According to Tecmo, only two employees have filed a lawsuit against the company, as previously reported. Tecmo claims that it notified "all affected employees that they would be appropriately compensated and is currently in the process of resolving the matter." It also goes on record as saying that reports that it had withheld information from shareholders regarding the lawsuit filed by Itagaki were, in short, hogwash.

Apparently, recent reporting on Tecmo's legal kerfuffle has caused "unrest" amongst company staffers, so the publisher and developer has asked us to "handle news reports concerning the above matters with care." Rest assured, Tecmo, that it is our policy to handle all news reports as if they were a brittle nest filled with the precious and fragile eggs of a hummingbird. Tecmo's full statement follows.

June 18, 2008

On and around June 15, 2008, various websites in the US reported a rumor about “dozens” of development staff members resigning and filing a lawsuit against Tecmo, LTD., following Tomonobu Itagaki’s departure from the company. The rumors are false and no such action is taking place at the company.

On June 16, 2008, two employees filed a lawsuit against Tecmo, LTD. with accusations of withholding overtime pay. Although a lawsuit was filed by the two employees, on April 1, 2008, Tecmo, LTD. did notify all affected employees that they would be appropriately compensated and is currently in the process of resolving the matter. There are several inaccurate reports stating that all 300 company employees are named in the lawsuit and the company would like to clarify that only two employees are involved in the suit.

In addition, there were reports that Tecmo, LTD., a publicly traded company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, withheld information from its shareholders regarding the lawsuit filed in May 2008 by Tomonobu Itagaki. The company has observed the provisions defined by the Exchange and has released information accordingly and in a timely manner.

It is unfortunate that false and inaccurate reporting of our organization and employees’ actions have caused some unrest among our development staff members. Tecmo, LTD. would like to assure its partners and loyal fans that its teams continue to focus and work on several projects to be released and announced in the future. The company is committed to providing high quality, entertaining products for our fans around the world.

Your continued support of Tecmo, LTD. is appreciated and it is kindly asked that you handle news reports concerning the above matters with care.

Tecmo, LTD.

Earlier this month Tomonobu Itagaki, who leads/led Team Ninja, announced his intention to quit Tecmo, effective July 1. In his announcement he was PO'd about a company decision not to pay bonuses on a completed game, so, chances are his comrades feel the same. Tecmo, for its part, says the bonus to Itagaki that is in dispute was approved by a previous management team, not the current one.

1Up also writes:

Another problem for Tecmo is that in Japan, any lawsuit filed against a publicly-traded company must be immediately reported to its shareholders on the same business day. The fact that Itagaki had actually filed a complaint against Tecmo in Tokyo District Court on May 14, but Tecmo management withheld this information from shareholders, possibly as late as when the notorious developer released his high-profile public statement on June 2, creates even bigger problems for the game publisher.

Of course Tecmo still owns Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, and can hire developers to make all the games it wishes off of those franchises. But if this is true, it's absolutely a fair to wonder what they'll be like without, and how faithful they'd be to the gaming experience so many have come to expect to this point.

Rumor: Three Dozen Team Ninja Members Leaving With Itagaki [1Up]

But is Ninja Gaiden II really the franchise's swan song or is Itagaki's decision to ditch Team Ninja and sue Tecmo over unpaid bonuses the real reason he won't be making any more of the titles?

Loved
Limb-Lopping Animation: The sheer level of gore is stunning when you first sit down to play the game, and later, later it's still stunning. Don't get me wrong, I love it, it is a celebration of violence that is both fitting for the title and useful in gameplay. Useful? When faced with an armless, or legless ninja they can be, like an injured animal, even more dangerous, so the glistening red stumps help you spot who can be taken out with a quick, merciless series of beautifully detailed cuts. This over-the-top gore balanced with the graceful cuts of the weapon and movements of Ryu blend to create a beautiful ballet of death that alone is worth the price of admission.

Stunning Backdrops: Brown maybe the color of first-person shooters, but you can find just about every hue of the rainbow in Ninja Gaiden II. The eclectic mix of settings and backdrops are so lovingly detailed, so scenic that I found myself stopping to look around and marvel at the spectacle of, say, a world washed red in a rainfall of blood or Team Ninja's take on a future Tokyo, complete with flying cars. This mix of beautiful backdrops also helped keep the game moving forward, avoiding the trap of sameness that often can tear a game's level design down.

Fast-Paced, Tactical Combat: There is a moment, I imagine, for everyone, when they foolishly approach Ninja Gaiden II as a button-masher, but the game's subtle level of tactics, timing and defense eventually come through and they learn the pace of Ryu's frenetic battles... or they die a bunch and give up on the title. For me Ninja Gaiden II is at its heart a game about timing. The game can approach the insanity and necessary perfection of a hardcore shoot-em-up, but instead of facing waves of bullets, players must deal with masses of enemies filling the screen. One misstep can lead to a chain of attacks that leaves Ryu depleted or dead. Never is this analogy more fitting than with the boss battles. Each of these fiends have very specific attacks and can really only be dealt with in one or two ways. Defeating them is more about figuring out how to do so than taking them head-on.

Save System: The game's new save system, which makes the save points much more plentiful and automatically saves before boss battles, is a welcome addition to a game notorious for its difficulty.

Hated
I'm Ready for My Close Up: The camera controls remain problematic at the best of times. At the worst of times it can make the game frustratingly hard to deal with. It seems that Team Ninja, when tweaking the camera, was more worried about capturing the action from a cinematic view than they were dealing with the need to make Ryu easier to control. This isn't in anyway a deal breaker, just frustrating at times, especially when you're forced into first-person perspective and the game sort of freaks out.

Blinded By the Fight: What? You're complaining about the camera angles twice? Yes, strange voice in my head, I am. Actually this is more about a confluence of problems that occurs a handful of times in the game. There are four or five major battles in the game that become so crammed with people, so lit up with bloom, effects and colors, so confused by the camera angles that you have no idea what's going on. At times you can't even see where Ryu is.

Double Down Bosses: Each boss, and there are quite a few of these in the 14 levels of Ninja Gaiden II, are painfully hard to defeat, but I can deal with that. What I can't deal with is that with the exception of a single boss, you end up having to face off with every one of the bosses two different times. It feels more like a device to lengthen the game than something meant to add to the experience.

Slooooow Motion: I like what the game is trying to do, overwhelm you with mayhem on a level rarely seen in an action title, but there's a reason it's rarely seen: It's too intense for a console to handle. It doesn't happen often, but occasionally, on the slicker levels, when the screen fills with bad guys the motion slows down to a crawl, a slow motion crawl. It manages to stay smooth, which helps, but it's annoying to see such chug in a triple A title.

Weak Community Features: It's a minor complaint, but why add something like the ability to record and playback chunks of gameplay without putting some effort into it? You can't edit, you can't control the playback at all and you can only share your full save-point-to-save-point recordings if you are ranked on the leaderboards. Seems like a waste to me.

Ninja Gaiden II is a spectacular game but it's marred with some of the same tragic flaws that have followed the series since its introduction into the world of 3D, most notably the camera angles. Despite that and some of the most painfully hard boss battles I've encountered, I thoroughly enjoyed playing through almost every bit of the game. In fact, I've already started through a second time on a harder difficulty level.

Ninja Gaiden II is a game you should expect to frustrate and to reward, and it does both quite well, you just have to deal with a bit of design pettiness along the way.

Ninja Gaiden II was developed by Team Ninja and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Retails for$60. Available on Xbox 360. Played to completion on easiest "Path Of The Acolyte" setting. Played first two chapters on "Path of the Warrior" setting. Saved one film.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Tecmo just sent along another statement, this one in English, which includes the fact that Itagaki's last day is July 1 and that the Team NINJA team is still "intact" and working on several new projects.

The full statement is on the jump.

On June 3, 2008, Tomonobu Itagaki, Executive Producer of Tecmo, LTD.(Tokyo, Japan) owned development studio Team NINJA, submitted his resignation. Due to the fact that he had recently filed a legal complaint against Tecmo, LTD., there was no choice but to accept his resignation. His resignation is effective July 1, 2008.

The legal complaint is in regards to a claim to an incentive bonus linked to a past project. The parties could not reach an amicable resolution to this matter and Itagaki chose to seek a legal remedy. Tecmo, LTD. will let the court decide the outcome of this case and will seek a true, fair, and quick resolution.

Most importantly, Tecmo, LTD. would like to assure its loyal fans that Team NINJA, known for its top selling and critically acclaimed Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises, is intact and, as a matter of fact, have several new projects already underway. Team NINJA is, more than ever, committed to producing compelling and cutting edge games in order to maintain its reputation as a high quality developer and to continue to receive the support of its loyal fans.

Itagaki Leaving Tecmo, Suing Tecmo [Kotaku]

Temco later declined to comment saying that they were aware of his statement but unwilling to say more. Now Microsoft is chiming in, responding to our request for comment, thanking Itagaki for his years of Xbox support.

Tomonobu Itagaki has decided to leave TECMO and Team NINJA to pursue other opportunities. We thank Tomonobu Itagaki for the many years he has supported Xbox as he has contributed immensely to the success of the videogame industry as a whole.

I'm sure that if Itagaki carries out his threats and leaves Team Ninja he won't be leaving game development. In fact he told us as much last month when he decided to drop another bomb, saying that Ninja Gaiden II was his swan song and that he was thinking of creating a shooter set in the Pacific Theater during World War II, perhaps one from the Japanese perspective. The question now is will he form his own studio or latch on to another collection of disenfranchised, but artistic developers. Yeah, probably not, I think it's more likely he's going to Microsoft, but I can dream.

Like Ninja Gaiden II? Don't like fiddling around with a Japanese Xbox Live account just to play the demo? Me too. So...good news! Microsoft's Larry Hryb has slipped into his Twitter account a little note on the status of a Western demo for the title, writing "I am told that it will be available by the end of next week". That was written last Friday, so "next" week is actually this week. Be sure to count down the days on your calendar. In blood.

"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.

"I think the Pacific theater of World War II is a interesting topic," he said. "I think it would be cool to work with an American developer and do a game based on the Pacific Theater."

"I think it would be cool to do something like what Clint Eastwood is doing for that time period," he added, referencing Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima which shows both sides of the war.

When asked how long he had been thinking about doing such a title, Itagaki said it was something he came up with during our short interview.

"That's what it's like to create something; you start from nothing and you have to clear your mind and come up with new ideas," he said. "I'm interested in that period of time, for my generation, that was an event that influenced us more than anything else. I think that would be an interesting topic to explore."

If it turned out that a Japanese developed game about World War II was "too politically charged," Itagaki said he might want to explore the same issues in a game set in space.

Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) [Circuit City via Xbox360Fanboy]

I did spend enough time to make my way through the first chapter, so I at least got a taste for controls and gameplay. First things first though, the build I was sent an early build, the cut scenes were only about 70 percent complete, and the game has yet to be fully optimized, so I'm going to ignore some of the technical glitches that popped up with my time during the game. The game also didn't include the ability to level up weapons.

In Ninja Gaiden II, an Xbox 360 exclusive, Ryu Hayabusa is out to once more save his clan and the human race. The game is built on a new game engine crated by Team NINJA and Tomonobu Itagaki and features a new auto-health system and the ability to save clips of your favorite battles to share them on Xbox Live.

The game's opening chapter takes place Tokyo's Sky City and has Ryu working his way around and through high-rises as he takes on a slew of ninja.

The combat system used in the game is surprisingly complex. It seems, at first blush, to be all about button mashing, but it didn't take me long to realize that button mashing just leads to having your katana handed to you. Instead you have to keep a careful eye on the timing of your attacks, something easier said than done in the game since most attacks come in waves. If you're not careful you'll be quickly dragged down and stabbed, beaten, or kicked repeatedly.

To make matters worse, some pretty brutal attacks, like say completely slicing off an enemies arm or leg, don't make the opponent less dangerous. My first time with the game ended abruptly, when a legless ninja, who I assumed was dead, grabbed my legs, dragged his bleeding body on top of mine and stabbed me in the chest until I was dead.

Worse still are the guys with missing arms, who will stand in the background zinging shuriken at you as you try to deal with the flood of more able bodied ninja trying to overwhelm you.

I discovered pretty quickly that you can dispatch these dismembered ninja quickly and colorfully with a single button tap if you time it right. And the graphics for these quick kills are amazing, typically ending in lots of overkill that involves both a gutting and a beheading. Oh, did I mention the blood? The blood does not disappoint, whether it's arterial blood spurting from a recently severed arm or the splash of blood that spatters a window during a beheading.

Once you get past all of that blood and the fact that cutting off an arm or a leg doesn't necessarily mean you've dispatched a ninja, the game has a fairly smooth adjustment period. You have to move around a lot, back up a lot, time things well, to make it through the flood of bad guys. Overtime i came to realize that the game has its own timing, its own pace that isn't as frenetic as the onslaught might initially have you believe. In fact it's quite a bit slower. There's just no room for mistakes.

Now I was playing it through on what I suspect will be the medium setting, the hardest one you can choose on your first time with the game. I ended up having to redo different areas many times before I could survive, but my survival typically came because I played better, not because I mashed buttons faster.

The first chapter ending up taking me about 45 minutes to play through, in, in-game time, according to the chapter-end summary. It included a nice variety of settings and a couple of interesting enemy types, wrapping up with a boss battle that was just brutal. I don't want to spoil anything, but it was one of those battles that is completely unforgiving. One mistake and you're toast, OK maybe you can make three, but very little margin for error.

Even with the boss battle, though, I felt I finally succeeded because I was playing better, not because I got lucky. I like that in a game.

Ninja Gaiden II's first chapter was fun, it wasn't the sort of game that had me up all hours thirsting to play more, but I can tell that it's the sort of game that will slowly sink its hooks into, gradually upping the play until you can't put it down.

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:

- The game is designed to move at the pace of penmanship. Hayashi started working on "Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword" after wrapping work on the PS3 game "Ninja Gaiden: Sigma." Taking the DS game's reigns from his boss, Tecmo Team Ninja leader Tomonobu Itagaki, he re-designed the controls and made a breakthrough. "Itagaki had programmed the jump to double-tap," Hayashi told me. "When I played it, I just didn't get any sort of attachment to it. When the double-tap happened it didn't feel like the character was going to jump. So I proposed the idea that, when [series protagonist Ryu] jumps it [requires stroking the stylus] from down to up. When I chose that, there was no doubt that this is the way we should use this... This opened up our concept to how we were going to use the stylus."

I asked if the stroke-based controlled were influenced by favorite strokes of letters in the Japanese alphabets. He said, "Rather than [any one] Japanese character, it has more to do with the pace when one is writing, either in English or Japanese ... Someone can write really fast or really slow, but there's a tempo we thought worked really well."

Plenty of other gems in Totilo's write-up over on Multiplayer.

'Ninja Gaiden' Producer: Video Games Depict Only 10 Percent Of Ninja Lifestyle [MTV Multiplayer]

"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.

"There is always going to be a motive for everything that happens," Hayashi said. "There is always a reason and a motive for a way a person acted and in this case, we are almost a party that has to react to a situation that obviously we didn't expect would be triggered by our game."

"Whoever has seen (the connection) in the news and the media we hope that they know what the true reason is, what the truth is behind why this person did this and that it's not connected or directly related to our game."

Kanagawa, who was a gamer, had been involved in at least one national Dead or Alive tournament in Japan and made it the finals, but Hayashi said that he had never been in contact with Tecmo or Team Ninja.

Hayashi, who says that he thinks the game is appropriate for teenagers to play, added that police have not contacted Tecmo or Team Ninja and that he believes the seemingly tangential connection between the stabbing and his game was one created by the media alone.

"The media should not be the ones answering the questions or defining the reasons why this incident happened," he said. "I want to believe that whoever is watching the news has their own judgment of what went on."

"What I said just now is more of a message to the media. Obviously there are victims here, the people who died and their families, so hopefully they don't see that as me trying to defend our company or product. That's just my message from me to the media. The media can report on these tragedies but they shouldn't just assume or lead into a question that doesn't have a definitive answer."

Hayashi spent much of the day sitting at a table near the front doors of the Nintendo World Store quietly talking to patiently waiting fans through a translator, posing for pictures and signing autographs.

It was, he said, the first chance he had to talk to the public about the game, a game he feels people were waiting to come out.

"The fact that people lined up at the store today to purchase the game, that feels good," he said.

Hayashi said the project started out not as a way to get Ninja Gaiden onto the DS, but as a way to create an innovative action game for the portable.

"Internally we saw the project as starting to develop a brand new action game for the DS," he said. "We wanted it to be better than the current games that are out there. We had the DS in front of us and we thought about what we could do we do with it; the fact that you can use the stylus to do the slicing and moving around. Then we found the perfect match which was to bring the world of Ninja Gaiden to the DS."

"It wasn't really like we had huge concerns about trying to bring everything that was accomplished in Ninja Gaiden to a handheld. It was more like this is a brand new title we are going to build taking advantage of the DS features."

Initially Team Ninja had their concerns, the Ninja Gaiden franchise had already appeared on the much more powerful next-gen systems and they weren't sure if people were going to think that the DS version would live up to the name.

"There was a lot of talk about how well that would translate onto the handheld," he said. "But after the release a lot of people have commented that it still has the soul of Ninja Gaiden the series. So far it's been very well received."

Hayashi said the time spent working on the game convinced him that the team should do more on the DS and perhaps on the Wii.

"As for a specific follow for a sequel to Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword there is no plans to a DS 2 or anything that has a continuation from Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword story, however having been able to work on developing a title for the DS this time around I've seen a lot of exciting opportunities and I myself am more excited that I now see the DS being a handheld or console that I can work on and develop a better game perhaps in the future," he said. "When the DS first came out for awhile it was very popular but I couldn't get a grip on what titles were going to really show off the hardware in terms of its capabilities. I do feel that Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword has been able to move in that direction. Hopefully this title will lead to some examples of how to create some even more exciting action games. So in that sense I would like to work on something in the future for the DS."

"Wii is also the same way," he said. "I see a huge amount of potential in the hardware and I am personally very into it and pretty excited about what can be possible on the Wii. I'm hoping I can come up with something for the Wii from our team."

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

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.

How To Say 'Ninja Gaiden' The Right Way, From Itagaki-San Himself [MTV Multiplayer]

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.

...from a Japanese perspective, when you decapitate someone you're killing them instantly. So from a Japanese perspective, with the sword, when you decapitate somebody you're basically giving them a very quick and easy death.

Team Ninja is known for their flash. Whether it's producer Tomonobu Itagaki's rockstar look, Ryu Hayabusa's penchant for decapitating everything in sight, or the cup sizes of every Dead or Alive female fighter, understated is usually not an adjective that appears in sentences describing Team Ninja. But the developer's offices are so bland, so utilitarian, so... office-y we wondered if we had been led into the wrong building. Soon, however, Itagaki emerged, a hint of tobacco and hard liquor on his breath.

We were lucky enough to have a private interview with the head of Team Ninja about their upcoming venture, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, so we (as quickly as we could) got down to business.

The interview took place in what looked like the team's demo room. Nothing more than a couple couches, a big screen TV, an Xbox 360 and a pair of statues—Master Chief from Halo and Kasumi from Dead of Alive—adorned the room. Outside of a trio of low-key posters for DOA and Ninja Gaiden, you'd have a hard time placing the developer. But the katana on the display stands might have helped.

A pink Nintendo DS with the TGS demo was on hand, so I cracked it open while we talked to Itagaki via his translator. One of the Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword staffers was on hand, but he let Tomonobu do the talking.

Team Ninja is known for their graphical expertise, claiming that they only work on the most powerful hardware for each generation. So why the DS? Itagaki was refreshingly honest, saying that developing for the Nintendo portable was "kind of nostalgiac." How so?

"The time it takes to go from a spec sheet to a program to actually being able to see something on screen is much shorter than it used to be," he said. "If I put in a request for a change, I can see it within the day. That's what it was like ten, fifteen years ago."

But times have changed. The Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 demand more time, more tinkering, more people. Itagaki wanted to get under the hood, figuratively. "With old cars, when they would overheat or something, you could pop the hood and dig around, fix something by hand. You could fix your own car. Now it's all sealed... everything is enclosed and CPU controlled. You have to take your car to the dealer and have him diagnose it just to fix it. That's what it feels like. [Developing for the DS] feels like working on an old car."

Putting down the Nintendo DS and the game, I asked Itagaki about presenting the Nintendo DS fanbase with a less action oriented, more puzzle focused adventure game. That won't be happening, he said. "I don't intend to put a whole lot of puzzles in. Basically, stuff you only have to give a little bit of thought to to figure out what you should do." Referring to the giant rock (and poor Kanji reading skills that had me stuck) he clarified, "There are boulders like that, from time to time. Hopefully, you'll be appreciative that we didn't decide to make the rocks explode."

Thanks for thinking of us, but we only hate exploding barrels.

So why make an action game for the Nintendo DS, when puzzle games, training games and testing software is all the rage?

"On a personal note, when I look at the current state of the [DS] market in the terms of titles that are available, I think it's kind of sad." No tears were visible behind the ever present sunglasses, but he told us "I think that since the DS is a very unique computing device, when I originally announced the title, I had expected and hoped that people would be bringing out very game-like games, games that utilize that interface. But what we've found is that a lot of games are out there that are almost like applications, things that aren't using the full extent of what the DS is capable as gaming hardware."

So who's doing it right? "I think Metroid Prime Hunters is a very good example of a very game-like game, so there certainly are other titles, but I definitely want Ninja Gaiden DS to be an example of that." Itagaki likes FPS games?! He sure does, revealing that "The only first person shooters I play are Halo and the Metroid Prime series."

Ninja Gaiden for the DS is a welcome surprise, one that plays well and uses the stylus in a totally unique way. Western audiences will probably snap it up, but what about something that will dominate Japanese sales charts. I asked Itagaki if Team Ninja has any plans to make a ninja training application for the DS.

He laughed it off. "That's impossible," he said. "Those kind of application type games you can literally make yourself using a PC in ten hours or so. I wouldn't want to try to make that and market it for money for people."

"I'm not trying to be on the defensive. I think it's O.K. that those games exist," he said, "But that's not the kind of game that I want to make. I don't think that really matches what we're trying to do here with Team Ninja."

The Team Ninja lead then got a little hypothetical on us, doing some spur of the moment game design.

He wondered "what kind of game I'd make if someone put a gun to my head and said 'You gotta make a training game or else I'm going to kill you'. I think it would be like a military commander decision simulation or something like that. I think it would be something that would try to show the difficult decisions that generals in the military have to make."

The design document jazz odyssey kept on grooving, with Itagaki saying "I think if you made a straight up quiz type situation, if you chose what that commander actually did, you would get points. Now we have military historians that say this general should have done such and such at this battle, if you actually go in and choose what they should have done instead of what they actually did, you might get points as well. Something like that could be interesting."

Hey, we'd buy it. But Itagaki thinks the game is perfect for "businessmen to understand how to choose during difficult situations."

"We have a game concept happening right now!" he exclaimed, "I'll give you this idea for free. Go ahead and make it."

We'd heard that Itagaki was a decision-making ninja, issuing every "yes", "no" or "Tekken sucks" in under sixty seconds. "Yes. It's true," he confirmed. "Basically, I'm just living moment to moment. It's kind of a miracle I'm alive actually."

I told Itagaki that I'm not a quick decision maker and that his unnamed decision making non-game was perfect for someone like me. "What should we title it? Make it a good title in English, please. Try to do it before the end of this interview." And one condition, "I want to include 'light' and 'shadow' in the title of the decision making game, so..."

"Decide Before Dawn?" I offered. The sound of crickets chirping echoes across the table. At least Ashcraft laughed.

Given that the Nintendo DS generally appeals to more casual gamers, the type who buy millions of copies of Nintendogs, New Super Mario Bros. and Animal Crossing Wild World, we were a little concerned that Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword might be too easy. Boulder aside, it certainly wasn't difficult to tear through the Tokyo Game Show demo. Not to worry, said Itagaki.

He calmed our fears, saying "It would be against my philosophy to dumb it down just to make it easy. Games should be challenging, that's what makes them fun. You have to keep that element of forcing the player to go up against the game, and lose, but get better, so that they can conquer it. There are ways that you can do that, but make it more approachable."

During this dicussion, Itagaki gave us an aside, one about the "evolution of games."

"In the past, our president came to me and said 'Create a game concept. Something that no one has effort thought of before. And you don't have to think about technological limitations. It's because we're worried about technology all the time that we can't come up with good ideas, so give me a concept that no one has ever thought about.'"

"So I gave him a single piece of paper with an idea which is that when you push a button on the controller, the character's hand comes out of the screen at you. So, the president was at a loss for words. Eventually he asked 'Why would you come up with an idea like this?' I said that 'Hey, you said we didn't have to think about any technological limitations.' So that was kind of an expression of me saying as an engineer, don't underestimate the limitations of technology."

The concept of Ninja Gaiden DS is not unlike that one-page design document. The team's goal was tap into the immediacy of the physical interaction involved by cradling the Nintendo DS in your palm, using the motion of your hand to physically manipulate the ninja.

As we were wrapping up, we learned what Itagaki likes less than dealing with technical limitations and the executives who don't understand them—game development seriously eats into his sleep. And his drinking. "I love to sleep. I love to sleep and I love to drink," he responded to a question about his least favorite thing about working in game development, "If I could just drink and sleep, that would be great for me."

That drinking, he says, while enjoyable, eats away at his ability to enjoy games recreationally. He tells us "Unfortunately, the more I drink, the more my eye for details is stimulated. I start breaking games down and analyzing their good and bad things."

Finally, I ask Itagaki the most obvious question (since we like drama). "Who are your rivals on the DS?" I ask, touching the dreaded T-word from rival Namco. He responds, "This is the first time we've made a portable game and so I'm going to be very modest. We couldn't possibly have any rivals." Does this signal a kinder, gentler, more diplomatic head of Team Ninja? He laughs. "I shouldn't lie to you like that. I'm sure there are a lot of good rivals for us out there. I'm sure that when most people see this game, they're going to say 'There they go, at it again.' In a good way. Hopefully, we'll be able to shake things up a bit."

Well, when Namco publishes Death By Degrees DS, we'll ask you again.

"Death by Degrees DS?", he sneers. "Okay, we'll take you up on that."

A puff of smoke and one botched Justify Your Game later, Itagaki and team are gone. It's Sunday and the team is going back to work, either tweaking their handheld debut or killing another bottle of scotch. With love.

New downloadable content for Ninja Gaiden Sigma released on September 6th

Eidos Interactive, one of the world's largest publishers and developers of interactive software is pleased to announce the first set of downloadable content for Ninja Gaiden Sigma will be available via the PlayStation Store from September 6th 2007. Ninja Gaiden Sigma for PlayStation 3 was released to worldwide critical acclaim this June - An action adventure game, where the player takes the role of Super Ninja Ryu Hayabusa in a high-speed, next-generation game.

The downloadable content entitled "Survival Mode" is a battle-orientated mode that allows the player to fight an endless stream of enemies. Each of the three downloads provide various themed battles, plus there is a World Ranking available for each different theme. For those who have mastered the original Ninja Gaiden Sigma, this content will provide a battlefield to show off the skills they have accumulated.

The first of the three batches of downloadable content, "Weapon Master" is scheduled for release on September 6th 2007. This content includes five survival modes where you can use only a limited array of weaponry. The player's objective is to master the feature of each weapon and wipe out as many enemies as you can.

"Speed Master" is the second download and the aim of this is to beat your enemies as accurately and quickly as possible. This features another five survival modes in which the time and power gauge are limited. In order to become the ultimate speed master you must master both your skills and acrobatics to survive. 　

In the third and final download, "Rachel Master", you play as the new female character Rachel, in five survival modes in the quest to become the "World's No. 1 Fiend Hunter".

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.

DOAX2 - Venus on the beach!

DOA Online will be distributed within China, Hong Kong, and Macao by Shanda, an online entertainment company that specializes in massively multiplayer online and casual games. Development will be handled by the internal Tecmo team LieVo Studio. Virtual panties will be exposed by Kasumi, Tina, Helena, Lei Fang, Christie, Hitomi and Ayane. All involved are thrilled to take part in this profitable venture.

While gameplay details are totally nonexistent, I predict this will turn into a casual, yet (e)xtremely sexy, series of beach-themed games in which great gusts of wind wreak havoc with inappropriately sized and ill-thought outfits.

The previous Ninja Gaiden Sigma Collectors Edition trailer left many of us confused. Why was Satoshi Hanematsu wailing on the electric guitar throughout, providing a caterwauling soundtrack to random Ninja Gaiden Sigma gameplay? Still haven't figured this one out. This clip, however, gets it done and done right. Previews of the behind the scenes featurettes included with the collectors edition, giving us a glimpse at the lives of Team Ninja are officially filed under "I" for interesting. This associate editor, for one, simply cannot wait to watch Tomonobu Itagaki smoke entire packs of cigarettes while waxing candidly about how awesome he finds himself in high definition.

Team Ninja's chief ninja and Dead or Alive mastermind Tomonobu Itagaki is one competitive dude. He says that the projects he's currently working aren't just good, but good. So much so that they'll destroy the hopes and dreams of other developers. Itagaki explains:

I'd like to show everybody some of the new stuff that we've been working on in the near future. The only problem with that is that when the other developers see what we're doing, they're going to lose all of their motivation to create any game in the same genre, because there's no way they can beat it.

I wouldn't want to go into a cabbage field with a big knife or a scythe or something and just start cutting down thousands and thousands of heads of cabbage. That's not something I would find fun. I do think there are probably some people out there who want that kind of experience when playing a game. That's why, when it comes down to the number of enemies on-screen, I'd rather have good enemies than just a lot of enemies. That's why I don't buy into the philosophy of, "Look! We have a thousand heads of cabbage on screen at once, isn't this great?!"

Itagaki Interview [Game Informer]

As you can see in the mini-screenshot, one of the missions pits you against three of the game's more difficult bosses—Alma, Doku and Marbus—at the same time, meaning you'll have your work cut out for you. The missions are available after you've completed the regular game, so you'll be fairly familiar with Hayabusa's moves at that point.

I'm looking forward to this with anticipation and fear. Michael McWhertor

'NINJA GAIDEN Σ Missions [Famitsu]

Ninja Gaiden Sigma (or Shigima, if you prefer) for the PLAYSTATION 3 is going to be SO good that even Japanese idol-caliber girls are going to hypnotized by the demon-beheading ways of Ryu Hayabusa. Just kidding, obviously. It's right there in the manual, Ninja Gaiden is NOT compatible with vaginas. Oh, yeah. Don't miss Ninja Guy in line. Michael McWhertor

Team Ninja released a trial version of the game on the PlayStation Store in April, with the retail version expected this month in Japan and North America. Guess I'll have to finally beat Very Hard mode as I want a little walkin' around money from day one. Michael McWhertor

Obtain Currency In The Retail Version of Ninja Gaiden Sigma [Game Watch]

While Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword seems at first blush an odd fit, this video demonstration of the game's controls shows that Team Ninja has been able to create something highly unique and graphically impressive on the Nintendo DS. Nice goin', guys. You sold me. Michael McWhertor

This Collectors Edition will be a 2-disc set with special hi-res packaging, a behind the scenes DVD from Team Ninja, and special codes to unlock Ryu and Rachael mission modes.

Wow! Only ten bucks more AND I get to set foot in a GameStop? Consider it done!

On the other hand, maybe once I find out what "hi-res packaging" is, I'll change my Grumpy Gus attitude. Michael McWhertor

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Collectors Edition - GameStop Exclusive! [GameStop]