Leveling Down

Meet the creator of one of my favorite video game series of all time?

Last night I decided to go wait in line for 8 hours at the Times Square Virgin Megastore to get a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 signed by Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid. What’s funny is I don’t even have a PS3, but I still had to go anyway because this guy is a legend! Read on for more photos and my blogging of the event.

The lining up
I initially thought that the signing was going to be midnight Wednesday night, 6/11 – i.e. Tuesday night going into Wednesday and it was like 95 degrees on Tuesday. With the weather so hot, I reluctantly decided to not go to the signing since I didn’t want to wait several hours sweating for a chance to get my game signed. But then when I found out it was last night and the weather was perfect, I decided pretty much at 4:30PM I would head over and line up. I grabbed dinner from Chipotle by my office and took the subway up to Times Square and headed to the line.

By the time I got there were perhaps already 200 or so people ahead of me, with the first person in line having gotten there very early that morning. The biggest concern I had was that there were several breaks in the line to not block certain entrances. These breaks could have fit maybe a hundred or so people in line, so they were big gaps and people could potentially cut in. When I lined up the people ahead of me suspected we were in the early 200s, and the rumor going around was that he was only signing the first 300. I quickly became friends with the guys around me as we were going to be standing next to each other for the next 8 hours.

You’d think that 8 hours would take forever to wait in line, but I was surprised by how quickly the time moved. Most people (myself included) were playing their DS’s and PSP’s while constantly chatting up video games. The guy in front of me was probably not even 20 and he was a huge Metal Gear worshiper. The guy knew like everything there was to know about Metal Gear, and was able to tell me about various backstories and characters that made me wonder how much of a fan he really was. Then he opened his backpack to show us what he brought to get signed – it was practically every Metal Gear game ever released, as well as every soundtrack. It was nuts! Obviously he wasn’t going to get everything signed, but I guess he brought everything just to be safe.

It was only one signature per person, so the MGS fan in front of me told our “group” that he would have about four more people show up, but only one of the four would be getting something signed. The other three were there just for the company, which was fine by us. The two different guys behind me each had a couple of their friends show up, and I told them that my wife would show up later too (after calling and asking her to come to help take photos). Apparently everyone was doing it, having their friends butt in and we were getting pissed because when we first lined up we were in the early 200s and when it got closer to midnight there were about 300 ahead of us. We complained to the Virgin Megastore security guards to ask for wristbands or something so that it would reduce the number of people cutting in line, but one of the security guards simply told us to alert him if he saw anyone suspicious in the line. “Yeah, thanks a lot pal like we’re going to be able to point them out…”

My wife’s arrival
At 11:30PM my wife called me. Even though I told her I was on 46th between 7th & 6th Avenues, she had the audacity to tell me on the phone, “Hey I can’t find you since there’s geeks everywhere in this line.” (Thanks!) I waved to her and she found me nestled snuggling among fellow gaming geeks. I asked her to walk around the line and take photos as she saw fit, being the photographer for the blog and all. I heard from other guys in the line that there was someone dressed up in the famous “Metal Gear Solid cardboard box,” so maybe she could get a photo of him, as well as any other people in costumes.

Here are the photos she took when she was walking around:

Line wrapped around the block.

End of the line

The entrance to the Virgin Megastore was on Broadway between 45th and 46th, and it wrapped around 46th and around 6th Ave. I was in the middle of 46th St., and my wife wondered how the people at the very end of the line, on 6th Ave., expected to get signatures. Why wait at all?

Snake cosplayer with a cardboard box

Another Snake cosplayer

At 12AM, the line began to move forward every few minutes as the security let groups of people in maybe about 25 at a time. When we finally got in front of the store entrance, some of the guys who already got signatures came out and we flagged them down. The guy with the cardboard box told us that Kojima thought his costume was quite amusing, and showed us that Kojima signed his cardboard box!

Entering the store and lining up to buy the game
When we got inside, we took the escalator down and saw the signing area. At that point everyone in my group started shouting out and Kojima looked up and cheered with us. Totally sweet.

Here is what we saw going down the escalator.

We got directed towards a line that fed to cashiers where you could buy the game, the 80 GB bundle, the limited 40GB Gun Metal bundle, and/or the strategy guides. As long as you purchased one item, Kojima would sign anything that you gave him. (I.e., if you bought Metal Gear Solid 4, you could still give him your copy of Metal Gear Solid 3 to sign.)

While waiting in line to buy the item, one of the security guards told us that to queue up in the area right in front of the signing area, you had to show that you purchased something and there had to be one purchased item per person. My original plan was to have my wife accompany me in the line so she could take a photo of me with Kojima, but because she wasn’t buying anything, they wouldn’t let her get to the area right in front of him. So I decided, “Fine, I’ll just buy two copies of the game since I can probably get rid of that second copy on eBay or something and it will allow her to be right behind me to get a good close up photo of me with Kojima.”

Plenty of Metal Gear Solid 4 items for sale

I was about #300 in line, and some guy right in front of me bought the limited edition 40GB Gun Metal bundle. He opened it up while waiting in the queue in front of the signing area so that he could have Kojima sign his PS3. That was nuts. I’m actually wondering now if I should have just ended up buying the 80 GB bundle and having him sign the included MGS4 game there. I mean, I was all excited and hyped up about Metal Gear Solid 4 since it was playing all across the huge TVs in the store but I bought the game with no console to even play it on. But I guess $500 is not exactly something to spend impulsively, and I noticed that practically no one else bought a console – everyone was just buying the game.

Kojima having a little exchange with some guys in front of us

The final line to actually get the signatures
While in the last line right in front of the staging area, we realized that Kojima shouldn’t sign the plastic wrap for the game, because it wouldn’t be permanent so it would probably smear off. I was a little annoyed because at the UK release and the Uniqlo signing today the people in line get cardboard sleeves to slide over their MGS4 games, allowing you to actually not have to open the game itself. Sadly, we had to open our copies of the game and have him sign the cover insert of the game.

My wife got nervous herself as we got closer, even though she had no idea who this guy even was. She asked me if I was nervous and I wasn’t – I mean it’s not like he and I were going to have a conversation. But when it was my time to hand him my copy of the game, I simply said, “Kojima-san, hajime mashite.” This literally translates to, “Mr. Kojima, pleased to meet you for the first time.” He smiled as he was signing my copy of the game after he heard that!

When it was my wife’s turn, I asked her to see if she could take a photo of him signing her copy and here it was:

Kojima signing my wife’s copy

As soon as you get the signature from the actress sitting next to Kojima, the Virgin staff escort you out of the area practically immediately. So I moved as they wanted but my wife took more time. I looked behind me as I was going up the escalator and noticed that she was leaving the table without even getting her cover sleeve back! NOO!!! Fortunately she turned back around and they gave it to her. What was she thinking?!

Another shot of him signing as we were leaving the signing area.

Afterthoughts
By the time we got out of there it was already almost 2am, and we appeared to be among the last people that made the cut for the signature, as there were only about 20 people behind us in line at the staging area. We hopped in a cab and got home. I have to thank my wife for coming out with me to this thing until 2 in the morning, even though she had to get up super early this morning. We tried to think of something equivalent for her that would have her line up for eight hours in line for, and we weren’t quite successful. I think she considered the possibility that she might line up for eight hours to get a photo taken with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but that was the closest we got.

As soon as we got home, we took photos of the signature on the box, uploaded the photos to my computer, washed up, and hopped into bed – I think she had to get up in like 3-4 hours. I proceeded to spend the next half hour or so checking over the photos and making sure they were OK.

Behold: Hideo Kojima’s marvelous signature (and the Japanese model, Yumi Kikuchi – one of the bosses of the game)

It was a success! I was dead tired last night and I don’t feel so hot today, but it’s a small price to pay for meeting one of the most beloved game designers of our time. The guy was so nice. He really appreciates his fans, cheering every time the crowds chanted his name, etc. A real class act – maybe I should buy a PS3 to actually play his game. But if this game ends up releasing on the 360, I’ll be quite unhappy. I guess it’s best to just wait for maybe another year or so before taking the plunge when I know that the 360 won’t get the game.

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