Hideo Kojima has been on his travels again and, rather than posting pictures of overly elaborate lunches like usual, he’s been posting photos of himself at places like Microsoft. And next on the agenda was Seattle and Valve HQ, where the Koj allowed himself a photo blowout with various cool things around the company’s office.
The first bunch show Kojima grasping hold of the giant valve that is installed in Valve reception and appears on the startup screen of their games. Then in what looks like a masterpiece of trolling from whoever set up this display, Kojima has a photograph of himself posing in front of the giant Valve sign: beneath which are three Half-Life gravity guns, as well as three portal guns. Three!
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We then get a clutch of three more: a headcrab posed on a mannequin head, the giant valve again, and a reverse shot of the Valve sign.
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Kojima hasn’t said anything about why he’s visiting Valve, although the answer is probably just “because I can” rather than an imminent collaboration on Half-Life 3. One thing the visit has done, however, is re-surface some comments Kojima made about Half-Life way back when he was designing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (spotted by GR+).
On January 12, 1999, Kojima wrote: “I asked Kume-chan to buy Half-Life for reference for MGS2,” because it had been nominated for Edge magazine’s Game of the Year award. “While the graphics are somewhat underwhelming, the gameplay and attention to detail are astounding. Once again, I felt that sense of, ‘We’ve been outdone by the Americans!’ Most of all, the atmosphere is incredible. The real-time direction is superb, and you can feel the soul of the creators in the game.”
Kojima praised the “careful attention to detail, direction, and mechanics” that create “a compelling game world.” He noted with approval that “everything in the game can be destroyed, bullet holes appear, and when you throw wooden crates or barrels into the river, they float.” The Metal Gear games always had an element of this but, as Kojima began pushing the simulation element hard in MGS2, it’s not hard to see where Half-Life must have had an inspiration.
This is not Kojima’s first visit to Valve by a distance. I believe the most recent was in 2018, which did offer something he didn’t get this time around: a picture with Gabe Newell. I imagine that’s probably because big Gabe spends his time these days sailing the high seas in a $500 million superyacht.
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