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Kojima wants to do zombies; George Romero wets self photo

Kotaku, by way of Games Radar has a snippet from the latest issue of EDGE magazine (the European answer to American gaming print journalism), in which Hideo Kojima, developer of the Metal Gear series, and close, personal friend of mine, goes into great detail about his ideas for a game centered on undead hordes; aka zombies. Here's a quote:

"The zombie idea I have is a bit different," Kojima told Edge magazine during an interview published in this month's issue, explaining that he's "less interested in the idea of the living dead than the fact you can turn people just by biting them". Perhaps a new idea for any third-party peripheral makers looking for the next big Wii gadget?

Kojima goes on to explore his idea, stressing that he'd like to offer a "truly online version" of the zombocalypse. "Imagine a large town where half the inhabitants are zombies. Users would subscribe, get inside the town and get bitten. At that stage they become undead and can't control their character - all they can do is modify the camera angles." So far, so very, very Kojima.

"They'd see their character attacking humans and have to pay just to watch!" Koj continues. "The only way they could end it is by opening another account, hunting themselves down and killing themselves. Of course, the problem is that your second character can get bitten as well."

Highbrow art-gaming? Check.

Shambling undead hordes? Check.

Necrotic cannibalism? Check and double-check.

If Kojima ever gets around to making this game, I will give him my child. Not just make him a godparent, no, I will actually mail my daughter to him. If he wants to eat her, that's his business. Anyone who can make me a zombie game like that deserves a delicious baby from time to time.


Continue: More Hideo Kojima stories





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43 comments | showing # 1 to 43

tehuberone's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 04:43
tehuberone
Sounds like an interesting concept, but not being able to control your zombie ruins it.
Fana7ic's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 04:55
Fana7ic
This is going to suck if you caan´t control it.
Clark-Nova's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 05:11
Clark-Nova
I just want a Dead Rising MMO.
Shinigami's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 05:19
Shinigami
I have dreams about this kind of shit at LEAST once a month.

Now I can pay money for it too!!
Fana7ic's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 05:29
Fana7ic
Get left 4 Dead this is all you need.
stomm's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 05:42
stomm
I agree with Clark-Nova, that would be sweet. Especially if major cities were recreated accurately like the Getaway, but with zombies, (narrrrrrrrrrrrrrg errrggggggggggggggggggg)
Justice's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 05:50
Justice
Yeah paying to play and then getting bitten str8 away without a refund sucks asses
iRaf 's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 06:14
iRaf
that actually sounds pretty cool. if I read it right, if your character is bitten, you turn into a zombie and cant go back, so you use your other account, to find yourself and kill yourself.
Fana7ic's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 06:33
Fana7ic
Or get bitten too at your other account and buy a third -.-
Justice's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 07:17
Justice
Money Trees FTW!
teknomusik's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 07:27
teknomusik
Snore-fest... Paying monthly for something like that, hahaha!
Snaileb 's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 07:34
Snaileb
It does sound pretty stupid... two accounts? Phhhhffft..
Brandon Undead's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 07:51
Brandon Undead
This idea is so bad I have to think it is a hoax. He actually said, "They'd... have to pay just to watch!"?

K0j!m4: lol
F4nb0y5000: wtf? my walletz!
K0j!m4; pwnt!
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 08:17
BlindsideDork
Yeah I posted about this on another site about how the computer would probably "hide" your first zombie character making it harder to kill it so you have to keep paying for a zombie.

This is a flawed idea...heart is in the right place though.
ShinAmano's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 08:25
ShinAmano
That may be the worst idea ever...seriously who wants to pay to get bitten and not be able to play anymore, but keep paying...

Kojima thinks his shit does not stink...well i have news for him...
HarassmentPanda's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 08:31
HarassmentPanda
@BlindsideDork

You wouldn't have to open another account and kill the zombie to stop paying. You would just cancel the account. There is no way they can keep charging you if you don't want to pay.

Kojima is a brilliant game designer. He's right up there behind Shiggy, but: "They'd see their character attacking humans and have to pay just to watch!" What a dick.
Brandon Undead's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 08:57
Brandon Undead
Kojima doesn't hold a candle to Shiggy. Sorry.
BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 08:59
BluDesign
I'm thinking out loud here on this concept. I honestly don't see what's different from it and Resident Evil online from a few years back, but my thought process is this...

You're trying to survive from the zombies, right? Well, treat it as such. Put a large survival element in there, give 'em the Dead Rising capacity of zombies in the maps.

The twist? When you go zombie, instead of losing control, you need to be impaired in some way. And not just a uncontrolled character. I think the zombie's field of view needs to be either masked or altered in such a way to where the zombies CANNOT see the humans as anything other than food. Put it under some sort of rudimentary heat vision or something, but it could be worked out. And give incentive other than just watching to play as a zombie.

Unfortunately, as a game character, the zombie is as disposable as they come. Imagine you get in a really intense fight, you die, succumb to the zombie you, and then 2 seconds later, Frank plows into you with a red convertible, along with 300 other people. Not as much fun anymore eh? I think an online component to a zombie game is good. We've seen Land of the Dead incorporate small scale war well with zombies, I don't see why that would be a bad thing. I'd do some UT-styled Assault missions to get from checkpoint A to B through a horde of zombies.

BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 09:21
BlindsideDork
dvddesign

I was thinking the same thing as the image issues. Maybe they see just a plain body, or something. Don't know if that would be too hard. Maybe have their vision be impared as in you can only see so far and you can't see everyone. Perhaps a lock on feature that you pretty much zone everyone else out but althoughs you to drag along a little quicker and have more attack power?

Also to eliminate the death, perhaps have a ton of zombies and you can start as a zombie but make it able that when you die you can control one of the other zombies around?
Sphinx 13's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 09:29
Sphinx 13
A first person zombie would be kinda fun I think. But You would for sure have to control the zombie.
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 09:30
BlindsideDork
Wouldn't playing as a zombie in 3rd person be better than 1st?
BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 09:36
BluDesign
Yeah, actually, Blindsides, I like that idea. Make it similar to a Madden thing, where one person has a whole team of zombies under their control. Use a button press to switch between zombies and have their motions when not controlling them just be a general forward motion. I think putting something like this out there as a Warcraft III/Age of Empires RTS would make for an interesting game using that methodology.

galagabug 's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 09:42
galagabug
actually, if priced right, this sounds really bad ass.

the game would get increasingly more difficult, as more accounts have turned in to zombies.

whats the differnece between your character getting bit and losing control over losing your last life in any other game? you put the quarter in, and try again. at least you get to see what your 'dead' character is up to, which has its own novelty.

but this all depends on the pricing model, if it was expesnive to open an account, then its a pretty lousy idea. if its no different than a quarter in an arcade machine, whats the big deal? maybe $3 a life or something...

it would also have to have no rpg elements, leveling up your character just to lose it indefinately blows. losing a couple dollars or weapons, but being able to start on fairly even footing as everyone else could be amazing.

imagine cooperating with a bunch of people and pretty much reenacting the bus scene from dawn of the dead. awsome.
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 10:03
BlindsideDork
galagabug

Yeah I could understand if it is $3 a life...but do you really think they would do it for cheap? I would say the lowest price they would dare to do would be at LEAST $10.

But I think you have the general idea of how it could be well done. I'd pay $3 for a life to run around and play around with a group of ppl but it would suck if you did horribly and just kept dying, I would be PISSED!

But I think another issue is that some people will probably want to play as a zombie.
Mxyzptlk's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 10:38
Mxyzptlk
Kojima needs to stop getting high before interviews. This idea is awesomely insane, but not nearly at the level of Keita Takahashi's Meow Meow Grandma concept.
galagabug 's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 10:40
galagabug
@blindside

its all in how the game is presented, i don't see where the appeal would be in playing as a zombie if the game is a zombie hunting game. the play mechanics that can be applied to zombie players are so limited. maybe a stripped feature set as novelty, like someone said earlier, with restricted view and control, but if the emphasis is on zombie hunting, this could defiantely work.

i am not too familiar w/ pricing models of online games, but don't you buy the disc, then pay monthly fees on games like warcraft?

maybe you could buy the disc for like $40, and it would come with 5 lives or so, then you could be additional lives for $5 or less.. that seems fair.
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 10:49
BlindsideDork
Yeah who knows what their pricing would be but I don't see them charging low prices for lives when you they can charge more.
MrFudge's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 11:05
MrFudge
I haven't really played any online games, but surely you could open two accounts on one subscription, like in WoW or something.

Also, if you're mates were playing, they could kill you so you get your account back. I think it all sounds pretty badass. They could reset the game every now and then anyway.
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 11:13
BlindsideDork
Have different time periods where there are lots of zombies out or few.
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 11:53
Dexter345
I'm really surprised so many of you are saying that this sounds like anything other than an attempt at money grubbing on Kojima's part. Sign up another account if you die? That's ridiculous.
relik's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 12:53
relik
It's official...

Kojima has disappeared up his own poop shoot!
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 13:19
Necros
I think it'd be interesting, providing subscription costs are kept down. Otherwise, who wants to open up another account for $10 a month on top of your other one which you're trying to kill?
Jecrell's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 13:52
Jecrell
Fuck you guys, this is simply awesome.

You make a badass zombie hunter and then your zombie hunter becomes a zombie by accident or on purpose. Then you go and make another zombie hunter to kill your former badass zombie hunter.

The concept itself, unused in gaming today, is just cool. Plus, we need more Zombie MMOs.
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 14:44
BlindsideDork
More Zombie MMOs?

We have Zombie MMOs to start with?

WHERE? I want!
Brandon Undead's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 15:01
Brandon Undead
Traditional zombies and MMOs sound like about as good a combination as peanut butter and dog shit. How about an MMO based on the movie Deep Blue Sea, where some of the players are intelligent sharks, and t3h peoples better not get wets! If the shark eats you, you are lunch, and you pay to watch digestion! New profile! Equip Frickin' Lazer Beam to Frickin' Head!
kevinski's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 15:11
kevinski
You know, until he got to the part about not being able to control zombies, this almost sounded like a non-text-only version of Urban Dead. http://www.urbandead.com/
kevinski's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 15:12
kevinski
http://www.urbandead.com/ <-- For the lazy. :P
Lezbro's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 16:25
Lezbro
Booooooring.

Zombies suck.

No more fucking zombies!
Im OK's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 17:08
Im OK
My initial reaction to the headline:

"So... then, he's doing Metal Gear Solid 5? Snake will surely have died of FOXDIE by then."
Mxyzptlk's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/16/2007 17:38
Mxyzptlk
A few of you are assuming a bit much, he's not actually making this game. This is just his crazy ass concept right now, nothing more. It says that in the article.
GnappyAssassin's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/17/2007 03:38
GnappyAssassin
That was ghey^

Anyway,

A) If it's all on one account, just different profiles, I could see it working.

B) I need Dead Rising.

C) Urban Dead's the shit, even though I was dead by the second time I logged in.

D) The Japanese are fucking nuts, and I love it. Look at Katamari Damacy.
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