HIDECHAN, the audio segment of HIDEOBLOG (MGS "curator" Hideo Kojima's personal and work blog), has gone English, finally freeing any would-be Kojima fans from having to learn Japanese or scour the 'net for a translated transcript of the not-so-well-hidden show.

The international version of Kojima's Japanese broadcasts was made possible thanks to one of Konami's newest hires, former freelancer Ryan Payton, who also got the ball rolling on the Metal Gear Saga pre-order bonus announced at the company's Gamers' Day event, which was held in San Francisco last week. A more in-depth interview with the man can be found here. [Thanks, kingmanor!]

The Kojima Productions Report will serve as "an English companion to Hideo Kojima's audioblog HIDECHAN (Hideo-Channel)," and new podcasts are set to be uploaded to iTunes and the HIDEOBLOG site every Friday. Kojima and other (English-speaking?) guests are expected in the future, so check this XML link if you don't want to miss a session. Here's a direct link to the first episode, if you don't mind a 6.6MB 9-minute intro. Questions may be addressed in future podcasts, so start sending those crazy requests in! Oh, and just to avoid any question duplication, Kojima used to enjoy reading Dostoevsky as a child. Early Russian influence...

[Via GameSpot]