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Ninja Gaiden's Itagaki Leaves Tecmo, Sues for Damages
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:18 AM
from the prima-donna-or-oppressed-developer dept.
from the prima-donna-or-oppressed-developer dept.
Gamasutra is reporting that Ninja Gaiden developer Tomonobu Itagaki has resigned from Tecmo and is suing for damages in the neighborhood of 148 million yen ($1.42M USD). "In recent press interviews for the just released Xbox 360 exclusive Ninja Gaiden II, Itagaki had repeatedly stated that it would be the last game in the series he would work on, while also disparaging Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the PlayStation 3 - with which he was not directly involved. At the same time he began to make reference to work beginning on a new action title unrelated to Ninja Gaiden. It now seems likely that these comments were made with the knowledge that the title would not be created at Tecmo, although Itagaki has given no indication of what his future plans might entail."
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Tomonobu Itagaki... (Score:4, Funny)
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Yeah, we're boned.
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Re:written contract (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, though, I wonder how series like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive will look without Itagaki at the helm. Can DOA: Extreme Barbie Doll Dressup really be the same without his genius guidance?
Then again I wasn't too impressed with all the focus on making the girls' breasts all bouncy -- it just ended up looking really weird. And there were never enough cute shoes!
Parent
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He had nothing to do with the port, due to his contempt of the PS3.
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Ninja Gaiden Sigma would be a good example.
He had nothing to do with the port, due to his contempt of the PS3.
Reply to This
Itagaki didn't want it on the PS3 but the port was good. High rez textures, HD graphics, same responsiveness and gameplay with a bit extra to justify the purchase.
I think it was a matter of personal pride, he backed this horse and the release of it for the PS3 hurt his pride. But I don't think he quit over that. I think it's money and unfulfilled promises of cash. Perhaps they pushed him for publishing NG II, he had years to tune NG and it was a great game for it. NG II's flaws are all flaws that could be
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The way of the ninja (Score:5, Funny)