZfB-lNSR5E](https://youtu.be/7ZfB-lNSR5E)

That video is a funny mix between straight-to-the-point and sugar-coated
talking.

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radiorental
[http://i.imgur.com/5JLblMV.gif](http://i.imgur.com/5JLblMV.gif)

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eva1984
Well HN is not really the place for fanboyism, but just want to remind Konami
one thing: karma is a bitch.

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krapp
You can tell Hacker News is full of Kojima fans because this has been up for
twelve hours and no one has spawned a thread complaining about the site
hijacking native scrolling.

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Ezhik
That logo, Kojima's entering his MSF phase.

~~~
joshguthrie
PUNISHED KOJIMA

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LostMyTrustfund
What's the story behind this & the Konami departure?

~~~
krapp
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMK-
kajdgMA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMK-kajdgMA)

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nelmaven
Oh boy oh boy! Can't wait to see what Kojima will be doing next! Here's to a
great success!

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fareesh
If they manage to buy or license the MGS IP from Konami I'd be very excited

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ethana
I'm a huge MGS fan since since the PS1, but I'm impartial to what happened.
MGS is a huge icon in the video game space, but it never was a commercial
success for Konami. The tension between H.K and Konami only got worse when
Hideo keep taking longer time to make each successive MGS games. Maybe it's
his perfectionist nature, but Konami wasn't able to make any of their
investments back. The rest is history. Let's hope Sony will be able to
shoulder H.K's future venture with more success.

~~~
remnant5
>Maybe it's his perfectionist nature, but Konami wasn't able to make any of
their investments back.

What the hell are you talking about? MGS5 made 179 million on _launch day_ ,
at a budget of 80 million.

[https://www.vg247.com/2015/10/15/metal-gear-solid-5-made-
twi...](https://www.vg247.com/2015/10/15/metal-gear-solid-5-made-twice-as-
much-as-avengers-age-of-ultron-on-launch-day/)

The only complaint that Konami is going to have is that they didn't make their
money back _fast enough_ , when they could've produced countless shitty free-
to-play titles instead of MGS5. With Mr. Kojima gone, that's the future we all
can look forward to now.

