Superfragilistic5809d ago (Edited 5808d ago )

This is starting to look a hell of a lot more serious than one pissed off arrogant game designer!

Tecmo Dead or Alive? It's looking increasingly dead and/or dying. Or as NeoGaf put it no smoke without fire. ;)

If it does go under, I just hope that MS snaps up the NG2 & Fatal Frame IP rights and gives Team Ninja a new home. ;)

green5808d ago

Ninja Gaiden is an IP that struggles to sell over a million copies, so i dont think Microsoft will be interested in obtaining the IP.Itagaki has even gone on record to say that this will be the last NG game he makes, and if NG2 is the last one i play i will be fine with that.

What they need to do is for Microsoft to open a new studio for him or fund his studio like Mistwalker and create a new action game franchise with deep combat mechanics like NG2 but with a much more engaging storyline and a better cinematic feel like God of War(my best PS2 game).

Superfragilistic5808d ago (Edited 5808d ago )

I completely agree. It's just I'm a hardcore NG fan! And I think NG if overhauled could become a much more commercially serious franchise. Or so I hope! lol

I think Microsoft would have a lot to gain in grabbing Team Ninja and Itagaki. Although I do feel that Itagaki would require a much shorter leash than that extended to the far more experienced and rounded Mistwalker team. Team Ninja is a largely established team that could fill a major hole in MGS, namely action orientated titles. If they took what in many peoples eyes is the most fluid and complex action gameplay engine around and then give Itagaki staff that can develop a much more engaging narrative, better online integration (Bungie, Lionhead, Rare and Turn 10 can help there) and higher production values (voiceovers, camera, slow down, etc) MGS could have a seriously promising studio on their hands.

And yes God of War 2 is my favourite PS2 title to! The gameplay comes second to NG but it wipes the floor with NG2 thanks to its incredibly engaging narrative and much more consistent production. ;)

green5808d ago (Edited 5808d ago )

Completely agree.I am currently in act 9 of NG2 and its a fantastic game but the problem i face are things that you pointed out which are basically the poor production values.

I remember the 1st time i completed God of War.The Story was just soo engaging with top draw action and great visuals.It still lives me baffled why they have not made a big budget movie of that game.

Microsoft needs a good 1st party dev that excels in action games and opening one with Itagaki or grabbing him along with team ninja will be a good movie.Tie them up with some people who can pen a good script (Silicon Knights) and you have an epic in the making.

Well we will just have to wait and see if Microsoft can turn this into an advantage for themselves.

Superfragilistic5808d ago

Funny how someone disagrees with both of our sentiments but can't find it in themselves to add to the discussion... gotta love N4G! lol

It's funny that you mention Silicon Knights because I have a firm belief largely based on their historical record, that Too Human is going to push a lot of boundaries and reinvigorate the action and RPG genres. If they were to aid Itagaki on production values we wouldn't have any camera problems and we'd have a ridiculously deep story... anybody play Eternal Darkness? ;)

green5808d ago (Edited 5808d ago )

Speaking of Too Human.There where 3 games announced during the early days of the 360 that i felt will completely justify me purchase of the console.Alan wake,Too Human and Mass Effect.

Mass Effect completely smashed my expectations and is currently my best game this gen.I am keeping my fingers crossed that Too Human turns out to be really good.Even if it dose not end up AAA, i think it will be pretty good and will be worth my money for the story alone.

Edit:I never played eternal darkness.I only played 3 games on the gamecube.Resident evil Zero,Turok2 and extreme g.

Superfragilistic5808d ago

Yeah Mass Effect is my personal fave as well. It innovated all over the place and I think some people got unnecessarily caught with the pop in and framerate instead of recognising it as the most innovative RPG this gen. The dialogue system (and quality) alone was revolutionary and will no doubt be seen not only in future RPGs but many EA titles in particular. I can already envision player interviews and press events in Madden utilising the same system.

If you haven't played Eternal Darkness and you still have a Gamecube, track it down and buy it. It single handedly explains why Too Human should be much higher on everybody's gaming wish lists.

ChampIDC5808d ago

On the subject of NG2's story, I completley agree. I think it would have a lot of potential to be on the level of God of War games in terms of production if Team Ninja joined up with MGS. I finished the game, and the story really isn't that bad (what's there at least), but they just don't expand on anything. It's just all far too simple. I'd love to see a NG game with a lot more complex story.

PlayStation3605808d ago

I think Nintendo already bought the rights to it. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

As for Team Ninja, they are still a great Dev company. Sure NG may be over, but what is stopping them from making a great new IP.

I think it is wise if Micro snaps up both Team Ninja and Epic. My humble opinion of course.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 5808d ago
green5808d ago (Edited 5808d ago )

double post

Euphrate5808d ago

No more Ninja Gaidens No More Dead or Alives?!

NNNOOOO!

Bnet3435808d ago

Well no NG2 was the last one, but I still want DOA5. As the guy above said, I hope MS gives Team Ninja a good home. They are underrated devs.

Alexander Roy5808d ago

Damn, I hope they make it. I was so happy to hear that Itagaki left beause that would make a multiplat DOA(X) much more possible. Of course, if what happened to Itagaki happened to the others as well, then their complaints are justified - I mean, Tecmo kinda owes them money.
Come on Tecmo, get yourself together, I want to unlock gigabytes worth of bikinis!

JeepGamer5808d ago

I've always kind of wondered about Tecmo. Here we have a Japanese company that seems to make games for the console that never has and never will actually sell in Japan. I'd think they'd at least try a multi platform approach or something but as long as they are making money that's all that really matters.

Enigma_20995808d ago

.. he's still an @ss, but that's one for Itigaki... ouch.

Enigma_20995808d ago

And both you Itigaki-lovers can go to h-e-double hockey sticks...

Show all comments (74)
100°

Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider pours scorn on EA's AI dreams.

"They want you to believe the devs under them are super stoked to work generative AI into their processes," continued Gaider, "but I assure you what they took as excitement was really a veiled wail of despair not unlike the time that team was informed of their new 'really cool' live service mandate.".

LordoftheCritics2d ago

Publishers see gaming as another stock market.

isarai2d ago

I think anyone with some common sense knew this, im glad i don't support their games anymore, what a sh!t company.

Psychonaut851d 12h ago

Friends don’t let friends buy EA or Ubisoft.

Chocoburger1d 11h ago

I said this yesterday. AI isn't what we want when it comes to crafting artistry. Alas, these soulless corporate morons don't care about their work, only about cutting corners as much as possible.

120°

Phil Spencer and the Battle for Xbox’s Soul

Has the rapid growth of Xbox made the ship too heavy? Following the closures of Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and Roundhouse, we explore what the future of Xbox could look like.

LG_Fox_Brazil2d ago

This ship was never meant to sail, this ship was made from the get go to sink as fast as possible. It almost feels that they want to lower the standards of quality in the industry so that they can fit in

rlow11d 15h ago

I disagree, Xbox from the get go innovated and changed the industry. They did a lot of firsts and standardized a lot of others. It wasn’t till the beginning of the Xbox1 era that things started to go south.

Stevonidas1d 11h ago

Yep, although I’d argue it started going to shit when they tried to hock Kinect on their audience instead of continuing to invest in their studios and IPs. 2001-2010 Xbox was peak gaming, though.

rlow11d 9h ago

@Stevonidas
I agree they never should have focused on it after the 360 era. But you do have to remember they were faked out by the huge volumes of Kinects sold. To quote info on Wikipedia, “Project Natal, It was first released on November 4, 2010, and would go on to sell eight million units in its first 60 days of availability.” So if your Xbox and see these huge sales on a peripheral where are you going to put some money? Criticism in hindsight is worthless…..if only we could all see our future. In other wards they had no way of knowing. Plus they had engagement numbers and a lot of signs pointed to people wanting it.

Their biggest mistake wasn’t the Kinect, but unlike Sony after the PS3 debacle. They didn’t double on down on exclusive good games. The other huge mistake was letting Call of Duty go to Sony.

Hedstrom1d 18h ago

Phil wants Xbox to be as soulless as him!

Tacoboto1d 17h ago (Edited 1d 17h ago )

Xbox has no soul and Phil has no confidence, and it's impossible to say either do when they killed Tango and Arkane Austin.

Everything they've said since has only made them look worse to a point that they're actually less competent than Embracer.

Markdn1d 17h ago (Edited 1d 17h ago )

Whe you release something like the series S and expect it not to hurt your business model, and developers have to have parity with games. Then you know Microsoft don't care. Series s is the final nail that broke developers,

Show all comments (12)
360°

Sarah Bond dodges questions on Xbox studio closures

While on stage with Dina Bass at The Bloomberg Technology Summit the President of Xbox, Sarah Bond, was asked about the Xbox studio closures of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios

3d ago
ApocalypseShadow2d ago

Of course she did. She's part of the problem and will just tow the company line.

VenomUK2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Bloomberg’s Dina Bass could barely read her scripted question without looking at her notes, whilst Sarah Bond who WAS expecting the question spoke without saying anything of substance or answering the question in any meaningful way. Clearly she’s had the same expert PR training as Phil, but this avoidance was disrespectful. In time the short-sighted decision to shut down Tango Gameworks will be seen as of the most notorious examples why Phil Spencer messed up his tenure in charge of Xbox. That’s a fully built out talented team that could’ve been put to work on any project.

Additionally, Phil Spencer should not be using Sarah Bond as a patsy for his mistakes- he should be answering that question.

gleepot2d ago

I think you are all really overselling Tangos value. Hi-Fi rush was a lot of fun. Ghostwire was incredibly dull. Evil within 1 and 2 were just okay.

lucasnooker2d ago

Evil within 2 was incredibly under rated. I thought that game was surprisingly good

NotoriousWhiz2d ago

Someone else said it best. I don't think it was a Phil decision. It was most likely a Satya decision. I think Microsoft is done giving out free money to Xbox.

Cacabunga2d ago

people please boycott Activision Bethesda next release and support Hellblade.
these people mus understand that they cannot treat their fans and employees that way.
scumbags.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
XiNatsuDragnel2d ago

Yikes you don't help Sarah 😬 making a problem worse

Christopher2d ago

She's playing her role. There's absolutely nothing any of them can say other than the truth, this is about profit margins and not quality, so they just don't answer anything and wait for gamers to forget.

shinoff21832d ago

I think news is coming of more ps5 release but they gotta be careful cause Xbox is still sitting on store shelves. They can't get left holding all that stock

Lightning772d ago

Come next month they'll flash nice looking games in our faces and expecting us to forget.

The only thing that'll be going through my mind at their showcase is how many of those studios will get shut down after release.

I'm not joking around either. MS probably expects every game to be like COD and do COD numbers. What a way to destroy gaming for the entire industry because they're dumb af at being realistic in what success means for each game.

-Foxtrot2d ago

Always feels she was brought in / promoted for this. Happened just before things started to be out in motion.

Phil and co have someone to throw under the bus and share the blame with

zaanan2d ago

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

darthv722d ago

....won't get fooled again

Hofstaderman2d ago

Like a deer caught in the headlights.....

notachance2d ago

I always wondered why xbox had multiple leaders with similar titles like Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and Sarah Bond, like, how many heads do you actually need?

Seems to me it would be more cost efficient to cut 2 of them instead of all those studios.

DarXyde2d ago

Frankly, I suspect she is the most competent of them. I don't mean that I like her more, I mean that she's the best at articulating herself and giving the talking points MS wants to give. The others are starting to sound more like her than her sounding like any of them.

Are any of these people "responsible" for what's happening? No. This reeks of Nadella. But that being said, I don't see any of the Xbox heads stepping down in protest.

"Don't shoot the messenger", sure, but at the same time, the messengers don't seem to take umbrage with the message. Not enough to remove themselves from it, anyway.

CS72d ago

I disagree. Nadella is looking for profit as a CEO should in my opinion.

The problem is Dr. Phil & Co. had 10 years to bring Xbox back on track and have been failing woefully.

Phil needs to sell to Nadella that if we are to make a profit, we need to make great games. And to do that we need employees here for the long haul and the freedom to work on creative projects.

But as Phil said himself he doesn’t believe great games sell consoles.

RpgSama2d ago

Dude, 100%, forgot Major Nelson and Aaron Greenberg, like what is the point for all these suits? They have more C-level executives than games released in a generation.

This is just so they can all pass along the hot potato one at a time and in between all of them can say a lot without actually saying anything, misinformation at its finest.

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