NEWS - Thursday, May 27, 2004
Tomonobu Itagaki Interview.
Team Ninja Interview: Tomonobu Itagaki The Team Ninja leader on Ninja Gaiden 2, Code Chronus, Dead or Alive Ultimate, DOA4 and PSP, Nintendo DS development, in an exclusive 1-1 interview. Team Ninja is responsible for one of the best games of the year so far, and easily one of the greatest experiences available on Xbox - Ninja Gaiden. And the man behind the project is Tomonobu Itagaki, an outspoken, passionate games designer, these days frequently mentioned in the same breath as Miyamoto, Suzuki, Kojima, Naka and Mikami. An interview with Mr Itagaki is always guaranteed to deliver entertaining results (well, almost always, as one website recently found out) and his latest exclusive sit down with Kikizo is no exception. Having finished the epic Ninja Gaiden, Mr Itagaki is now working on several new projects we'll all be hearing a lot about in the coming months and years. Our chat was kindly translated by Tecmo's Marketing Director John Inada, during the recent E3 show in Los Angeles. Kikizo: We appreciate your time today, and I'd like to start by thanking you the experience that you delivered gamers and to me personally with Ninja Gaiden. Itagaki: Have you played it? Kikizo: Yes, from start to finish, and there aren't many games I play from start to finish these days. I looked at the play time and I racked up about 100 hours on that game, and most of the was just one boss. So thanks! Let's start with Ninja Gaiden, how important a project was it to you personally, and what do you feel you achieved out of it as a game director? Itagaki: Personally, of course it was my most important project. To give an example if it were the navy, this would be the Atlantic Ocean while Dead or Alive is the Pacific! Be sure to check out the rest of the interview at KikizoSource: http://www.kikizo.com
