Above is a quote Hideo Kojima ended his keynote presentation with. Below is also one of his favorite quotes from scientist Robert H. Goddard.

In his keynote presentation, Hideo Kojima explained that "Metal Gear" came to be because he was trying to make a combat game for the MSX2. Here are some slides that explain:

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Game Design That Made The Impossible Possible in the "Metal Gear" Series

Kojima's mission was to create a combat game for the MSX2, but he was limited by the number of sprites on-screen.

That made his mission impossible. (Yes, Tom Cruise jokes were made throughout.)

This required a change in expression. A combat game without fighting? The game won't sell so he thought of another idea.

Another idea: a game about escaping. "I thought this was totally uncool," Kojima said. So he thought of another idea.

A game about hiding? He also thought this wouldn't sell well because it wasn't heroic and at the time, hero games sold well. So he thought of another idea.

So an infiltration game, a hide-and-seek game. He added stories and world to get more attention from players.

Thus, "Metal Gear" was created, and the stealth genre was born.

The keynote speech from Hideo Kojima was about his game design philosophy, which he said is essentially "making the impossible possible." Here are a few slides from his presentation:

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So Mario did jump over physically, but you don't necessarily have to do that.

Let's change cameras. You have a stereotype that you you can't jump over the wall, but if you look at it from the side, the wall is different.

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Other than Nintendo and a few others, Japanese video game companies do not dominate the video game landscape like they used to. Video games have become an increasingly global phenomenon, while Japanese game development has remained insular, primarily appealing to the Japanese audience alone.

"Metal Gear Solid" creator Hideo Kojima is one of few Japanese designers whose games appeal to a worldwide audience, but in an interview with Japanese publication Famitsu Weekly (via 1UP), he pointed at the lack of Japanese games nominated in the Spike TV Video Game Awards and what that means for Japanese game development's future.

"Japan makes all their own books and movies and music. You can't export entertainment made by Japanese people in the Japanese language, so it's all made with the sort of budgets that guarantee profit within the Japanese marketplace only. Meanwhile, the English-speaking world is a global one. The scariest scenario I see is people overseas taking the ideas from Japanese games, running the Hollywood business merchandising machine on them, and taking all the revenue. If that happens, then there won't be any new Japanese creators."

What do Japanese game developers need to do to become relevant again?

Given how excited gamers have been about Kojima this week, I thought you'd all like to see what his mind looks like.

I took this photo two years ago, when I interviewed "Metal Gear Solid" mastermind Hideo Kojima in 2006 in his Toyko work apartment. He had a lot of interesting stuff in there, including "Metal Gear" sculptures, a little "Boktai" display, and a collection of MRI scans of his brain. (See the full series of pictures here)

Can anyone spot the lobe where La Li Lu Le Lo came from?

Kojima and I were supposed to sit down for an interview this evening but I was told Monday he had to cancel for scheduling reasons. That's too bad, since there have been questions I've been wanting to ask him for a while -- some that I was immediately kicking myself for not asking during my last interview with him in the spring of 2006.

Here's hoping Mr. Kojima can sit with MTV News again in the future. For now, this is my half of the interview that I was hoping for:

QUESTIONS FOR HIDEO KOJIMA, June 11, 2008 - 5PM Eastern

1) How does it feel to be in New York City, where one of your games was set?

2) Most of the video games we play aren't explicitly about the world we live in. But the "Metal Gear Solid" games have sometimes been uncannily connected to the events of current day. For example, "Metal Gear Solid 2," featured terrorist incidents near and in New York City and was released in the fall of 2001. "Metal Gear Solid 4" is, at least initially, as far as I've seen, set in a war-torn Middle East that is relevant to the situation in the Middle East now. Issues such as the financial cost of war and the way it relates to the oil economy are central to the game and relevant to our world today. How much have you tried to make your games about the world we live in? How much is coincidence? And would you like to see more designers take this kind of approach?

3) Previous "MGS" games clearly named their locales, such as Russia in "MGS3" and Manhattan in "MGS2." "MGS4" appears to be set in Iraq, but no one calls it that in the game. Why not?

4) I meant to ask you this two years ago: how do you determine which parts of a "Metal Gear Solid" game are going to be playable and which are going to be cut-scenes?

5) You changed a lot of things about the "Metal Gear Solid" games over the years, including things like the camera angle that you clearly liked doing the original way. Yet one thing you and your team haven't budged on is the way the series presents cut-scenes. Some people love them. Others grumble that they're too long and make "Metal Gear Solid" games less interactive than they should be. You made changes to some many other things over the years. Why haven't you reacted to the critics of the cut-scenes?

6) What were some of your biggest influences for the "MGS4" game? Books? Movies? CNN? What about western games? It's been said that you've had your eye on them.

7) You've been talking about the game publicly for a couple of years. Some developers have recently been talking about how they'd like the preview cycle to be shorter for games. Did you ever wish you could save your discussion and presentation of "MGS4" until closer to its release?

8 ) I reported a couple of weeks ago that some reviewers were bristling at restrictions Konami had placed on "MGS4" reviews. That resulted in a lot of discussion about how games should be reviewed and what reviewers should talk about. How were you hoping people would handle reviewing "Metal Gear Solid 4"? What would you prefer they do or don't discuss in their reviews?

9) Previous "MGS" games were updated with new versions. For example, "Snake Eater" was followed by the tweaked and enhanced "Subsistence." What kind of opportunities to re-visit and re-work the content and design of "MGS4" do you see a year or so down the road? Or do you think you completely hit the mark with the initial release this time? What are the chances of an Xbox 360 version?

10) In 2006 you and I talked about the image of a sunset you saw and how the sensations that come from seeing that sunset are something you still want to deliver in game. Two years later, how much closer are you to that goal?

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That's the interview I hoped for. Hopefully we can do it next time he's in New York. MTV will be ready for you, Mr. Kojima.