That is kinda harsh Riachu.

"Have you read the Dark Knight Returns? or, better yet, Ronin? How about V for Vendetta? Or Watchmen, God help you? In order for MGS4 to come within the same plane of existence as Watchmen, it would have to be several times better than any previous Metal Gear Solid game in terms of narrative, and to be frank I just don't imagine that to be true."

I have read The Dark Knight Returns several times. Everybody knows Kojima's storylines are top notch that is why he's considered an aueteur.

How many Tom Waits' albums have you listened to?

You do not know what auteur means.

  Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
au⋅teur
   /oʊˈtɜr; Fr. oʊˈtœr/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [oh-tur; Fr. oh-tœr] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun, plural au⋅teurs  /oʊˈtɜrz; Fr. oʊˈtœr/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [oh-turz; Fr. oh-tœr] Show IPA Pronunciation .
1. a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film its personal and unique stamp.
Origin:
1960–65; < F: lit., author, originator < L auctor. See author

All being an auteur means is that Kojima controls every single aspect of the production. This is not an inherently good thing.

So you're saying you haven't read Watchmen. Or From Hell. Or Swamp Thing. Why are you even bringing up authorrs you haven't read? Hyperbole will only destroy your argument.

I have listened to two or three Tom Waits albums. My favorite is Rain Dogs.

This is just one man's opinion but just because The Dark Knight and Metal Gear Solid are the top of the pile in their respected fields does not make them equal. MGS is a fantastic videogame story and The Dark Knight is just fantastic in any medium. Graphic novels have long ago reached a level of masterful storytelling that games may never be able to approach.

"You do not know what auteur means."

I know what auteur means. I have a degree in English literature and one of my favorite and best classes was film as literature . An auteur is the film equivalent of a maestro in music. These people are all auteurs: Jean Rollin, Jose Mojica Marins, Jess Franco, F. W. Murneau, Fritz Lang, Tim Burton, Quentin Tarantino, Alfred Hitchcock, Mario Bava, Luicio Fulci, Paul Nashy, Joe D'Amato, Charles Chaplin.

They refer to Kojima in Japan with the same title that they use to refer to film directors that they consider to be auteurs.  Which means as you pointed out earlier than Kojima's works bear a stamp of originality that very few other lead designers of video games place upon their works.

Everyone's a grad student on the internet.

An auteur is someone who controls every aspect of a production. You managed to leave off Orson Welles, arguably the most important auteur in cinematic history.

"Auteur" is not a title. It is not a "master". It just means that Kojima controls every aspect of production.

Shigesato Itoi is also an auteur, but he is different from Kojima in that this is, in his case, universally a good thing.

How is Itoi being an autear a good thing while it is bad for Kojima?

Not saying Kojima's is a bad thing, but it is not universally good. There's obvious bias there, I hold Itoi's work to be the best in the business.

Part of it is the fact that Itoi is a pretty good editor and knows how to cut to the chase.

The men I mentioned are just as much auteur's as is Orson Welles. And Coffin Joe could kick Citizen Kane's... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgx38t7AQ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzW8rO3Iz6k

I am aware, thank you, but leaving off Orson Welles leads me to think you just copy and pasted a list from somewhere.

You never explained the Tom Waits thing, either.