How to play the game

June 3, 2008

Two days before the latest title in the “Ninja Gaiden” franchise, “Ninja Gaiden II”, for the Microsoft Xbox 360 is released, the head of the ‘Team Ninja’ development team at the Japanese video game Company, Tecmo Limited (formerly Tehkan Limited), Tomonobu Itagaki, has resigned & is suing his former employer for “an unfulfilled completion bonus” in relation to the title “Dead Or Alive 4″.

A full translation of Itagaki’s statement can be read at Kotaku.com:

…

Team Ninja, founded in 1995, first came to the public’s attention with the release of “Dead Or Alive” (for the Sega “Model 2″ Arcade machines) in 1996. The game’s story and the characters were created by Itagaki, a figure who is highly regarded in the video game development community primarily for his stubborn nature during the development of the entire “Dead or Alive” series.

And rightly so…

The first game was originally devised as a wager with the President of Tecmo to prove that Itagaki, the newly recruited programmer, could create a video game that would garner a competent fan base. He drew inspiration from the (Japanese) “Fatal Fury” series (influenced by the speed of game-play) and the US-developed “Mortal Kombat” series (due to the ability to knock opponents off set pieces in the game’s environment). The working title of the project, “Dead Or Alive”, as an indication of the success or failure of the project, was retained for the Arcade machine release, and the subsequent titles in the franchise across multiple platforms:

“Dead or Alive” - November 1996: Model 2 (Sega Arcade system printed circuit board-based machine)
“Dead or Alive” - 9 October 1997 [Japan]: Sega Saturn
“Dead or Alive” - 12 March 1998 [Japan] / 31 March 1998 [North America] / July 1998 [Europe]: PlayStation
“Dead or Alive” - July 1998: TPS-System (Tecmo’s own Arcade system board machine)

“Dead or Alive 2″ - 16 October 1999: Sega NAOMI (Arcade)
“Dead or Alive 2 Millennium” - January 2000: Sega NAOMI (Arcade)
“Dead or Alive 2″ - 29 February 2000 [North America] / 14 July 2000 [Europe] / 28 September 2000 [Japan]: Dreamcast
“Dead or Alive 2″ - 30 March 2000 [Japan]: PlayStation 2
“Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore” - 25 October 2000 [North America] / 14 December 2000 [Japan] / 15 December 2000 [Europe]: PlayStation 2

“Dead or Alive 3″ - 14 November 2001 [North America] / 22 February 2002 [Japan] / 14 March 2002 [Europe]: Xbox

“Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball” - 22 January 2003 [North America] / 23 January 2003 [Japan] / 28 March 2003 [Europe]: Xbox

“Dead or Alive Ultimate” - 26 October 2004 [North America] / 3 November 2004 [Japan] / 18 February 2005 [Europe]: Xbox

“Dead or Alive 4″ - 29 December 2005 [North America] / 29 December 2005 [Japan] / 24 January 2007 [Europe] / 13 April 2006 [Australasia]: Xbox 360

“Dead or Alive Xtreme 2″ - 13 November 2006 [North America] / 22 November 2006 [Japan] / 7 December 2006 [Australasia] / 8 December 2007 [Europe]: Xbox 360

However, following the departure of Itagaki, it will put into doubt the further titles in the series that are already in production:

“Dead or Alive: Code Chronos” (prequel to the series) - Release date unannounced: Xbox 360 only

“Dead or Alive: Online” - Expected to be released in China just before the 2008 Summer Olympics: PC platform only

Also, “Dead or Alive 5″, although Originally rumoured to be being consider for development, was later rejected as Itagaki quoted as saying: “This is another area that me and my closest colleagues all agree that we were able to achieve the definitive fighting game with DOA4. So we’re not looking to extend the series at this point.”

His resignation from Tecmo, and not least his court action, will obviously means the chances of this title even being made by Itagaki being more dead than alive.

…

In 1994, after five years of development, Itagaki and Team Ninja were also responsible for reviving the “Ninja Gaiden” series based on the original game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (1988: Japan / 1989: US). Fans may already be aware that the Ninja character ‘Ryu Hayabusa’ features in many “Ninja Gaiden” and “Dead Or Alive” titles.

“Ninja Gaiden” - 2 March 2004 [North America] / 11 March 2004 [Japan] / 14 May 2004 [Europe]: Xbox
“Ninja Gaiden Black” - 20 September 2005 [North America] / 29 September 2005 [Japan] / 21 October 2005 [Europe]: Xbox
“Ninja Gaiden Sigma” - 14 June 2007 [Japan] / 3 July 2007 [North America] / 6 July 2007 [Europe] / 13 July 2007 [Australasia]: PlayStation 3
“Ninja Gaiden Sigma” (2-disc Collector’s Edition; GameStop exclusive) - 3 July 2007 [North America only]
“Ninja Gaiden Black” (re-released as “Xbox Original”) - 11 February 2008: Xbox
“Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword” - 20 March 2008 [Japan] / 25 March 2008 [US]: Nintendo DS
“Ninja Gaiden II” - 3 June 2008 [North America] / 6 June 2008 [Europe]: Xbox 360

A playable demo version of “Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword” is also downloadable from the “DS Download Station Volume 7″. It can also be downloaded (for free) from the Wii Shop Channel.

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I do not know how much the alleged promised bonus was, but claiming damages to a total of 148 Million Yen (around 715,733 GBP, or 1.4 Million USD) does seem a little excessive.

And that is without taking into account court costs.

However, I can certainly appreciate an employee’s point of view when they do not receive a bonus they were expecting.

Should the ruling not go in Itagaki’s favour, I do not think he will have trouble finding another role in the industry… but future employers will be very careful.

Of course, he will start his own development Company, and probably poach many of his previous colleagues.

…

But, and it is a big but (does my but look big in this, etc), the timing of the announcement seems strange.

Why would anybody aggrieved about an event presumably around the end of 2005 (the date when “Dead Or Alive 4″ was released) wait until a week or a few days before the release of the latest game title to be released?

Why not threaten to leave in 2006, or 2007, or indeed at any time during the first five months of 2008?

I can well believe that the design & development of “Ninja Gaiden II” took longer than a few months, even a year or more, but between the release date of “Dead Or Alive 4″ and today, four titles have been released by Team Ninja; three of them part of the Ninja Gaiden series.

OK, bonus payments may be due at the end of a financial year, or at the end of a calendar year, so let us assume at the worst case, the end of 2006 (a full year beyond the release date of the title that the bonus was associated with).

If no payment were forthcoming a month or two later after this date, then surely it would not take a further fourteen months or so to decide that your only option was to leave the Company & begin legal action.

Therefore, Itagaki had plenty of time to resign before this week… a few days before the release date of “Ninja Gaiden II”.

For arguments sake we will assume that development of “Ninja Gaiden II” did not go as well as anticipated, and the critical reviews so far (an average of 83% at GameRankings.com based on 21 individual reviews) are not indicative of the quality of the game. Yes, the score is less than the average for the original “Ninja Gaiden” on the Xbox. That scored an average of 92% from 112 reviews collated by the same web site. As a comparison, the PS3 title, “Ninja Gaiden Sigma” averaged at 87% (from 59 reviews). “Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword” for the Nintendo DS averaged at 83% (from 43 individual reviews).

If you wanted to find a scapegoat for a poor game, then you would really leave some time during the project schedule, not right at the end. But 83% is not a bad average. (”Dead Or Alive 4″ averages at 86% from 103 reviews).

You could then either blame your management team for a lack of direction or ongoing support, and hence save face for gaining employment elsewhere. Alternatively, the Tecmo shareholders could blame the result of a key member of the project team leaving midway through the development schedule as a justifiable reason for an end result that does not meet expectations.

Finally, a reason for a departure at the very end of the current project would give credence to Itagaki being a consummate professional who wanted to see his vision through to the end.

So, we will assume the latter.

However, I wonder if in the same month as the release of “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots” on the PS3 (a GameRankings.com average of 95% from just 34 reviews), Team Ninja &/or Tecmo were looking for an excessive amount of free press and publicity for the release of “Ninja Gaiden II” as well as re-educating the public on the back-catalogue of titles.

How much of a surprise would it be if Itagaki & Tecmo resolve their differences in a week or two?

I guess we will have to wait & see if any publicity is good publicity.

And yes, I fell into their cunning trap. I bet “Ninja Gaiden II” is exceptional if they can come up with a plan as convoluted as I think they have!