Chris

I can't really understand why you think this Kojima guy is so great. I hadn't even known that he was the "mind" behind some of these games, but since you have identified some of his works, here are my thoughts. I played ZOE and it was a really average game I thought (please make note that I said average, not bad, so don't think I'm some rabid Kojima hater). The MGS games look really, for lack of a better way to describe it, "bleh", so I have made a point of avoiding them. No amount of raving positive reviews, screenshots or movies could ever get me even remotely interested in the MGS series.

I just don't get what you see in him. Of course I also don't get what you see in megaman games that make them so super awesome. They, like ZOE, are decidely average IMOP. Every once in a while they can be a bit of fun, but they get old pretty quick.

Oh yes, one last thing. I attributed all the differences in game tastes to a matter of personal preference until you started advocating pirates over ninjas. That's so obviously wrong(you even supported that notion by telling us how you were a pirate and were trashed by ninjas, clearly proving their superiority) that I feel something must be ailing your judgement severely. I strongly suggest you seek professional help.

-Geshtar

PS -ok so that last thing wasn't really the last thing, but I thought I'd give one constructive criticism. You are a pretty good column writer, but try beginning the closing thoughts with something else besides "In conclusion" every once in a while.

Hideo By-****ing-God Kojima.

There is no place to start. Mere superlatives will never do. The man who blew my mind with MGS 1's supertight ****ed-up storyline, and MGS 2's conspiracy-theories-on-glue-fumes train wreck of a plot. The man who, like God, giveth, and taketh away: he gave us Solid Snake, and he took him away, for Raiden's sake. The man who had an unnervingly effeminate white-haired hermaphrodite getting his tool grappled by the President; who ran naked through the intimidating dark halls of Arsenal Gear with his plump little arse for the whole of the wide bishounen-loving world to see. Fighting naked is l33t, j0. The man who gave us the most annoying videogame character EVER in the form of Raiden's insufferable girlfriend.

Wow. Kojima-san... don't it just blow your mind?

In conclusion, I'm going to express my deep, solemn woe. I really enjoy the cinematic look of your average MGS game; it's something that's a real draw to the series for me, and yet another reason why I think Hideo is the Man. The Psycho Mantis fight rules. But all the time I played Twin Snakes for the Cube, I couldn't help feeling like the decision to redo the cutscenes was a BIG MISTAKE. That Kitamura guy apparently hasn't seen any Matrix film FX that he didn't like enough to OVERUSE and ABUSE, and the results of his marriage to the series were embrassing. I mean, I remember the good old days when Snake would dodge bullets by TAKING ****ING COVER... NOT by doing a pinky-finger handstand atop a moving vehicle's mounted machine gun, or by spinning slowly through the air like a frolicking mermaid... Jesus Buddha Christ, what an idiot. Anytime someone opens fire on Snake, it's like a cue for Swan Lake on the moon. The MGS series has always had a delicate balance
of obsessive-compulsive attention to detail and coke-snorting WTF-ness. Realism and rubber duckies in flooded oil rigs. Snake single-handedly kills big fuggin' helicopter, but never by doing something moronic like jump-kicking off a missile and sending it flying back to its airborn owner... until Kitamura shows up. BARF. It's just not appropriate for Snake to do all that ****. The Ninja I'll allow, coz ninjas are teh r0xx0rz. But not Snake. Never Snake, Kitamura... you asshat.

Ach. I'm ending it here before I get really worked up.

Peace.

-The Absu, who slapped himself in the forehead when he realized that for bad-game-dialogue day he forgot how Dante should've been the one to fill Trish's dark soul with LIIIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIIIIIGHT--!!!!

Kojima vs. Jesus;
Jesus-dead. Kojima-not dead.
Sorry; gotta give it to Kojima.

Kojima vs. The Hulk;
The Hulk-fictional. Kojima-not fictional.
Once again, give it to Kojima.

Kojima vs. a coherent storyline;
Exhibit 1-MGS2?
Yeah.

Kojima needs a friggin' editor when it comes to stories. The storyline wins here. But he sees games like few people do, and I'll always give him props for that. But let's not mistake genius in one arena for excellence in others, eh?

-DIM

Maybe this is just because I am in a bad mood, or perhaps b/c I have had a horrible week thus far,(albeit, the Detroit Pistons win has helped somewhat) but your repeated use of the word "gangbusters" could only make me think of how much I would love to punch you in the face.

-fenixtx526

Ever since MGS3: Snake Eater was announced, I don't think I've ever been more excited for a video game's release.

Wait that wasn't really about Kojima-sama was it?? oh well close enough. One thing he always seems to do in his games is to poke fun at them, making use of things in the world around you: The CD/GD case with Meryl's frequency on the back of MGS:The Twin Snakes, "turn your game off, the mission's over" from MGS2 (which, for the record scared the crap out of me the first time I encountered it) or a scene from Snatcher where you had to crank your TV's volume ALL the way up in order to hear the beeping of a time bomb (and probably in the hopes you'd forget the TV was full blast when the explosion went off)

It's the little things like that which make Hideo Kojima's games so memorable. Just don't get me started on the whole Policenauts debacle, it's too depressing. I've heard many different reasons for why the game was never released in the states. I think most of it was because the original (3DO/PC-9821) version of the game was such a pain in the ass to get the lip-sync just right.

So, in conclusion... Hideo Kojima knows his stuff, like how to really throw the player for a loop by involving things from outside of the immediate game world.

And he is *so* totally gangbusters. (which wasn't questioned by my spell-check, imagine that.)

DarkTetsuya

The single thing that led me to believe that Kojima was in fact, insane, was
the scene in MGS2 where Liquid Snake speaks out of Revolver Ocelots mouth.
"But I...I live on through this arm!" If that line was delivered by anyone
other than Cam Clarke I would have fallen to the ground, grasping at my
heart because the hilarity would have been too much for any human to take.

Another testament to his insanity would be everything the Colonel ever says
towards the game. "I need scissors! 61!" quickly becoming every videogame
messageboards most quoted catch phrase for about a month when "I hear it's
amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the
tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-kiri Rock" was far more worthy.

The thing that makes him the greatest developer ever though...is he gave us
all a chance for vengance in Zone of the Enders 2. I'm sure all of us went
through ZoE 1 wanting to strangle Leo every single time he took us away from
the incredible Orbital Frame slaughterfest to save some civilians. And of
course if we got fed up and destroyed everything we were supposed to save,
the game ended halfway through. However in ZoE2 we are pitted against Leo
in a very fancy Vic Viper, and every single shot one lands on him feels
better than taking every innocent life in ZoE 1. So I thank Kojima for this
chance to kick the crap out of Leo, but curse him for not allowing me to
kill him once and for all.

As for the Jesus vs. Hulk vs. Kojima? Well I am in no place to determine
this. I say we get the Pope, Stan Lee and David Hayter to have a discussion
on these matters.

-Nerpin