Today legendary Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima talked about his upcoming game Death Stranding during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
The panel also included Danish film Director Nicolas Winding Refn, who lends his likeness to Heartman in the game. A lot of the details shared were about his character.
He basically lives for 21 minutes at a time, then his heart stops for three minutes. During that time-window, he seeks his family on the other side.
On top of that, Kojima-san revealed the box art for the game (including a clean version), the illustration for the Steelbook, and much more.
While the speech was not livestreamed, we still got the information and quite a few images thanks to Twitter user Kalai and TheGeeklyGrind.
Below you can read all the relevant details and see all the images that were shared.
It’s time for @Kojima_Hideo’s #SDCC2019 panel! pic.twitter.com/PTEqIrK0Cn
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
There he is! #HideoKojima pic.twitter.com/v8eMUhl4X8
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
For the first time ever at @comic_con – Hideo Kojima is here! @DeathStranding_ #SDCC #deathstranding @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN pic.twitter.com/se0lIVRdsL
— TheGeeklyGrind (@TheGeeklyGrind) July 21, 2019
How is the game going? “I’m still creating it” #HideoKojima pic.twitter.com/jfypTyBszL
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Keighley – “Many fans want to know about the game. What is a strand game?”
Kojima – “You’re alone playing as Sam, you’re trying to connect city to city. I can’t speak much but everyone will be playing around the world and we’ll have an indirect connections— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Kojima – “I’m an Otaku and I felt like my teachers and family didn’t understand me. I came to SDCC 10 years ago and met a lot of people like me, so I think that’s what you’ll get from this game.” pic.twitter.com/SXniv6mW5s
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Voice of Heartsman Nicholas says it’s crazy to see himself on screen. In the clip, Nicholas’ character shows a book titled Twenty One Minutes of Love and says, “I’m already dead.” pic.twitter.com/gWRdPZRhbN
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Q: What attracted you to Kojima’s project?
N: I got an email that asked if I would like to meet Hideo and I said, “Sure.”— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
N: It’s interesting because I don’t speak Japanese and Hideo doesn’t speak English. There’s always a person in between. It’s like a threesome. The person in between isn’t really doing anything. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
N: We’re really dedicated to the women and children in our lives. So our meeting in London was amazing. We later the world with the threesome. Everything from Tokyo to Los Angeles. There’s something that connects us that’s very intimate. #hideokojima #DeathStranding
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Hideo: “I originally was recommended Keanu Reeves but I wanted Madds.” #DeathStranding #hideokojima pic.twitter.com/KY442aQsIx
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Hideo: “What I’m saying with Nicholas is the way that we create things is that we want to work with people we like and not with people that we don’t like.” #DeathStranding #hideokojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Hideo Kojima accumulates a lot of interesting points and plots and integrates them into the game. @NicolasWR was very interested in having his character be cooler than @MadsMikkelsen. @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN @DeathStranding_ #deathstranding #SDCC #SDCC19 pic.twitter.com/sh51xmfWQW
— TheGeeklyGrind (@TheGeeklyGrind) July 21, 2019
Hideo: “Nicholas wanted me to create a character that stands out more than Madds. His character has died and he wants to look for his family on the other side for three minutes and resurfaces.” #DeathStranding #hideokojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Exclusive look at Heartman – a deeper dive of a new character who lives for 21 minutes at a time. @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN @DeathStranding_ #SDCC #SDCC19
— TheGeeklyGrind (@TheGeeklyGrind) July 21, 2019
On the creation of @NicolasWR’s character – His heart stops after 21 minutes. He “dies” 60 times a day and looks for his family on the “other side” for 3 minutes before coming back. @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN @DeathStranding_ #deathstranding #SDCC
— TheGeeklyGrind (@TheGeeklyGrind) July 21, 2019
Hideo: “Nicholas has a lot of facial expressions, some more than other actors.”
Nicholas: “I was in acting school for a year but I got kicked out. Fuck school.” #DeathStranding #hideokojima pic.twitter.com/GlKWFt24Xw— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Some shots of @NicolasWR doing the motion capture for @deathstranding @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN #deathstranding #SDCC19 #SDCC pic.twitter.com/sT1QOFGdDB
— TheGeeklyGrind (@TheGeeklyGrind) July 21, 2019
Nicholas: “This was a picture of us after lunch… The facial capture was an interesting process.
He had told me a lot about the character, he’s the most interesting character in the game.” pic.twitter.com/gMabYDwGOA
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Nicholas: “This was a shot we all took together after shooting. Madds wasn’t as good as me.” pic.twitter.com/4X2LGd2w7U
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Hideo: “When I first started my new company, I started from scratch and was alone. This game is based on how you connect.” pic.twitter.com/66mhF4o7XK
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Q: Why is it important to you not to make a game that’s similar to something before?
H: There’s no reason to create something that’s already there. I want to create something that gives more inspiration to the world. #DeathStranding #hideokojima— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Hideo: Like Hollywood movies where some don’t live with you. People just digest and consume. What I do is make something that’s difficult to chow down when you digest my work. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
H: What happens when I release my game or when Nicholas releases a movie, we get criticism or praise. But you think about it 10 years later same as Bladerunner or Space Odessey. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
H: When I first started my own production, the easiest thing for me to do is make a game where everyone is on an island and shoots each other. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
N: Creativity is what moves civilizations forward. We’re living in an era when creativity is dictated by algorithms that it becomes meaningless almost. It’s important to counter that and creativity is an individual experience in a collective medium. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Nicholas: Hideo and I enjoy destroying “good taste” which is a destroyer of creativity. You either love or hate it because that’s life. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Q: What do you think about the merging of screens? Netflix, etc.
Hideo: 120 years ago movies were created. At first you had to go to theaters, and studios got rich. Then came the TV and it was sponsored by commercials and TV companies made money. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
H: Now it’s steaming with movies and games. Games and movies will come closer in a similar category. I think we’re going into an era with a lot of possibilities and there will be something in-between as well. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
H: But if you made something of this kind, you can directly feed to everyone and each other. You don’t need a sponsor. In the next 5 years, AIs will make remakes and sequels automatically. Who will win. Nicholas says we will. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Nicolas: Mass media of cinemas before what it is now is that it was an experiment, an invention. There’s just more possibilities to create within. I’m a cellphone freak, besides telling my kids to put it away, I use it for everything. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Nicolas: One thing AI can’ do is be creative. AI doesn’t have a soul yet, that’s human. Creativity is made by polarization. AI can’t do that. Creativity will stay with us because we have souls. That’s the religious part of being a human. #DeathStranding
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Nicolas: I was shooting #TOTDY, I was able to put my two favorite people together, Hideo and my wife in one scene. As Hideo mentions earlier is that you create your own world and unit of collaborators. You share each other’s creative avenues. #DeathStranding #HideoKojima
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Hideo: After I appeared in this, I got offers to be in American TV series, but I’m busy so I turned it down. #TOTDY #DeathStranding #HideoKojima pic.twitter.com/8Nuleii0Z3
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
N: For people who haven’t seen it, it’s like heroine. Really good heroine. It‘s sex death and religion and a lot of humor. I got a B+ for humor in acting school. It’s pure indulgence.. #TOTDY #DeathStranding
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
N: Amazon let me have a lot of freedom. After I finished, I thought it was good to go back to cocoaine and decided to reboot Maniac Cop. Hideo will be canoeing in it. Streaming is the future. #DeathStranding #TOTDY #ManiacCop pic.twitter.com/swtbTQxKZ9
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Official box art for #DeathStranding pic.twitter.com/gwo4fou88u
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Steel box for #DeathStranding. Hideo says he made it himself. #HideoKojima pic.twitter.com/ChDkBXKdnR
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
He brought the baby from #DeathStranding and was stopped at customs wondering what he was trying to bring into America. #HideoKojima pic.twitter.com/zFM1eLPxye
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
Exclusive #DeathStranding poster for panel attendees. pic.twitter.com/pEIDzik1qi
— Kalai 📸 SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
If you want to know more about Death Stranding, you can take a look at the latest English trailer, the Japanese version with additional footage and a different song.
You can also take a look at a recent gallery of beautiful images, and a second one, more showing the first images in color, and the latest showing how you’re prompted to rest and sleep in the game.
Death Stranding is coming to PS4 on November 8, 2019.
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