Kojima talks future of Metal Gear Solid on portable devices

There aren't many Japanese names that we Westerners can remember with ease. Thanks to his epic stealth game series Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima's is one of them.

With a brand new addition to the franchise on the PSP horizon, the celebrated game designer has been Tweeting about how he sees MGS evolving. Naturally we wouldn't be too concerned if that future only had a PSP in it, but it seems Kojima could now be leaning more toward smartphones than consoles.

"It's not that PSP is the main platform for the future MGS series," Kojima says. "Peace Walker is a test to see what type of expansions are there if MGS is brought to a portable."

The iPhone has already toyed with the notion of a smartphone MGS, with mixed results, but Kojima goes on to explain that his design studio won't simply be chasing after next generation consoles in an effort to arbitrarily continue the series.

If the PSP is a test of what could be accomplished by a newly designed portable version, it's not at all unreasonable to surmise that his attention is turning toward the new range of pocket hardware along the lines of the power processor-equipped devices revealed at this year's WMC.

Dare we ponder the notion that Metal Gear Solid could be continued not on the Xbox 360 or PS3, but on Windows Mobile 7, Bada, iPhone, Android or even on the iPad? Our money is on these platforms as being the focus of Kojima's ambitions. He's a smart man, after all.