Kotaku: Ninja Gaiden 2

Xbox Live Deal Of The Week: Ninja Missions On The Cheap

Mike Fahey — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:40:00 EST

Microsoft second offering in their recently revived Deal of the Week program grants Xbox Live Gold members a special price on the Mission Mode add-on for Ninja Gaiden 2. More »

Hard Proof That Tecmo Japan Is Lying? (This Seems Like It)

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:00:07 EDT

Things are going from bad to worse for Tecmo. First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki announced he was leaving and suing Tecmo, while a totally separate lawsuit has been filed against Tecmo by Hiroaki Ozawa and co-plaintiff Tatsuki Tsunoda. Ozawa is the Tecmo Labor Union leader and Ninja Gaiden 2 lead engineer, while Tsunoda is the Ninja Gaiden 2 level design lead. Two key Team Ninja members! That alone does not bode well for Tecmo. But, this isn't just a story of two guys trying to get some overtime, but also apparently of deception, falsified statements and a dead, beloved company president. There's concrete evidence in the plaintiff's claims — so concrete that it could very well be the silver bullet for Tecmo's current upper management. More »

Tecmo Employees Sue Tecmo (Tecmo Seems Fucked)

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:30:00 EDT

First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki sues former employer Tecmo, now this. On June 16th, two Tecmo employees filed suit with the Tokyo District Court for unpaid wages, demanding 8.3 million yen (US$77,000) in payment. According to the suit, the workers were illegally placed on a "flexible hours" work scheme, starting four years ago. From that point, overtime wasn't paid, apparently. The plaintiffs represent all 300 Tecmo employees and contest that because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime. Tecmo developer Hiroaki Ozawa is one of the plaintiffs in the case, and since February has headed up the "Tecmo Labor Union". The suit even claims that Tecmo has created false documents and has covered up accounting documents. Officials are looking into whether Tecmo has violated labor laws. Things look bad for Tecmo. Very, very bad. More »

Details Surface About Akihabara Killer (Ninja Gaiden 2 Confusion)

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:00:00 EDT

As we reported earlier, tragedy struck Tokyo's video game/anime/manga district Akihabara this Sunday. A 25-year-old-man stabbed 17, killing 7. Truly, truly horrible stuff. The killer's name is Tomohiro Kato, and according to blog Japan Probe, details about him include: He had been to Akihabara many times in the past. He worked for a Tokyo-based temp company and had been sent to Shizuoka for work. He played tennis in school. One of his year book sketches includes a character from Namco RPG Tales of Destiny with messages he wrote in English (after the jump). The mass media has already latched onto the game connection, instead of the tennis one to explain this senseless spree. (Because tennis driving people to kill makes no sense — but apparently video games does!) More »

Itagaki Leaving Tecmo, Suing Tecmo

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:45:00 EDT

Tomonobu Itagaki is leaving Tecmo and suing the company for unpaid bonuses. The Dead or Alive creator cites an unfulfilled Dead or Alive 4 completion bonus, stating, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'" More »

Ninja Gaiden II Bloody Video Blowout

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:30:00 EDT

Let's take a break from Itagaki shooting his mouth off and get back to Ninja Gaiden II, eh? And we'll get back to it by checking out not one, not two, not even three, but four new videos for the game. Above, Mr. Hayabusa painting (a mysteriously drab-looking) Times Square red, with the other three after the jump. More »

Itagaki Is Focused on "Movement" and "Animation"

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:00:00 EDT

As Crecente previously reported, Tecmo's Tomonobu Itagaki is ready to move on after Ninja Gaiden 2. He's said its the last entry in the series. What's next for the sunglassed one? According to Itagaki: More »

Wait! You Might Not Want To Buy The Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack

Mark Wilson — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Did we get your attention before it was Too Late? We hope so. Because if you were already interested in picking up Ninja Gaiden II, pre-ordering the game at Circuit City will score you the Halo 3 Legendary Map pack free. While the process isn't instantaneous, Circuit City will email you a redemption code within a week of your order. And seeing as Halo doesn't seem to be going anywhere in the near future, it could be a decent way to save yourself ~~ten dollars~~ 800 Microsoft Points. More »

Let's Ask Itagaki About Tecmo Bowl!

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:00:57 EST

Tecmo is best known for Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive and Tecmo Bowl. Since Tomonobu Itagaki works at Tecmo and since MTV was interviewing Itagaki, they asked when Tecmo was going to revitalize Tecmo Bowl. Says Itagaki: More »

New Ninja Gaiden 2 Screens Are GROSS

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:50 EST

Well, it's not like the first Ninja Gaiden II screens were exactly pussyfooting around. Neither are these. These are grody, too! (This coming from someone who grew up watching Fulci and Argento giallo flicks.) Tecmo's Itagaki, above, and his Team Ninja really have stepped up the gore for the Xbox 360 exclusive Gaiden sequel. Hit the jump for screenies of Ryu slicing and dicing. If digital meat makes you squeamish, you might wanna sit this round out. More »

Celebrate DotN With Ninja Gaiden 2

Mike Fahey — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:00:41 EST

Oh you know that Team Ninja wasn't going to let the Day of the Ninja go by without giving us some sort of Ninja Gaiden love. Here's an all-new trailer for the Xbox 360 sequel, Ninja Gaiden 2, along with three new screenshots to help you actually see Ryu instead of the blur he leaves in his wake. The video itself is a lot better than the ones I saw with the game's announcement, showing off how crisp and fluid everything moves. Just a few nitpicks from a ninja standpoint. First, you can actually see him at several points during gameplay, which never happens with a real ninja. Secondly? It never takes that long to kill a spider demon in real life. They really should have hired a ninja consultant. More »

Xbox Japan's 2-for-1 Billboard

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:00:12 EDT

While Microsoft has South Africa covered, it's doubling its efforts in Japan. Literally. Check out this: An Akihabara billboard with both Lost Odyssey AND Ninja Gaiden II ads. That's actually pretty smart — reminding Japanese gamers that both titles are on the Xbox 360. Though, that diagonal banner? Tacky. More »

NInja Gaiden 2 Confirmed

Jason Chen — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:00:03 EDT

We saw the leaked screens this morning, but Microsoft just confirmed, in their presser, that Ninja Gaiden 2 is official. More in the liveblog. Release date: 2008. More »

Ninja Gaiden 2 Screens

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:40:44 EDT

Oops. For a brief, shining moment, a Ninja Gaiden 2 page appeared on the Japanese Xbox website, including nine dazzling screenshots for the title, reproduced here in convenient gallery form. The screens come courtesy of Spanish speaking site Todo Juegos (All Games), home of the itchy 'save-as' finger. Another surprise announcement ruined by shoddy website management!
More »

Itagaki Confirms DOAXBV Sequel

lsmith — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 14:41:34 EST

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And hints at Ninja Gaiden in a recent issue of Famitsu, according to Team Xbox. The next Team Ninja release for the Xbox 360 will be Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2. While I'm trying to contain my joy (/sarcasm), Itagaki did mention that Team Ninja's next title would be an action game. Sadly, not Ninja Gaiden 2. Instead, it's a game that will "that will do for the genre what Dead or Alive 4 did for the fighting genre." Erm, make your own jokes, readers. More »