Joystiq [PlayStation]

Hideo Kojima, revered director of the Metal Gear series, recently talked about the PSP in an interview with IGN. He noted the success Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops has had, especially with the younger demographic. He notes that teens in Japan love the PSP: "middle school students, from 13 to 15, are really fanatical with the machine itself -- look at Monster Hunter Portable, for instance."

The rampant fervor of the teenage PSP audience is what helped drive the Monster Hunter series into millions of units sold. This is obviously an audience that Kojima would love to capture: "I would like to continue with this, to aim at those middle school students because they are so interested with MPO right now. I would continue to try to reach them."

He gives an anecdote about his son. "He has always criticized it: 'Oh, Metal Gear is such a s****y game.' Until the point I released Portable Ops." From the sounds of it, Kojima certainly wouldn't want to disappoint his son, and it appears that a new PSP game from Kojima Productions is inevitable: "My son is really into Portable Ops as well: the use of the WiFi, the ability to play anywhere, bring it to school, etc ... It might not be the Metal Gear series, but I would like to consider this audience because it's very important and new."