Hideo Kojima Stopped by US Customs Over “BB Pod” Prop For Death Stranding

Legendary game creator Hideo Kojima recently dropped by at the San Diego Comic-Con to talk about his newest game, Death Stranding, which is continuing to baffle gamers everywhere. What exactly is Death Stranding? What is that baby doing in that weird… container?

Perhaps that is exactly what US Customs officials were thinking when they scanned the video game creator’s luggage. According to GameRant, Kojima was questioned by Customs officials when they saw that he was carrying among his luggage a container with a life-sized baby inside. Turns out, this initially horrifying item was none other than what is called a “BB Pod”, a contraption featured in his game Death Stranding.

To remind all of you what a BB Pod is, it is that one thing that got everyone’s attention in the game’s trailer released last May. (Case in point: when yours truly went to my local video games store, I overheard a customer asking the store attendant if they have preorders for the game ”with the weird fetus”.) See picture below:

Of course, it is easy for Customs officials to mistake it for something more sinister. We don’t know how Kojima explained the presence of a (fake) baby inside his luggage, but he obviously got away with it, as he was able to exhibit it in his panel at the San Diego Comic-Con.

The BB Pod is part of the limited-edition goodies available for players who will buy the Collectors’ Edition of the game. Besides special downloadable content which you can use on the main character played by Norman Reedus, you’ll get a custom steelbook, a special keychain, and of course, the pièce de résistance: the life-sized BB Pod. The Collector’s Edition will retail at $199.99.

Kojima Productions describes the game’s story as such:

” Besieged by death’s tide at every turn, Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the stranded remnants of the future in his hands, Sam embarks on a journey to reunite the shattered world one step at a time. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? A genre defining gameplay experience holds these answers and more.”

Main character Sam Bridges is based on actor Norman Reedus, who also lent his voice to the character. Antagonist Cliff, on the other hand, is based on and is voiced by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Below are the other characters and the corresponding personalities on which they are modeled from:

• Fragile – Lea Seydoux
• Mama – Margaret Qualley
• Deadman – Guillermo del Toro
• Heartman – Nicolas Winding Refn
• Die-Hardman – Tommie Earl Jenkins
• Higgs – Troy Baker
• Amelie – Lindsay Wagner

The game was developed using Guerilla Games’ Decima Engine. The game was previously described as an open-world action game “with some degree of freedom”. Death Stranding is Kojima’s first game since his much-publicized departure from Konami after working for the company for three decades. He has since formed an independent game studio, Kojima Productions, with Death Stranding being their first release. The game is set for a November 8, 2019 worldwide release.

Source: Game Rant