Me and Kojima
by Christopher Oneill, 18.09.2004

Meeting The Man

Now that I have played the demo for countless times, my next objective was to track down Kojima, get his autograph, and tell him how much I loved him. My search was futile, Konami representatives told me that there is no way in hell I am going to meet him, they said he was a very busy man. I made up for that turn down by collecting as many MGS kits as I could. (link to description of the MGS3 kits, I have pictures that I can provide)

I went home and was more determined than ever to get what I want, I said to myself “I WILL meet Kojima” I packed my MGS copy, a pen, a camera and went back to E3.

I started off the second day at the Nintendo booth, where I spotted Shigeru Miyamoto so I jumped at the opportunity band took a picture with him, I am not a big fan of Nintendo per se, but if you can't get Ashley Judd, you might as well go for her ugly sister.

Me standing next to Kojima, and taking a picture of his view.	A better angle of the picture. God and I.
Well, it wasn't Kojima, but it wasn't too bad either.	My favorite MGS copy, EVER.

I headed back to the Konami booth for more MGS3 goodness. Every time the trailer rolled (once an hour) I would take out my camera and take a snap of the crowds to show how crowded it was every time the trailer was shown. Suddenly, my heart went from the average 70 beats per second to over 160 beats per second. I saw him, I saw Kojima meshing in with the common crowds, watching his own trailer.

I did not want to appear like a disillusioned, over hyped jackass. So I took out my video camera and zoomed in on his face to make sure that this was the man I have been hunting down. I was still in denial, how can Kojima be standing there with the rest of the crowds? It appears making Metal Gear for so many years made him into a very stealthy person, and his camo meter was certainly high ;).

There was no mistaken it, I removed closer and zoomed in my camera on him again, it was really him, there was a guy next to him who looked fairly familiar. It was Scott Dolph, it was time to take action, here I am, less than 10 feet away from the man which replaced god with.

I thought finding the man would be difficult as hell, but I had no idea that approaching him will be much, much harder. I built up enough courage to walk up to them, making sure I won't be captured by Konami representatives and thrown in the Konami dungeon, where Silent Hill really exists.

I came up to Scott Dolph (standing in Kojima's face) I asked Scott Dolph.

“Excuse me sir, can I please take a picture with Kojima-san?” at this point, Kojima looked at me, and he was very upset that I was so rude in blocking his vision. Scott Dolph, very irritated now, said “excuse me, but we are watching the movie”

I then ran back to where my backpack was, I took out my MGS copy, I removed the manual, took out my pen, a camera and waited patiently..

The trailer was over, and they started moving away from the crowds. I chased after the, I was right behind Kojima saying “Excuse me, excuse me” at this point I was terrified, I was not going to blow this one up. “KOJIMA-SAN” I yelled at him, He turned around, startled, I looked at him, waved my camera saying “no, no”, I then started begging, bowing saying “please, please, PLEASE” He kept smiling and shaking his head. Scott Dolph came towards us, without thinking, I threw the camera at him “please take it” I gave Kojima my MGS copy, he signed it. Scott Dolph said “Say cheese” I did not know what to do, do I laugh? Do I smile? Too late, the picture was taken. I shook Kojima's hand and told him that he is the reason I want to become a director. Seconds later, both men started walking away rapidly. I turned around to see that many people gathered behind me to get to meet Kojima, but apparently Kojima was “too busy” or one of them were as consistent as I was ;).

It happened to fast, I then squatted to the ground, and I literally jumped into the air out of happiness. My friend Nick took another picture incase Scott Dolph did not want to take it, people came to me and said “you are so lucky” that, ladies and gentlemen, truly made my day. I was content, I can finally go about E3 seeing other booths and experiencing other games.

Thanks for visiting MGS:TUS and reading my experience, hope to write more to you soon.

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