Foxkei

For those of you who visit the forums often, you might have seen my post last night where I said I may see Ryan Payton tomorrow. Well, I tried, but I almost got arrested! Full story after the jump.

Thanks a lot, Sony!

A little background information is required to understand this situation, so here we go:
Kojima Productions Report is a podcast hosted by Ryan Payton (assistant producer of MGS4) in which he talks MGS related news and games in general; the show goes on air every Thursday morning (pacific time). In yesterday’s podcast [KP Report 086], Ryan mentioned

I’m gonna be having a meeting at Foster city at SCEA… it’s Sony America headquarters the next few days…

[audio=http://www.foxkei.com/mp3/ryan_payton.mp3]
I live very close to Foster city, it’s about a five minute drive to SCEA. I see it every time I go to Safeway or to the bank. Anywho, I knew the podcast was recorded a few days ago and I thought I may see Ryan if I go to SCEA tomorrow. Hoping maybe Mr. Kojima himself would show up too, I decided to cut my classes and go wait for Ryan (and hopefully Mr. Kojima!) outside of the Sony building.

Sony Computer Entertainment - Foster City, CA

I wanted to take pictures and have my games signed, so I put my copy of Portable Ops (for Ryan to sign), and MGS (for Mr. Kojima). I also took Snake’s Revenge as a joke to show Mr. Kojima. I woke up this morning at 7:00, got ready, and headed out at around 7:30. The parking lot was pretty much empty when I got there. I didn’t know they don’t start till 9:00, so I waited in my car for about an hour. By that time, some people where starting to go in, so I got out of my car and went inside and talked to the very nice lady at the front desk. I asked her about Ryan; I said that I was looking for Ryan Payton from Konami. And that he’s coming here from Japan and apparently they’re having a meeting. She checked her computer and told me she didn’t know anything about that. I said that’s fine and that I’d wait outside. I went to my car, grabbed my backpack, and sat on a bench they have outside of the building. Again, let me emphasize I’m sitting OUTSIDE, about 50 feet away from the building and it’s freezing cold. An hour passes (good thing I brought my PSP) and one of the employees (I think he was a security guard, but his outfit looked as if he was a normal employee) came up to me and asked for my ID. I gave it to him and he wrote down everything (even my driver’s license number). Then he asked for my phone number - I gave it to him. And then he asked “What company are you representing?”. I laughed and told him that I’m a fan and just want to meet Ryan. He leaves.
Another hour goes by and I hear someone behind me saying “How you doing?”. I look back and there are two cops behind me. I smiled ’cause I had a feeling this would happen. After I explained my situation, one of them asked for my ID (called on the radio and checked my background. Heh). All the sudden I realize there is a guy (employee - I think he was the boss) standing behind the cops. The policeman, trying to confirm my story, turns around and asks him “do you know Ryan Payton?”. The dude says no and that they don’t have an employee with that name. So I said, “Yes, he doesn’t work here. He’s from Konami, Japan; Kojima Productions. He’s working on Metal Gear Solid 4″. He was shaking his head as if I was making all this up. So I said “Metal Gear? Hideo Kojima?”. He turns to the cop and says “No” and then leaves. What the fuck!? The cop then tells me that the guy said they don’t want me sitting there and that I had to leave. So I did. Grabbed my stuff and headed towards my car. Turns out, the nice policemen are gamers too. One of them asked if I palyed Call of Duty 4. Hehe~

Contents of my backpack

Anyway, I just wanted to thank Sony for supporting its fans and congratulate them for being so well-informed, and how well they know their developers. Lesson learned: don’t sit near Sony buildings while you’re playing Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core on your PSP. They’d think you’re either an Xbox fanboy or you’re there to blow shit up.

 

.:: EDIT ::. I realized it’s neither the guy who called the police nor Sony’s fault. The dude was probably scared. We live in a sad age where people are paranoid about everything. When you see a teenager sitting alone on a bench playing PSP and think he’s here to hurt someone, it just shows what a fearful era we’re living in right now. Heh.

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