Japanese game folks have been down on themselves as late. Sony Computer Entertainment exec Shuhei Yoshida is the latest to enter the fray:

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The advertising campaign for Metal Gear Solid 4 was huge. The hype for that game, years in the making, was enormous. It was pushed hard before there were playable demos, and the game's creator, Hideo Kojima, raised expectations with big promise after big promise. It's curious that on the job announcement page for the Kojima Productions site, Hideo Kojima states:

The creativity of video games is now on the verge of crisis. Massive advertising campaigns are executed for games before their entertainment values are put into consideration all too often, resulting in sell-off tactics happening without hesitation.

And while Kojima and his team did deliver a first class title and while the game did provide a PS3 sales spike, the final product still hasn't sold a million copies in Japan. That might be because MGS is as popular with the home team crowd or whatever. The irony is that Konami is guilty of the hype Kojima seems so critical of.

And apparently, Japanese stores cannot return unsold product to distributors...

小島プロダクション　制作スタッフ募集 [Konami via 2ch Thanks, Muu!]

Ryan Payton, self-described game hobo, fresh off working on Metal Gear Solid 4 and a cross-country move from Japan back to Seattle, took some time to sit down with me this weekend to talk development, Japan and life.

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Pro tip - if you ever meet Hideo Kojima, do NOT ask him when Metal Gear Solid 4 will be out for the 360, the DS, the Super Famicom or ANY OTHER platform.

He will not be happy.

Poor Hideo has revealed to Eurogamer that he wants to stop having to explain his platform choices and just get back to thinking about the games.

"What kind of disturbs me sometimes, because a lot of people ask me about this PS3/360 question, is that it's not about the hardware - I want people to look at the game itself. Sometimes I even feel like it should be on a PC so that people don't ask me about hardware and platforms", said Kojima

Hey, so does this mean you are going to switch to the PC now, Hideo? Hideo?

Come back! HIDEO, WAIT!

Kojima wishes people would stop asking about MGS4 on 360 [Eurogamer]

Ryan Payton (hats, in tow) has left Kojima Productions. The Assistant Producer spearheaded a more Western approach to controls for Metal Gear Solid 4, making the game far more approachable and much tighter than the previous installment. He also helped warm the MGS4 team up to more Western developed games like Gears of War as well. Why did he leave and what's next? His answers after the jump.

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Just like we expect the changing of the seasons, we can expect that each game creator Hideo Kojima finishes a Metal Gear Solid title he'll say that's it, no more. It's been this way since MGS2! And his latest title is no exception. What's his deal? Can't he just make up his mind? He tells website Kikizo:

I say frankly, on a private level, that I always intend to stay true to these statements; I do always say what I actually feel at that time, after each Metal Gear, when I say I am going to move on to the next project. But it's like when Hayao Miyazaki says he is not going to do more, and then always ends up doing it. I think I am kind of in a similar situation; I have ideas other than Metal Gear, and I want to go on to make other new games, but for political, business or technology reasons, there is always a time when I have to return. But I have to say, my feeling hasn't changed; I would like to pass on the Metal Gear series to younger staff members, and then go on to produce the title, and not be so attached to it.

Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima just can't quit you. After the jump, Kojima talks about his "strong urges" to create a non-MGS title as well as express his "regret" over putting all the story telling elements in the cutscenes and his ideas about how he can change storytelling in video games.

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Look closely (full size on the jump). Reader Ian S. found this back-to-college ad for Sears in his local paper. Looking at this guy's set up, I'm betting the propmaster for this ad shoot is someone so out of it he refers to consoles generically not as "Nintendo" but as "the Sega." Because that's Solid Snake on the screen, and a 360 controller in our hip gamer friend's hands. So here are my thoughts for what might be going on.

1) Newton's Dirty Little Secret: It's a Sixaxis.
2) Check Out This Rad PS3 Casemod for Your Xbox 360!
3)'Intense' Driving Motion Controls Introduced to Metal Gear Solid 4 Cutscenes
4) MGS4 Now Supports Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Peripherals (lower right)
4) Sony Confounded by Standard DVD Players Kept as Heirlooms (console, under the small speakers)

I'm sure you've got your own ideas. Put 'em in the comments.

You finish Metal Gear Solid 4, you get access to a screen where you can enter passwords. Indeed, we've shown you some of these before! These are just like those. If you visit the extras menu, go to passwords and enter jmsotsynrn, you'll get the Type 17 pistol. Nice enough, but entering aottrykmyn will get you the Snake-dressed-as-Altair costume that left the internet scratching its head a few months back. It even matches his moustache!

『MGS4』、パスワードを入力して『アサシンクリード』のアルタイルの衣装を [Famitsu]

Thanks Jay for the tip!

We were, at first, blown away by this digit-ised spin on Metal Gear Solid 4. "Amazing production values!" we thought. "His nails are even filthier than those of SCEE boss David Reeves!" we noticed. What turns out to be an ad for Metal Gear AC!D Mobile is also the best sight gag we've seen in a long time, proving that thumb wars have changed.

Your horrible puns are more than welcome in the comments.