So I was looking at Destructoid today and came across this little gem.. Konami Files Trademark for Big Boss Pachinko Machine

So it's actually happening? I know we all joked about this with the recent Konami stuff but....damn...

Oh, you thought it was a joke? Nah, it was expectation.

I mean its funny becouse its true.

@cornbredx: Yeah I guess, but this soon? MGSV has barely been out for a month. They don't waste any time over there, do they?

@stonyman65: Why would they waste time?

Also Big Boss has been known before Mgsv.

@rethla: I know, I'm just kind of surprised is all. I mean, we all saw it coming but I didn't think it would happen this fast. I kind of expected a shitty MGS mobile game or something before they went full-on Pachinko machine. It made since with Silent Hill and Castlevania because those are more or less dead franchises otherwise, but you'd think they would at least do something else with MGS before they devoted time and money into a Pachinko machine.

I don't know... I wasn't expecting this for like another few years, or at least once Kojima left the company, which I don't think is happening until the end of the year.

Last I'd heard, pachinko, while still immensely profitable, is on the decline in Japan. Konami needs to cash in now.

The only thing surprising for me is how this basically legendary publisher/developer that helped shape the gaming market and culture as we know it today with iconic gaming franchises is able to turn on a dime and throw that all away.

Money, yes, but to have zero reverence for what you've accomplished? That is what has always seemed so odd to me. Was it a company ran 100% by businessman from the very start and they just lucked into all those popular game series?

@humanity: I wouldn't say "turn on a dime". Konami has had their health clubs and pachinko machines for years. The steady decline in Castlevanias, cancelling of ZOE3, outsourcing their games (Contra 4/Lords of Shadow), scaling down from consoles to handheld (Castlevania/Suikoden Tierkreis), abandoning unprofitable genres (Suiiiikodennnn), etc. have all been symptomatic of what Konami was trying to do all along. Kojima and MGS really was the last holdout for a company that once made games, to a company that just happens to make games. Then to zilch. It's been long in the making, I'd say, even if we only observe Konami's game-producing history.

To some extent, yes, I'd say it was ALL business suits that just happened to have lucked into finding the right creative minds to create a bunch of its key franchises. I split the difference with the original intent being a video game company, but that probably all internally changed, somehow into a pure profit driven company. Scuttlebutt is that there may be yakuza involvement (which makes the push for gambling make sense, circumstantially). I think Konami changed along the way. If they were true to their gaming origins, they probably would've gone down making games. But the heads of that company clearly have a different vision, one that doesn't involve producing games as we know and love. Kojima's MGS was probably only allowed to exist as long as it did, as long as it was a moneymaker. You can probably infer the rest.

Can they just skip to the Erotic Big Boss machine?

Pretty much yes. It was run 100% by businessmen from the start and it still is. Those businessmen just managed to hire rather competent people to make video games for them which at the time they saw as a lucrative market so they gave the designers money to make games.

Also everything @dudeglove and others have said about none of us joking that the machines where coming is correct. Nobody was joking. We all knew they'd get here and I'm surprised it even took them this long. I expected them to already have them in pachinko halls by now.

@jesus_phish: That is really interesting if it is in fact the case of everything being a cold, calculated business move on their part. For so much talent to show up in one place at the same time is pretty astounding, especially if the company never really cared about fostering that talent in the first place.

@ikabubu:Yah maybe that wasn't the perfect way of phrasing it. Everything you wrote is absolutely right. As I wrote, I'm simply a little surprised at the complete lack of reverence for their own products. I work in advertising and I know most big companies like Samsung, Sony, Philips or Mazda have very high standards of how their brand is presented and how their products are viewed across the globe. Konami is strangely enough willing to basically do anything as long as it turns a buck. I'm a fairly cynical person so it really shouldn't really be surprising that a big company is laser focused on profit margins and everything else be damned, but strangely enough it still manages to surprise me.. somehow.

I'm waiting for the machine that is just a giant Quiet and you have to land the pachinko balls in between her cleavage. Only then will have Konami fully realized their potential.

This is Pequod! Standing by for lever pull, Boss!

@humanity: Was it a company ran 100% by businessman from the very start and they just lucked into all those popular game series?

Thats how all games are made...

What the hell is pachinko?

@draugen: A popular form of "not"-gambling in Japan. It's a sort of pinball. Because gambling is illegal in Japan, you win balls out of the machines, which you can trade for prizes which you can then take to another location away from the Pachinko hall and trade for cash.

@jesus_phish: sounds legit

I'm not even sure why this is newsworthy. The surprising part is that this is only happening now. Haven't they been making pachinko machines for years?

Legit and Fun >.>;;;;;

Despite popular belief, not all publishers are heartless suits waiting to exploit the next set of creatives for best profit. Some of these companies genuinely care about games and about the IP's they create.

Konami needs to act fast when it comes to churning out MGS pachinko machines. Generally, the only people who play pachinko are men over 50, though there has been a push to try and introduce women and teenagers to pachinko by actually opening a window in the pachinko parlour so it isn't hotboxed by cigarette smoke and putting up dividers between the machines so you don't have to be embarrassed that people are watching you gamble. All of this seems futile because a bill that will legalize casinos is picking up momentum. Pachinko is only really popular because it's the only form of gambling that's been granted an exception from the government.

@456nto: But that bill is being spearheaded with support from Konami so either way it's a win for Konami.

Snake... Try to remember the basics of Japanese gambling laws...

SUCH A LUST FOR TINY METAL BALLS!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!?!

Come play this like a damn FIDDLEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I won't throw your money to the heartless sea... It will be here in this machine, always...

etc, etc...

It's still funny.

@humanity: Now that you bring that to my attention, you're right, the staggering devaluation of their brand icons, even within the past decade, is bizzare.

You could argue that Konami LET their IPs be devalued by letting them wither in obscurity or pared down sequels

Who knows? Maybe Konami has had enough of being burned by the high risk nature of producing games. Possibly true, BUT none of this excuses how the employees were reportedly treated, though.

To me, this pachinko machine is a misappropriation. A misplaced sense of value of what they had, but you can see it as Konami not caring anymore. They want out, even if it means burning down the good things. The IP value of MGS and their gaming public's perception be damned, but WE may not be the market they care about anymore.

Yeah nobody was kidding, this is exactly what was going to happen.

Nah its pretty funny still. Konami in general is pretty great right now. They do something stupid the internet freaks out and then they buy shit from them anyways. Rinse and repeat.

How is that? They have Soccer and MGSV right now, not taking anything away from either of those games, obviously big name sports games do well and of course MGSV, but that's kind of it? Unless you mean financially then sure they have lots of other stuff, but what is making them great? Two good games doesn't seem like a hot streak to me or anything.

They've released a silent hill pachinko machine.

One of the most scary work of art in the history of mankind.. On a freaking pachinko machine!

There's no joke in releasing a pachinko machine for any other games they have now.

It wasn't a joke. It was a dire prediction of the future wrapped in a joke.

Yeah this was the case. I knew this was going to happen.

I also am expecting some version of the base construction type stuff from V as a mobile game.

They could burn their entire game division to the ground and it still wouldn't as bad as the voice acting in Suikoden Tierkries.

I'm honestly not surprised...It's still a bit sad and weird.