Hideo Kojima asks Twitter whether he should shave his independence beard

Kickstarter, early access, and user-created content have given players new ways to shape games, but never before in the history of the industry has this momentous of a decision been left to a popular vote. That's right, Hideo "Punished 'Venom'" Kojima is asking you whether he should shave his Konami Independence Beard.

The fate of the symbolically rich facial hair, which we first saw in Kojima Productions' coming-out video with Sony's Andrew House, will now be determined. The vast majority of the first 30,000 voters favor a unilateral pardon for Kojima's beard, but with 15 hours remaining, babyfaced Hideo remains a distinct possibility.

Kojima recently embarked on a world tour of new gaming tech with PS4 lead system architect Mark Cerny. Travelling with the notoriously clean-shaven tech genius may be influencing Kojima's decision, though you can see that he was still rocking the whiskers as of his trip to Sony's mocap studio. Ultimately it's up to you, boss.

Image via Hideo Kojima

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Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

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