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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.
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Ore vs. Boku FIGHT!!
Just like clockwork: I get back from a trip overseas and I get sick. I thought for sure it wouldn’t happen this time because I was fine On Monday and Tuesday. But come Wednesday, and a day off, and I woke up sick. Trish and I were going to bike to Denver and back (about 32 miles round trip), but instead I spent the day trying not to fall asleep and sort of moping around the house.
Oh, Tristan LOVED the stuffed Pokemon I brought back from Japan for him. You weren’t there when we hit up the Kiddyland in Tokyo, but they had this mammoth Pokemon display set up with a bunch of oversized stuffed Pokemon that I’ve never seen for sale in the U.S. I ended up buying him a big Diagala (I’ve only seen the small ones here) after consulting Mark. Not sure why I consulted Mark since he neither has children nor plays Pokemon, but Tristan hasn’t let go of his Diagala since I gave it to him.
Of course I lied and said it was my idea to get it for him. In fact, I went out of my way to say that Mark had suggested I buy him something awful like a can of Japanese Brussel Sprouts because… well because, that’s how I roll.
What you missed: Justify Your Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword SCi hemorrhaging cash, blames PS3 New PS3 Model? The Great Halo 3 Giveaway I played Phantom Hourglass Live Jericho isn’t as crap as Fahey had… hoped?
newVideoPlayer("JustifyItagakiNew_gawker.flv", 475, 376); After a long Kotaku interview session, Team Ninja’s commander and chief Tomonobu Itagaki justified his upcoming Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for DS. And somewhere along the line, if you study the video very closely, we make complete arseholes of ourselves. It’s a first, we know.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the DS today. The game was on the show floor over in Tecmo’s booth. If you played through the incredibly short demo level you were given a poster, which I promptly discarded.
The title was very much a stylus game. You move around, jump and attack by tapping and swiping your stylus on the bottom screen. That sounds like it might be a bit annoying, but it wasn’t. It’s done in a way that makes you feel like you’re doing a bit more than just mashing away at a button. For instance, a standard attack is performed by slashing down on a target. You can throw knives at your target by tapping on it and you can do a super attack of sorts by swiping up twice to double jump and then down to plunge a sword down into your target.
The demo was far too short to get a solid feel for how much fun it might be once you really dig into it, but from what I played it was quite a bit of fun.
