TomonobuItagaki posts (Subscribe to this feed)

As you can imagine, many were worried when Itagaki showed off the DS entry in his beloved Ninja Gaiden series. Would the groundbreaking new control scheme set the bar for action games on the system or would it be an unresponsive and unrefined mess, causing you to contemplate throwing your DS against the wall? Well, I'm happy to report that none of these fears ever pan out in Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, which is a pretty great game overall.

It turns out, the game is pretty much everything we hoped it would be: a benchmark for how to do an action game on the DS and how other developers can create a great DS entry in their own respective franchises.

Gamerscore Blog recently extended us the offer to ask Tomonobu Itagaki, the outspoken head of Team Ninja, one question about Ninja Gaiden II. We thought long and hard about the question, and this is what we came up with: some changes have been made to Ninja Gaiden II to make it more accessible to the gaming community at large, most notably the regenerating health system. What do you say to gamers who are worried that Ninja Gaiden II will be less challenging as a result? You may behold the detailed answer to that question (in video form) after the break.

Today's new pronunciation video from MTV Multiplayer is a threefer, with Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki explaining (in Japanese no less) how you pronounce his name, "Ninja Gaiden" and "Helena" from Dead or Alive 4.

What's wonderful is that these are all phrases that you could have the chance to use in your everyday life, such as "2008's game of the year award goes to Ninja Gaiden 2," or "Come on up and get your award Tomonobu Itagaki!" or "Excuse me, Helena, but your breasts are obscuring my view of the acceptance speech."

Fresh from our liveblog Microsoft TGS briefing, Tomonobu Itagaki has unveiled Ninja Gaiden 2 for the Xbox 360. The latest iteration of the title will cut off heads all the time and not even think twice about it as today's earlier screenshot leak indicated. Itagaki is pushing to include even more ideas his team had to scrap with the franchise relaunch (and relaunch), admitting that they made many compromises. We've lost count of the numbers -- does Black count -- but maybe this time will be the charm.

According to a brief 1UP preview, the title will be published by Microsoft instead of Tecmo, so this one seems locked into a 360 exclusive. Look for the game in 2008.

Read - Live at the Microsoft Pre-TGS press briefing
Read - Previews: Ninja Gaiden 2



[Thanks, Jonah]

The fine folks at Joystiq recently got a chance to sit down with Dead or Alive creator and snappy dresser, Tomonobu Itagaki. During their chat, Joystiq had a chance to ask Itagaki a few questions about upcoming projects, reviews of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, and what he thinks about the current crop of consoles. We won't spoil the whole interview for you, but, as Xbox 360 fanboys, we would be remiss if we didn't tell you that he prefers the Xbox 360. Oh, and if you're a Tekken fan, it's probably best you don't mention it around him. Hit the "Read" link for the full interview.

The developers in Tecmo's Team Ninja don't much care for subtlety, not in their games and certainly not in their comments to the press. Ninja Gaiden Sigma director, Yosuke Hayashi, is fast on his way to becoming a miniature Itagaki (an Itsygaki, if you will) after speaking to Eurogamer in London yesterday. When the topic of developers noting difficulty in creating games for the PlayStation 3 comes up, Hayashi suggests, "if they think it's difficult, they should get out of the ring."

Hayashi explains that in being a creator of games and in position to receive money from players, Team Ninja "shouldn't complain about the difficulty." Outspoken he may be, but the man at least implies that he'll stick to his guns as well as the PlayStation 3. "As I said, people who complain about the difficulty of creating games for PS3 should get out, right? While I'm saying that kind of thing, if I get out myself, then what I say doesn't mean anything! So, I should stay - right?"

You be the judge of that when Ninja Gaiden Sigma gets out in a few weeks.

We hope you weren't holding your breath for an Xbox 360 port of Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki has confirmed that the team has no plans to port the PS3 title. Of course, Xbox 360 owners can play both Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black, the games on which Sigma is based, but it's somewhat disheartening to know that 360 owners won't get a taste of Sigma's additions. According to Itagaki, Sigma was designed for Playstation followers who never had a chance to experience the game on the original Xbox. Not to worry though, as he assures the world that Team Ninja is "taking new challenges" on the Xbox 360. Here's hoping that these challenges are related to an actual Ninja Gaiden sequel and not the next generation of breast physics.

We're certainly impressed by Team Ninja's upcoming DS Ninja Gaiden game. But why is a hardcore 3D action game being developed for Nintendo's admittedly weaker handheld, especially when it comes from the typically technology-savvy team at Team Ninja? GamePro questioned the infamously opinionated Tomonobu Itagaki on why they avoided the PSP platform.

"The design philosophy for the PSP as a piece of hardware is a home gaming machine ... If we were gonna make it for PSP, it'd be better for us to make it for a powerful home system instead," he said. The PSP can display console-quality graphics, unlike the DS. It seems as though Itagaki would be far more interested in creating a new game for a home console rather than a portable, especially if it would take a similar amount of effort.

Puzzlingly, he believes that hardcore gamers wouldn't want a Ninja Gaiden game to appear on Sony's handheld. "I think if I were to develop this game on the PSP, most of my fans would be upset." Sorry to prove you wrong Itagaki, but we're more than a little upset that you think that way.

If you can manage to focus on anything other than the amazing footage in the video after the jump, you might notice that there's a great explanation of the controls in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. Stylus controls seem to make sense in this fast-paced title. Need to slash a guy in his face? Then do it. It's just that simple.

But it's the gameplay footage that's the real star in this video. Even in demo form -- with easier enemies, apparently -- the game looks stunning, and compared to many DS titles, technically amazing. If Ninja Gaiden can look this good, the possibilities for the DS suddenly seem just short of infinite.

Captured at Tecmo's recent "Night Out '07" event in Japan, the above video delves into the control scheme of the upcoming stylish and stylus-driven Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. In what could either be a profoundly intuitive adventure or a fundamentally awkward disaster, series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa is controlled entirely by taps and slashes on the DS touch screen, with blocking being handled by any one of the neglected buttons. The demonstration makes jumping, attacking and flipping out seem pretty simple in the face of multiple enemies, but it's impossible to tell just how accurate and responsive stylus strokes really are.

Though it's graphically quite a departure from the Xbox and forthcoming PS3 iterations, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword still manages some impressive character models, no doubt enhanced by the use of scrolling, prerendered backgrounds. Static backdrops open up the (trap)door to camera issues and off-screen attacks, but the angles don't seem to be too obtrusive in the demonstration. Outspoken designer Tomonobu Itagaki's appearance at the end of the clip is at least comforting -- we know he's somewhat of an expert at touching hostile targets.

Speaking to CVG, Team Ninja head honcho, Tomonobu Itagaki, revealed a teeny tiny little tidbit about the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 2. Those of you who venture outside the safe and comforting walls of X3F may have heard that Ninja Gaiden is making its way to the Nintendo DS. Cleverly titled Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (get it? Dragon Sword?), the game utilizes the stylus to pull off all of Ryu's sick ninja moves. When asked about possible similarities between Dragon Sword and Ninja Gaiden 2, Itagaki responded, "Well... I am personally overseeing the development of everything from the story through to the gameplay elements for both games, so if you're observant you may be able to extrapolate some similarities between the two, yes, and not just in the area of story."

We're assuming that Ninja Gaiden 2 won't magically turn any HDTV into a touch screen, so it's likely that the two games will share some other gameplay related features. We have no idea what those would be, and Ninja Gaiden: DS doesn't arrive until the end of this year, so we'll have quite a while to guess.

Any ideas?

Computer and Video Games asked Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki about the possibility of putting his franchises on the Wii, and, while no concrete information was given, Itagaki indicated that he had at least thought about it. Specifically, he was inspired by Wii Sports Boxing to think about Wii fighting games. It doesn't take much of a leap to conclude that if Itagaki and Team Ninja make a fighting game for the Wii (and they should!) then the words "Dead" and "Alive" will somehow figure into the title.

Dead or Alive is fine-- we admit that we've bought every version of Dead or Alive 2 that's been released in the US for some reason-- but what we want to see is Ninja Gaiden. We can't believe we haven't thought about how awesome Wii controls in fast-paced 3D action games would be, but now we can't stop daydreaming about it. Of course, it's possible that whatever the new franchise is that he's planning could end up being a Wii action game in a new setting.

[Via Game|Life]

In a 1UP interview, Team Ninja's main man Tomonobu Itagaki talks about everything DOAX2. Itagaki explains why certain decisions were made that affect DOAX2's gameplay, online functionality, exploits, and future updates. Not only does he have no remorse for the game's craptacular online options, but even goes far enough to say that the game's multiplayer "would have been better just to not have it to begin with". Also, a patch is going to be released removing the free money exploit, but don't worry because Team Ninja will be selling all the goods via micro-transactions. It's the old "we're removing this cheat so you can buy it from us" routine. And if you've ever questioned Team Ninja's dedication to their games; when asked about putting up a demo on the XBLM Itagaki stated that "for people who are looking for a demo it's unfortunate, since I've already begun moving on to the next game". Is it us or is Itagaki totally back peddling in this interview, stumbling over his own response, and seems totally clueless to what the fans actually want?

[Thanks, Jonah]

The flurry of legal blows between Dead or Alive designer, Tomonobu Itagaki, and the alleged target of his devastating groping attacks continue this week with demotions being handed out and countersuits being considered. Earlier this month, Itagaki fell into the dubious spotlight after a woman, previously working under him at Tecmo, filed charges of sexual harassment. Though it was somewhat unclear at the time, it was implied that Itagaki had been demoted and that his employers wanted nothing more than to sweep the whole affair under the rug.

A Gamespot report details Tecmo's official response, which is firmly on the side of the eccentric (and occasionally drunk) developer. "The alleged sexual harassment of the former employee by Itagaki never took place, and Tecmo did not issue an unjustified notice of dismissal to the former employee." The company insists that the female employee left of her own volition following an internal investigation.

Their own conclusion was that her actions stemmed from personal problems, despite the fact that she and Itagaki "mingled personal affairs with their corporate responsibilities." They were both demoted and had their salaries chopped down. Meanwhile, Itagaki is planning to launch a countersuit in order to avenge his pristine and generally likeable reputation.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Earlier this month, we reported that a former Tecmo employee was charging Tomonobu Itagaki (creator of the DOA series) with sexual harassment. After completing its own internal investigations, Tecmo has publicly responded, categorically denying the sexual harassment claims. Furthermore, the company clarifies that the woman was not fired but quit of her own volition. After that, however, things get a little sticky. From what we can gather, something definitely happened. According to Tecmo, the woman (and presumably Itagaki) "mingled personal affairs with their corporate responsibilities," resulting in "unnecessary confusion." In the aftermath, both the woman and Itagaki were demoted and had their salaries reduced. Something tells us "unnecessary confusion" must be pretty serious if it results in a pay cut. In an attempt to counteract the defamation of his name, Itagaki plans to countersue his accuser for damages.

Sexual harassment is no joke, but one has to wonder if this has affected the sales of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

[Via Evil Avatar]