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Itagaki announces his return. Will we see it in X019?
- Thread starter danrbg
- Start date
Has anyone asked him why dismemberment was dropped from Sigma 2, or do people just screech that the game is worse because it's gone? Also, a studio manager that casually insults his employees in interviews is not demonstrating good managerial ability.
Ninja Gaiden 3 was an attempt at something different, but it's true that vanilla NG3 fell on its face with Razor's Edge being a better version of the game. That in mind, they probably had good reason internally to shelve the series for now to focus on other projects. Nioh was a major success for them and Nioh 2 is a promising follow-up. Given enough time to figure out what they want to do and where they want to take Ninja Gaiden, they could return to it eventually. But that's never going to involve Itagaki.
It was far worse for it being taken out and one knew that even Team Ninja worked that out in the end, because they patched the system back into Ninja Gaiden 3 despite Hayashi-san saying he didn't like the gore.
It depends because in one of those interviews to go along with the criticism came praise too and of course take with a pinch of salt as Itagaki-san loved to pretend he was living the rock star lifestyle
For me Team Ninja was far better under Itagaki-san and it a shame to see what has happened to Ninja Gaiden series since he's left
Sigma 2 has dismemberment on the PS3 as it´s in an integral mechanic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrEyZU3bPy0
The Vita version, it runs well on an overclocked unit, further restored the blood and human enemies. There are just less of them in both versions, as the 360 version struggled to be playable in those sections. NG 3 RE further featured balls to the wall gory.
The Japanese version of ンジャ ガイデン2 (NG II) I just saw on Youtube has gore + beheadings, so the censorship in the PS3 version of Sigma 2 isn´t a Cero thing. The 360 version kept the Z rating despite beheadings, wow.
Itagaki left TN in disgrace after committing a known sexual assault, after him abusing his staff and denouncing them in public. And then there are the royalties they may or may not owe him. Long story short. He is unemployable over there. The Devil´s Turd fiasco didn´t help either.
Could he lead another AAA game or even a BBB game again? Sure. How likely is that and how excited am i... eh.
The Vita version, it runs well on an overclocked unit, further restored the blood and human enemies. There are just less of them in both versions, as the 360 version struggled to be playable in those sections. NG 3 RE further featured balls to the wall gory.
The Japanese version of ンジャ ガイデン2 (NG II) I just saw on Youtube has gore + beheadings, so the censorship in the PS3 version of Sigma 2 isn´t a Cero thing. The 360 version kept the Z rating despite beheadings, wow.
Itagaki left TN in disgrace after committing a known sexual assault, after him abusing his staff and denouncing them in public. And then there are the royalties they may or may not owe him. Long story short. He is unemployable over there. The Devil´s Turd fiasco didn´t help either.
Could he lead another AAA game or even a BBB game again? Sure. How likely is that and how excited am i... eh.
Still accusing him of definitely committing a crime despite the courts finding him not guilty. Then claims the unpaid royalties have the possibilities of not being true, despite there being a recording of the new Tecmo president admitting there were indeed promised bonuses and Tecmo later ended up settling with Itagaki out of court while two other Team Ninja members at the time who represented 300 employees by vote had also filed a suit against Tecmo for illegally withholding overtime pay and falsifying papers, another suit which Tecmo settled. Pretty golden confirmation bias you have there.
Know what else? That new troubled Tecmo president ended up resigning throughout this entire ordeal, and the settlements with Itagaki and Team Ninja employees only occurred after this fact.
If you wanna take anything out of this even if you don't like Itagaki, it's that Tecmo while under Yasuda was a completely shitty workplace.
Ozawa and Tsunoda both filed their suit this past Monday. According to the suit, the workers were illegally placed on a "flexible hours" work scheme where overtime was not paid. Because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime. Along with the lawsuit, they provided hard evidence to prove that Tecmo's actions were unethical and illegal.
The following day, Ozawa clarified their lawsuit with Japanese website IT Media, explaining what it means for the entire company: "There are only two employees bringing this suit, but our accusations encompass all 300 employees, and if Tecmo doesn't immediately address the issue and correct the problem, we are ready to start a second and a third class action suit." Hiroaki Ozawa is an official representative of the labor union, having been elected with a majority vote from amongst the 300 employees. That's why, when he says that he is prepared for a 2nd or 3rd wave of class-action suits, you can take him seriously — he has been voted in by a majority of Tecmo employees.
No problem lol. It can be understandable if some don't like Itagaki for his personality, but it irks me when people just make shit up to fit their narrative.
Most likely because of how KT abused of his "daughters" with DOA
Would love to see a spiritual successor to Ninja Gaiden on Xbox!! Make it happen Phil!!!
Would be a start on my road to possibly rejoining the Xbox community.
Would be a start on my road to possibly rejoining the Xbox community.
You're not wrong, but I feel this is a bit disingenuous in regards to painting things better when Itagaki was involved. Let's not forget that under Itagaki he kept several of the characters underage and sexualized the fuck out of them. It was only after he was gone that the characters were able to become adults. If that's not some Grade-A creep, I don't know what is.
Never heard of the aftermath of all the drama. Thanks for the info.
I read the links. How do any of the 3 exonerate Itagaki? I easily believe that Tecmo is a badly run company that treats its employees like dirt. Ok but it was that very company that dismissed the sexual assault accusation:
www.gamesindustry.biz
"The bonus payments may have been a breaking point, but this was not the first time Tecmo and Itagaki had friction. Two years earlier, Itagaki was accused of sexually harassing an employee over a period of several years, with the employee claiming Tecmo fired her after bringing her complaints up to the company. Tecmo insisted "the alleged sexual harassment of the former employee by Itagaki never took place," but said the two had "mingled personal affairs with their corporate responsibilities," and acknowledged it demoted and lowered the pay of both Itagaki and his accuser as a result."
Sorry, but I chose to belove the victim. Even if we were talking about Miyamoto and anyone else I admire. Especially when it comes to sexual assault cases in Japan. The amount of actually convicted criminals that walked away there is insane.
Regarding the unpaid royalties. Nobody knows what went on and who is in the right. I also don´t care:
"The courts won't get the chance to decide after all, as Tecmo and Itagaki have reached a settlement agreement. The news was originally reported by 1Up and later confirmed by Tecmo representatives for GameSpot. In a statement provided to 1Up, Itagaki mentioned the dispute involved compensation for dismissal, while in 2008 he said he had resigned from the company. Details of the settlement were not disclosed."
Sorry, but you won´t outclass a librarian when it comes to research as it´s my job.
Edit: The end to the sexual assault accusation to paint a full picture:
arstechnica.com
The court dropped it but Tecmo kept his demotion and blamed it on both. That´s a very bad look in corporate speak.
Tomonobu Itagaki: From Team Ninja to Ronin
The games industry moves pretty fast, and there's a tendency for all involved to look constantly to what's next without…
www.gamesindustry.biz
"The bonus payments may have been a breaking point, but this was not the first time Tecmo and Itagaki had friction. Two years earlier, Itagaki was accused of sexually harassing an employee over a period of several years, with the employee claiming Tecmo fired her after bringing her complaints up to the company. Tecmo insisted "the alleged sexual harassment of the former employee by Itagaki never took place," but said the two had "mingled personal affairs with their corporate responsibilities," and acknowledged it demoted and lowered the pay of both Itagaki and his accuser as a result."
Sorry, but I chose to belove the victim. Even if we were talking about Miyamoto and anyone else I admire. Especially when it comes to sexual assault cases in Japan. The amount of actually convicted criminals that walked away there is insane.
Regarding the unpaid royalties. Nobody knows what went on and who is in the right. I also don´t care:
"The courts won't get the chance to decide after all, as Tecmo and Itagaki have reached a settlement agreement. The news was originally reported by 1Up and later confirmed by Tecmo representatives for GameSpot. In a statement provided to 1Up, Itagaki mentioned the dispute involved compensation for dismissal, while in 2008 he said he had resigned from the company. Details of the settlement were not disclosed."
Sorry, but you won´t outclass a librarian when it comes to research as it´s my job.
Edit: The end to the sexual assault accusation to paint a full picture:
Itagaki sexual harassment case dead, not alive
Tomonobu Itagaki, lead designer of Team Ninja and mastermind behind the recent …
arstechnica.com
The court dropped it but Tecmo kept his demotion and blamed it on both. That´s a very bad look in corporate speak.
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I hope this isn´t a double post. I just started a new one as this isn´t response but a new point. Itagaki on DOA Xtreme 3 not coming to the west (It´s region free and mostly free to play so who even cares): https://www.dualshockers.com/dead-o...ts-on-dead-or-alive-xtreme-3-not-coming-west/
He begins by trash talking the current TN staff. Not a good look on the resume but so far so good in my book (well, maybe not the pedophilia accusation) as the game is beyond abysmal and has maybe 1 hour of content. He then insists on how great it treats women and so on despite the fact that it has multiple sexual assault minigames. Source me, as I played it out of curiosity. Vomit/10. That was the moment the man died for me for good. I liked every single game he directed until Devil's Third but the separation of art and the artist has to stop somewhere. That was finally it.
He begins by trash talking the current TN staff. Not a good look on the resume but so far so good in my book (well, maybe not the pedophilia accusation) as the game is beyond abysmal and has maybe 1 hour of content. He then insists on how great it treats women and so on despite the fact that it has multiple sexual assault minigames. Source me, as I played it out of curiosity. Vomit/10. That was the moment the man died for me for good. I liked every single game he directed until Devil's Third but the separation of art and the artist has to stop somewhere. That was finally it.
I read the links. How do any of the 3 exonerate Itagaki? I easily believe that Tecmo is a badly run company that treats its employees like dirt. Ok but it was that very company that dismissed the sexual assault accusation:
Tomonobu Itagaki: From Team Ninja to Ronin
The games industry moves pretty fast, and there's a tendency for all involved to look constantly to what's next without…
"The bonus payments may have been a breaking point, but this was not the first time Tecmo and Itagaki had friction. Two years earlier, Itagaki was accused of sexually harassing an employee over a period of several years, with the employee claiming Tecmo fired her after bringing her complaints up to the company. Tecmo insisted "the alleged sexual harassment of the former employee by Itagaki never took place," but said the two had "mingled personal affairs with their corporate responsibilities," and acknowledged it demoted and lowered the pay of both Itagaki and his accuser as a result."
Sorry, but I chose to belove the victim. Even if we were talking about Miyamoto and anyone else I admire. Especially when it comes to sexual assault cases in Japan. The amount of actually convicted criminals that walked away there is insane.
Regarding the unpaid royalties. Nobody knows what went on and who is in the right. I also don´t care:
"The courts won't get the chance to decide after all, as Tecmo and Itagaki have reached a settlement agreement. The news was originally reported by 1Up and later confirmed by Tecmo representatives for GameSpot. In a statement provided to 1Up, Itagaki mentioned the dispute involved compensation for dismissal, while in 2008 he said he had resigned from the company. Details of the settlement were not disclosed."
Sorry, but you won´t outclass a librarian when it comes to research as it´s my job.
Edit: The end to the sexual assault accusation to paint a full picture:
Itagaki sexual harassment case dead, not alive
Tomonobu Itagaki, lead designer of Team Ninja and mastermind behind the recent …
The court dropped it but Tecmo kept his demotion and blamed it on both. That´s a very bad look in corporate speak.
You're doing a bunch of mental gymnastics to try to maintain your position despite your links completely goes against the stuff you claim. Your choice to continually insist that Itagaki is guilty of sexual harassment despite him being found innocent in court even outside of Tecmo's own investigation basically just confirms you want to call him that because you don't like him and this is a dangerous route to take.
from your link:
It's also funny you still keep insisting we don't know if Tecmo is in the wrong regarding Itagaki's unpaid bonuses when they were also guilty of unpaid overtime to its employees, plus I even mentioned the secret recordings of the Tecmo president admitting there were promised bonuses to Itagaki. I'm sure you also found that article during your searches.
So Tecmo had multiple accusations involving 300 employees and overwhelming physical evidence regarding unjust pay for work, yet you want to cast doubt on Itagaki's claims of unpaid bonuses. Itagaki has a single lawsuit from one person where he was found innocent regarding sexual harassment, yet you want to insist he is guilty of it. Thankfully you don't work in the courts, personal bias should has no place in this.
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Well, he also was involved in a sexual harassment incident and sells a very... exotic persona; speaking about his gun for hire (?) friends, shit talking other developers and had that one publicity video for Devil's Third where Valhalla was full of gambling and strippers because reasons.
He just has been away for a long time for most people to remember or care, I guess.
To be fair his time in the limelight was when his whole 90/00s edgelord shtick played a lot better in general.
Thing is, when it comes to finding someone's game, MS is more similar to that glorious early 360 ERA that birthed 4 amazing Itagaki games than they've been in ten years. It also matters how his Xbox games went compared to Devil's Third.
A lot of things have happened since 2017 that indicate that Microsoft is putting action to their "lip service", at least when it comes to this kind of topic.
Itagaki when he is on point is brilliant and behind some of the best experiences out there. When he gets full of himself and goes all "artiste" is when it becomes a shit show. I am glad to have him back.
Microsoft has sort of been backing up all of their lip service though
You're free to like what you like, of course, but under Hayashi Team Ninja has:
1. Established a healthy, long-term relationship with Nintendo, and worked on Metroid, Zelda, and Fire Emblem games
2. Gotten to work on an incredibly beloved western license with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3
3. Successfully launched Ni-Oh, a brand new IP, to positive critical reception and decent sales
4. Produced a Final Fantasy fighting game for Square Enix
So, yes, while Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive haven't been in the best shape lately, Team Ninja itself is doing better than it ever had under Itagaki. Now, part of that is most certainly to do with the fact that they have the backing of Koei, but Hayashi in general has led TN in a positive direction.
It was labeled lip service when Phil was talking about new studios in late 2017, and here we are 9 studios later.
After the way he resigned and a bunch of Team Ninja staff left with him? Not a chance in hell.
Do people honestly think that courts in general give fair trials when it comes to sexual harassment or rape? I understand that if they decided he is not guilty then that is the verdict. However courts, jurys are less understanding towards women and often women get attacked on their character to dismiss them entirely. Itagaki might be innocent but it is not definitely proof of him being innocent as these trials are complex and not easy for the accuser to be believed. Especially if there is no video evidence.
Im regards to Itagaki he has made some amazing games. Mishandled quite a few projects. I'd like to see him try again. Can't say his personality due to things he has said over the years seems great but that is irrelevant when it comes to his talents for making games.
Im regards to Itagaki he has made some amazing games. Mishandled quite a few projects. I'd like to see him try again. Can't say his personality due to things he has said over the years seems great but that is irrelevant when it comes to his talents for making games.
1) For me those were some of the worst Team Ninja Games I have ever played.
2) Good point that was a nice project and well-made game
3) I liked the game, but it wasn't close to an Itagaki -san action game for me
4 Never played so can't comment. I wouldn't imagine it would trouble a Itagaki-san fighter myself
Again, you're free to like what you do, but since he took over Hayashi has had Team Ninja work on some very diverse (and well-received) projects, and generally steered the studio in a positive direction. On the whole, they're a reasonably well-regarded developer.
More importantly, he's kept it free of any sort of drama. Itagaki, on the other hand, was a drama queen. During his tenure TN were often in the news for the wrong reasons. (Whether it was "Tekken sucks" or the sexual harrasment nonsense or whatever else)
Are you guys referring to this or is there something else I don't know about?
Itagaki Accused of Sexual Harassment - IGN
A 31-year old female employee of game publisher Tecmo, responsible for the popular Dead or Alive series, recently filed a sexual harassment suit against that series's creator, Tomonobu Itagaki. The suit claims 10 million yen in damages for acts of sexual harassment dating back to September 2003.
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Not to be "that guy", but honestly, what else can we go off of at this point? It's his word against hers, and hers against his, and I don't really think I can believe her over him, or him over her. The court saying that he's innocent is frankly the best we've got. Me personally? I'm undecided, so I'll kind of just file the possibility in the back of my head, but it's definitely not going to be something that immediately comes to mind when I think of him, unlike Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein.
Anyway, to all the people that mention Devil's Third, you need to remember the absolute hell that was the development.
To be perfectly honest with you guys, for a woman to speak out against Itagaki and Tecmo in the year 2006 in the Japanese male-dominated work force is pretty telling imho. Courts dropping the case and everything isn't the end all and be all, especially in the court of public opinion.
I mean, the details of the story is pretty horrifying. If true, this woman went through hell.
Reading some of the other posts here - it seemed like Tecmo was really a fucking mess of a place to work for that period of time, above and beyond Itagaki.
Anyway, I really like some of his game design philosophies. I like the one where he was like he made the game harder just because somebody said the game was too hard. That's peak Itagaki right there. I think if given the proper resources, Itagaki can make a true quality follow up to Ninja Gaiden 1. If he is serious about coming back in a big way, color me intrigued.
I mean, the details of the story is pretty horrifying. If true, this woman went through hell.
Reading some of the other posts here - it seemed like Tecmo was really a fucking mess of a place to work for that period of time, above and beyond Itagaki.
Anyway, I really like some of his game design philosophies. I like the one where he was like he made the game harder just because somebody said the game was too hard. That's peak Itagaki right there. I think if given the proper resources, Itagaki can make a true quality follow up to Ninja Gaiden 1. If he is serious about coming back in a big way, color me intrigued.
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It's not dismemberment that they took away, it was blood/gore. Just a visual change exchanging blood with a colorful special effect, when limps cutting and the finishers system around them worked the same way.
I take it he's not with Valhalla Game Studios anymore? It seems like the company transferred most of it dev staff to it's subsidiary (?) Soliel (including a lot of longtime Tecmo luminaries) who made Naruto Shinobi Striker and assisted on Travis Strikes Again. They also rebranded Devil's Third Online as Rockshot on PC but that never got out of Early Access and the servers were shut down a year back.
Multiple alpha builds done in Unreal Engine 3? I'm not well informed about the history of its development. What happened?
I don't mind drama queens or arrogant people as long as they get the job done; In just the same way I feel about a Football Manager or a player that loves themselves or builds them up; People love to slag off Tom Brady but he gets the Job done.
Team Ninja was far better under Itagaki-san IMO