Kenji Yano is now an employee of Kojima Productions, as announced in HideoTube Episode 3

April 28, 2016May 23, 2016 Nyxus

Episode 3 of Kojima’s web series HideoTube has just been released, and in this episode Hideo Kojima and his co-host Kenji Yano visit the GAME ON exhibition in Miraikan to check out the various games on display. But first, the two had an announcement to make (no, they’re not getting married, but close).

Yano: “As of April, I became an employee of Kojima Productions.”
Kojima: “So I’m wondering, what will you be doing for us, Yano-san?”
Yano: “I’m actually not really sure myself…”
Kojima: “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll figure out something for you to do.”

Yano then asked what Kojima had been up to since the release of the previous episode.

“Well, I’ve been preparing our project, looking for our new offices, looking for talented people to join us… aaand, I’ve been looking into, experimenting with new ideas and technologies and other services. The other week I was in the US, and I tried out some performance capture.”

Kojima is referring to when he visited Sony’s VASG studio in San Diego, for more details go here.

After that, the two headed into the exhibition to play some games, and Kojima had to cope with Yano’s inferior gaming skills. Walking around the various old games, systems and technologies, Kojima seemed to recognize a lot and took it upon himself to become Yano’s very own touring guide.

HideoTube-3-Miraikan — The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) in Tokyo

Kojima literally laughing out loud at how bad Yano is (Pong) — Kojima literally laughing out loud at how bad Yano is (playing some Pong)

Kojima talking about various physical media used for games over the years

Kojima playing Puck Monster — Playing Puck Monster

Kojima ran into some Polish fans — They ran into some Polish fans

Kojima: I was playing this game when I was a student looking for a job. While going to interviews and so on I’d go by the Game Center on my way home and play this.

Kojima playing Ridge Racer — Playing Ridge Racer on the original PlayStation using a special controller

But there is also room for newer technologies at the exhibition, like PlayStation VR.

At the end of the episode, Yano promised to start practicing more in order to improve his terrible gaming skills, and Kojima said they are still looking for staff to join the new company. For the next episode, Kojima wants a new location again, but what it will be is not clear yet. It is planned for sometime in May, after Golden Week (a Japanese holiday period ending May 5th).

You can watch the entire episode below with English subtitles, it’s just over 13 minutes in length and a fun watch.

Source: HideoTube Episode 3

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