Kojima says Metal Gear must live on

GameSpot is proud to unveil The Final Hours of Metal Gear Solid 2, a 13,000-word feature chronicling the entire development story behind Hideo Kojima's top-selling PlayStation 2 game. Earlier this fall, GameSpot Senior Editor Amer Ajami and Contributing Editor Geoff Keighley both traveled to Tokyo to interview the development team, including Hideo Kojima, who gave his only English interview since E3 2001. During the interview, Kojima revealed that the Metal Gear Solid series will continue beyond this recently released second installment.

The story covers a wide range of topics, including details on the team's creative process, the major milestones in development, and a look behind the scenes at how developing the game affected the lives of the team members. In addition to interviews with all the key developers in Japan, the story features comments from the main voice actors, including David Hayter (Snake), as well as composer Harry Gregson-Williams.

Following are a few excerpts from Kojima's comments in the story:

On the potential for another Metal Gear Solid game:
"I really think that Metal Gear has to live on in some form. But as I said at the end of Metal Gear Solid, I really think it is time for me to hand the director role over to someone else. I might do the initial planning for the next game, but not much more than that."

On the risk of missing the November 13 release date:
"When I was flying back from E3 in May, I was really worried. Not worried in the sense that we might not be able to finish the game--I was worried that it would be absolutely impossible for us to finish Metal Gear Solid 2 this year, the year of the snake. I must tell you, I was sitting here in June and thinking that no matter how hard anyone on the team could work, we would not finish the game this year. And that was the toughest point in my 15 years in the game industry."

On bonuses and secrets in the US version:
"There are going to be fewer bonuses in the US version than I would like because of the lack of time. But the good news is that I am going to add a lot more bonuses to the Japanese version. You see, sometimes it pays to wait."

That's just a small sampling of what Kojima had to say--be sure to read the full story now, as it includes Kojima's first comments on the game's surprise plot twist, which has everyone talking. And don't forget the special trivia contest at the end of the story. You'll have a chance to win one of five copies of the game, which is autographed by Kojima himself, or one of several complete Metal Gear Solid 2 action figure sets from McFarlane Toys.