Ninja Gaiden 2 still on 360?

By Ellie Gibson Published 25 July, 2005

Exclusivity in doubt.

Back in April, we ran a story about EB Games listing Ninja Gaiden 2 for the Xbox 360. It seemed logical that the next instalment in the series would appear on Microsoft's next-generation console, since the first game was such a hit on Xbox.

But things got a little less clear cut following a report by US website IGN, which quoted Team Ninja leader Tomonobu Itagaki as saying the game was not a confirmed Xbox 360 title. All he would say was that Team Ninja wouldn't be fully committed to Ninja Gaiden 2 until work finished up on Dead or Alive 4.

And now the plot thickens. At the Xbox Summit in Tokyo, Itagaki announced no less than five Team Ninja titles planned for the 360 - but not one of them had the words "Ninja" or "Gaiden" in the title.

However, he did reveal that a "secret game" was in production alongside the named games (DOA4, DOA Xtreme 2, DOA Crode Cronus and a new action game titled Project Progressive). Could this be Ninja Gaiden 2? Well, it seems odd that Itagaki would keep it a "secret" since he's already mentioned the fact that NG2 is in development many times before...

Which leaves us, well, confused. Is Ninja Gaiden 2 heading to the PS3 or Revolution, perhaps, or will it appear on all three next-gen platforms? It's impossible to make the call at this stage - but we'll bring you more news as soon as we get it.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • octo #1 7 years ago

    Console exclusivity is an interesting topic. Might it be worth an article on EG in the future? Personally it wouldn't suprise me in the slightest of NG2 became a multiformat release.

  • AaronTurner #2 7 years ago

    Shit game anyhow.

  • alimokrane #3 7 years ago

    QUOTE : " Shit game anyhow "

    Shit game ? really I seriously urge you to reconsider what you said. regarding the exclusivity thing, I really dont care as long as it's released on XboX 360 I'm getting it

  • Spanky #4 7 years ago

    I'm with Aaron, no fun to be found in the game for me. Well fun graphics :T

    As Paul Ross said on reviewing Citizen Kane "Didn't like it. Not a fan."

  • Lothar Hex #5 7 years ago

    Wasn't shit, just bollock-busting hard.

  • AaronTurner #6 7 years ago

    /reconsiders

    ...

    Shit game anyhow.

  • Tweakmonkey #7 7 years ago

    Tell us more about DOA Xtreme 2. Is it still volleyball? Will it match Beach Spikers this time in terms of gameplay?

  • RumpyStumpy #8 7 years ago

    So hard that loads of people didn't bother with it after the first level. Whats the point in creating all those lovely graphics when shedloads of people can't see them?

    Games need to be fun, not so hard that you waste £40.00 and it sits on the shelf gavering dust.

    I know how about levels of difficulty as follows:

    Retard, Easy, Normal, Hard, Stupidly Hard, Painfully Hard, and Fucking Impossible.

    Just give us the choice and stop being such gits. I will not be buying this and wasting money on a game I can't finish.
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/05 @ 17:27

  • octo #9 7 years ago

    This has been going on since the games release. Can't it just stop now? "OOh it's too hard" versus "OOh what are you talking about hard? It's as hard as my granny". Those who didn't enjoy the first game won't buy the second one unless they're suckers who enjoy bathing in hype.

  • RumpyStumpy #10 7 years ago

    Is your granny hard then. I lost my tooth in a granny smith once, now that was bloody hard.

  • oceanmotion #11 7 years ago

    Halo 3 has'nt been announced. Might appear on PS3, Revolution then. Its a lame article by IGN because they have nothing interesting to talk about. Why talk about a game that won't see the light of day for years. Team Ninja have 5 games to make. Give them a break.

  • Vin #12 7 years ago

    Blimey.

    The bloke has FIVE games to beaver away on. Once the dev time for said games is finished, proper due care and attention to Gaiden 2 will start. TN will be loads more familiar with the X360 hardware by then so cut em' some slack.

  • Freek #13 7 years ago

    Halo is a first party series, Ninja Gaiden is not, so that leaves it open to speculation.

  • IronGiant #14 7 years ago

    /patiently awaits the usual tripe from Balor

  • #15 7 years ago

    *Shrugs*

    What's to say? This is neither news, story or press release. It's self confessed conjecture originating from IGN and not even very logical conjecture a fact IGN admit. The good news is it free advertising for Ninja Gaiden and the excellent Team Ninja.

    Here's some facts for you though.

    To date Team Ninja Have announced 5 games for the Xbox 360 to continue the excellent support Team Ninja have displayed on the Xbox.

    To date Team Ninja have announced sweet fuck all for the Playstation a continuation of there total lack of support for the platform since the ancient Dead or Alive 2.

  • kururin #16 7 years ago

    Yep. Also, remember Team Ninja's got another Ninja Gaiden release for xbox1 before the xbox2 happens; Ninja Gaiden Black. I can understand them not wanting to undermine Black by saying anything about a next NG yet. This news story is fully stupid and based on nothing.
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/05 @ 21:38

  • sumanai #17 7 years ago

    It's going to appear on N-Gage! (and I can shoot monkeys out of my arse)
    But seriously, Team Ninja has imo showed deep hatred for atleast the Playstation that I doubt that they'll even fart in the generic direction. Not that I care, the PC in Ninja Gaiden was too stiff (in a way) for a ninja, imo, so that I could like it. And I don't really like the DOA series either, the counter's are too strong. But that could just be 'cause I get my butt kicked most of the time.
    Oh yeah, too small areas in my opinion (NG). Hopefully the next generation has enough power to not only pull graphics, but also larger maps. Although neither 360 or PS3 seems to be having enough RAM.

  • dllord #18 7 years ago

    Typical EG!!! every other multiformat games site is giving out full coverage of the X360 games from the 360 summit, and all EG can do is bring up the point that NG2 wasn't announced by Tecmo and that it might go to their beloved PS3!!! Very sad!!!

  • The-Bodybuilder #19 7 years ago

    >"Well, it seems odd that Itagaki would keep it a "secret" since he's already mentioned the fact that NG2 is in development many times before..."

    Not really. He already said we wants to hype his current games, not let NG2's hype over shadow his existing games.

    Besides, I think the fact that it's an action name and the project name is "progressive" is a clue (progressing from what?)

  • The-Bodybuilder #20 7 years ago

    >"Typical EG!!! every other multiformat games site is giving out full coverage of the X360 games from the 360 summit"

    I think it's because they weren't invited.

  • onyxbox #21 7 years ago

    Shit game anyhow.

    For me Ninja Gaiden is the best XBox game out there and is up there with Metroid Prime and ICO as one of the best games of this generation on any platform. For me that game would be a system exclusive killer app (as PGR3 seems to be for some) and it seems strange that MS havent kept it that way for the 360 :-/

  • Dizzy #22 7 years ago

    NG did super well on the XBox... it think it is fairly obvious it will make a return on the 360. Not annoucing it doesn't mean it is not coming out.

  • BartonFink #23 7 years ago

    Hmmm massive leap from which quoted Team Ninja leader Tomonobu Itagaki as saying the game was not a confirmed Xbox 360 title. All he would say was that Team Ninja wouldn't be fully committed to Ninja Gaiden 2 until work finished up on Dead or Alive 4.
    To Which leaves us, well, confused. Is Ninja Gaiden 2 heading to the PS3 or Revolution, perhaps, or will it appear on all three next-gen platforms?

    Sounds like they are comitting to nothing until they have finished work on DOA4 to me, where is the confusion?

    You sure some of you guys have never worked for Spong or The Star ;)
    Edited by 2 at 26/07/05 @ 08:31

  • darkphoenix #24 7 years ago

    Ninja Gaiden is one of the best games of this generation, along with Ico, God of War, Metroid Prime, GTA SA and Forza.

    I will play the sequel, no matter its hardware destination.
    I just want it to be at least as good.

    And for those who did quit NG, bitching about the dificulty, well...
    You'll never know what you've missed, and it's not really that hard once you actually get focused in it.

    Lamers...

  • darkmistx #25 7 years ago

    Therer's no reason why it needs to be exclusive. If they release it multi-platform means more sales for them.

  • drumbaby #26 7 years ago

    Big loss for Xbox if it goes to PS3, and a nice (but not essential) gain for the Sony box....Xbox hardly has any NG/DMCesque games of which to speak, where as PS2 has this sort of things in absolute droves...as will PS3, no doubt (DMC4/ Genji 2 already in the making).

  • AaronTurner #27 7 years ago

    "Lamers..."

    *guffaw*

  • aabyssx #28 7 years ago

    An new Ninja Gaiden may determine the choice of my first next gen platform. And if the new DMC was on the same platform as the new NG...

  • aabyssx #29 7 years ago

    Anyway next gen is to far for me yet, so I don't really care.
    Give me that NG Black first!

  • Blerk #30 7 years ago

    At the Xbox Summit in Tokyo, Itagaki announced no less than five Team Ninja titles planned for the 360 - but not one of them had the words "Ninja" or "Gaiden" in the title.

    But a worrying number with 'Dead', 'or' and 'Alive' in the title.

  • too_cool_craig #31 7 years ago

    is everyone in europe retarded Ninja Gaiden 2 is still xbox 360 exclusive the reason team ninja has said nothing about it is because they are waiting for NGB to be released, if they announce NG2 then all the hype will be on it and sales for Ninja Gaiden Black will suffer so just wait until NGB is released

  • Derblington #32 7 years ago

    "Typical EG!!! every other multiformat games site is giving out full coverage of the X360 games from the 360 summit, and all EG can do is bring up the point that NG2 wasn't announced by Tecmo and that it might go to their beloved PS3!!! Very sad!!!"

    Read down the f***ing page moron, that story was posted before this one. What's the point of coming to post useless drivel and bitching? No one wants to read it.
    Edited by 1 at 26/07/05 @ 11:09

  • The-Bodybuilder #33 7 years ago

    >"Big loss for Xbox if it goes to PS3, and a nice (but not essential) gain for the Sony box....Xbox hardly has any NG/DMCesque games of which to speak, where as PS2 has this sort of things in absolute droves...as will PS3, no doubt (DMC4/ Genji 2 already in the making)."

    I thought that was one of the reasons why they chose a different format? I doubt they would have sold that well if NG was on the ps2 only (with DMC owning that platform). It would have been a repeat of the whole DOA2 on the ps2, having to go up against tekken and Virtua Fighter.

  • captain-future #34 7 years ago

    @dizzy: NG did super well on the XBox...

    do you have numbers?

    who cares whether NG2 will be on Xbox360 or on Xbox360 _and_ PlayStation3?
    I'll have both systems when the price is right.
    oh and isn't it lovely to have new Xtreme 2 with more than just low-quality Casino sims?

    BTW: it's typical opinionated SonyGamer news that rules the site in the last weeks.
    Edited by 1 at 26/07/05 @ 11:46

  • Genji #35 7 years ago

    The original NG was hard, but fair. You had to work to improve your tactics - after that, the rest of the game was a breeze. Getting over the learning curve was the tricky part.

  • savant #36 7 years ago

    Ninja Gaiden Black will include additional difficulty levels, including 'Ninja Dog', which will provide less of a challenge for those who thought the default setting was too hard in the original. Rumours from the States are that it will also be priced 'mid-range' (i.e. around the 30 dollar mark). It will also include all the Hurricane Pack downloadable content and more gorgeous cinematics.

  • Helios #37 6 years ago

    I hope it stays on 360, since I'll only ever have one of these 'next-gen consoles', and my 360 is on order.

    *goes back to try to beat Ninja Gaiden black on Master Ninja*