Itagaki admits PS3 indifference

By Robert Purchese Published 23 January, 2007

Although he loves the Wii.

Team Ninja boss Tomonobu Itagaki has been leaking words again, talking about everything from the misunderstood Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 to how much he likes Wii.

It turns out that he's not particularly bowled over by Sony's next-gen efforts though; apparently there are no games that grab him.

"There's no launch titles that create within me an urge to search all over Tokyo to find a PS3 so I can play them," he told 1UP in a recent interview.

"The only thing I've seen running on a PS3 is Ninja Gaiden Sigma..." Which happens to be coming along very well, thank you very much, though he didn't say anything more about it.

In contrast he's very impressed with Nintendo, suggesting that he'd like to work with Wii when he finishes his current projects. He envisions himself holding a Japanese sword, that's the kind of frame of mind he's in, scarily.

"I thought it would be good, but I didn't think it would be this good. I do think now that there are more types of games that are suitable for this machine than I actually thought."

Itagaki was speaking in the aftermath of DOAX2's critical panning. He maintains that the game was misunderstood, saying it was a parody of Japanese TV shows featuring girls in bikinis, something that the US and Europe don't have.

"It's almost kind of a joke, a throwback to that, something to make you laugh."

He reckons it's still the best example of the genre on the market though, but that might be because it's a made up genre and DOAX2 is the only game in it.

You can see what Kristan thought of it elsewhere on the site.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (32) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • absolutezero #1 5 years ago

    Should'nt Itagaki be in jail?

  • Xerx3s #2 5 years ago

    Just finish NG2 already!

  • belziah #3 5 years ago

    MS developer says to MS fan site, "I doesnt want/like PS3".

    No mention of the shit game he's just released.

    This is what passes for news these days.

  • Steroyd #4 5 years ago

    I don't know anymore.

    Actually his sentiments are felt in Japan in regards to the games although instead of selling 3-4K a week that MS suffered for a whole year Sony sells 60K+ a week in Japan, didn't Sony say something about selling PS3's with no games?

    Last week ALL the consoles sales slowed down by an average of 50% BTW.
    Edited by Steroyd at 23/01/07 @ 13:04

  • absolutezero #5 5 years ago

    1up maybe a smug steaming pile of shit slapped onto the net but its not a MS fansite by any push of the imagination.

    Ninja Gaiden 2 for Wii man that would make me laugh so much.

  • Steroyd #6 5 years ago

    I think DOA Beach Volleyball would make it onto the wii before NG2... if you know what i mean...

  • Xerx3s #7 5 years ago

    MS developer says to MS fan site, "I doesnt want/like PS3".

    Just because team ninja chooses a platform every generation or so that they think will suit them best, doesn't make them ms owned. They happen to develop for the ps3 as well. :/

  • belziah #8 5 years ago

    @absolute zero

    might I suggest that you have an overweight imagination and that if it eat right, regularly exercised and maybe lost a few pounds, the push would not be so strenuous.:)

    He's not wrong about the PS3 software situation tho. Whats out in Japan that justifies 60k a week?

    @Xerx3s

    not sure where I mentioned he is MS owned. Calling him a MS developer is like calling Kojima a Sony developer. Yes he has worked on other platforms but Kojima's development choices have been concentrated around Sony machines and MS with Itakagi. No need to suddenly get sensitive. Everyone here know where Itakagi stands.
    Edited by belziah at 23/01/07 @ 13:19

  • itamae #9 5 years ago

    "There's no launch titles that create within me an urge to search all over Tokyo to find a PS3 so I can play them,"

    "The only thing I've seen running on a PS3 is Ninja Gaiden Sigma..."

    Um, okay? :-)

  • Psychotext #10 5 years ago

    "There's no launch titles that create within me an urge to search all over Tokyo to find a PS3 so I can play them"

    Search Tokyo? You're lucky if you don't trip over one in the street these days...

    /escapes as crowd turns ugly

  • The-Bodybuilder #11 5 years ago

    >"MS developer says to MS fan site, "I doesnt want/like PS3". "

    I guess you "forgot" the part where he talks of NG Sigma running on the ps3.

    o_O

  • MadMirko #12 5 years ago

    Itagaki admits PS3 indifference. Although he loves the Wii.

    MadMirko admits PS3 indifference. Although he loves the Wii.

    See? Nothing special, move along.
    Edited by MadMirko at 23/01/07 @ 13:37

  • Psychotext #13 5 years ago

    But does MadMirko develop games with freaky breast physics? =)

  • belziah #14 5 years ago

    @The Bodybuilder

    The point I'm making is: Nothing he says about the PS3 in the interview is new. We knew this last week. The week before. Pretty much the last 2 years. Its not new, its not NEWS.

  • smoothn00dle #15 5 years ago

    can someone tell me what did he mean by indifference?

  • Johnson #16 5 years ago

    I would but, you know, meh.

  • aine #17 5 years ago

    He reckons it's still the best example of the genre on the market though, but that might be because it's a made up genre and DOAX2 is the only game in it.

    actually, it isn't the only one... Party Girls on the PS2 is another. Plays like shit, but it does a much better job of parodying Japanese TV than DOAX2. Mainly because Party Girls actually is a parody of Japanese TV, with excitable commentators and everything.
    Edited by aine at 23/01/07 @ 15:04

  • absolutezero #18 5 years ago

    Is that the Janken game I kept on seeing at play-asia?

  • sanctusmortis #19 5 years ago

    In Japan, there's load of shameless bikini clad girl games.

    How do I know? Errr...

  • MadMirko #20 5 years ago

    But does MadMirko develop games with freaky breast physics? =)

    The best.

    :)

  • Hughes. #21 5 years ago

    Wow, the pizza-faced rockstar wannabe with a mammary fixation and accusations of sexual harassment in the workplace takes another opportunity to have a swipe at the PS3, again, again, again.

    I'm genuinely shocked at this completely new information.

  • jack_klugman #22 5 years ago

    Public admits Itagaki indifference

  • chupachups #23 5 years ago

    "Last week ALL the consoles sales slowed down by an average of 50% BTW."

    Yes, but the PS3 was still in fourth place behind the Wii, DS and PSP, and it's only sold a fraction of what the Wii has despite PS3 stocks being readily available while Wii ones are in short supply.

    You're right though, all you can really say from the latest figures is that loads of Japanese people bought a console at the end of the year so not as many bought them immediately afterwards, but the relative sales of the consoles didn't change at all.

    What the PS3 needs is a string of really good and popular games, that's what will save almost any console. The problem is that PS3 games are considerably more expensive to develop than Wii ones, so Sony has made life more difficult for themselves.
    Edited by chupachups at 23/01/07 @ 19:15

  • Steroyd #24 5 years ago

    k Chupachups I was only saying Sony is being punished for having no Japaneese centric games by selling 60k + a week compared to MS doing the exact same and selling 3k a week.
    I was covering my arse with incase some smartass turd points to last weeks sales figures.

    Sony's situation is most peculiar it isn't selling as bad as people make out yet it isn't sell as spectacularly as the wii.

    Situatin is not bad enough to make Sony change their strategy with the price ala PSP.

  • Hughes. #25 5 years ago

    Well thank you for being a beacon of maturity there, Ahab. I'll be sure to take his wallet enhanced opinions more seriously now you've set me straight.

  • The-Bodybuilder #26 5 years ago

    >"The point I'm making is: Nothing he says about the PS3 in the interview is new. We knew this last week. The week before. Pretty much the last 2 years. Its not new, its not NEWS. "

    1.He's interest in the wii IS new, thierofore newsworthy.
    2. Only EG cn decide what's newsworthy of thier site. It's up to the readers not to read it.
    3. My point was that you called him an MS developer, when he briefly discusses the development of his ps3 game.

  • JediMasterMalik #27 5 years ago

    He's not developing it, therefore he's not developing a PS3 game.

  • Steroyd #28 5 years ago

    Kato that's already been debunked the fact that I can't be arsed and I'm commenting from the PSP means I can't provide a link yeah I know typical.

    Maybe if this article is still afloat sometime tomorrow i'll post it

  • NegativeZero #29 5 years ago

    @Steroyd:MS does have some Japanese-centric games. Blue Dragon, for example. The issue is that Squenix has thrown their weight behind the PS3 at this point, and where Final Fantasy goes, you can expect a lot of the other RPG teams to follow.


    Personally I think the reason for the backlash against DoAX2 isn't anything to do with it being a bad game - it's a refinement of the first one - and everything to do with reviewers not wanting to be seen putting an endorsement on a game when that game always generates a legion of idiots who accuse anyone and everyone who even looks at it to be a gigantic pervert, scared of real women, etc etc. It's a shame really, because boobs aside, as a game it's actually pretty relaxing and enjoyable. People need to stop taking things so seriously.

  • davisorle #30 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • smelly #31 5 years ago

    Dunno if anyone's read this (or mentioned it).. but with regards to us/japanese preferences :

    [link url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3155815
    ]http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3155815
    [/link]

  • davisorle #32 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012