Hideo Kojima’s interest in VR is well documented. The Metal Gear Solid creator has spoken about the technology numerous times over the past few years, and recently touched on his excitement for it once more at the Tribeca Games Festival.
Kojima had an on-stage interview with Geoff Keighley during the event in New York, where he revealed he had been around the expansive VR installation featured at this year’s festival. When asked about his impressions, he noted that the experiences had “interested” him, before going on to talk about how VR can make games and movies “overlap”
“A photo has always been something that’s been a frame,” Kojima said via translation. “A painting has always been a frame. 130 years ago Lumiere brothers created movies and that was also in a frame.”
The Lumiere brothers are known for their early work pioneering a motion-picture camera. Kojima has often talked about their work in reference to his new studio, the independent Kojima Productions, which is currently working on Death Stranding for PlayStation 4.
“The media so far has always been about what kind of information you can put inside a frame,” Kojima continued. “This goes the same for games, they’re very interactive. In an FPS, you can move around, but it’s still about what kind of information you can put inside that frame.”
With VR, however, you no longer have that frame, making the experience “something totally different.”
“It’s about how you can put this information in a completely different canvas… That goes for games and videos. That’s something I’m very excited about,” Kojima said. “It’s not about shooting something, it’s about this 360 degree environment, what the artist will put in there and how the artist will convey that, that’s what’s being questioned right now and that, I think, is very exciting.”
Currently Kojima hasn’t announced his own VR project, but it’s definitely something we’d be interested in seeing.
