Metal Gear Creator: 'I Want to Make the Impossible'

Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima today took the stage at the Game Developers Conference to discuss his vision of the future for the Kojima Productions team.

"I want to add both [the] Western way of designing and the Japanese way," he said.

He explained that Western studios focus more on overcoming hurdles through software technology, and can thus create an open-world with no loading screens or the ability to drive any vehicle, whereas Japanese developers circumvent hurdles via game design.

But by utilizing the best of both approaches, Kojima believes that he and his team can "really challenge this wall of impossibility," ideally in future Metal Gear Solid games.

"By overcoming the barriers of impossibility, yesterday's impossibilities become today's possibilities," he explained. "People thought that going to the moon was impossible, but we've done it.

"90 percent of what is considered impossible is in fact possible. The other 10 percent will become possible with the passage of time and technology," read a slide in which Kojima quoted himself.

To illustrate his point of relying upon both design and software, Kojima relayed the tale of how his ideas for Metal Gear Solid 4 changed over time. Initially, he'd only heard rumors of new console hardware that could "do anything," and was quite ambitious.

As more details on the hardware emerged over time, his mission evolved from "use the rumored 'amazing power' of the monster gaming platform to create the ultimate stealth game" to "use the actual power of the PS3 to create the ultimate stealth game" to "use the actual power of the PS3 to create a new infiltration experience."

"I want to make [the] impossible with every one of you," he concluded. "If we join together we can make any impossible, possible. I want to make great games with everyone, so let's overcome this barrier of impossibility."

Greg Mueller, Chris Faylor and Nick Breckon contributed to this report.