Kojima’s New New Studio – KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS

So it’s officially official. As been reported on for quite some time, lots of rumours, lots of different parties telling different stories, a lot kept secret. Hideo Kojima has officially split and a new company has been formed: Kojima Productions, partnered with Sony.

Kojima and Co. will be starting up a new studio in Tokyo with some new staff, and lead producer and lead artist in tow. They’ll be working on a new IP with Sony, an edgier project, now that Kojima has more freedom.

This split has been a long time coming. Things started sliding down hill after the Silent Hills cancellation, and then reports showed him leaving after the Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain release. Konami and Kojima had noted that Kojima would be leaving after the release. But then he was just on vacation, but Kojima Productions had been shuttered.

Konami came out the worst through all of this, at the peak when during the 2015 Video Game Awards when it had been announced that Kojima had been barred from attending, and preventing any acceptance of awards.

But now all is well. He’s signed with the family he knows, in Sony, and he’s making new games. I’m excited to see what his next project holds.

Games With Gold

December 2015 has The Adventures of Van Helsing and Thief 3, free on the Xbox One.

Originally Van Helsing was released in 2013, and has now come to the Xbox One. By Neocore Games. I haven’t had the chance to play it yet, but I hope to over the holidays.

Thief 3, seems they’ve had a hard time selling this game, but now, after the Xbox 360 free Games with Gold version, is finally on the Xbox One. To date I haven’t tried it, but I will. Reviews were middling initially, as it doesn’t have the same impact as prior Thief games. We’ll see.

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I have wrapped Metal Gear Solid V and will be working on the review soon. Among my many other reviews. Currently I’ve been playing Star Wars Battlefront, and GTA V Online. Tomorrow I’ll be playing ARK, and will be discussing that over the weekend.

Smaller games I’m still working on Tales From The Borderlands and Valiant Hearts: The Great War. And big game is in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Next in the queue though: Arkham Knight. Finally. And its 30+ DLC items. Assassin’s Creed Unity and Call of Duty Advanced Warfare eagerly hang out too, hoping to get noticed.

I have a busy December, and hope to wrap some of these up.

On that note, time to go outside.

_iRogan