Metal Gear Solid Creator Kojima To Keynote GDC 2009
Organizers have revealed that Hideo Kojima, Corporate Officer, Executive Producer and Director of Kojima Productions, will deliver a keynote address at next months 2009 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.
Known for giving rise to the stealth action game genre with his creation of the acclaimed Metal Gear series more than two decades ago, Kojima’s keynote will focus on conquering various development obstacles with creative game design, using the driving game design philosophies behind the Metal Gear series as reference.
The address, “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible,” marks Kojima’s debut appearance at the GDC. The Game Developers Conference takes place March 23-27 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.
Kojima joins a host of notable speakers at this year’s GDC, including Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, LittleBigPlanet creators Mark Healey and Alex Evans, Epic’s Rod Fergusson, and a host of others.
Renowned as one of the world’s most influential contemporary game developers, Hideo Kojima first decided to get involved in the game development business while studying economics. Driven by the hardware limitations of the MSX personal computer, he pursued a fresh approach to the action game genre – and thus the stealth genre was born with Metal Gear.
The debut title was then ported to the Famicom, known Stateside as the Nintendo Entertainment System, and received an unofficial sequel titled Snake’s Revenge.
The global breakthrough for Kojima’s career took place in 1998 when Metal Gear Solid was released on Sony’s PlayStation platform, and it has been followed by multiple new titles in the franchise, including the critically acclaimed Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and 2008’s multi-million selling Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots.
Kojima also produced the mech action game Zone of the Enders, and also created Boktai: The Sun in your Hand, a Game Boy Advance game which contained a photometric sensor in the cartridge that charged a vampire’s solar weapon, sending gamers outdoors to catch some fresh air. This type of idea is something that Kojima has become known for—breaking the “fourth wall” and forcing the player to interact with the game in ways outside of traditional gameplay.
“The Game Developers Conference has invited Hideo Kojima to keynote every year for as long as I can remember, so we couldn’t be more excited that, at long last, he feels that it is time for him to address the game development community,” said Meggan Scavio, event director of the GDC. “The anticipation is already huge to see how one of the community’s most revered and elusive creators will inspire attendees to further push the limits of game development.”
Hideo Kojima’s keynote, “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible,” is scheduled for Thursday, March 26, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. PST in the Esplanade Room of the Moscone Center’s South Hall.
The 2009 Game Developers Conference takes place March 23-27, 2009, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. The 30% early GDC registration discount for All Access and Main Conference passes is only available through Thursday, February 12. For registration and for more information, please visit the official GDC website.
