Did gaming icon Kojima just damn the PS4 with faint praise?

Hideo Kojima, one of gaming's most recognisable names, certainly won't be accused of over-hyping the PS4, describing the next-gen console's features as 'nothing special'.

Konami vice president Kojima is the man behind the iconic Metal Gear Solid games that have been such a major feature of the PlayStation success story.

But although he describes the latest announcements to Edge as "great", he's more interested in whether the social features and potential for more realism will actually be used.

When asked 'What did you think of the PlayStation Meeting and PS4?' he responds: "Honestly, I've been way too busy to see it! Of course, I know what the hardware is, but I want to see how other companies are using it."

When Edge describes the unveiling to Kojima he adds: "First of all, I think [the PS4's new features are] great, but it's nothing special; you could see it coming. It's the logical evolution of the platform…

"Honestly, I think all of [what Sony is doing] is good and great. Social aspects, the multidevice direction: that's correct, that's the way to go.

"But just because it has these features doesn't mean it's going to be a success. What will really determine whether or not it sells is what titles will be available for the platform."

Circumspect

Asked whether the jump in hardware quality will see a need for more people on each development team, Kojima remained circumspect.

"It's possible to make many things more realistic, but that doesn't mean you should. You have to prioritise, and that is what's going to separate the teams that succeed from the teams that don't.

"A very deep, 20-to-30 hour game might need a bigger team and take three or four years. [But] I think there's a different way of tackling this problem: something similar to a TV series, where you can use pilot episodes to test the waters before you jump completely into the project.

"It can be distributed via download channels, so the player can try it out before production continues. Something like that wouldn't take that long to create, maybe a year, and if it's successful, you can continue."

You can check out the Q&A on Edge-online and the context of the questions, assuming that Solid Snake hasn't been despatched to rid the internet of such perfectly sensible opinion.

Via Edge