Itagaki: No More Ninja Gaiden, This Was My Swan Song

In an interview with Kotaku earlier today Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki said that he doesn't plan on making any more Ninja Gaiden games for any platforms following the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360.

"Personally I think we were able to create the definitive 3D game in this series so I'm not planing on making any other games in the series," Itagaki said through a translator. "So I hope fans treat this as a swan song for the franchise.

"I think we were able to achieve everything we wanted with this game so anything else would be extraneous."

When asked if he plans on making a "swan song" Ninja Gaiden title for the PlayStation 3, Itagaki replied " that would be ridiculous."

Instead, the creator of the beloved franchise said he wants to make something that is "totally new, completely unrelated to anything I've done before. Not any part of any existing franchises."

Itagaki said what he'd like to do is work on another action title or perhaps a war themed game, perhaps something set in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

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Stephen Totilo sat down with Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword producer Yosuke Hayashi last week during the devs tour of NY and managed to squeeze some pretty interesting and different information out of him.

Take for instance the fact that Dragon Sword is the first Gaiden game that Hayashi's mom has endorsed, or that the game was designed to be played at the speed of penmanship:

It wasn't until Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi stepped off the plane in the States this week that he heard about the connection some in the Japanese media were trying to draw between his recently released Ninja Gaiden game and the rampage of a disenfranchised gamer at a shopping center near Tokyo.

"We were just talking about it. We didn't fly in until last night and I didn't know about it until I got off the plane," Hayashi said through a translator Wednesday afternoon. "They told me there is stuff going on in the media in Japan, there is a game that was involved and it just so happens it was Ninja Gaiden DS."

Masahiro Kanagawa, 24, told police that on March 19 he decided he wanted to attack his sister and a local elementary school, but changed his mind and instead randomly picked a home and went inside and killed a 72-year-old man. Four days later, police say Kanagawa went to a shopping center and stabbed eight people, one of which later died.

The day after the stabbings, at least one television station pointed out that Kanagawa had a copy of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword in his bag when he was arrested. The game went on sale in Japan on March 20 and police told at least one outlet they are looking into a possible connection.

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For whatever reason, I've had very little interest in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword for DS. (Maybe it was because Itagaki laughed at me.) But this new gameplay footage, while not necessarily the most epic battle in history, looks both fun and technically impressive. Not to be a graphics whore, but man, look at those graphics! Not too shabby for a DS title!

They [the enemy characters] can basically keep fighting until they're in pieces. Even a one-armed enemy can still fight.

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Pronounce Ninja Gaiden Right, You Ninja Dogs

Sorry, Flynn, but it's not NIN-JA GAY-DUN, it's NIN-JA GUY-DEN. As in N'Gai Croal. I officially win our debate. Team Ninja's master ninja Tomonobu Itagaki—don't worry he helps with the pronunciation of that, too—provides the sound-off in the latest MTV Multiplayer pronunciation guide, even throwing in the proper way to say "Helena", something I wasn't even aware was an issue. Sorry, Canada and the UK, you know the deal with this MTV video nonsense. Ask a friend in the U.S. to give you the gory details.

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Itagaki Doesn't Want To Hang With The Censored

Team Ninja's fearless leader and boozemaster Tomonobu Itagaki is one of the last people you'd expect to answer to The Man, but he's actually pretty OK with it.

I don't believe the adage that the artist should be able to express whatever he wants is necessarily applicable in this case, because we're creating entertainment. And entertainment shouldn't include things that make people feel uncomfortable or extremely upset...[and] people out there that want to create something that is very far removed from societal norms and the moral sensibilities of the general public ... They're unfortunate, and I don't want to be grouped in with that group of people.

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Itagaki - Tekken Sucks

Normally when we have a quote to share with you from an industry personality we summarize their comment humorously in the title and then give you the actual wording in the main body of the post. Not so this time. Joystiq caught up to Dead or Alive creator and paragon of coolness Tomonobu Itagaki at the recent Championship Gaming Series North American World Series Final, where they asked him if he was looking forward to Tekken 6.

Tekken sucks. I don't know what you're talking about.

We're doing a lot of research, that's about all I can say right now. Although, to add on that note, my kids have been saying they want a game for the Wii. To tell you the truth, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, that's because my kids were asking for one of my titles to be on the DS.