Hideo Kojima's book will be published in English this year

Hideo Kojima
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

The designer, writer, and director of videogames including Snatcher, Policenauts, Death Stranding, and, oh yeah, those Metal Gear Solid things, Hideo Kojima has also written a book. A collection of essays published in Japan in 2019, it's all about about the pop culture that inspired and influenced his approach to games. Plus, it includes a conversation with musician Gen Hoshino, who appears on the Death Stranding soundtrack and whose late-night radio show Kojima was a guest on.

The Japanese edition was published with the English title 'The Gifted Gene and My Lovable Memes'. Which is amusing but perhaps a slight mistranslation, given that the introduction for the paperback edition gave it more sensibly as 'The Memes I Love'. In English Kojima's book will be published with a less quirky title as The Creative Gene, and the subtitle 'How books, movies, and music inspired the creator of Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid'.

Kojima Productions began hiring staff for a new game last year, which may or may not be a sequel to our 2020 Game of the Year, Death Stranding. It probably won't be the horror game collaboration with Junji Ito that was rumored to be in the works.

The Creative Gene will be published on October 12, 2021, by Viz Media.

Thanks, Polygon.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

Latest in Action
assassin's creed shadows protector's armor
Assassin's Creed Shadows hits 2 million players, putting it on track to be the series' most successful game yet
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
Western outlaws with masks and guns
'Players don't explore': former Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online designer lays out the perils of 'open world fatigue'
Monster Hunter Wilds palico
Monster Hunter Wilds' first free update will feature 'a whole host of new additions' and a majestic water wyvern for players to blow sky high
Ichiban Kasuga goes divekicking in the Dave The Diver crossover DLC
Ichiban Kasuga makes like a dragonfish and joins Dave the Diver’s latest DLC on April 10th for some fisticuffs and a few rounds of karaoke
Assassin's Creed Shadows Tea Ceremony answers - Naoe about to sip tea from a bowl.
All Assassin's Creed Shadows Tea Ceremony answers
Latest in News
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
Silent Hill f is not messing around – now it's been banned in Australia
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 22: A view of Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California, United States on August 22, 2024.
'Google must divest the Chrome browser:' DOJ renews call for Google to sell Chrome, and Android could be next
Victory screen of Big Rigs showing infamous "You're Winner" message under a three-handle gold trophy
One of the worst games ever made is coming to Steam, but we won't know how cruel this joke is until we see the price tag
Sci-fi character from Dune
Dune: Awakening promises us a breath of fresh air, skipping early access for a full launch with no monthly subscription in May
Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach concept art
'The dream of the tech industry is to sell off your company at an overinflated price and retire,' says actor behind Baldur's Gate 3's Karlach, 'And I feel that's being done with game studios right now'
assassin's creed shadows protector's armor
Assassin's Creed Shadows hits 2 million players, putting it on track to be the series' most successful game yet