Hideo Kojima, An Overlooked Video Game Icon?

Hideo Kojima gets recognized in the upcoming The Game Awards. The founder of Kojima Productions will finally receive the prestigious Industry Icon Award and take his place among the gaming industry's greatest innovators, storytellers and developers.

Considered as the first auteur of video games, Hideo Kojima is definitely not just a typical video game designer. Born on Aug. 24, 1963, Hideo is known for being prone to isolation. In an interview posted in "Metal Gear Solid" site, Hideo states that "the most intense memories of my childhood deal with death, I almost drowned in a river once, I was attacked by a savage dog, and I nearly got run over by a train when I crossed a track. I dealt with several life-threatening experiences growing up."

Hideo Kojima has began writing his own stories at an early age and was trying to get it published in magazines but was never published since his stories exceeded the required 100 page long; his was 400. Kojima then focused on creating movies and worked with a friend who owns an 8mm camera. Hideo Kojima then went on to join Konami after his college days and one of the unforgettable experiences that he had was during a wedding where He was introduced as a man of great talent and was throwing it away in Konami.

After joining Konami, Hideo Kojima then was asked to rake over a certain project called Metal Gear which he altered the gameplay to his own standards. After the release of "Metal Gear Solid" in the MSX2, he began working on "Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake" also for the MSX2. It was not until the PlayStation version of Metal Gear called Metal Gear Solid was launched that the Metal Gear series reached its peak.

Hideo Kojima's vision created a whole new genre of video games known as stealth. Hideo also contributed to the improvement of video game storylines and was able to infuse a movie-like way of video game experience. The Metal Gear series is one great example of ingenuity and creativity of a man with great talent who threw away it all away.