Snake vs Zombie Event

[Dante]

On Saturday, gamers were treated to an entire event hosted by Grasshopper Manufacture titled Snake vs Zombie Vol. 2, featuring a series of talk shows between famous game creators and musical performances from artists such as Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops) and Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill).

 

Area 51

The first segment, titled Area 51, is actually one of the shows in the Japanese DVD magazine Famitsu Wave hosted by Suda 51 and Mask Do UH where they introduce and talk about games outside of Japan. Today, two guests Hifumi Kono (Clock Tower 2, Steel Battalion) of Nude Maker and Keiichirou Toyama (Siren series, Silent Hill 1) of Sony Computer Entertainment join in this special version of the show.

 

Hifumi starts off by introducing a PC game titled Alice In Nightmare, the Japanese title for American McGee's Alice. As the video roll shows various sections of the game, he comments on how he really loves the Japanese voice-over of the Cheshire Cat and why foreign games sometimes aren't intuitive. They show a part in the game where Alice has to wait several minutes for the floors to appear so she can do a series of platform jumps to get to the other side.

 

Next, Toyama introduces the Sega CD game Night Trap and he explains that this game, along with Doom and Mortal Kombat, caused a controversy on video game violence. This even led into congressional hearings resulting in today's ESRB rating system. However, hilarity ensues among the crowds with the "violent" scenes showing the Augers falling into cheesy traps and disappearing in a puff of smoke. Trivia: Akio Otsuka, the voice actor for Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series, does the Japanese voice-over for Lt. Simms in the game. Mask Do UH then demo plays Manhunt, and explains how you start off killing enemies with simple weapons like plastic bags and knives, and later acquire guns in the game. Considering his background in Clock Tower, Hifumi preferred hands-on like plastic bags and knives. UH then mentions the upcoming release of Manhunt 2 on the Wii, and jokes about being able to do all that literally with your hands. Suda 51 jokingly comments: "Finally, a game everyone has been waiting for the Wii."

 

To go along with the talk show's theme Snake vs Zombie, UH introduces Zombie At My Neighborsfor the SNES. The show wraps up by showing the trailer of John Woo's Stranglehold, the game which Suda 51 and UH wants to play next.

 

Lastly, Kono briefly hints about his current project slated for a spring 2008 release involving mechs, but did not elaborate for which console it is being developed on. Toyama was tight lipped about his current project and simply commented that next-generation technology is "amazing." Hopefully we will get to hear more about their games soon.

 

Wanda vs. Ulala

Authors of game-related books Kazutoshi Iida (Doshin The Giant), Kazunari Yonemitsu (Puyo-puyo), Kazuya Asano (Machi, Kamaitachi No Yoru) and game creators Fumito Ueda (Ico, Wanda and the Colossus) of Sony Computer Entertainment and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Space Channel 5, Lumines) of Q? Entertainment talks about game development in the second segment titled "Wanda vs. Ulala."

 

The eccentric authors ask, "When developing games, what are you particular about?" Ueda, as we see in his games, is particular about visuals. But he emphasizes that, "It's not just about the visuals itself, it includes everything such as music and motion. For example, when creating a particular scene, how do you deliver that scene as a situation or story in the game? For example in Ico, we have the visuals where the boy is holding the hand of the girl in order to protect her. We don't express this simply through a CG movie, but as a situation where you are controlling the characters in the game." Mizuguchi on the other hand is particular about how it feels good when playing a game, "This has always been a theme in my games. Rather than games based on horror and fear, I work on games based on something more pleasant, where you can feel happiness and joy. It's about converting these feelings into programming codes."

 

Ueda's game is different from feeling good. He adds, "It's more about immersion like virtual reality. I want to express something in which players enter into a different world." Mizuguchi comments about Ueda's game as "always having a certain perspective, a point of view." Ueda says "It's about what you want to express in game. So in Lumines for example, it is the addictive factor [as a puzzle game] and I think my games are more about enjoying the story in a shorter time span. So it's different in that sense."

 

Mizuguchi was surprised when Iida mentioned hearing about his involvement with Al Gore's project. Although Mizuguchi was reluctant to talk about details at this point, he goes on to say "Like in the recent movie The Inconvenient Truth, we talk about preventing global warming, about conserving water, energy, reduce car gas emissions and so on, but I think it is not easy. I think that we would need to see our own planet from outer space. We see that there are no borderlines between the countries and simply notice how beautiful it is. And maybe then, we will be more conscious about the environment. It's about gaining a new perspective like when we moved from 2D to 3D. When we gain a new perspective, I think our conscious mind changes."

 

He further elaborates by citing an example, a poem from Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet and futurist. "When Marinetti rode the airplane, he sees his village from above the sky and he sees a different view of the village. He starts writing a poem in the plane. Technology and media provides a new perspective that heightens our consciousness, and I think that's where we are coming to. I mean we haven't seen our planet from outside only until 40 years ago. From there I think we have gained something. So now, I am working on something along those lines, but I can't talk specifically about it here yet" Rez meets An Inconvenient Truth? Not quite. As he puts it, "It's not going to be a video game. The concept derives from video games, and its something which the gaming generation will appreciate."

 

Concluding this segment of the show, Mizuguchi says he will be announcing something in a few weeks time, although this won't be related to Al Gore's project. As for Ueda, he continues to affirm that he is working on a project but still no sign as to what it is.

 

Snake vs. Zombie

And finally, we have the main event "Snake vs Zombie", a one-hour talk show hosted by Suda 51 with guests Hideo Kojima and Shinji Mikami. Kojima's first encounter with Mikami's work was Resident Evil. He bought it the first day and played as Chris, but the game ended up being too hard. Half a year later, Kojima finished the game with Jill as the character. Meanwhile, Mikami's first encounter with Kojima's work was Metal Gear Solid however, he personally likes Snatcher more. Kojima and Suda 51 both reacts, "Ah yes, Snatcher" alluding to something. "Oh should we announce it here?" "Maybe later during Hidechan Radio?" (The show later leads to the live recording of Hidechan Radio by Kojima Productions). Kojima gained interest in the concept of zombies after watching a series of zombie movies. Mikami watched most of the zombie movies out there during his years as a student, and concluded with Peter Jackson's Brain Dead (1992). When asked about recent movies, Kojima commented that this year hasn't been so good so far, but did like Perfume. Mikami, on the other hand, is currently watching the TV series Lost season 2, while Kojima and Suda51 still in season 1. Mikami did spoil one thing to them about the non-existence of the monster (which appeared at the beginning of the series). They agree that movies this past year hasn't been as good and TV series has gained much higher quality and production values.

 

Since the Boktai days, Kojima has always talked to Mikami about an idea for his version of Resident Evil Online. "The player is a zombie hunter and enters a town infested with zombies. When you die, you turn into a zombie and you start to walk aimlessly unable to control your character, just the camera. But, you will still pay for your monthly subscription!" the crowd bursts into laughter. "So you decide to create a second account, but you die again, and now you got two zombies! Finally you tell your friend where you and beg to have him kill you! So anyway, the goal is essentially to have the hunters gain the majority over the zombies in the town."

 

Mikami says, "I can't make a Metal Gear game. I'm an impatient person, I can't sit and wait in one place. Those times when I went out for war games [using airguns], I would be the first person to get shot." Kojima also says he is the type who takes the initiative rather than wait. During the team's combat training in the mountains (a common practice done by the team during the development of Metal Gear Solid series), "Our squad consists of four members. I am the captain, usually standing behind Yoji Shinkawa, the pointman. He gets shot first, but then I immediately get shot immediately after!"

 

Mikami has worked with many directors, and he found Suda to be an interesting director. When Suda was showing the enemy models, he blurted out "Oh man, this looks like crap." Mikami was surprised to hear him say that at his own project. "Working with him on Killer 7 was always refreshing every month when he shows me the latest ROM." There was a point where Mikami had to tweak a little bit of the enemy designs, but he admits, "I was very careful with Suda's designs, so I didn't want to change it too drastically".

 

Mikami says that Suda tries to hear out ideas of what his client says, "So when I told him "Can you change this?", he would do so, but a few days later calls back, "Actually you know what, I can't do that." Suda being apologetic, "Maybe I only listen half the time". Kojima interrupts, "Speaking of which, there was something I wanted you to change [in what we are working on right now]. You still haven't shown me the changes!"

 

In regards to suggesting ideas to the team, "When I visit my staff members to check on stuff, there are times where they think I'm just kidding" Kojima says. "So, when you come back again to check, they haven't done it because they thought I was fooling around." Mikami on the other hand: "Well since I am their boss, they sometimes take it seriously and end up making what I said jokingly. So in Resident Evil 4, I went out to drink with three of the game planners. For two hours, they tried to convince me to stop because it is causing confusion among the staff members!"

 

Kojima wishes his staff would take him more seriously. "There is a part in MGS2 after the Plant collapses, Raiden walks through the ledge of the plant and the soldier starts taking a leak. Second time around, I asked the designer to have the soldier there again, but this time, he would take his pants down and relieve himself and they thought I was just joking around. Well, that's one way you lose parts of a game design," he jokes.

 

If Kojima and Mikami were to collaborate on a project, both admitted that they would like to take the role of the director rather than a producer. Suda jokes "So you guys decide. Rock, paper, stones?" Kojima says, "I think we'll just take turns. Like when goes Game Over it's the other guy's turn." Suda brings up the recent movie Grindhouse, "How about like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, sort of like a double feature?"

 

Finally, Suda asks the two about retiring from game production. Mikami says, "As far as I can go. I'm quite energetic at the work place so maybe I'll need to mellow down a bit. Even in motion capture sessions, I probably move a lot more than the suit actors." Kojima says, "You have to be always involved in the actual production because you will always need to be aware of things like budget, technology. And if you stray away from the actual day-to-day work, you begin to lose touch with the reality of developing games so I will continue until I die. Even after I die I will still be making games!." Suda concludes, " I think I be directing until I die as well."

 

So what is this thing about Snatcher? Expect to hear Kojima and Suda 51 talk about their secret project in a few days.

 

Hiroko Minamoto and Jason DeGroot contributed to this story.

 

1UP

[Teppo Holmqvist]

And yes, Suda 51 said during GDC (and few times before that) that he is working on Wii game called "Project S" with Kojima.

[Gaijin von Snikbah]

Nude Maker is pretty disappointing name for a company.

[Dante]

Bad news Kojima and Suda said "Project S" is Snatcher and it is a web-radio-drama.

 

Suda Gohichi will write the script, status is first-draft.

[4q2]

"Concluding this segment of the show, Mizuguchi says he will be announcing something in a few weeks time, although this won't be related to Al Gore's project.".

 

REZ, REZ, REZ, REZ (Chants forever)....