When the gaming software giant Konami released developer Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid in 1998, it was immediately dubbed the "greatest game ever" by press and players alike. A groundbreaking blend of stealth, action, and cinematic storyline, it sold over six million copies worldwide for the PlayStation alone. To this day, it's considered a masterpiece -- a game that set new standards for an entire industry.� The fact that Konami can actually sell a PC version two years after the game's initial release is a testament to the level of quality of Kojima's creation.

Unsurprisingly, previews of Metal Gear Solid 2� at E3 this year were overflowing with enthusiasts, and gamers around the globe have been panting for its release ever since the first stunningly detailed screenshots hit the Net.� With a staff of forty people, the personable Kojima and his MGS 2 team have been working since late '98 to push the envelope on PlayStation 2's vaunted Emotion Engine. Its launch was originally planned for spring 2001, but has now been pushed back to late 2001.� This is bad news in more ways than one.� Apart from the well-publicized and disastrous manufacturing shortfall for the U.S. PS2 roll-out, sales of the console in Japan haven't lived up to expectations, a fact many have blamed on a lack of quality games; on the software side, low sales have been blamed on both a lack of compelling titles and, ironically, people using the console as a cheap DVD player rather than game player.� So obviously, Kojima's next installment of the Solid Snake saga is anxiously� awaited by suits and gamers alike as the killer app Sony's console needs. "I don't mean this as an excuse, but working with PlayStation 2 is really tough!" exclaims Kojima, MGS's award-winning software director and producer (an oft-heard complaint about the apparently nightmarishly difficult PS2 development software).

Kojima is something of a modern multimedia Renaissance Man: An erstwhile movie critic, he simultaneously develops MGS software for other platforms (like Nintendo's Gameboy), produces other games for various age groups (recently, the robot game Zoe, targeting the teen market), and serves as Konami vice president. But he still likes to get his hands into the nuts and bolts of game design.

FEED caught up with Kojima at Konami's offices in Shibuya, Tokyo, to talk about what we can expect from Metal Gear's next incarnation; some of the difficulties and advantages of working with the PS2; and the future of Smell-O-Rama in gaming.