GDC: Kojima confirms "the next MGS"
To combine Japanese and Western design.
At his keynote speech at the Game Developers Conference today, Hideo Kojima as good as confirmed that another Metal Gear Solid game is in development.
Having taken us through all the design hurdles, or "missions" he's overcome in the history of the Metal Gear series, he concluded the talk by presenting the final mission: "The Next MGS."
He said he wanted to tackle this mission using a combination of Japanese and Western development philosophies. He described his approach, the typical Japanese approach, as being design-led, while he identified the recent trend in Western game development as being led by software technology, particularly the freedom of open-world games.
He invited developers in the audience to challenge his "old-style" approach by coming and talking to Kojima Productions, and perhaps working there. The studio's hiring at the show.
It doesn't quite amount to a formal announcement of a new Metal Gear Solid, and it was met with a muted reception at the keynote. Perhaps this was because the audience wasn't sure if Kojima was joking (it was a light-hearted talk), or perhaps because it's no great surprise.
Is this what we can expect to see from Kojima at this year's E3? We can't be sure.
More pearls of wisdom from the great man, and an inadequate description of the most sophisticated Powerpoint presentation we've ever seen, in our the full live report of the keynote.