Hideo Kojima and the Nationalist Slur

Japanese whispers? Maybe not?

Posted by Staff
Hideo Kojima and the Nationalist Slur
It looks as if Metal Gear Solid creator, Hideo Kojima, might be thinking that the games media is, well, solidly snakey.

Some of the US games press, however, appears to think that Kojima-san is playing the race card.

So, here's how it goes. Hideo Kojima gives an interview to a North American version Edge, the dead tree magazine. Some of this is picked up by video gaming web site, Kotaku, which publishes it.

Okay, remember that the PlayStation 3 is the exclusive platform for the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

MGS 4 is also seen as a huge motivator for those PS2 owners who haven't either moved to Xbox 360 (or Wii) to move to PS3.

So, it's not good for Kojima or Sony when elements of the Edge interview published by Kotaku (keep up!) indicate that Kojima is (at best) underwhelmed by the PlayStation 3: "Apparently the team overestimated what the PlayStation 3 was capable of."

When this is compounded by quoting the Japanese perfectionist expressing, "...disappointment with the latest game in the (MGS) series", you might see why Kojima felt the need to defend himself via the Konami website (it's an MP3 file and it's in Japanese).

The defence is based on the premise that 'Not only was I misquoted, I was then mistranslated and that mistranslation was then mistranslated again and then misquoted' - and that's what the press does.'

"When I'm doing an interview, I answer in Japanese, and I can't control how the writer will interpret that into English... What I say is then translated in English, and the writer then changes that into their own words and writes that. So, right there, the meaning of what I say changes a lot."

He qualifies this rebuttal, however, by swiping his own country's media as well "Things like this often happen with Japanese newspapers. Where they take only the choice quotes. They don't change what you say, but the meaning's different, and the meaning changes."

He then drops a bombshell on everybody who has assumed that the MGS series is entirely created by him, alone, on his todd, "MGS4 isn't exactly my property, so I don't have a total control over it and sometimes I get confused with it."

He then does a little fire fighting, "Some may be disappointed the way I say things, but I do release the game with confidence."

But then Kojima makes a tactical mistake, he attacks America. He maintains that, unlike the culture of modesty and reserve in Japan, "Americans brag". In fact, "Westerners do not have a tradition of modesty".

(Westerners don't have a tradition of modesty? The English do! We're brilliant at modesty we are. Us westerners? Modest as anyone, more modest in fact!)

Kotaku quotes as follows, "Recently I've been thinking about not giving interviews. That's not my job. My job is making games... The next time I interview in America, I will just say 'MGS4 is the best, the end.'"

Mmmm... the Japanese have a reputation for reserve and modesty and the United States has a reputation for arrogant self-promotion?

Kotaku does not like that as a defence, not one bit, goddammit! It returns fire by stating that it was merely picking some quotes from Edge, the source of the interview.

"If you stick your foot in it and screw up, it's always easier to shift the blame, pull the You-Don't-Understand-Us-Japanese card or gloss over important details like, you know, reading..." it retorts, trumping the nationalism card but avoiding the whole quote selection, translation of translation accusation.

We can't see the issue here. Translations do get fractured; the press does cherry pick quotes (we just did); 'genius creators' often do open their mouths and say things they shouldn't; the Japanese do have a reputation for modest reserve; Americans do have a reputation for bragging.

However, as English people (known for our reserve and self-deprecating humour/terrifyingly repressed psychological prisons) we can't wait to see the next episode as this soap opera descends from video gaming scuttlebutt to a major international incident.

(Note to non-British readers: some of the above is intended as wry commentary. We know some quiet Americans and at least one very loud and immodest Japanese trio.)

Comments

Hark 12 May 2008 12:00
1/10
hmmmm...I dont blame him for being peed off!

Calling all (US) westerners braggers is not all that far from the truth. (Anyone whos played Xbox Live will understand)

Im still guna go out and buy MGS4 regardless what the reviews say.

Hark
schnide 12 May 2008 12:26
2/10
If Hideo Kojima is pissed about anything in the world, all he has to do is release Metal Gear 5: Siege of the Cutscenes on us in a few years time to balance that karma right back out.
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TimSpong 12 May 2008 14:17
3/10
schnide wrote:
If Hideo Kojima is pissed about anything in the world, all he has to do is release Metal Gear 5: Siege of the Cutscenes on us in a few years time to balance that karma right back out.


But cut scenes are the optimum way to tell a story. That's the current wisdom isn't it? I mean, I thought the longer and more cinematic your cut scenes are, the better the game must be? It has nothing to do with the fact that you actually want to make films.

In fact, surely if your entire game was a collection of cut scenes that would make the perfect movi... erm, game?

Cheers

Tim
p 12 May 2008 18:57
4/10
Sony might be a Japanese company, but modest is not the first word that comes to mind when they are making claims for the performance of their products. In fact, sometimes they sound bit like that information minister Saddam had. I'm not saying that Sony are staring defeat in the face while claiming victory, but it wouldn't surprise me if some developers found a gap between what they can do with a PS3, and what Sony says they can do with a PS3.
TimSpong 13 May 2008 08:16
5/10
p wrote:
Sony might be a Japanese company...


Of course, regarding the topic - Kojima doesn't technically work for Sony.

Cheers

Tim
Joji 13 May 2008 11:30
6/10
I like that Tim.

''Konami doesn't technically work for Sony''

I beg to differ in jest. Konami have been far up Sony's arse for years and they know it. Just look at the formats Konami games come out on. Apart from Pro Evo games, Konami have barely touch 360 or Wii, which is a big disappointment. The occassional DS or PSP game just doesn't cut the mustard, from such a large established developer, IMO. Compare their output to a developer trying and making a real effort, like Capcom, and you can see the two are worlds and gaming gulfs apart. This never used to be the case as much.

I feel, Kojima is the muppet here, as sometimes the japanese treat us like fools (hate to say it but its true). You only have to look as far as some of their business practices to see this. Wii with 512mb onboard, PS3 with BC, later removed so the can bill us for what games we own again. I mean, even in the anime DVD market, they don't want japanese users to reverse import anime into japan (where they get more for their money from dual language U.S dvds), but the japanese DVDs, charge them a huge price for half as muchcontent as the U.S cuts. Being in a powerful position and japanese, doesn't make you right all the time. And if Edge mag is in error, I'm sure they'd say so.

Sorry for going into anime land, but the point still stands, as talented as the japanese are, they can be very unfair sometimes, and because of their conformist society, they expect us to roll over for them, like their own. How deluded they are. Modesty is a fine virtue, but like any has shaky foundations. True, many nationalities brag or not, but don't believe everything you see in films, Kojima. Some westerners are modest, just not all. Get out and meet more of us.

Was it not Kojima, that also recently said PS3's Blu Ray wasn't enough for MGS4 (something Sony might not have been happy about either), or is he gonna claim that was lost in translation too? Is his U-turn a problem with criticising other japanese, while being japanese? Perhaps its more a cultural thing.

This is damage limitation, nothing more than saving face with his fellow japanese colleagues, he has to deal with. Get over yourself, Kojima.
PreciousRoi 13 May 2008 14:51
7/10
Dubbed anime is teh suck.

The very few good American seiyuu (sp.?) are so overused its criminal.
schnide 13 May 2008 15:54
8/10
PreciousRoi wrote:
Dubbed anime is teh suck.

The very few good American seiyuu (sp.?) are so overused its criminal.


Can I just say on behalf of SPoNG readers everywhere - thank you, thank you, thank you.

May you continue to criticise my apparent non-contribution to threads when such literary greats such as Shakespeare, Keates and Bushell are slain by the sword of words you wield above!

I don't know how this thread could have even been justified without what you contributed there. Now seriously, what about those babies?
PreciousRoi 13 May 2008 19:17
9/10
schnide wrote:
...and Bushell are slain by the sword of words you wield above!

I don't know how this thread could have even been justified without what you contributed there. Now seriously, what about those babies?


Who's Bushell then? Ne'er 'eard of 'im, 'ave I?
p 13 May 2008 19:40
10/10
Tim Smith wrote:
p wrote:
Sony might be a Japanese company...


Of course, regarding the topic - Kojima doesn't technically work for Sony.

Cheers

Tim


I didn't say he did. I was trying to say something about the non fulfillment of stereotype and that it might be true that "Apparently the team overestimated what the PlayStation 3 was capable of." . Or maybe I read to much into the article about Kojima not actually working for Sony.
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