Kojima not dissatisfied with PS3 at all

By Robert Purchese Published 12 May, 2008

Something was lost in translation.

Metal Gear Solid 4 creator Hideo Kojima has said his comments about being limited by the PS3 hardware were taken out of context as a result of Japanese to English translations.

He is, apparently, more than happy with what he had to work with and what he achieved, and points to the cultural difference in modesty for skewing the facts.

"I am Japanese, so I try to be modest. I'm an especially modest person. I don't wish to brag about it and say, 'I am the amazing Metal Gear guy', or say, 'This is the best one', just like how Americans brag [about] stuff like this," said Kojima in a translation on the PlayStation.com forums (translated by Kotaku).

"Westerners do not have a tradition of modesty, so the statements are translated correctly but the original meaning is totally different."

Kojima had originally said that conceptually the PS3 had appeared to be a dream machine with endless possibilities, and he had planned Metal Gear Solid 4 and its innovations with this in mind.

However, soon he had to cut back on his original vision once he ran into the "restrictions" of the Cell processor. The reality was taking just "one step" rather than 10. Apparently this was misconstrued. This is what he really wanted to say:

"Let's say this developer is making a new kind of car. He claims it can fly. And when you claim it can fly then the expectation grows so the developer sets his goals higher. The expectation is that if the car can fly then it should reach MACH speed. But it doesn't stop there; it soon gets to 'it should go into space'," said Kojima.

"However, the developer will end up going to the public and saying that the car reaches MACH speed but it fails to go into space. But he shouldn't give up, because for a car to even reach MACH speed and fly is revolutionary. I wished to transfer my thoughts like this, but it didn't work out very well."

The result is that Kojima may not do any more interviews with the English press, at least until his anger subsides.

"MGS4 isn't exactly my property so I don't have total control over it and sometimes I get confused with it. Some may be disappointed with the way I say things, but I am releasing this game with confidence," concluded Kojima.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is due out around the world on 12th June. Pop over to our Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots gamepage for our hands-on impression and plenty of trailers and screenshots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (74) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Quint2020 #1 4 years ago

    Eeeeerrrrrr......................... lol?

  • Spanky #2 4 years ago

    Is this the modest superstar of gaming Kojima guy? Posing like an intellectual hercules for photos and talking about his genius storytelling at every opportunity. Aye... Modest...

    Coooooock.

  • ardamillo #3 4 years ago

    Why didn't he just say that in the first place?

  • bad09 #4 4 years ago

    I said not to read too much into those comments. From what I've seen I think it is safe to say it will be awesome with a bloated and confusing story (just how a MGS should be!).

  • des #5 4 years ago

    He should take some english lessons then

  • Charlie_Miso #6 4 years ago

    I don't wish to brag about it and say, 'I am the amazing Metal Gear guy'

    Bet he does. Sweet. The bitches love it when guys say that.

  • Phily50 #7 4 years ago

    can anyone say backtrack?

  • Bangaioh #8 4 years ago

    Sounds like BACKTRACK all the way, Mr. Kojima!

  • neuroniky #9 4 years ago

    But it's easy to see how Kojima can be misunderstood after having experienced the MGS 2 storyline.

    Storyline? I thought it was more like a storyspiral, or a storyquadridimensionalstar, a storyalterationofspacecontinuum myself...

  • JediMasterMalik #10 4 years ago

    Even the inital quote wasn't exactly damning, people taking things out of context and spreading it around to troll and bait. If you read the whole quote it seemed more like he was overly ambitious (which is the norm for Kojima) and didn't achieve everything he wanted to (which I'm sure is the norm in the industry).

  • miiiguel #11 4 years ago

    Yeah, yeah... beta males are in again.

  • abcd #12 4 years ago

    you lost me at MACH

  • nickthegun #13 4 years ago

    "Westerners do not have a tradition of modesty"

    Hey, us Brits are as modest as the next guys. Maybe less so.

  • mkreku #14 4 years ago

    I don't get it.. He was fooled by the Sony hype like the rest of us, but had to come down to earth once the dev kit was in his hands and COULDN'T output two 1080p images in 120 fps as it was said it would. What's the big deal?

  • jonsaan #15 4 years ago

    Well that's much clearer. Thanks!

  • Vin #16 4 years ago

    lol.

    lo fuckin' l.

  • Eighthours #17 4 years ago

    Sounds like damage control to me.

  • JonFE #18 4 years ago

    The huge differences in mentality and culture between Japan and the West are well documented and no-one can dispute that. It's not just a matter of Kojima learning to speak English, more like him learning to think English, which should prove to be impossible. As for the name-calling, it's highly inappropriate in my opinion.
    Edited by JonFE at 12/05/08 @ 10:36

  • chudders #19 4 years ago

    Yeah...

    I bought one of those cars on the understanding that I'd be able to exit the Earth's atmosphere, only to return it after realising I could only fly around the sky at the speed of sound.

    Talk about let down.

  • AcidSnake #20 4 years ago

    just like how Americans brag about stuff like this

    Sounds like someone is bragging that he isn't an american....

  • Garulon #21 4 years ago

    Translation: "Sony have gone mental at me, and if I want devkit updates on time and/or developer help from them I'd better eat some fucking crow"

  • Andy247 #22 4 years ago

    I for one am glad that he cleared this up, now we can all calm down. MGS4 is like a flying car that can't go into space, I wish he'd just told us that in the first place!
    Edited by Andy247 at 12/05/08 @ 10:50

  • Wendelius #23 4 years ago

    I've been studying Japanese and the Japanese culture for a while and, as a non PS3 owner who doesn't have an interest in MGS (ie I really have no partisan interest in this), I have to say that the commenters calling bullshit and backtrack are only showing their ignorance of Japanese culture.

    There is a very pervasive tradition of modesty in Japanese culture. If you cook for friends, you could very well apologise to them for only offering them such a simple meal, even if it's a 5 star gourmet experience.

    That's the way the Japanese think and express themselves. And learning to speak English has got nothing to do with it. Just like learning how to form Japanese sentences is not enough to know how to address other Japanese speakers in the "proper" way.

    Think about it before you make inane comments.

    Wendelius
    Edited by Wendelius at 12/05/08 @ 10:53

  • M83J01P97 #24 4 years ago

    Took him a while to correct that didn't it?

    Or did a big wad of money from Sony bring this about? Hmm...

  • sanctusmortis #25 4 years ago

    I smell a recovery from a bad case of verbal diarrhoea.

  • Hog-lumps #26 4 years ago

    "Westerners do not have a tradition of modesty"

    Hey, us Brits are as modest as the next guys. Maybe less so.

    lol :p

  • miiiguel #27 4 years ago

    Wendelius, but..., the question is, if I'm speaking to a western audience, and I want to sell my product in the western, will one disregard that culture because his is so superior, or the contrary ?

    What I mean is, in general, we see Japan an example to follow or at least indulge, imho.

    IMO, if a guy form Epic says "badass" he's "totally an asshole", if a Japanese dude says westerns are so full of shit and we "eastern beta males" are so "da cool",we have to indulge.

    I'll pass.
    Edited by miiiguel at 12/05/08 @ 10:58

  • Widge #28 4 years ago

    Funnily enough, the out of context section from the article which people love to quote, does indeed go on to say that you should not read too much into Kojima's comments, citing modesty as a reason... Kojima also went on to say "I don't make very good games really!" .

    Then again that can be true or false depending on who you are! ;)

  • mikew1985 #29 4 years ago

    @nickthegun

    Haha, well played!

  • BadBoyBonner #30 4 years ago

    Give me a break. I am sure it went something like this.....

    Sony tell Kojima what PS3 will be capable of prior to dev kits (i.e. twice as good as 360 as a minimum - probably much more once he gets his team to write their own leading libraries (sucking up and kidding him some more)).

    Kojima gets dev kit - WTF is this Sh*t thinks Kojima - Sony you lying bunch of pr***s.

    GOW launches - Kojima goes out drinking masses of Saki in depression - dreaming of the cutscenes he could do with the UE3 engine.

    Near launch - speculation begins that MGS 4 runs at 1024x576.

    Kojima thinks -yeah it does, after all the BS Sony told us while prototyping - and masses of supposed power is missing - only way we could get close to our initial vision.

    Kojima - (rightly IMO) blames those that lied to him (SONY)

    SONY say - fair enough, but here are our new predictions for sales figures of MGS4 now you opened your fat gob.

    Kojima thinks of best reason to quell his 10-1 steps opinion, claiming something was Lost In Translation.

    Personally - I don't think it was lost, sensationalised maybe, but not lost.

    Sony (again) promised much more than they delivered, I think everyone agrees on that, fanboy or not. Just seemed to be a bit more weighty when something we all know, came from one of the leading Sony supporters.

  • Wendelius #31 4 years ago

    Miiguel: "Wendelius, but..., the question is, if I'm speaking to a western audience, and I want to sell my product in the western, will one disregard that culture because his is so superior, or the contrary ? "

    No matter how much you might try to suppress your education and natural behaviour, it's bound to surface at times. There are things that seem natural to you and might not seem so to others, but you don't realise you're doing those things. Can you really go from very modest to boastful without having to really force yourself?

    In French we have a saying: "Chassez le naturel et il revient au gallop" (roughly: chase away your natural way of being and it's going to come back faster than you think).

    Seriously, you need to realise how much it is ingrained to apologise for shortcomings, even when they don't exist, in Japan. And I'm not talking about videogames here. So take that into consideration.

    Wendelius

  • Wendelius #32 4 years ago

    Miiguel,

    Another way to look at this impossibility to suppress one's nature. Read about any game review comments thread on this site and ask the posters to talk about the game, their experiences and not to try to think too much about the hardware it runs on. See what kind of success rate you get. Some things just come naturally to some. ;)

    Wendelius

  • BadBoyBonner #33 4 years ago

    Wendelius

    If your sweeping genralisation is taken as being true - that means that you are saying all Japanese Sony execs actually undersold the PS3's technical capabilities to others - get real, the overstated power of Sony's vapor-ware is near legendary.

    The only Japanese company who continually self deprecate and undersell in they way your stating are Nintendo.

  • GamesConnoisseur #34 4 years ago

    Ergo Sony aint a true Japanese representation in their mindset and rather more like Yanks in tendency to oversell things?!!

  • Wendelius #35 4 years ago

    "If your sweeping genralisation is taken as being true"

    Take it as being true or not. It's no skin off my back. I was also talking about individuals, not big corporations with huge PR departments.

    Wendelius

  • alimokrane #36 4 years ago

    Oh Dear God, Kojima and another one of his Mataphors. Anyway, you may be modest dear kojima but damage control ?? that's really low! This has fanboyism all over it!
    Edited by alimokrane at 12/05/08 @ 11:26

  • barrylyndon #37 4 years ago

    Respect for his honesty has evaporated. He should be disappointed after the cynical and unnecessary lying about the ps3's capabilities. More expensive and less capable than the 360 in real terms it deserves to lose in this generation.
    After seeing the trailer I was a bit disappointed at the bland nature of the graphics. The ps3 has been a huge disappointment.

  • superjag86 #38 4 years ago

    "He should take some english lessons then"

    Or we should learn Japanese...

  • miiiguel #39 4 years ago

    "Or we should learn Japanese... "
    Nonsense..., Japanese games shouldn't get translated then? That's silly.

  • GitSomE_UK #40 4 years ago

    @Wendelius

    Wendelius, you are trying to reason with trolls, baiters and haters don't bother mate.

    I think you're absolutely right with regards to Hideo Kojima. I've travelled around the world a lot as part of my job I've seen the same level of misunderstanding many times over. The trouble it causes for companies due to people taking literal translations the wrong way is unbelievable at times.

  • old_skool #41 4 years ago

    "He should take some english lessons then"

    Or we should learn Japanese...


    Or better yet, go outdoors and socialise with other cultures...

  • miiiguel #42 4 years ago

    GitSomE UK, tbh, we were having a "decent" conversation. Nothing to do with "hate".

    Ou preferes que cada um passe a falar a lingua que domina ?

  • monkie_king #43 4 years ago

    Seems like the meaning was conveyed pretty accurately. He had optimistic ambitions that were constrained by the reality of the hardware, just like most other games.

  • Madafunkola #44 4 years ago

    To borrow from his own metaphor - I was sold a Sony Flying Car that COULD go into space. But what I got was just a regular flying car, which I already had in the Microsoft Flying Car, albeit without a blu-ray drive, and once it had to be taken to the repair shop as it has Red Exhaust Pipe of DEATH.
    See what I did there...?
    :D

  • penhalion #45 4 years ago

    "Westerners do not have a tradition of modesty, so the statements are translated correctly but the original meaning is totally different."

    Er no it isn't. I had a Japanese friend translate what he said and they understood it as we in the west did i.e. Kojima was dis satisfied with the end capability of the machine and was expecting more. Even fraking Famicom magazine got that impression and they ARE a japanese publication!

  • harrybauer #46 4 years ago

    Simply put, the game is coming out soon and they want to sell many copies of it as possible.

    Gamers were pleased BUT THEN, a couple of weeks ago the man said MSG4 is not quite goodenough and PS3 held back his vision. This put the fanboys in action, XBOX360 users condemining the PS3 hardware, PS3 fan's becoming a bit upset and this may lose the confidence in buying a game, if the developer said that game is not exactly ready.....

    This may have also upset Kojima investors/partners (because of possible loss of sales) hence Kojima the man is now backtracking.

    No offense Kojima, but you really should promote the game and not concentrate on the negatives (well not too much). You fault dude, English is English, i.e. what you said was translated exactly into English.

  • login_name #47 4 years ago

    Developers and publishers need to stop talking to the press. Release a press pack every now and then and that's it.

    Also, fanboys need to be shot into the sun.

  • bad09 #48 4 years ago

    @Arbiter

    No game is a 10/10, it's a 9 at most, the reviewer is bias, Rockstar..erm sorry..Konami paid them off, blah,blah,blah....... :)

  • Garulon #49 4 years ago

    " This put the fanboys in action, XBOX360 users condemining the PS3 hardware, "

    You don't have to be an XBox 360 user to "condemn" the PS3 hardware. Also "condemn" is a bit of a strong word - I haven't seen it "condemned" anywhere, just loads and loads of people pointing out it's about as powerful roughly as a 360 but way way harder to code against. Still, martyr away if it helps you

  • duoduo #50 4 years ago

    It is well known that you have to get through 6 levels of politeness before finding out what a Japanese person really thinks. Seems like Kojima really 'did' speak his mind straight off, but wants to get back into the safe confusion of cultural mis-interpretations. Someone's giving him s**t for speaking his mind!

  • superdelphinus #51 4 years ago

    what's saying the ps3 is shat got to do with modesty?

  • superdelphinus #52 4 years ago

    ""When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, y'know, and we were going to work on this and that - and we had so many ideas. But when we actually started developing the game, we realized there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn't to say we didn't progress."

    how can this be misinterpreted? i'm lost

  • Coughthulu #53 4 years ago

    When will Moller Industries start complaining that Japanese game developers are badmouthing the fact their Skycar doesn't fly yet?

  • superdelphinus #54 4 years ago

    "I remember saying three years ago that we wanted to create something revolutionary, but in reality we couldn't really do that because of the CPU."

    again

  • silke #55 4 years ago

    The result is that Kojima may not do any more interviews with the English press, at least until his anger subsides.

    Oh Edge, what have you done?

    Kojima: "I am the amazing Metal Gear guy!".

  • space_ace #56 4 years ago

    modest like the ps3? :p

  • #57 4 years ago

    Wendelius m8 i believe what your saying is also true but your preaching to a very narrow mind audience in this forum. They will take the opportunity to jump on anything Sony related and twist it to suit and backup their argument/discussion.

    If this was Microsoft dev I wonder how this would be accepted. Still its not uncommon for poor journalism to twist a story so that it sounds more interesting which was likely in this case.

  • davisorle #58 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • ISmoke #59 4 years ago

    So all that this clears up is, When someone who is Japanese is being modest to you - they're actualy bragging like fuck ?
    Hmm, Nice move Japanese culture. Nice move.

  • Garulon #60 4 years ago

    "and garulon got it in one, the PS3 is moderately (at most) more powerful than the 360, yet it's much harder to program for."

    Except I didn't say that, I said they're roughly the same but the PS3 is harder to code against. This may seem like minor nitpicking but your restatement might lead people to plough the old "once the lazy coders all die, the PS3 will look much better than the 360" furrow whereas it's actually pretty bloody hard to make the PS3 equal the 360 visually, much less go past it.

  • RazorObsession #61 4 years ago

    @DaemonB

    If this was an MS dev, I highly doubt anyone would be needing to translate anything from Japanese, making it a moot point.

  • cyber_nicco #62 4 years ago

    I think what he's saying is that based on what Sony had been saying about the PS3 and the Cell processor before and at launch, he thought he would be able to do much more than he actually can with the hardware.

    Take that as a stab at him, the PS3, Sony marketing, whatever... (personally, I blame the Sony hype-machine more than the actual PS3)

  • Widge #63 4 years ago

    superdelphinus:

    from the same interview you've cut and pasted from

    "Take that with a pinch of salt, perhaps, Kojima's being particularly modest today, joking at one point that cutscenes "are all I know""

    the article is a good few pages long, but what grabs the real headlines are cherry picking the most inflammatory comments possible.

  • Madlax #64 4 years ago

    Kojima, he must be so disappointed right now, not about the PS3 but about the reactions to his words.

    Modesty in japan is a lovable virtue, not so much in America, he failed to realize that the American media specially is operated by Fanboy tards and biased word-twisting drones.

    He failed to understand the audience that he was addressing, he must be really disappointed.

    I think he was expected to be praised for been modest, only for it to end the other way around.



  • miiiguel #65 4 years ago

    Modesty an Sony are awkward words to put together in the same sentence, and Sony is Japanese..., well.. kind of..., they're in love with America.

  • davisorle #66 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • Madlax #67 4 years ago

    I think after the negative twisting of the american media to his word, he will never make a 360 game, not that he ever planned to, but if he ever did, he probably canceled them.

    Dont be depressed Kojima, you are still one of the best game directors, up there with Fumito Ueda [Ico and shadow of the colossus genius visionary].

    I think he over-estimated the intelligence of fanboys and gamers, he obviously never browsed this websites comment sections. ;)


  • DAN.E.B #68 4 years ago

    (Sony) right Kojima! you are making people realize the PS3 is a over hyped dissapointment what we need you to do is now is completley retrack that statement and everyone will belive it.


    FISSION MAILED.

  • miiiguel #69 4 years ago

    @Madlax:
    http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...

  • betahoven #70 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • #71 4 years ago

    KOJIMA IS MAKING A FLYING CAR YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

    RazorObsession
    you know what i meant, now yer twisting me words m8.


  • Avaloner #72 4 years ago

    So... the guy compared making MGS 4 to creating a flying car that can reach MACH™ speeds (but not go into space). How can that be modest? Or has the word 'modest' been lost in translation too?
    Edited by Avaloner at 12/05/08 @ 21:19

  • Garulon #73 4 years ago

    Is it a flying car that can also MAKE BREAKFAST!

    Someone tell Peter Dille!

  • G3org3 #74 4 years ago

    Personally i wouldn't think that even Kojima productions with the backing of KONAMI could have reached the limits of PS3 in terms of capabilities....either they are as hyped as sony said or as bullshit as they come....

    Never but never has a game on the first year of a console ( +1 with devs kits as always ) managed to actually show the capabilities of a machine...so even if i like MGS owned every game of it ...i know that this is the same bull as any other developer would say at this point
    you can't come to grips with a hardware so different from the last generation...Cell isn't a play toy to programm on( or any of such kind of proccessor for that matter ) and having a vision to actually code and produce its a whole different matter...god needed to say may there be LIGHT and happened
    Kojima will say the same but need twenty people working to programm the fucker to do that

    Anyway not even phychotic xbox fanboys would argue that we haven't seen the potencial of PS3 and that would go vice versa of course for PS3 fanboys to xbox......HELL even Wii doesn't get the games tha show its power whether we already know its limititations and orientation to "innovation"

    Just wait n see worst comes to worst we ll have a mach speed enabled car......Jesus these metaphors