HIDEO KOJIMA

In the past, the U.S. was the centre of the world, where everything was happening. I think my stories have always sought to question this, maybe even criticise it.

Every time I make a new game, I put all of my effort completely into that game. It's like putting all your effort into a new child that's being born. Once the project is done, I can step back and look at it objectively, which is when I can see a lot of flaws. That's when I start to make a new game that tries to fix some of those flaws.

With a movie, it's probably easier to sustain intensity and seriousness over the 90-minute duration. But in an open-world game it becomes exhausting, demotivating and even uninteresting for the player.

My goal is to make a player think, 'I want to reenter this world of lies tomorrow.'

In Japan, there are storm channels on either side of the main roads. There were so many times when I'd fall into these ditches because I was lost in stories as I was walking along. It's still dangerous for me to drive. I've driven into the gate outside my house numerous times.

In any game, you have an enemy coming at yourself that you have to shoot. If you go back to 'Space Invaders,' they shoot at you when they come at you, so how are you going to protect yourself? You're going to shoot, and that is a typical videogame.

My games are rather stressful games, where you have to play for a long time.

As far as how I create games, I'm just reflecting what I feel, the things I have in my mind. I put those out there. Some of the things that I'm going through, the things that surround me, might be reflected there. But for me, it's a natural process. I just reflect what I feel into the game.

Games shouldn't only be fun. They should teach or spark an interest in other things.

Many people are taking 2D games and making them into 3D games by recreating the characters in polygons. But the gameplay's still the same, and that's not what they should be doing.

I believe the game should really feel what the players are feeling and change according to that.

I want to show people how there are variations and different interpretations of good and evil.

The painter has total control over what they're showing to the viewer.

I always observe the people who pass by when I ride an escalator. I'll never see most of them again, so I imagine a lot of things about their lives... about the day ahead of them.

There are so many books and movies I like; I never mention specific ones.

There are so many games where you fight aliens or zombies, and they have very high-fidelity graphics, but they don't ask the question of why the events are happening.

At Disneyland, you never go 'backstage' - even when you're in the bathroom.

Japanese players do not like being thrown into an arena in which they are given very little instruction. You can head in any direction, 360 degrees. They say, 'What am I supposed to do? Give me hints. Provide me service instead of just throwing me into this arena.'

Personally, I'm not too fond of remakes.

One of my first dreams when I was a child was becoming a painter.

There are many museums dedicated to technology, artistic endeavors, music, and that sort of thing. From that perspective, I think games really do have a place as a kind of collaborative art or a synthesis of all these various aspects into a whole, and that, in itself, can be perceived as art.

When I was a child, there really weren't very many video games, but I do have memories of 'Pong.' Maybe it was 'Pong.' It was a home system in Japan, so maybe it wasn't the real 'Pong.' It was just sort of a Japanese game that was similar to 'Pong.'

Normally, when people compose for film, you give them the film, and they look at it, and they compose it.

If 'Castlevania' wasn't created next to me, and Capcom didn't release 'Ghouls n' Goblins,' then maybe there wouldn't be any 'Metal Gear,' and I would have created a horror action game, because I really like that genre.

I have to have a creative role; otherwise, I simply wouldn't come into work.