Sneek Peek: Behind the Scenes of MGS4

[RzrWire]

At E3 this year I was able to attend a conference where Hideo Kojima was one of the panelists doing interviews and showing off their new games. I did manage to record the entire interview session with Mr. Kojima. Sorry I didn't get this to you sooner but listening to the video and typing out exactly what they say is a fairly long process. I had to watch it a few seconds at a time, type out what they said, then replay it back to make sure I got the wording correct. I would post the video along side of this but my computer has a hard enough time just running Windows 98SE! I hope this gives you a little more insight on Kojima and MGS4 that you haven't read about already.

Below is the agenda for that meeting:

1.3 - Sneak Peeks: Behind the scenes of Metal Gear Solid 4, Gears of War and Red Steel
Wednesday, May 10, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Room 404AB

Last year, attendees were given an insider's view of Ubisoft's King Kong, Activision's Call of Duty 2, and The Godfather from Electronic Arts. Design leads from each team showed never-before-seen game assets and addressed the specific challenges encountered during their game's development. This year, we will present an exclusive look at three top games still in the production pipeline. Listen in as project leads discuss how they manage the game development process and how they cope with the needs of their team, their publisher, and the media. Come prepared to learn how the designers and project managers for these games handle the pressures of developing a triple-A, big-budget title.

Moderator: Geoff Keighley, Contributing Writer - Business 2.0
Panelists: Cliff Bleszinski, Lead Designer - Epic Games (Presenting Gears of War)
Hideo Kojima, Director of Kojima Productions (Presenting Metal Gear Solid 4; PlayStation 3 - Konami
Xavier Poix, Managing Director - Ubisoft Montpellier and Paris Studios (Presenting Red Steel, a Nintendo Revolution exclusive)

Interview with Hideo Kojima given by Geoff Keighley:

E3 Interviewer (Geoff Keighley): So everyone on the team would submit an idea to you and they would write in a notebook and you would sort of review the ideas the next day and make little notes on them like a professor commenting on student’s ideas for game play and game design. I was wondering if you could still do that today and how things have sort of changed since PS3 in terms of how you structure your team?

Hideo Kojima: Actually we have staff doing that for all the staffs. However I do let them do this almost as homework for the very young people who come into our studio. However people stop doing it after one or two years so unfortunately this is not a continuing thing we’re doing right now.

Since we don’t do this idea of the notebook thing anymore, what we do is we have this concept strategy meeting once a week, and everyone gathers together with their ideas. We call this actually the “Revolution Meeting” of course this has nothing to do with Wii. *some laughter*

Geoff: Excellent. Now this game is on the PS3 and obviously you blew everyone away with what you were able to do on the PS2 in terms of graphics. Cliffy mentioned that it was an amazing game that we had premiered with the MGS2 trailer here at E3 that one year. I still remember that one, but with the PS3 we obviously know there will be greater graphics. How do you think game play is going to change with the PS3, and what you’re able to do with next-gen technology, and the Cell processor and whatnot?

Hideo: Well actually we don’t really think about the hardware first. It wasn’t about PS3 first it was more about our MGS and how we should evolve. Our next MGS was always how we think and approach, so then after that follows the revealance of the PS3 specs now and then. So then we think how can we put in our idea, our Metal Gear idea, into this PS3 spec. So we think as MGS our planning comes first then the machine comes first so it doesn’t really matter what the hardware is.

Geoff: So for MGS 3: Subsistence you experimented with new camera angles. Can you sort of tell us a little bit about what you’re doing for game play with MGS4 about what is new about it? How you’re sort of reinventing it?

Hideo: Well actually I can not reveal so much of our secrets right now. However I can say that we are changing the system completely. The MGS 3 system we have was really good, however we’re not just going to try and evolve using this old engine. We tore this apart and we’re creating the new engine from scratch. We’re creating a whole new game play for MGS4.

Geoff: You talk about how you’re going to decide what kind of MGS ideas you want to do first then you decide on the hardware. I know last year there were a lot of comments recorded of you saying this game is on the PS3 but it could be done on the Xbox 360 or other systems potentially. Is this what you still believe that it could be done on Xbox as well as PlayStation?

Hideo: Well yes I still believe so. We could probably create MGS4 on the 360. Of course the essence, but it could be a little different. We could try to bring the MGS feeling onto any platform, and perhaps maybe Wii could be possible as well.

Well we’ll try to call it Metal Gear of War if we get it on 360! *everyone laughs*

Geoff: You’re also doing a Metal Gear, you’re not going to see this year, for PSP which I was very excited about. Is that all going to link up to MGS4 for PS3?

Hideo: What we’re trying to do you know we have three big projects; MGS4, PSP MG Portable Ops (POP), and MG Online Concept. All of these three will link together.

Geoff: Interesting. The games will have the same characters or are you going to be able to if you have all the games have special added features? How will they link together?

Hideo: Yes. You know using the online maybe get the characters from this world to that world, but we’re trying to think of the whole linkage between the whole Metal Gear world. You know back and forth you could go to this game and to that game. That’s what we’re trying to aim now.

Geoff: So going back and forth you’ve done a lot of that in terms of the Metal Gear stories. You know MGS4 obviously takes us into the future. I want to ask you in terms of the story and to the message you want to convey in games. I know you sort of always have a social message to your games whether it be the importance of family or your commentary on war and politics. What is the message that you want to convey with MGS4?

Hideo: We always have antiwar, antinuclear in all our series and this will still remain to some extent in MGS4. What we’re trying to represent/have in MGS4 is you know after 9-11 people say war has changed, but we’re going to try and draw a little bit more far into the future. In other words the next war that we predict is going to be one of the themes in MGS4. So the world is set so it’s not about your nationality or fighting for some ideologies. It’s about having mercenaries and alias team up. Basically kind of a war mostly based on business sort of. That is the kind of society it is and that’s what we are trying to draw upon in MGS4.

And you know from all the past Metal Gear series we had this kind of theme where of what to pass on to our next generation was one of the themes. This time it’s a little bit different, meaning what not to pass on to next generations is kind of a hidden theme in MGS4.

Geoff: Now in the trailers that have been released and the trailer that we saw at Sony’s press conference is the reappearance of Raiden who was a controversial character in MGS2. Fans didn’t necessarily seem to take a liking to him or something, but very controversial none the less and a bit of a surprise that he was in that game. Why bring him back for this game?

Hideo: Anyone here likes Raiden? *couple people raise their hands* *Hideo and crowd laugh* Not so much! Well in MGS2 he had his role which was part of the game design that you play Raiden. Actually in Japan Raiden as a character was very popular, but we realized that in the States and also in Europe he wasn’t your favorite character.

You know we understand that that’s one side of Raiden that you saw in MGS2. We still think that there are parts that when you see it from a distance or from a different angle, you’ll have a total different perception of Raiden. What we want to do in this one is that we’ll change view of Raiden and we’ll change the way you probably feel about Raiden. We’ll try to make him look cool and try to make it so that you will love him.

And you know on the other hand that maybe some people already saw the trailer or we’ll show the trailer now, but you know Raiden comes up and he looks pretty cool, but if he looks to cool maybe there’s a possibility that Snake might not look cool so we don’t want to do that. We may want to rethink about Raiden looking to cool.

MD Ubisoft/Paris Studios (Xavier Poix): Will he get naked again!? *some people laugh*

Hideo: I don’t know. Maybe… *everyone laughs*

Geoff: Now from what we’ve seen of the trailer he goes through a progression as well and an older Snake. Can you explain a little bit about Snake and how he evolves as a character?

Hideo: Well I really can not speak about his background and storyline of Snake in MGS4. What I can say is that it’s Old Snake still in battle and still fighting. Please think of it as he’s me. I’m 43 and I’m still doing game design, I’m still creating games, and I’m still getting old. I want to reflect Snake as myself, and at the same time I want to get this message to my personal team staffs as well and teach them something. So that’s kind of like a hidden theme as well that Snake is me.

And also the fact that in Japan you know a lot of people are getting old and not so many new populations are popping up. Meaning I want to have this Snake to cheer up the old guys in Japan as well. *some laughter* I have to put that message in.

Geoff: Excellent. So are we going to be playing Snake through out the whole game or are we going to play some as Raiden? Any hints?

Hideo: Well everyone doubts that even if I say that you know you’re going to control Snake, everyone doubts that I’m going to lie again and you get to control Raiden, but this time I promise you you’ll only be controlling Snake. Raiden will be your supporting character and he will devote his life in supporting Snake.

Geoff: All right. Some interesting hints. Now I know you brought something special with you today to show us a preview of the game. Why don’t you set up what you’re about to show us.

Hideo: It will basically be a 15 minute MGS4 trailer. At the very beginning there will be the scenes from the Tokyo Game Show trailer. That part was you know created from dev. kit. However the other parts are from the real time from actually the PS3. Probably the last model that we get or closest to the last model that we get. So other than the TGS part the other parts are real time on the PS3.

Well of course we would like your understanding that still you know we have some frame problems or glitching problems. This is also because of the reason of my loveable staffs working on the last week trying to put all the effects and everything in, and as a result these glitching and something might appear. However in the final version I promise you that our staffs will be able to take away all these issues and show you the cleanest demo possible.

So the last trailer at the TGS version was kind of like a demonstration to show how much PS3 could do in graphic wise. This time it’s a little bit different. We concentrated on more of the world that we want to present in MGS4, and also a little bit a part of the story parts. So that’s the trailer we’re going to show you now. And of course not to mention that this trailer is created especially for the ones who don’t like Raiden, to like Raiden. *some laughter*

Geoff: Lets see if you can convince us. Alright shall we take a look at this now? So this is a special preview of MGS4.

*Plays 15 minute MGS4 Trailer* *Everyone claps & cheers at the end*

Once the lights come on they allow a couple of people to ask questions about the games the developers have shown. Unfortunately the only guy that asked Mr. Kojima a question didn't ask a really good one. However Mr. Kojima doesn't just give a short answer and explains it in detail.

E3 Attendee: This question is for Mr. Kojima. Your team is consistently able to achieve a ridiculously high level of graphic quality in your games. I was just wondering how you are able to do that, that you are able or willing to share with the panel; the audience sorry!?

Hideo: Well we’re not aiming to you know on the graphics side of things. What we’re trying to represent in any of our works is the importance of the likeness, or the air, or the atmosphere so to say. So it’s not all pretty graphics. Sometimes we deliberately dirt them so to say and make them dirty. You know change the color or even change the texture of the finished, not just clean, crisp, bright graphics. That’s probably why it looks a little real.

So one example is that helicopter scene you saw actually we did you know we looked at the real helicopter, and the graphic team worked really really hard to even recreate the inside of the helicopter very detailed and is actually very detailed. What happened was that myself and the art director, Yoji Shinkawa, decided to kind of blur that out because we thought that the lighting in the fact of the darkness, the brightness, and the contrast is much more important. The actual team did the detail work so we’re a little bit disappointed actually. (JAG~MeOff: What he means by disappointed I don’t know?)

[Viano]

disappointed since the team worked on the detail side instead of the concepts of Kojima himself, just to blurr it and make it more real.

[yoshaw]

+rep

[jako]

can someone give a link to this 15 min trailer please

[LiquidEagle]

THANK YOU. I've been dying to know how that panel went, and I'm insanely jealous that you did go. +rep FO SHO.

[Luis]

can someone give a link to this 15 min trailer please

Links to the 15 min trailer have been posted like a hundred times already, but since we don't have a centralised video link archive, people will keep on missing the good stuff... *sigh*


Trailer here (512 MB, best quality available for the time being)

[Z]

good read.

I laughed at the Metal Gear of War. get it? it's a reference to Gears of War. lol

[Domination]

Geoff: You talk about how you’re going to decide what kind of MGS ideas you want to do first then you decide on the hardware. I know last year there were a lot of comments recorded of you saying this game is on the PS3 but it could be done on the Xbox 360 or other systems potentially. Is this what you still believe that it could be done on Xbox as well as PlayStation?

Hideo: Well yes I still believe so. We could probably create MGS4 on the 360. Of course the essence, but it could be a little different. We could try to bring the MGS feeling onto any platform, and perhaps maybe Wii could be possible as well.

Well we’ll try to call it Metal Gear of War if we get it on 360! *everyone laughs*

Exactly what many, including myself, tried to explain before. But that does not mean that you will see the exact version on both platforms due to the hardware being different from one another and with its own limitations.

[masteratt]

+rep(EDIT: I have no rep power though); good read.
Hideo said MGS is a PS game and said if he does create a Wii or a X360 game, it won't be MGS.

[gnznroses]

it's "were" not "we're" which is why it doesn't make sense

[RzrWire]

After all the interviews Hideo has done, graphics seem to be a sour point with him. He understands the importance of it and the attention to detail required to immerse the player. Then again I get the feeling graphics are priority 7 on his top ten list when developing any game, especially like MGS4. I do understand why he feels that way because today that's all people seem to care about anymore. Hideo puts all this effort into the story, character development, style, ambiance, and the experience as a whole. Then if he were to release a PS2 looking game on the PS3, many people would probably pass up the title all together despite what the game has to offer. Not to mention some reviewers would publish lower scores based souly on the graphics while over looking what's truely important. It's a growing trend that Hideo appears all to familiar with and he's tired of it.

[Red_Eyes]

but this time I promise you you’ll only be controlling Snake. Raiden will be your supporting character and he will devote his life in supporting Snake.

Hence, Raiden saying "Snake, it is my turn to protect you" in the trailer. And this could means...

[masteratt]

I'm not sure what he is on about with the "control only Snake" comment because he thinks we would want to control that small robot in the 1st trailer (I certainly don't want to...) so he made it possible for it to be controlled with a PSP.
Cleverly, this also makes the game 2 Players.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

That's not even a supporting character though, that's just an augmentative device. Snake is the only character you control. I think raiden scarred gamers for life, now everyone really tries to over think everything.
When first shots of mgs4 surfaced everyone was like, 'it's not snake, it's probably solidus! what if it's big boss?!' and all this nonsense. Guys don't burn your brains.

[curryking1]

I'd plus rep you but I just recently did lol.

I hope Kojima and the team manage to strike a balance where virtually all the detail in the graphics is shown and the MGS atmosphere and whatever style they are trying to achieve is maintained. I know they are going for that stylistic look, but I can't say I'm not a teensy bit disappointed when I know some of the graphical detail is sacrificed.

But yea, either way the game is gonna look one of the top tier games ever and is gonna be one of the best games ever. I really, really hope this game ends up playable at TGS like DMC4 and RE4 are going to be. Playable videos of MGS4.... aghhhh *drool drool*

[Nodieza]

That's not even a supporting character though, that's just an augmentative device. Snake is the only character you control. I think raiden scarred gamers for life, now everyone really tries to over think everything.
When first shots of mgs4 surfaced everyone was like, 'it's not snake, it's probably solidus! what if it's big boss?!' and all this nonsense. Guys don't burn your brains.

Raiden didn't scar me, Sure the story was confusing at first but it made sense. I think everyone who was dissapointed had it coming. A lot of games change main characters, we should've been thankful Snake was playable at all. Raiden was the only real character to me (besides the boss), everyone else seemed so personified and sterotypical and Raiden just seemed human, relatable. Sure he whinned a little. Yes I love the Personafied and sterotypical type, it's very bold, but it was real nice to have a relatable character, somebody to be confused with. ^.^

I don't know, MGS2 was great and I am glad Kojima mixed things up a bit with that game. Am I the only one who feels that way?

A lot of people thought it could be big boss because of the character art on the first "poster like pic" that showed up on the internet, one character only had one eye and looked like big boss, but REALLY old.

Seriously as La said, don't burn your mind... Who's baby is that and where's vamp, is his only purpose to try to hook up with Raiden??? Ha... Kojima did say there would be chances for characters outside Snake to find love *.*

[makeitlookreal]

If MGS keeps the level of graphics presented at last year's TGS I will be more than satisfied. However, I hope it does not dip below that. After reading up on the storyline of MGS4 I will enjoy finding out what happens to Solid Snake after all his years of battle.

[Z]

If MGS keeps the level of graphics presented at last year's TGS I will be more than satisfied.

graphics are better looking this time than the last showing. look at how better Snake looks (specially his face). no, I am not talking about his different hair color, look at his facial detail. it is better than last times.

[Nodieza]

^ Much better, it has so many different tones, he has this paleness below his eyes that looks amazing, and seeing Liquid Ocelot speak was amazing as well. The animation! Snake is also more proportioned.

OBTW I am sure most of you knew, but when Liq Oclelot was speaking that was Liquids voice, (If you couldn't tell by the choice of words and hand gestures ^.^) Ocelot is probably taken over fully by now.

[Sephiroth_VII]

Yeah, Snake and Ocelot are extremely detailed. I'm most imprssed about the suicide scene. Snake's skin seems so real, and you can almost feel the skin stretching as he opens his mouth.

But I wonder wether we'll ever see the true Ocelot again. I hope that, when we're fighting him, he'll retake his body for a short time. It would seem unfair for Ocelot to die without even getting to fight.