'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain' won 2015's Best Action Adventure Game honors at last night's Video Game Awards, but creator Hideo Kojima was not there to accept the award... because Konami banned him from attending. Dick move, Konami. Dick move.

Prediction: 2015 will be remembered by 'Metal Gear Solid' fans as the year that Konami destroyed the fantastic, long-running stealth action franchise.

Hideo Kojima has been behind every major title in the Metal Gear Franchise (no, we don't count 'Metal Gear Rising'). From 'Metal Gear' for NES all the way through 'Metal Gear V: The Phantom Pain,' Kojima has been there -- each time stretching the limits of what was thought possible in gaming while reinventing the franchise for a new generation of gamers and another generation of consoles. Like many would say of the two Snakes that headline his adventures -- the man is a legend in the field.

Respect and critical acclaim aren't the only things Kojima's brilliant body of work has accumulated. The man has made Konami hundreds of millions of dollars with his creations for nearly 30 years. You'd think a creator of his caliber would be granted free rein artistically, along with truckloads of respect and trust from Konami. Nope.

Konami's latest, but not even close to only (more on that later), slap-in-the-face to Kojima came at last night's video game awards. In an unbelievably bitch-ass move, the gaming company used his employment contract to block Hideo Kojima from attending the Video Game Awards, where he would have accepted the award for Best Action Adventure Game of 2015. Surprisingly, the host had no problems outing the story behind Hideo's absence during the broadcast of the show. The audience booed Konami's bulls***, as they should have. Talk about trying to burn a long-standing empire to the ground.

This has been a crazy year over at Konami. Not only have they pulled the plug on almost every console game -- including the highly-anticipated Guillermo Del Toro/Kojima collaboration 'Silent Hills' -- in favor mobile and casino gaming, they have disrespected Kojima and his team in just about every way imaginable. Everything from major insults like ripping his name off of all the promotional materials for MGSV, to minor, yet somehow more disrespectful jabs like limiting his team's internet access have been rumored. Is that any way to treat a legend?

The knowledge of Konami's f***ery is even more infuriating when you play The Phantom Pain. It is a brilliant game with some of the most satisfying gameplay I've ever experienced. However, Konami's neglect becomes evident around what feels like it should be the middle of the best game you've ever played... that's when they start making you repeat missions at a higher difficulty and then shove you through an extremely unsatisfying, half-baked, and all-too-quick ending. Something... actually, a lot of something is missing. I'm guessing it feels a lot like watching only the first 10 minutes and last 30 seconds of 'Inception.'

Reports have said that Konami got pissed because Kojima was spending too much money and taking too long to complete the game. Honestly, I would've gladly waited another year or two for his complete vision. Instead, we're left with this dick-tease of a game filled with so many loose ends that will never be resolved the way they were intended. There's even a badass, half-completed final mission with a boss battle that tied up many loose ends... and it was left on the cutting room floor! WTF, Konami?

What's even worse is that these dicks get to continue the party without Kojima. That's right, they announced not so long ago that the franchise will continue without him. Haven't they done enough damage?

Every MGS title had a fourth-wall-breaking moment and plenty of plot-twists. How crazy is it that the series is ending with, perhaps, the biggest mindf--- of them all -- Kojima essentially becoming Big Boss in real life? The parallels between this Kojima Vs. Konami drama and the story arc of his anti-hero are surprisingly similar. Wikipedia describes Big Boss as follows:

"an American Special Forces Operator and decorated war hero until political manipulations cause him to be disillusioned, becoming the leader of a rogue band of mercenaries known as Outer Heaven." 

Sound like anyone you can think of? I can't wait to see what Hideo's "Outer Heaven" does to get back at Konami.

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