John-ShepardJapanese developers have noticed the turning of the tide over the past few years, and the top minds are starting to realize that they can't ignore the Western gaming crowd any longer.
And although the Metal Gear Solid franchise has always fared well in North America, Hideo Kojima has gone on record several times this year, saying he wants to "start from zero" and appeal to a whole different audience. Now, according to Kikizo Games, he's taking it a step further: apparently, the mastermind says he'd like to try acting as producer on a game from a Western developer. Said Kojima- "I'm not sure when this will happen, but yes, I'm very interested. There are many development companies outside of Japan working with Konami, and I believe that they're all special in some way." If he does decide to do this, he says he won't be trying to take over the entire operation; he'll still give the developer "freedom" and he'd just try to "help them do what they do best." Of course, we all know that if this did happen, the developer that hired Kojima as a producer would most certainly benefit from his wisdom and expertise. This may sound worrisome to some of you die-hard Kojima fans out there, but you needn't worry: he's not about to leave Konami and the team he built to jump on board with another outfit. He's just examining his options for the future.
Now, if we could just get more information on this new project he's working on… We know a lot of you believe it to be a prequel to Metal Gear Solid with Raiden as a main character, and it might just be that. Stay tuned for the unveiling at E3.
