It’s 2017 and Hideo Kojima is still talking about “Transfarring.” Speaking at RTX Sydney, a two-day video game convention hosted by Rooster Teeth!, the creator of the Metal Gear series told IGN that he sees Nintendo’s upcoming Switch gaming console as the next step in an evolution he imagined years ago with the feature known as “Transfarring” that allowed players to transfer saves between different versions of a Konami game.
“I believe [Switch] is an extension of that idea,” he said. “The fact you can play something at home and take it outside, this is the gamer’s dream. The Switch is an evolution of that.”
“Transfarring,” a phrase that to this day should never be written or uttered outside the safety of quotation marks, was originally revealed in 2011 right before that year’s E3. In a video, Kojima explained how the new feature would allow people share progress between the PS3 and PSP versions of games like Metal Gear: Peace Walker. It was supposed to be the beginning of a whole new “gaming lifestyle.”
The official description of the service included, among others, the following promise:
“TRANSFARRING will free you from restrictions of location or time, allowing you to play freely anytime, anywhere. Experience a new degree of freedom in gaming that may one day make console wars a thing of the past.”
At RTX Sydney, Kojima called for games to emulate movies and television in the ease and variety of platforms that people can use to enjoy the latter. While I can play the digital version of a downloaded movie or album just about any smart device, most games are still hindered by competing proprietary formats and software requirements.
Shortly after Kojima revealed “Transfarring”, the whimsically named game feature was already being made obsolete by things like Sony’s Cross-Buy and Cross-Save services. But for every indie game like Rogue Legacy or Titan Souls that supports the ability to share a single save file and game purchase between the Vita and PS4, there are games like World of Final Fantasy that don’t.
Meanwhile, I can use Netflix and Spotify to save movies, television shows, and music locally to my phone so I can access them even when I’m not at home.
This is not “TRANSFARRING” but remote play. By using PS4 as family cloud environment, you can play it outside.Finaly! pic.twitter.com/ofSIAU9bU7
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) January 15, 2014
More recently, Sony’s tried to solve this problem with more robust Remote Play options. While being able to stream Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain on PS4 to a Vita made helped gloss over the shortcomings of “Transfarring”, being able to stream PS4 games to any PC has helped take the dream of seamlessly playing games wherever, whenever, another step forward.
But even then, Sony’s relationship with cloud computing and save syncing remains fraught.
Despite the issues that still plague different implementations of cloud computing, like those holding back Playstation Now, Kojima was bullish on the prospects for the technology going forward. “I feel like cloud technology is what everything will eventually move to,” he said. “It’s further behind right now than I think where people thought it would be at this point, but I think it will go there, and when the infrastructure is ready, you’ll be able to play everything, on every device, anywhere. The Switch is the predecessor to this step.”
When asked at the event by DualShockers whether his latest project, Death Stranding, might slip to PS5, Kojima was adamant it would release on the PS4 as intended. There’s a lot about the game we still don’t know, however, like whether it will be “Transfarring” enabled.
Only time will tell.
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13 responses to “Hideo Kojima Calls The Nintendo Switch An ‘Extension’ Of ‘Transfarring’”
Lol I think this guy thinks he’s a bit deeper/smarter than he actually is.
Yeah, basically.
That extends to his stories and dialogue as well. I loved the MGS games, but he tries to tackle themes and plots faaaaaaar more complicated than he can actually handle. Some of the worst dialogue and plot of any games I’ve ever played.
I used to love the games, but replaying them now that I’m older I just find myself cringing 99% of the time.
And it’s so self indulgent. 90 minute cutscenes, ugh. And shoving his name into MGS V about seven thousand times.
But that clearly seems like retaliation for Konami removing his name from everything.
Remember, he knew back when Ground Zeros came out, there was an extra mission where you have to remove logos from walls and his emblem was one of them.
They’re both immature and petty.
HA, yeah prob, he is an artist.
But we can only guess as to why the uncoupling became so messy in the end.
Hell, as much as I’m on the Fuck Konami Train, I wasn’t the least bit surprised that Phantom Pain was delivered well over budget and still incomplete.
Rumours of Kojimas meticulous, stubborn and passionate nature are as old as Metal Gear.
I wouldn’t say he tackles plots far more complicated than he can handle. Remember the time he predicted every single flaw the internet would create in society, all the way back in 2002? Such as people fighting on twitter, confirmation bias(AKA searching the internet for info sources that back up the ideas you like rather than the truth) the rampant amount of cencorship attempts going on both large scale and small. No? Let me remind you
It’s a perfectly cromulent word.
Transferring. The word you’re after is transferring.
Existing words are for the common folk…
Where he’s going you need whole new words, like frasswaggle.
I always find it amusing when people say that cloud computing is the way of the future when really we’re just regressing back to the days of mainframes and terminals. It’s on a global scale this time, sure, but we’re still going full circle.
Didn’t Capcom and Nintendo do something similar with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate? I remember transferring my Wii U save file to the 3DS…
You mean ‘transfarring’ your Wii U save to the 3DS.
…But even if you accept the term as a proper word, the Switch is not “transfarring” anything. It’s just using the same piece of hardware in multiple situations…
I suppose Steam cloud save for me pretty much count as “transfarring”, as I can play on my computer at home or my laptop on the go, and the save file syncs and carries over.