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Microsoft thanks Itagaki for support News
Xbox 360 News by Tom Bramwell
Microsoft has publicly thanked Tomonobu Itagaki for his Xbox support following his dramatic departure from Tecmo yesterday.
"Tomonobu Itagaki has decided to leave Tecmo and Team Ninja to pursue other opportunities. We thank Tomonobu Itagaki for the many years he has supported Xbox as he has contributed immensely to the success of the videogame industry as a whole," the platform hold told Kotaku.
Itagaki was outspoken in his support for Xbox and Xbox 360 despite the relative indifference of many of his Japanese peers. "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 once told 1UP.
However, Tecmo has hit back at Itagaki in a statement reported by IGN, alleging that Itagaki's claims of damages are the product of "distortions". The developer also says it paid out bonuses to Itagaki in line with company policy and that the "completion bonus" he claims to be owed is a relic of the previous regime.
Tecmo added that Team Ninja - Itagaki's development team - has commenced work on new titles.
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Comments: 1-28 of 28 in total
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I fear this may be bad for both Itagaki and Team Ninja. Remember when similarly swollen-headed game designer John Romero left iD Software? It didn't work out for either of them - Romero went on to become an industry laughing stock by (eventually) releasing Daikatana, and iD ended up churning out technically competent games with throwback and uninspired gameplay like Doom 3.
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I'm an avid DOA player - what I'm hearing around teh intwerwebz is that Team Ninja will indeed be making DOA5 soon. It was supposed to be announced sometime in July, but Itagaki's departure may have ruined those plans.
You know, for me it's not a bad thing that Itagaki is leaving DOA and Ninja Gaiden. They need a bit of fresh thinking, especially Ninja Gaiden. If you put NGII alongside action games like Gears or Uncharted, it seems unnecessarily old-fashioned and riddled with technical issues, no matter how frenetic the swordplay is. But in the end, and even though this is unlikely, I have to say it: just don't can DOA5, Tecmo. It would be very sad. |
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farticusmaximus
04/06/08 @ 08:33
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"If you put NGII alongside action games like Gears or Uncharted, it seems unnecessarily old-fashioned and riddled with technical issues, no matter how frenetic the swordplay is."
I dont see how you can make a comparison between these games. Compare NG2 to DMC4 or Heavenly Sword. Gears and Uncharted are not even vaguely in the same genre as NG. NG2 is what it is by design, it doesnt matter that it's an old design because it still works, and works to stunning effect. As for techincal issues, well after playing the whole NG2 demo I only experienced a small framerate hiccup for about 5 seconds and it had no effect whatsoever on the gameplay. |
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"Tecmo added that Team Ninja - Itagaki's development team - has commenced work on new titles."
Except it's not really team ninja anymore is it. Especially as the guy who named HIS team that has left. It's more like just another tecmo dev team. Without the strong head to defy management and ake the games the way they think they should be made, it's just going to churn out management influenced, trend lead messes. I wish tecmo luck but, someone high up really should have gotten rid of the mamangement before the creative tallent, even if that meant compromising with Itagaki on the bonus stuff. Heck I would have gotten rid of this particular manager the moment he started saying derogatory stuff about any member of staff! |
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WinterSnowblind
04/06/08 @ 11:50
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Microsoft won't bother hiring him, he hates Sony, so he's likely to continue making games exclusively for the 360 anyway. But I'd have though MS would have wanted to secure the exclusive rights to DOA and Ninja Gaiden a long time ago anyway, it is kind of silly that they ignore these oppertunities, they already missed their chance of owning Bioware.
Personally, the 360 is still my favourite console, but if they'd just do more to get these exclusive games, I think a lot more people would have reason to get one, and it's not like they don't have the money. |
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Jheronimus
04/06/08 @ 12:24
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Well, Itagaki coming to MS would lead to some nice Japanese-Western crossover development... So MS, hire the bastard, throw in some bottles of nice booze and let him stun us with great games (and realistic moving boobies :P).
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monkie_king
04/06/08 @ 12:29
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Platinum Games should hire him -- he could team up with the DMC guy and bring his NG chops to that game with the bird with the gun shoes.
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Diomedes117
04/06/08 @ 14:29
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Bad for Tecmo and the Ninja Gaiden franchise. I bet MS will back his new studio...
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Comments: 1-28 of 28 in total
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