Me and Kojima
by Christopher Oneill, 18.09.2004

The journey to E3

The second I read the following statement “Konami announced today that MGS3 will be playable on the E3 floor.” I panicked, fell off my chair, and went into an emotional seizure partially because I live 15 minutes away from where the demo will be playable, partially because I have enough rascal genes in my blood to find a way to get into E3.

My constant, ongoing obsession of Metal Gear Solid will finally pay off, of course it doesn't hurt that I lived in LA and knew the right people. After three months of patient and painful anticipation, E3 opened its doors to the “privileged public” I took three days off my university; you can fail a class anytime of any year, but I knew very well that there is only one E3 2004.

I did not know what to expect, since Konami and Kojima are not the most predictable the gaming industry. Would the demo be an actual part of the game? Are there any cut-scenes will they give a copy of the demo? However, my most important concern was “will I ever get to meet Kojima?”

This is how the scene looked every time the MGS3 trailer played, it was always this packed.

Me in the MGS3 jungle of awesomeness... Hungry for some Snake?

I was at the E3 entrance closest to Konami's booth, where I got a clear viewing of the jungle that Konami constructed for displaying the demo. For some odd reason, I was there an hour and a half earlier than opening time. The anticipation was simply killing me, I have only experienced such feelings the night where I lost my virginity, but that will be a different article.

I did not waste anytime at all. I took off in search of Kojima on the convention floor (outside the E3 show floor) I went inside every restroom scanning for Kojima. The thought of seeing Kojima urinating made me utterly sick at the fact that I held such a moment with such high regards. Unfortunately, I had no luck finding him.

The doors were about to open, so I ran back to the entrance. The moment the doors opened up, I sprinted to that jungle, got my hands on the controller and hit the start button.. it all seemed so surreal. Seconds later Konami's giant show floor screen started playing what sounded like a Kojima's presentation. I left the controller and ran to the front of the screen, where the place was packed

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