hideo kojima

Even though creator Hideo Kojima has been pushed out of his project, Konami is still letting him edit and direct these trailers.

If you want more, plenty other trailers have come out for the game.

But at this point, you're probably better off waiting for its Sept. 1 release.

Even if you hate where you work, count your lucky stars that you don't work for Konami.

A report from the Japanese outlet Nikkei recently found out some terrible employment practices from the legacy video game company behind some enormous titles like the Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill franchises. Kotaku kindly translated it for our English consumption.

Nikkei's report alleges that the culture at the corporation's video game division, famous for its console games, worsened in around 2010 when a mobile title called Dragon Collection became a smash hit. As a social game for phones, development costs were low and profit returns were huge. Not long after, the report says, Konami's corporate bosses shifted the company's focus away from traditional, hardcore games and towards cheaper, and potentially more lucrative social titles.

The allegations from the report cover some of the following crazy details:

• The studio behind the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V use computers allegedly not connected to the internet and are only able to send internal messages.



• Employees are monitored during their lunch break with time cards and if they take too long, their names are announced to the whole company.



• There are cameras in the office not for security, but rather to monitor the movements of the company's employees.



• Most Konami employees don't have their own permanent company email addresses, instead are given a randomized one that changes every few months.



• If game developers aren't thought to be useful at that time, they are reassigned to jobs as security guards, cleaners or in pachinko machine factories.



• The report describes one former employee who announced leaving the company on Facebook and then all the fellow employees who "liked" the status were reassigned into new jobs within the company.

CRAZY, right?

And it sounds like it's at least partly true from game journalists in the know.

The Nikkei report on Konami lines up very well with a lot of what I've heard from employees before. It sounds rough there.

— Mitch Dyer (@MitchyD) August 3, 2015

Konami has run into a swath of recent fan turmoil. First by systematically removing Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima from having anything to do with the company. And second, by ending the Guillermo Del Toro revamp of the Silent Hill series after the well-received P.T.demo.

Many speculate that Kojima is trying to focus on its less costly business endeavors like it's chain of fitness centers and its many pachinko machines.

To be honest, we're still not over the death of the Guillermo del Toro and Hideo Kojima's Silent Hills game that was all set to be the full realization of the horrific nightmare fuel that was P.T.

However, all may not be lost.

IGN posted an interview with del Toro that hinted a the possibility of future collaborations.

[D]el Toro said, "I love working with Kojima-san. We are still in touch. We are still friends and working into doing something together, but that's not going to be [Silent Hills]."

Guillermo del Toro also detailed a bit about what Silent Hills -- though still very early in the development process -- could have been.

"We were in the planning stages, and it's a shame it's not going to happen," del Toro said. "We were talking about really pushing the boundaries of the new consoles, and making the game really mess with your head. One of the great moments in Metal Gear [Solid] was Psycho Mantis. The idea that a game can actually interact with you, and stuff like that."

You really should not count these horror chickens before they hatch. Del Toro famously packs his future schedule extremely tight and he seems to like to load up on very exciting-sounding projects that have the tendency to fizzle out in a puff of industry blockage.

Currently, he's supposed to be directing a Frankenstein reboot, Pacific Rim 2 (YES!), and there's been a continuous swirl of rumor concerning a possible Hellboy 3.

So, you can get excited, just please treat those emotions with caution.

How rude!

It comes as no surprise after all the Konami/Kojima drama, but the Hideo Kojima branding has been removed from the cover of Metal Gear Solid V. All of Hideo Kojima's games typically feature his production logo and "A Hideo Kojima Game" prominently on the cover, but MGSV appears to be without it. Here's the previous version for comparison:



Shame on you, Konami.

It's breasts, you guys.  The two good reasons are her left and right jiggly puffs.  Hideo Kojima showed off this new Quiet collectable from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain on Twitter, and revealed that certain parts are made with a soft material that allows them to be "pushed and lifted."  Your thumbs can be her support bra! 

If it seemed like a collaboration between Hideo Kojima, Guillermo Del Toro and Norman Reedus on a dynasty horror franchise seemed to good to be true, it looks like you were right. As it becomes more apparent that Kojima is splitting ways with Konami, the projects he's been involved in, especially Silent Hills, seem to be closer and closer to the chopping block.

In recent days both Del Toro and Reedus have come forward to confirm the bad news for Silent Hill fans.



P.T. the playable teaser and viral marketing campaign for Silent Hills was released at Gamescon and started a buzz around the title with its reliance on atmospheric tone for fear, rather than traditional video game jump scares. While the team behind P.T. thought it would take weeks to unravel all of their esoteric puzzles, Twitch streamers uncovered the secret cinematic trailer behind it within a day of its release.



To make matters worse, P.T. will be leaving the Playstation Store on Wednesday April, 29th, so if you haven't played it yet, now may be your last chance. Hopefully Kojima and Del Toro can come together when everything settles down, and the project can be re-opened.

So, it would seem Burke is adamant in her claim Kojima was fired by Konami execs, but this morning a response from Konami came in to Videogamer.com

Via Videogamer.com:

A Konami representative has denied Burke's claims, telling VideoGamer.com that the suggestion Kojima has been fired is "categorically incorrect".

With no easy answers out there at the moment, it looks like this whole debacle will continue to be shrouded in mystery. Just like an episode of the X-Files.

I am so confused...

Via Videogamer:

Konami appears to be in the process of reinstating references to Hideo Kojima back into Metal Gear Solid branding.

Branding for Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection appears to have been updated tonight to include the line 'A Hideo Kojima Game', with the game's product page now also featuring multiple references to Kojima."

From the critically acclaimed director, Hideo Kojima, METAL GEAR SOLID: The Legacy Collection offers the most complete METAL GEAR SOLID experience ever," the product page currently reads, later adding: "The 'Metal Gear' series is the seminal work of Hideo Kojima, Japan's master game creator, and the progenitor of the stealth action game genre."

The references to Kojima on the Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes had not been reinserted at the time of writing.

Rumors have been floating around that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is leaving Konami, after he said he's done with the series, and the brand is attempting to minimalize the appearance of his name on the latest Metal Gear Solid game:

Kojima's games typically feature heavy branding as "A Hideo Kojima Game," but advertisements of The Phantom Pain have recently been changed to remove that branding.  Additionally, news has surfaced that Kojima will no longer be an executive at Konami as of April 1st.  Though they haven't explicitly stated he's leaving the company, Konami released the following statement that all but confims it:

To Customers,

Thank you for your continued patronage of KONAMI products and services.

The latest title in the METAL GEAR series,“METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN” (below, “MGSV: TPP”), will be released as planned starting on Tuesday, September 1^st, 2015 in North America, Latin America, and Europe, followed by Japan and Asia on Wednesday, September 2^nd. Hideo Kojima will remain involved throughout.

Hideo Kojima stated, "I want to reassure fans that I am 100% involved and will continue working on METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN; I’m determined to make it the greatest game I’ve directed to date. Don’t miss it!"

In addition, KONAMI will continue to develop and distribute top-quality content in the METAL GEAR series following “MGSV: TPP.” We greatly anticipate and deeply appreciate your ongoing support for METAL GEAR.

As the next step in the series, KONAMI has already resolved to develop new “METAL GEAR”.

We will be conducting interviews for main staff to lead the development.