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Joystiq interview: DOA creator Tomonobu Itagaki, "Tekken sucks"
We caught up with Tomonobu Itagaki at the recent Championship Gaming Series North American World Series Final (try printing that on a hat) in Manhattan Beach recently, and we asked him a few questions. Although he'd had a few beers, we didn't get him to pin down a date or a console for Ninja Gaiden 2, curse you weak American beer! Yes, he was wearing his patent black leather jacket and sunglasses, and no he didn't take them off. Even when it got dark. They might be permanently welded to his face at this point. While he's known for being outspoken and critical to the extreme (especially if your game has the word Tekken in the title), when we asked him about Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, he actually handed over his DS to us and let us play through an early build of the game, more on that soon.
All the Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword details you need (for now)
We've seen a lot on Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, from screenshots to helpful tips on how to control the action, but one burning question remained: how is it? Is it as awesome as a game from Team Ninja should be? Game Daily offered a breakdown of all the elements, and it really seems like this one is coming together in what promises to be an explosive experience on the DS. The folks at Game Daily had only good things to say about the forthcoming title, from the smooth graphics to the controls, and even down to the puzzle elements. It seems this handheld Ninja Gaiden is set to use every ounce of the DS to its advantage. Sign us up for two copies, please. Considering the game is slated for release this year, we hope someone gets their hands on it soon for a more in-depth look, but for now, we'll have to be happy with what we've got. %Gallery-4937%
An updated peek at Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
Oh, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, how we wish you were out already. Like, yesterday. And then delivered to our doorstep wrapped in pretty pink bows, along with an IV filled with espresso, ready to power us through long gaming sessions. Or maybe that's just our own twisted personal fantasy. What can we say -- we're ready for some handheld Ninja Gaiden action, and this version is just as it should be: no frills, all thrills. For now, we'll just have to settle for sweet new screenshots. Check 'em out in the gallery! %Gallery-4937%
PS3 Fanboy review: Ninja Gaiden Sigma
A lot of people give Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Team Ninja as a whole a lot of heat because they keep recycling the same game over and over. This review isn't about that, and here's why. I am a PlayStation fanboy. Before I grabbed onto my PS One back in late '95 or whenever, I had mostly stuck to Sega and Nintendo consoles and aside from the Wii, still do. Never has my wallet coughed up the cash for a Microsoft system -- this isn't meant as flame, but a setup to this review. I've played neither Ninja Gaiden nor Ninja Gaiden Black. That's what you're going to get in this review: the viewpoint from someone who has never played the games, but recognizes the basic structure is from years ago. This begs the question: is Ninja Gaiden Sigma a must-have for all gamers, or just PlayStation fanboys who've never experienced the game before? Read on and we'll get you your answer.
PS3 Fanboy giveaway: Ninja Gaiden Sigma
PS3 and PSP Fanboy wants you to have the greatest summer ever. Each week, there'll be something new to do on either PSP or PS3 Fanboy ... and each week, we'll be giving away a copy of this summer's biggest titles. This week, we're giving away a copy of Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Get ready to get your butt kicked by Team Ninja's finest creation yet. To enter, simply make a comment to this post. Entries will only be accepted until 7/7/07. One winner will be randomly selected out of the eligible entries. Please note that the giveaway is open US residents only, 18 years or older. For complete rules and regulations, click here.
New games this week: Ninja Gaiden Sigma edition
Yikes. The loving was so good last week that we almost forgot that this was still summer. Thankfully, this week has jumped up and slapped us in the jaw to remind us. Ninja Gaiden Sigma seems to be the easy pick this week, unless you've played it so many times by now that you're sick of it. In that case, it may be time to invest in a book of some sort, or take up yachting for a week. There's (a little bit) more after the break. %Gallery-4470%
Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of July 2nd
We know you're still playing The Darkness and Rainbow Six, but the games don't stop coming. So finish those up quickly before you sink your teeth into this week's offering. US Games Ninja Gaiden Sigma EU Games Ninja Gaiden Sigma Asian Games Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 Ninja-tastic. All games are region free and, as usual, release dates are subject to the whim of the fates, so check with your game shop before wasting a trip.
European PSN releases for June 29th
We've had two weeks of good PSN updates so far. Can Sony make it a hat-trick with a third? In short, yes. Check the full release list below. Super Stardust HD (£4.99) Championship Sprint (£1.99) Gauntlet 2 (£1.99) Ninja Gaiden Sigma demo (free) Superman Returns BD trailer (free) Full Metal Jacket BD trailer (free) That's right. Sony were good to their word and have released Super Stardust HD worldwide within 24 hours. This is an excellent game and we will have a review up before too long to tell you exactly why. The other two available games (ah, it feels good to be able to say that ... ) are midway remakes, so have a think about it before you buy. Having said that, we've heard that Gauntlet 2 was pretty good online. The Ninja Gaiden demo is a must get, if you haven't already nabbed if from the US store. Hopefully it will be compatible with the full title's in-game rewards for completing the demo, as the US version will be. Keep these killer updates coming, Sony.
Ninja Gaiden costumes in Super Swing Golf sequel
In the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu, Tecmo announced a sequel to Super Swing Golf (known as PangYa elsewhere) for the Wii. Along with more courses, extra modes and items, the game will feature several new costumes, including those of Ryu and Rachel from Ninja Gaiden. There will also be new special moves such as "spike shots" that are unaffected by the wind. Japanese gamers can get their hands on the game this winter, but no word on a North American release yet.
Don't buy these Virtual Console games
Aeropause's Steven Munn has compiled a list of potential Virtual Console games for suckers. These are all games that have superior versions that could show up on the Virtual Console, or, in the case of Street Fighter II, superior versions that already have shown up. Even without taking the arcade versions into consideration, there's still one more SNES Street Fighter II that could come out, so can you ever feel confident about buying one? We take issue with a couple of the items on the list. Munn recommends against buying Super Mario Bros., because buying it later as part of Super Mario All-Stars with Super Mario World will be cheaper. We disagree, only because we think the NES version is the definitive version of that game. Same with Ninja Gaiden Trilogy: should Tecmo ever decide to release the SNES compilation on the VC, it will be cheaper than buying all three NES games. However, those SNES remakes are a mess of barely-upgraded graphics and ruined music. The article does raise a good point, however. Why should we be expected to pay over and over again for inferior versions of the same game, when the best versions exist and can easily be ported? We're thinking of arcade games, here.
Joystiq at the Ninja Gaiden Band concert
The concept is simple: a four-piece band recreates the soundtrack to the original Ninja Gaiden for NES while one skilled player runs through the game with little effort. You may have heard about this before when they previously performed as Contraband (Contra, natch), Megaband (Mega Man II) and Zeldaband (the first two dungeons of Legend of Zelda). On Friday, Joystiq attended the Ninja Gaiden Band concert, playing at the Caledonia Lounge as part of Athens, Georgia's annual music festival Athfest (the night prior, Contraband won Cover Band of the Year at the awards show). The band, comprised of the members of Cinemechanica and deft gamer Noah McCarthy, is now a two-year project of splicing classic gaming with musical performance. Work on the Ninja Gaiden Band began about a month ago, said guitarist Bryant Williamson, speaking to us before the concert. During practice, McCarthy had never had to use a continue, though Williamson said they were prepared in case he had to start over. McCarthy played on stage using via television while the signal was simultaneously projected onto a screen for the audience to watch. At 1:07 a.m. to a packed crowd, the console was turned on, the title screen came up, and the band counted in. %Gallery-4227%
Ninja Gaiden Sigma to have downloadable content of 'amazing depth'
Recently, Sony hosted a message board based Q&A session with Yosake Hayashi, the director of Ninja Gaiden: Sigma, where he fielded questions from various readers about the upcoming action title. It's a great read and covers a wide variety of topics from the number of difficulty levels (five) to their support of Home (no -- but look for unique Home support in future products). The most interesting question though, had to do with downloadable content. When a reader brought up the Hurricane Packs for the original Xbox version, Hayashi responded with, "We'll be making an announcement regarding our plans for downloadable content soon. The content will have some amazing depth for a download!" No additional information was given but considering their track record with DLC, we should be able to expect something pretty cool from them later this year. Further on in the Q&A session, he also hinted that we may be hearing about the next Team NINJA title sooner than we expected, by saying that "There could be an announcement coming in the very near future ..." but that until then we should enjoy Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Perhaps an E3 announcement about a second Team NINJA PS3 title? We'll find out soon!
PlayStation 3 is getting more Team Ninja titles
There are few developers out there who are as outspoken about the power and potential of the PlayStation 3 as Yosuke Hayashi, the fellow behind Ninja Gaiden: Sigma. He has repeatedly defended the PS3 from developer criticism and has gone so far as to imply that developers who are having problems with the PS3 should just try harder. So it should come as no surprise that Ninja Gaiden: Sigma is not going to be Team Ninja's solitary PlayStation 3 title. In an interview with Eurogamer, Hayashi commented: "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?" While no further details were given (the whole interview has not been published yet), it's great to hear that Sony has such strong support from one of the top Japanese development teams. If NG:S is any indication of what to expect from them in the future, we have a lot to look forward to.
Team Ninja 'has Wii fans,' would consider developing for console
Team Ninja's Yosuke "Itsygaki" Hayashi, director of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, told Pro-G that the development studio is not averse to developing a title for Wii, pending the title utilized Nintendo's more unique features. "We would make something for the Wii if we came up with something unique that would only work on the Wii," he said. Given Ninja Gaiden's upcoming DS release and its unique control scheme, we can only imagine how Itagaki and co. would go about utilizing the Wii remote's pointer capabilities. Our curiosity turns into discomfort, however, when we think of Team Ninja making a Wii version of DOAX. Hayashi further went on to describe the console preference demographic of the studio: "There are several groups within Team Ninja. The PS3 group, the Xbox 360 group, and there are Wii fans in Team Ninja." We've gone ahead and made a Venn diagram to help visualize the possible trichotomy.
Team Ninja designer tells complaining PS3 devs to 'get out'
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.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma will silence PS3 critics, says Hayashi
Yosuke Hayashi, producer and director of Ninja Gaiden Sigma at Team Ninja, has promised gamers and critics alike that they've done everything they could with Ninja Gaiden on the PS3. It is the best it can be, remake or not, and will silence those critical of the PlayStation 3's potential. From a speech given at a recent NGS event, Hayashi said "I have heard much criticism of the PS3, but I am confident that Ninja Gaiden Sigma will demonstrate how powerful the PS3 really is." We hope he's right because that demo was darn amazing. What's most impressive, though, is the final framerate and resolution count. With some advanced effects like self-shading, you'd expect the normal 720p at 60fps or 1080p at 30fps, right? No. Team Ninja is actually delivering those advanced graphical techniques with a persistant 60fps at an astounding 1080p! Hayashi claims that no game has yet to do that, neither on the 360 or the PS3. We can't wait to see it in action.
Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of June 11th
Ready to discover Sony's release plans for this week? Us too. Let's get started. US Games Fantastic 4 Rise of the Silver Surfer EU Games Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer Asian Games Call of Duty 3 (Japan) Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Japan) Amored Core 4 (Korea) Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (Korea) Hooray. Another movie tie-in. Just what we English speakers have been waiting for. At least the Japanese will be having some fun this week with Ninja Gaiden. Knowing their mad skills they'll have completed it by the time it's released in the west in a couple of weeks. If you need something to occupy you until then, then you might want to pick up my new book - How to generalise an entire nation in a single sentence: It's easy with my three step program.. If you're particularly language savvy, or you can deal with just looking at the pretty pictures and not the words, then feel free to import any of the Asian releases. You may not be able to read those funny squiggles, but your PS3 can. Release dates are subject to constant change, so check with your retailer just in case.
European PSN releases for June 8th
Those of you who enjoy your beat-em-ups will no doubt be pleased with the recent European PSN update. As well as a couple of trailers for upcoming PS3 games, Sony gave us Mortal Kombat 2. The full release list is as follows. Mortal Kombat 2 (£1.99) Colin McRae: DiRT trailer (free) Ninja Gaiden Sigma trailer (free) Isn't it is nice to finally get some playable content with a name that doesn't start with "Go!"? MK2 is a worthwhile purchase, especially considering the low price. We reviewed it in May (back when the Americans got it), giving it a score of nothing-to-write-home-about out of ten. Things can only get better for the PSN though, with upcoming releases of Calling All Cars and Super Stardust HD. Will removing the spines of our friends over the internet keep us occupied until then? We hope so.
Itagaki speaks, we listen
Whether it's dealing with sexual harassment lawsuits or drinking on the job, Itagaki is always a man that is interesting to hear from. This latest video interview is no different, as Itagaki explains how Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is the fastest Hayabusa to date, allowing the player to move him around the game environments quickly using the stylus and touch-screen. Catch the video after the post break.
Ninja Gaiden: Sigma will reward you for playing the demo
As if PS3 owners didn't have enough reasons already to play the incredibly awesome Ninja Gaiden: Sigma demo, Team Ninja is giving us yet another. IGN writes that in the full version, you will be rewarded with an amount of in-game currency (Yellow Essence) depending on how far you've gotten in the demo, allowing you to purchase power-ups and items at the very beginning of the game. Did you unlock Rachel's level? Well you'll get a nice little bonus waiting for you when you start up the final version. Nothing jaw-dropping, but it's definitely a cool plus for those of you who have put in your time on the free demo and a handy leg-up for beginners. It would be great to see other developers do things like this -- it's always kind of a bummer if you've spent a ton of time on the demo and have nothing to show for it in the full version of the game. Even if it's just pulling in your race times from the Motorstorm demo, that would be really cool. Do you guys know of any other games that have this kind of demo - full version integration?
