TGS 06: Kojima investing in stock-market game
Nintendo DS owners will be taking on a force that's bigger and nastier than soldiers or monsters: the Japanese economy.
TOKYO--Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima revealed during the Tokyo Game Show that his development team is working on a new game for the Nintendo DS--but it's not the usual type of game from Kojima Productions.
Following the trend of the many "training games" being released on the DS, Kojima said that his team is working on "Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore" (Stock Transaction Trainer Kabutore).
The game teaches players the basics of stock trading, using real Tokyo Stock Exchange market data from the past five years. For novice traders, the game features step-by-step lessons in stock-market transactions, including a lecture mode and a story mode. For those well versed in the ups and downs of stocks, there's an expert mode, which lets the game function as a market simulator.
"Video games have been changing during the past one to two years. The recent trend is toward training software, which brings affluence to life rather than drama," said Kojima during his stage appearance. "Although we've been releasing games for the hardcore audiences up until now, we're really about taking on new challenges."
Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore seems like the type of game that would only come out domestically in Japan. But with games like Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day also selling well across the Pacific, there's always the possibility that a localized version might do well too. Screenshots and a trailer are available from the Japanese-language TGS section of Kojima Production's Web site (click on the "Japanese" link and then select the bottom left beverage in the vending machine).
Featured Game
Developer: Kojima Productions
Genre: Simulation
Platform: DS
Release Date: Dec 14, 2006 (JP)
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57 Comments
this would be an interesting multiplayer game, so you can play the stockmarket with other players.
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why not a US release
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Nice i hope there is an english version
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interesting concept
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Sound's interesting.
Why not?
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I foresee a lot of hapless Japanese gamers losing a lot of money in their stock market. The only thing this game is going to "teach" is how to lose money fast. Learning about trading doesn't start with, involve, or end with a game.
The JP money managers must be going ecstatic.
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That's different.
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It's certainly different. Sure, if it comes out in the UK i'll get it. I admit I am very much into the whole training game genre since buying Dr K.
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Just when you think games can't get any weirder.
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cool
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Wow... this game teaches you on how to "gamble"?...
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I want a copy of that >.
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If it's for 20 bucks, sure, I'd get it.
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Could it be a rare DS mis-step?
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im sold!
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zzzzz....
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Hai ya kojima good job
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Kojima-san arigatou!!!!
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he he...that's kinda cool ! if they can make gambling games then why not ! Man, Koijma is a genius !
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Hey why not? Could be fun.. I mean we play games where ingame markets exist and we buy and sell. Online games have its own marketplace .. So this would be something a bit more complex but the concept is generally the same... Give new ideas a chance or we'll be stuck playing the same old crap month after month, year after year... oh wait, that's what the industry has become ....
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Wondering how this is going to turn out
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Kojima = brilliant
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I would buy this if it came out in the U.S. for the U.S. Economy and Stocks.
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huh
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This could be a fun game, if they do it right. Anyone remember "Wall Street Kid" for the NES? For some strange reason, that game was very enjoyable.
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Imagine they put this on the Wii with 24 hour automatic updates, you could buy shares from any stock market from around the world.
That would be revolutionary.
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Even though it's easy to be skeptical with the limited available information on this game, I have full confidence in Hideo Kojima's talent given the incredible experiences many of his previous games provide. It's too early to tell what the actual gameplay is going to be like or whether it'll sport a fun factor that can appeal to just about everyone, so we'll just have to eagerly wait and see.
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How exciting!?!?!? Um... no it's not.
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Stock Market game? The DS is all about being different huh? But if they gave this a US release date then they'll have to raise the difficulty ALOT. Oh, snap!
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weird
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Ooh, how riveting.
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accually this might be a fun game
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Wow, it seems that everybody may wind up following nintendo O_o
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wow sounds cool actually
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Technically, this isn't a 'sim' by any means. It's another of Nintendo's 'Touch Generations' games, like Brain Training. As it says, it'll teach you how to successfully play the stock-market. It's a training tool, not a game aimed at fans of GTA, Devil May Cry and Halo.

So the people that say that it's another 'dumb Nintendo idea for a game' can just shut up now, because for one, it's being produced by Kojima himself (and who doesn't love his games?), and secondly, it's not technically a Nintendo product by those means..
But thirdly, it isn't a game. It's an educational tool.
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Gamers who say they want more MGS than this from Kojima is pretty spoiled. Kojima is a designer, he has massive creativity, which obviously is being concentrated in a sim game right now...I bet the aforementioned type of gamer are the ones who wanted to or actually sent death threats to HK to write and direct MGS4 or else, which is absurd because he wasn't gonna be a money producer, but a hands-on producer, as he said.
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Next up Kojima will make a game that teaches people how to win money in Las Vegas. Craps, blackjack, keno you name it, it will teach it to you. The game will pay for itself in no time.
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Thanks, but I'd rather play MGS: Portable Ops on PSP.
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Cancel everything. I am getting this. No wonder Microsoft has not cracked the Japanese market. A stock market game with next gen graphics and an online mode will be the key!
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I've been interested in this sort of thing for a couple of years now. In lesser hands, this would probably be mundane as hell, but I'm hopeful since Kojima's at the helm.
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ummm....ok. Why exactly did Kojima decide to do this of all things? Oh well, Im sure the nongamers will pick up a few million copies of the game
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i dont have much use for the Japanese stock market.
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Could be interesting as a training tool, but not as a GAME
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Well, i have to buy it now.
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I hope it comes to the US.
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FINALLY -- Wall Street Kid goes next-gen! lol, dumbasses.
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Actually, I wish they'd release more strategy and business sim games like this on the larger consoles. It's certainly possible that I'm thinking of the enjoyability of computer strategy/business games, and would be let down by console versions. But fwiw, I used to play Wall Street Kid when I was younger, and it wasn't that bad for something on the NES in 1990. The graphics sucked, and the gameplay was kind of repetitive, but I enjoyed it more than 90% of the modern, $60, super-duper-graphics types of games.
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Do what?
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if i lose money on that game kojima would have to make mgs4 exclusively for me
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I believe this "training" trend in video game development will really catch on. There are plenty of people in this world who are ignorant about how things work in business, science, politics, etc...
This is not to say these people are stupid. They are simply not exposed to learning these things, like Kojima's stock trainer. Consequently, they are not
confident in committing themselves into doing any trading, especially where
money is at stake.
"Training" games open up a new market, perhaps in the self-improvement adult demographic, that other developers need to jump on or exploit.
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