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Ninja Gaiden 3 leaps to retail in March 2012
We've got good news and we've got bad news, folks. Let's start with the good: Ninja Gaiden 3 will arrive on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next March, with a Wii U version to follow at some point after that. Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi told as much to a crowd of journalists in San Francisco this afternoon, according to our reporter on the ground. Now, friends, the bad news: despite a new easy mode, and the notorious absence of a known masochist at the helm, we're still quite confident that Ninja Gaiden 3 is gonna be super duper hard. Like, way hard. Maybe you haven't played the other two? 'Cause they're both pretty hard games, guys.
Ninja Gaiden 3 screens leave quite the mess
Ryu is pretty great at slashing and stabbing, this much we can all agree on. But who cleans up the mess afterward? Magical demon blood-scrubbing fairies? Would it kill you to pick up a mop every now and then, Hayabusa?
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge to launch alongside Wii U
As part of its financial results, Tecmo shared plans for its upcoming titles. As discovered by Andriasang, of particular interest is the company's launch plan for Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge for Wii U, which is based on the Xbox 360/PS3 release. According to the presentation materials, Ryu Hayabusa's tablet-powered adventure will arrive alongside the Wii U launch, which is slated for sometime after April next year. We can't be certain but – dismemberment or no – we're fairly confident that it will be the most violent title ever to launch with a Nintendo console.
Team Ninja dragon out new Ninja Gaiden 3 screens
Team Ninja didn't offer any information when it silently deployed these new Ninja Gaiden 3 screens, aside from some background about Ryu's curse, so we can't say for certain what's going on. Is that fire dragon a Ninpo attack? A transformation? A boss? Whatever it is, it's pretty. What's not so pretty is Ryu's arm. It turns out that, when not surrounded by an aura of blood, Ryu's newly cursed arm is just covered with gross veins or something. Good thing Ryu doesn't ever stand still long enough for us to get a good look at him while playing.%Gallery-138191%
Ninja Gaiden 3's 'Hero Mode' allows more players to experience the story
Ninja Gaiden 3 is Team Ninja's first full Gaiden game post-Itagaki, and it looks like things are progressing a little differently. For one thing, it's got a sort of easy mode called "Hero Mode," which adds automatic dodging and blocking of most normal attacks, to which I can imagine Itagaki's head shaking, making waves in a cloud of cigarette smoke. I asked director Fumihiko Yasuda (who also did design work on Sigma 2) about why such a ... friendly mode would appear in such a typically unfriendly series. "We really wanted to flesh out the story this time around," Yasuda said, "so we wanted people to enjoy that story and get used to the game as it is. In the past the games were really hardcore and we couldn't get players to stay with us and complete the game." Team Ninja is "redefining" Hayabusa's image, and wants people to experience that whole story without dying over and over again or throwing the game into the disposal in frustration.
Hayashi: Ninja Gaiden 3's dismemberment-free gameplay adds meaning to the violence
Ninja Gaiden 3 won't feature the frequent decapitations and other freeform dismemberment of its predecessors. You may think of this as softening the impact of the violence in Team Ninja's famously brutal series, but it's intended to be quite the opposite. In fact, if anything, Team Ninja lead Yosuke Hayashi made it sound even more sadistic. "For Ninja Gaiden 3," Hayashi told me, "we wanted to focus on the act of cutting someone down, and what it's like to actually kill someone with a sword. Once you start lopping off limbs, your enemy goes from being a living thing that you're killing to just a thing." And to hammer the point home (or katana the point home, if you prefer) that these are real human beings you're flipping out and killing, he continued. "When you're actually cutting into a person, and you feel them getting scared, and the blood is spraying right on you, you hear their dying breaths in your ear -- that's the kind of visceral violence we're going for in Ninja Gaiden 3." In the demo level I played, by the way, the enemy soldiers start pleading for their lives as soon as you begin attacking them. At this point you might think, as I did, that you're going to start feeling guilty about cutting into all these bodies. That's ... kind of the idea. "Ryu Hayabusa is a dark hero," Hayashi explained. "If people want to take the easy way out or a cleaner way out -- not killing people -- that's not what the story is about and what Ryu Hayabusa is about. To be a dark hero, you have to do bad things in order to do good."%Gallery-133725%
New Ninja Gaiden 3 trailer, details on 'world of ninjas' multiplayer
During its pre-TGS event, Team Ninja lifted the veil (or mask) over Ninja Gaiden 3's competitive multiplayer mode. The mode will connect up to eight players in a sort of ninja tournament, in which the goal is to beat all the other ninjas, rank up and ultimately surpass Ryu Hayabusa. It's a "world of ninjas," as online engineer Ueda put it. At the event, producer Yosuke Hayashi also introduced the new "play style system." In addition to the normal and hard difficulty levels, Ninja Gaiden 3 offers a choice of two "play styles," Ninja and Hero. Ninja is the familiar style of gameplay, but Hero adds things like auto-block and auto-dodge, to let new players just "enjoy the story." That is, the story of a blood-crazed, cursed ninja putting swords into people. This system is also being added to the Vita release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma. After the break: the latest, anguished trailer for Ninja Gaiden 3.%Gallery-133725%
New Ninja Gaiden 3 screens will cut you in half
The Japanese website for Ninja Gaiden 3 has emerged from the inky blackness of the internet, brandishing a finely honed blade and silently moving through the night, all the while tossing shurikens and newly forged screenshots into our cerebral cortexes.
Team Ninja will consider Vita game following Ninja Gaiden 3
A Ninja Gaiden game for PlayStation Vita remains an immaterial idea while Team Ninja gets Ninja Gaiden 3 ready for its 2012 launch. The developer has received a PlayStation Vita system to test and eventually chop in half mid-air, in an incredibly expensive variant of Fruit Ninja, but hasn't progressed beyond the consideration phase. "We've received a PlayStation Vita system and are thinking about it," said team lead Yosuke Hayashi in a recent PlayStation Q&A. "Having said that, right now we're focused on Ninja Gaiden 3 for PS3, and after that's complete we'll start to look at ideas such as bringing out Ninja Gaiden on PS Vita because of course we'd like to expand the series." Alright, let's toss in another concept tinged with "of course." Beyond the Wii U port (and planned 3DS game), Team Ninja will need some way to sell at least one more iteration of its latest Ninja Gaiden game. A Vita port mashed up with a Greek letter seems like a solid alpha bet.
Ninja Gaiden 3 will be compatible with PlayStation Move
Ninja Gaiden 3's obsession with conveying the feel of a katana -- while it slices the flesh off a man's bones -- is now supplemented with another vicarious attack. What does it feel like when a glowing, squishy ball bounces off a skull? Team Ninja has announced PlayStation Move support for the PS3 version of Ninja Gaiden 3, presumably enabling spirited swings and forceful bops in your offensive arsenal. Studio lead Yosuke Hayashi claims that it will "bring players even closer to the game's protagonist Ryu Hayabusa," which is a particularly unfortunate occurrence if you also happen to be a generic soldier, a demon, an evil ninja or ... anything that's alive, really. Ninja Gaiden 3 is set to slice up PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners in early 2012. A Wii U version is also in the works.
Ninja Gaiden 3 preview: The evolution of mammals
When I asked Ninja Gaiden 3 lead Fumihiko Yasuda how the protagonist was able to glide through the air with nothing more than a black, skin-tight suit, I committed the sin of dragging logic into a discussion that was utterly incompatible with it. Ryu Hayabusa can fly because he's a ninja, and that's an axiom you'll just have to accept. The legitimate mystery is why an army of hapless (and soon-to-be-headless) soldiers would stomp all the way through the brutally extracted entrails of their comrades, and still insist on fighting an enraged man who literally just flew in. The gushing violence signals a welcome change from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2's purple energy nonsense and comes across as silly and satisfying, rather than OH GROSS. Hayabusa's sword never seems to clip through enemy bodies so much as it slides and scrapes through them.%Gallery-125744%
Wii U's Ninja Gaiden 3 based on 360/PS3 version
Though still presented under a working title, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is one of the first third-party games to be announced for Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console. Fumihiko Yasuda, lead on Ninja Gaiden 3, told Joystiq that Razor's Edge would be based on next year's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, but would offer some changes beyond the addition of a subtitle. "Ninja Gaiden 3 for PS3 and 360 is the base of the Wii U version," Yasuda said during an E3 meeting. "Of course, we understood that we would need to implement a particular gameplay experience with Wii U, so we are studying what we can do with that console. We're thinking of different modes and different combat action -- something different." While Team Ninja attempts to figure out the best, ultra-violent uses for Nintendo's controller-screen hybrid, it remains in the planning stages for a 3DS Ninja Gaiden game (announced at E3 2010). As it's so early in development, Yasuda could only suggest that it "may not be a sequel to Dragon Sword."
Ninja Gaiden 3 gameplay trailer has Ryu Hayabusa back at his old tricks
For some folks, "old tricks" might mean smooth dancing moves, or a suave ability to hit on the ladies. For Ninja Gaiden 3's Ryu Hayabusa, it means flipping out and murdering people with a katana. Take a peek for yourself -- carefully! -- after the break.
What Ryu looking at? Ninja Gaiden 3 screens!
Famitsu has posted a handful of new screens from Tecmo's upcoming Ninja Gaiden 3. After the relatively tame affair that was Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, it looks like protagonist Ryu Hayabusa is back to doing what he does best, making a bloody mess. Andriasang reports that Ryu's right arm, which looks like it might be possessed, will have a "central role" in the game. Ryu will also gain new abilities such as wall climbing, as the story progresses. Also, the article notes that Ninja Gaiden 3 is slated for a 2012 release on both PS3 and Xbox 360. Head over to Famitsu to take a gander at all the screens.
Rumor: Ninja Gaiden 3 loses the store, may add Move support
Reports are coming in that the latest issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine is full of new info about Ninja Gaiden 3. NeoGAFfer RatedRSuperstar summarized the article, noting a few salient points about the Team Ninja sequel. Reportedly, the difficulty level "won't be toned down for casual gamers," which means Team Ninja is making the game "more accessible" in a different way. In addition, it packs competitive and cooperative multiplayer, with at least one mode supporting up to eight players. There's also a possibility of Move support. The weapons store is gone, in favor of weapons that "upgrade over time." According to RatedRSuperstar, "Blood is back" as well. Having seen the purported scans, that's an understatement. Imagine a ninja covered in melted Twizzlers. [Thanks, Andreas!]
Ninja Gaiden 3 has complex multiplayer mode, will be more accessible
Ninja Gaiden 3 will feature some form of multiplayer gameplay, according to an interview in the April issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine. Project lead Yosuke Hayashi characterized the mode as "complex," but didn't offer a comparison to Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2's online co-op missions. He noted that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions would launch at the same time, unlike past iterations in the series. Additionally, NG3 will supposedly be more accessible to new players, while retaining the challenge that fans have come to expect from the franchise. "We know that many fans feel good about the difficulty level, but we are taking a slightly different approach," Hayashi said. "It's not that the game is going to be easier -- nothing like that. It's just that we are trying to make a whole game, a more exciting game that can be enjoyed by anyone, but at the same time, hardcore gamers will be able to feel and appreciate what the series is about." Hayashi said that the franchise's main character, Ryu Hayabusa, will be the only playable character this time around, and that the game's story "will focus more deeply on Ryu Hayabusa's life and lifestyle and feelings and thoughts." Our first question -- how does Ryu feel about ninja dogs? And, say, giant flaming armadillos? This stuff's important!
GDC: Tecmo teases Ninja Gaiden 3 reveal for E3 2011
Tecmo has released a new video to kick off this week's GDC festivities, and who better to deliver a kick than Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa? Yes, it's the first trailer for Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden 3, the first game in the series to be developed since the departure of former Gaiden guru, Tomonobu Itagaki. Alas, the trailer doesn't offer up any gameplay, though fans will be happy to know that it's still replete with the sword-driven gore the series is known for. The video shows a bloody Ryu -- something we saw in the first Ninja Gaiden 3 teaser image -- stabbing ... well, stabbing the viewer from a first-person perspective. We'd like to think of it as a subtle metaphor for the series. Specifically, Ninja Gaiden 3 is going to kill you. A lot. The video concludes with a note that the game will make an appearance at E3. Rest assured, we will be there.
Team Ninja's Dead or Alive: Code Cronus and Project Progressive canceled
For Dead or Alive: Code Cronus, the long-delayed action game from Team Ninja, there is no longer any question as to its status. It's just "Dead: Code Cronus," now. Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi confirmed the project's cancellation in an interview with Famitsu (translated by Andriasang). After all these years, Hayashi said, "It was just on the framework level." Also on the chopping block: "Project Progressive," mentioned in passing in this 2007 interview with former Master Ninja Tomonobu Itagaki. These two dropped projects aren't the only evidence that Team Ninja is looking forward. "We're developing [Ninja Gaiden 3] with the idea of restarting at the beginning, saying, 'We'd like to make the action game that's most interesting for the current era.' With this meaning, it's going to be a game that's not bound by the past more than necessary. Of course, we will be valuing the past," Hayashi said, "but in a good meaning we'd like to make it into a game that's not tied down by the past." The image released at TGS actually holds vague clues about the content of Ninja Gaiden 3. Hayashi teased that Ryu Hayabusa "seems to be doing something with [his] right hand," which is covered with unnatural-looking blood. Team Ninja also has Dead or Alive: Dimensions and Ni-Oh in the works. Hayashi expects Dimensions to be released first, followed by Ninja Gaiden 3.
Ninja Gaiden 3 announced
Tecmo Koei revealed Ninja Gaiden 3 during a behind-closed door event today (in conjunction with TGS), reports VideoGamer.com. The announcement was accompanied by a teaser image showing blood-soaked franchise protagonist Ryu Hayabusa removing his mask. According to VideoGamer, the image represents themes that will be explored in the new sequel: both the "human side" of Ryu and a "more violent and bloody experience" (if you can believe it). Neither platforms nor further release information was given. Shortly before E3 last year, Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi talked up his studio's commitment to furthering the Ninja Gaiden series. Today's reveal is the first hard evidence of Ninja Gaiden 3 since that time. Update: GamePro confirms the reveal went down at a private event hosted by Team Ninja, and adds that Ninja Gaiden 3 "is so early in development, the developer only showed journalists a piece of concept art" (above; see a bigger version after the break).
Shocker: Team Ninja to work on more Ninja Gaiden games
For those of you curious whether a game development studio named Team Ninja would continue to create exclusively ninja-based games, you can now rest easy. In a recent interview with Kikizo, Team Ninja's (relatively) new Commander-in-Chief, Yosuke Hayashi, confirmed that Team Ninja would continue to work towards "the future of an outstanding series." Said series being, of course, Monster Rancher. Or, wait, no -- Ninja Gaiden. Yeah, that one.Hayashi explained the demand for a Ninja Gaiden III had reached a fever pitch, claiming, "what the consumers, the gamers are looking for is going to be the next chapter," and, "that we're in a position of being able to make that call, and to provide pure entertainment that's going to be enjoyed by action gamers and our fans." Hopefully we'll find out more about the series' future when we sit down with Hayashi at E3 in two weeks (and some change).
