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Hideo Kojima Dislikes Over-Hyping Games... Irony, much?

September 18, 2008 in News comments 18

The hype for Metal Gear Solid 4 was huge. Japan was flooded with odd little TV commercials proclaiming that MGS4 is more important than marriage, giant MGS4 posters splashed across cities and arcade machines promoting the game. It was one of the biggest game releases of this-generation.

So it seemed odd when Hideo Kojima recently revealed how much he dislikes it when "massive advertising campaigns are executed for games" which results in " sell-off tactics happening without hesitation".

It's curious that on the job announcement page for the Kojima Productions site, Hideo Kojima states:

quote Kojima
The creativity of video games is now on the verge of crisis. Massive advertising campaigns are executed for games before their entertainment values are put into consideration all too often, resulting in sell-off tactics happening without hesitation.




The irony is that Konami is guilty of the hype Kojima seems so critical of.
Miss Razz via kotaku.com »
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  • 4
    iLLmatic Sep 18, 08
    No, no *bleep*ing irony at all. Like I said in the GT forums, MGS4 is one of the few games that had huge hype, lived up to it, and surpassed it, point blank period. Kojima is allowed to say whatever he wants when he is talking about creativity in games, or lack thereof.
    • 4
      The Jocker Sep 19, 08
      Metal Gear Solid 4 was overrated.
      • 0
        Final Blade Sep 19, 08
        quote
        Halo 3 was overrated.
        There I fixed your quote.

        Kojima is 100% right though, while MGS4 was really hyped up, it lived to the hype as iLL stated.
      • 2
        The Jocker Sep 19, 08
        Where did I say Halo 3 wasn't overrated?

        Halo 3, MGS4 and Brawl are all overrated in my book.
        • 2
          Raziel_326 Sep 19, 08
          I doubt you've played any of them.
        • 0
          The Jocker Sep 19, 08
          I've owned all 3.

          Still own MGS4 and Brawl, while I sold Halo on eBay a month or so ago.
        • 0
          Seproth Sep 19, 08
          Hmmm....Spelling is overrated?
  • 0
    Bale Fire Sep 18, 08
    He talking more about games which are hyped and don't live up to it right? Like Wii Music for instance. We all know where that's going.
    • 0
      Seproth Sep 19, 08
      Don't there need to be a few people excited for it to be "hyped"?
    • 0
      ali3n Sep 19, 08
      How exactly is that getting hyped? They're advertising it but it's in no way getting hyped.
  • 0
    Exevier Sep 19, 08
    The article sounds a bit misleading. Kojima's talking about the kind of games where the developers forgo the important parts of making a great game and only really focus on advertisement, thus resulting in an over-hyped half-assed game. MGS4 was incredibly hyped, but clearly nothing was sacrificed in the development stage to achieve this.
  • 1
    ali3n Sep 19, 08
    I would say that rather than irony it's hypocrisy.
    • 0
      Red 9* Sep 19, 08
      Kojima didn't hype the game, the fans did. MGS4's ad campaign was not as prevalent as most games. In fact, I've seen some terrible games with a larger ad campaign than MGS4.
      • 0
        BlackLabel Sep 19, 08
        Mercenaries 2 has had a much larger advertising campaign in the UK alone than MGS4 had worldwide.
      • 1
        ali3n Sep 20, 08
        Kojima did hype the game, there were quite a few articles before the game came out about how 'the serious games' are at an end if MGS4 fails according to him etc, I can't be bothered to dig them all out for you however Kojima did hype the game quite a lot.

        The hype for the games or anything else generally tend to come from the fans therefore going 'LOL FANS DID IT' is slightly stupid there are a couple of exceptions, TDK for one, but MGS4 was not one of those.
        • 1
          Red 9* Sep 20, 08
          Kojima's interviews can't be considered hype. He was simply voicing his opinions, which any dev can do regardless of what they're working on.

          Besides, it was MGS; how could it NOT be hyped?
        • 1
          ali3n Sep 20, 08
          Then by your logic very few games are actually hyped. How could it not be hyped? I don't know neither do I really care.
  • 1
    dwg14390 Sep 20, 08
    Yeah Kojima never really hyped his game much if at all. I heard about it through a whole bunch of MGS fans screaming ZOMFG MGS4 IS COMING!!!!11!!!11!1!!1!ONE! BUY IT NAO!!

    Basically the same happened with brawl. It had like, 3-4 commercials, but It was the nintendo fanboys (and me) that did most of the hyping.

    And there is always a thing as to much hype. look how Halo and Brawl turned out

    Not sure about MGS4 since it's the only one I never played.

    It's good that he dislikes overhyping games.

    Leave to us to hype about the games and all you have to do is make it good.....and commercials, don't forget about those.

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