Ninja Gaiden II director Itagaki quits Tecmo

That sucks.

I never cared for this guy to much. I respected the quality of NG1 and the DOA series though. Kudos to this man

Well this sucks, but oh well.

No! We need EACH AND EVERY WOMANIZER in this world WORKING FOR OUR BELOVED INDUSTRY! Who else will create a character like Rachel from Ninja Gaiden?

lol MS and Sony waiting to catch the free fish.. let see who will buy him.

well, that sure is shocking news. Poor Itagaki >_

NOOO NO MORE NG's =( but that's some messed up **** what tecmo has been doing. good move on his part.

Kuda001, Seeing as how Tecmo owns Team Ninja, that would mean he's leaving both. If he starts his own studio, I'm sure he'll take some of his closest team members with him.

NO DOA 5 NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn, I was waiting for NG3 and NG4

is he leaving tecmo and team ninja or just tecmo?

Wow, that sucks. Hopefully he wins the lawsuit and gets the money he deserves.

This is crazy but also intriguing. Who knows what he will do next... and that is exciting.

OMG this is soooo sad T_______T

Itagaki's titles have always been great, but damn; he is one ugly dude. Dennis Rodman ugly!!!! Gooooood Laaaaaawd!!!!!! Lancer VI

Huh

Damn it, we have lost a gr8 gaming legend. I hope he joins a better team, maybe Namco?

WOW thats a shock o well no more NG or DOA at least good ones

He had a good reason and these fools have no idea what they lost. he will be successful nomatter what he does.

WHOA!!! This is definitely a shock... Well there are two things that could happen, Microsoft will probably snap him up, they have an excellent relationship with Itagaki and he loves Microsoft. I also believe that was in the works for a while. After the release of Sigma on Sony's console, Microsoft secured the publishing/exclusitivty-sp deal with Tecmo (not Itagaki) to ensure Ninija Gaiden 2 as an exclusive, which is a different scenario than Bioshock or Sigma because they were not publsihing deals, but exclusivity deals which is a totally different type of deal since exclusivity deals do not entirely protect against games going to other consoles since they may have time constraints placed upon them (ie GTA, DMC, Bioshock) the jury is still out n what happens with ME because they were bought by EA. Second I highly doubt Itagaki will go to Sony because he has expressed explicitly and publicly his distaste for the company (This is not a slight towards Sony, I will be a PS3 owner in about 2 weeks), so more than likely he will either form his own studio by himself or with Microsoft.

well did anyone see this coming?

Too bad for that guy, but suing someone over emotional distress?! That's lame. Take it like a man, and move on. He sounds like a little girl when he talks about emotional distress/

@horror_spooky Sorry but there is no way I can condone that ponch working with Hideo.

I don't think the decision about whether or not games get a port to the PS3 are Itagaki alone to make. He isn't the head Tecmo. I am still saddened by his departure from the company though. If MS was smart they would create a an in house development team and give give him creative control over it. That would almost certainly guarantee MS some cool exclusives.

Very sad day.

greed

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Why is everyone so convinced that he should go the Capcom, exactly?

Well, I've never been into the DoA series and I'm too much of a wuss to make it through his Ninja Gaiden games due to the difficulty. So I won't miss him. :lol: It is messed up though that Tecmo didn't give him the money that he earned, if what he says is true.

Why the people are saying: "Oh too ba, no more Ninja Gaiden or DoA games... ", come on people, read the thing. He is the DIRECTOR of these games, not the trademark owner of the games. yes, maybe a third NG game without this guy making his... director stuff could simply sucks, but Tecmo can make 600 Ninja Gaiden games if they want to. Oh people.

He should definitely go to Capcom, or join Hideo Kojima and Suda51 on that "Project S" thing. Think about it, the utlimate game made by some of the best developers ever (No More Heroes rocked and I don't care who you are).

Great news maybe now the DOA and NG series can go multi-platform. And maybe with his free time not developing Itagaki can now achieve his long over-due dream of being a host for a Japanese perverted adult game show.

I've always respected Itagaki... and this just increases the amount of respect that I already had for him. Hopefully he will find a new place to call home and maybe we can see some new IP's from this crazy dude.

I think that Tecmo technically owns the rights to those games so it wouldn't matter who hired him sequels would not be made. It's possible that Itagaki may own part of the rights to the franchise as well meaning Tecmo may not be able to create a sequel to Ninja Gaiden or Dead or Alive without Itagaki.Who knows?

good, get that d-bag 360 fanboy out of there, now maybe NG titles can go on the PS3 as well (and not a port a year later)

I wonder if Itagaki is going to work for someone else or if he is going to start his own company.

'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it . " He actually did both , LOL , Thanks for the advice Mr. Prez

@carneyfolk tecmo owns the rights to DOA and NG so I doubt hell be working with those titles even if he joins MS

MS needs more than that carney,, they need a miracle's of all miracle's to have any chance to hold onto second. And I dont thin satins sons get miracles lol

Dang, this is the craziest gaming news I've heard in a long time.

question: does he own the rights to DOA? i mean, it belongs to tecmo right? therefore, someone else can get behind the project and create it. Itagaki may not be able to make DOA5, but that doesn't mean someone else from Tecmo might get behind the project and make it. Come E3, I'm sure Tecmo will clear that all up.

damn. If I were the Head either Microsoft or Sony's console division, I'd be talking to him right now asking him what he needs to start developing in house. Considering both of these company's want as many exclusive games as possible, it may not be a bad idea in the short term.

I can't believe this...

That really is too bad, no more DOA OR Ninja Gaiden. Could you imagine what would happen if Ninja Gaiden 2 had some sort of cliffhanger ending like Halo 2? There would never be a conclusion... Itagaki said Ninja Gaiden II is the LAST NG game. I couldn't care less about DoA, though.

meh. i feel quite indifferently about Itagaki. its not cool how he hung his subordinates out to dry over Sigma recently. guess what goes around comes around. and since his subordinates did a thorough job with Sigma, i'm sure the series will be in good hands in the future.

That really is too bad, no more DOA OR Ninja Gaiden. Could you imagine what would happen if Ninja Gaiden 2 had some sort of cliffhanger ending like Halo 2? There would never be a conclusion...

I am pretty sure he will get picked up by MS, their game production team needs some serious help, and would in turn make NG and DOA series first party MS titles, which is what microsoft needs. Being a ps3 owner that makes me sad because if it does happen, it means no more NG and definately no DOA on ps3.