At tonight’s Gamescom opening show, host Geoff Keighley once again introduced his best bud Hideo Kojima for a prerecorded announcement. It wasn’t about the games that Kojima Productions is currently working on, sadly, but the news that Kojima has signed up to do a Spotify exclusive podcast that will be in both English and Japanese.
Currently, Kojima has a podcast that is Japanese-only. It’s unclear whether this new endeavour will replace that.
“While I am working on my other games,” says Kojima. “Today I am here to share some other news. I am pleased to announce that my podcast program will be available exclusively on Spotify in September.”
Kojima then rather charmingly went “ohhhhh!” in mock-grandeur while clapping his announcement. Well, I thought it was charming.
“We will be providing both English and Japanese versions of the show with simultaneous interpretation, as this is a podcast not only for fans in Japan but all over the world,” Kojima continued. “Geoff’s entertainment industry news section will also become a regular feature.
“Our first episode is scheduled for September 8. This program will also include very special guests from various fields.”
It’s nice to see Keighley getting a bit of extra work in between hosting Gamescom’s Opening Night Live, putting together an E3 rival, and producing the yearly The Game Awards. The show is called ‘Hideo Kojima presents Brain Structure’, and the thumbnail image for it is… well, see for yourself.
As with much of Kojima’s work, the title and image could be self-aggrandising irony, or they could be dead serious. You never really know, which is half the fun.
Spotify does, though: the press material accompanying the announcement is heavy on use of the word “genius” and also includes the unfortunate phrasing that this podcast will “take a deep dive into his brain.”
In all seriousness, Kojima is undeniably one of the pre-eminent creative forces in the games industry, and has now been so for multiple decades. Over this time he has also consistently contributed to various outlets with essays, book and film reviews, and seems to like keeping his hand in as an observer of the culture as well as a shaper of it. Yes, Kojima can sometimes seem close to disappearing up his own fundament, but he’s also an individual of rare perception and creativity.
I’ll give it a go, anyway. The blurb says the show will feature “talk show–style discussions on a wide range of his favorite topics, including games, movies, books, art, philosophy, and the social landscape.” Guests will “both local and global leaders as well as top creators from a variety of backgrounds such as business, technology, and entertainment.”
Here’s the show’s Spotify page (opens in new tab), which currently hosts a short preview where a robotic voice breathlessly intones about Kojima’s genius before the man himself gives the insight that he uses his ideas when creating stuff. I’m sure it only gets better from here. You too can take a deep dive into Kojima’s brain when the first episode launches on September 8.
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