ninja gaiden 2
News
Xbox Live Deal Of The Week: Ninja Missions On The Cheap
1:40AM Mike Fahey | Microsoft second offering in their recently revived Deal of the Week program grants Xbox Live Gold members a special price on the Mission Mode add-on for Ninja Gaiden 2. More »
Hard Proof That Tecmo Japan Is Lying? (This Seems Like It)
5:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Things are going from bad to worse for Tecmo. First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki announced he was leaving and suing Tecmo, while a totally separate lawsuit has been filed against Tecmo by Hiroaki Ozawa and co-plaintiff Tatsuki Tsunoda. Ozawa is the Tecmo Labour Union leader and Ninja Gaiden 2 lead engineer, while Tsunoda is the Ninja Gaiden 2 level design lead. Two key Team Ninja members! That alone does not bode well for Tecmo. But, this isn’t just a story of two guys trying to get some overtime, but also apparently of deception, falsified statements and a dead, beloved company president. There’s concrete evident in the plaintiff’s claims — so concrete that it could very well be the silver bullet for Tecmo’s current upper management.
News
Tecmo Employees Sue Tecmo (Tecmo Seems Fucked)
5:30PM Brian Ashcraft | First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki sues former employer Tecmo, now this. On June 16th, two Tecmo employees filed suit with the Tokyo District Court for unpaid wages, demanding 8.3 million yen ($AU 81,570) in payment. According to the suit, the workers were illegally placed on a “flexible hours” work scheme, starting four years ago. From that point, overtime wasn’t paid, apparently. The plaintiffs represent all 300 Tecmo employees and contest that because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime. More »Details Surface About Akihabara Killer (Ninja Gaiden 2 Confusion)
7:00PM Brian Ashcraft | As we reported earlier, tragedy struck Tokyo’s video game/anime/manga district Akihabara this Sunday. A 25-year-old-man stabbed 17, killing 7. Truly, truly horrible stuff. The killer’s name is Tomohiro Kato, and according to blog Japan Probe, details about him include: He had been to Akihabara many times in the past. He worked for a Tokyo-based temp company and had been sent to Shizuoka for work. He played tennis in school. One of his year book sketches includes a character from Namco RPG Tales of Destiny with messages he wrote in English (after the jump). The mass media has already latched onto the game connection, instead of the tennis one to explain this senseless spree. (Because tennis driving people to kill makes no sense — but apparently video games does!)
News
Itagaki Leaving Tecmo, Suing Tecmo
3:45PM Brian Ashcraft | Tomonobu Itagaki is leaving Tecmo and suing the company for unpaid bonuses. The Dead or Alive creator cites an unfulfilled Dead or Alive 4 completion bonus, stating, “President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me ‘if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.’” Tomonobu Itagaki’s translator Andrew Szymanski contacted Kotaku, telling us, “At approximately 2:30 PM Japan Standard Time today, June 3rd 2008, an official statement from Tomonobu Itagaki was sent by fax to major Japanese news outlets. In the interest of fair and expedient reporting of this story throughout the English-speaking world, I have been asked by Itagaki to convey this statement to you. Herein find attached Itagaki’s official statement, in English, for the benefit of your readers.” What does this mean for Itagaki’s future? Szymanski does not know, adding, “You will likely have questions regarding the content of the statement, or about Itagaki’s future plans. I am afraid that I will be unable to answer such questions for the time being; however, rest assured that more information will be forthcoming as soon as it is deemed appropriate to do so.”Quitting Tecmo (and suing it) means the chances of Itagaki making Dead or Alive 5 are more dead than alive. Hit the jump for Itagaki’s full statement. More »Ninja Gaiden II Bloody Video Blowout
5:30PM Luke Plunkett | Let’s take a break from Itagaki shooting his mouth off and get back to Ninja Gaiden II, eh? And we’ll get back to it by checking out not one, not two, not even three, but four new videos for the game. Above, Mr. Hayabusa painting (a mysteriously drab-looking) Times Square red, with the other three after the jump. More »
Itagaki Is Focused on “Movement” and “Animation”
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | As Crecente previously reported, Tecmo’s Tomonobu Itagaki is ready to move on after Ninja Gaiden 2. He’s said its the last entry in the series. What’s next for the sunglassed one? According to Itagaki: More »
More Video From Ninja Gaiden II
5:20AM Mike Fahey | Two Ninja Gaiden II videos in one month? First they gift us on the Day of the Ninja with a new gameplay trailer, and now Team Ninja is back with even more gameplay video. I have to agree with Luke here. We get it. The screens prove it’s bloody, and the clips prove it is fast. Other than that the media blitz isn’t really showing us anything new. We know it is coming, we’re prepared to purchase it for our playing pleasure. Unless you want to reveal some new gameplay twist or a massive boss, no more gameplay clips. We’re full. More »
