Itagaki: putting Ninja Gaiden on PSP would upset fans

It could be suggested that he's suggesting that the PSP itself fails to deliver upon its goal, hence trying to replicate the home console experience on the PSP is a let-down in and of itself.

I believe hes refering to the fact that fans would consider it a waste of dev time to make a ninja gaiden game for a less capable platform. The same way people are pissed about the Dragon Quest DS game.

The same way people should/will be pissed about anything made for the Wii.

Nevermind re-reading it I think whats hes saying is, 'The Nintendo fanboys are a bunch of pussies and they'd all get their panties in a bundle if we ported it to PSP and it was better.'

The guy's name is Tomonobu Itagaki, not Itadaki.

@Shagi it's okay that you're career hasn't had a hit since booombastic simply fantastic......

Define better...it will be shinier? Same old, tired, bonehead comments. Move on trolls...

Itagaki makes sense here (what? Me agreeing with Itagaki!?).

I'm pissed that true sequels to games (like Silent Hill and Metal Gear) end up being on the PSP, rather than the PS2. The games would be so much more impressive, and feel more epic on a large screen, surround sound, and all that good stuff. But instead, Silent Hill's creepy atmosphere is limited to a small little rectangle in your hands.

Give the man a break he was drunk when he said it.

http://www.ebizmba.com

Well, there might be something to what he said.

Quite a bit of games on the PSP are more akin to playing at home for long periods of time as opposed to past handhelds, which have usualy been quick play on the undergroud or during a break.

Personaly I feel like the PSP is closer to being a home system then anything else, mostly because I only really play it at home.
That and if given a choice, I would rather play most of the PSP games on a tele then it's screen.
While on the DS or GBA or Neo Geo Pocket Colour (yes I still play mine, it's a great system", I don't.

Outside of that of course, he speaks crazy.

FLAME WARS!! Grab your kit and be snappy about private, it's about to get hot in here!

Well if you look at the PSP's button layout and lack of a second analog, that could pose problems. Graphically, a Ninja Gaiden game on PSP would look great...could look great, but the controls and the pick up and play nature of it would be questionable. Games like Syphon Filter: DM are awesome on PSP but these games are also much slower than Ninja Gaiden. DS is still the better unit when it comes to pick-up-and-play functionality and let's face it...

Ninja Gaiden on DS will sell a lot better on DS than it ever would on PSP for a cheaper development costs.

Don't hate the player, hate the game...

Putting Ninja Gaiden on ps3 upsets fans you jackass Itagaki

Way to misinterprete what he meant and add the fanboys to your delusion, Joystiq. Look at the quote:

""I think if I were to develop this game [Dragon Sword for DS]..."

Before that he mentions that PSP is a replica of a home console on the go whilst the DS is a portable, therefore different, experience. He's saying that Dragon Sword is a game being made specifically for the portable market and would not translate well onto consoles, let alone a refabrication of consoles. (Just like a real console Ninja Gaiden game wouldn't work either on a portable because the game requires for one to be really into it without having to get off the train every few minutes)

Also, PSP owners want pron and movies on the go, gamers are the minority of that system therefore Itagaki isn't upsetting them much since most likely they also own a PS3.

The only fans I can imagine he's talking about are the PS2-ers that wanted it way back when.

"Nevermind re-reading it I think whats hes saying is, 'The Nintendo fanboys are a bunch of pussies and they'd all get their panties in a bundle if we ported it to PSP and it was better.'"


hahaha thats gold, go cry some more sony fanbot

I bet PSP owners would enjoy portable DoA.

But then somehow a DS version might be more 'enjoyable'.

Looks like the backgrounds in this DS title are static prerendered 2D illustrations like what was done on the 2001 GBA title, Tony Hawk.

http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/166/166246p1.html

wow.

zwarrior, As of 12-31-06 the psp had 1,088 available software titles. Now obviously not all of these get reviewed however as of 01-07-2007 gamerankings listed 117 that received good/great/excellent. That is 24 more than the ds has and of those 117, 86 (26%) were non-ports. If you want to ignore the 117 acclaimed titles, as of 01-03-06 gamerankings listed 245 of the 1K+ psp titles and of those, 58 were ports which is roughly 23%.

In other words the PSP has a boat load of good original games.

... btw the posting above is a repeat in response to a tired farce desperately spread by nintendo and the ilk.

Ninja Gaiden is more suited for the PSP then the DS, and the DS version looks pretty crummy.

Why do people still listen to this person, he's already been demoted from his position from Tecmo after he was charged for sexual harassment.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/07/scalding-sake-itagaki-charged-with-sexual-harassment-by-real-w/

"... btw the posting above is a repeat in response to a tired farce desperately spread by nintendo and the ilk."

And the above posting is also a tired farce. Many of those so-called "great" games on the PSP are complete trash. GameRankings has Burnout Legends at 86.8%. Clearly nobody that reviewed the game actually played it. It's trash. And I really really like Burnout.

It's funny how GTA isn't a racing game, and yet Liberty City Stories set a benchmark for arcade-racing games that I haven't seen matched.

Cutriss,

Burnout Legends is an excellent PSP title
http://psp.ign.com/articles/650/650814p1.html

rather horrid on the DS
http://ds.ign.com/articles/673/673092p1.html

Perhaps you got confused.

"It could be suggested that he's suggesting that the PSP itself fails to deliver upon its goal, hence trying to replicate the home console experience on the PSP is a let-down in and of itself."

No that couldn't be said.
PSP delivered on that goal. It did day one when I was playing Twisted Metal online, with cd quality audio and graphics better than Twisted Metal Black.

"... btw the posting above is a repeat in response to a tired farce desperately spread by nintendo and the ilk."

I have a PSP and like it alot, but in reality you're the one that is spreading a tired farce. PSP fanboys are quick to point out that the PSP has more top rated games than the DS. But these reviews come from people who do this for a living. They sit in their office and play the games. They don't play them in situations that normal people do. Kenofthedead put it well:
"Quite a bit of games on the PSP are more akin to playing at home for long periods of time as opposed to past handhelds, which have usualy been quick play on the undergroud or during a break.

Personaly I feel like the PSP is closer to being a home system then anything else, mostly because I only really play it at home.
That and if given a choice, I would rather play most of the PSP games on a tele then it's screen."

...as do most people. I can see that there are some people who don't want to be tied to their TV. But be honest, with the PSP's short battery life and more in depth games, you're just sitting in your room playing it anyway.

Let me say again, I like my PSP, but nearly all the games I'd rather play on my PS2.

To Seroth you do know that the PSP has a faster clock speed and can do many things the PS2 could never do the only thing it really does not have are better graphics. Ask lots of game designers and they will say the same thing. Ready at Dawn is showing that the PSP really can do big things. Plus seeing as the PSP is portable it can get away with pixel problems that is why most PSP game look better on the PSP over PS2.

I do hope may be in the future the PSP could see a Ninja Gaiden game on the PSP. Seeing as lots of people like to do remakes on the PSP how about some of the old NG games get a remake on the PSP.

I think if they did get a remake they would sell pretty well. Plus with all the good news as of late for the PSP I think people would like to see NG on the PSP.

1. He's an idiot.
2. Make a Ninja Gaiden game that's designed for the PSP a side scrolling no loading NG game or overhead hack and slach.
3. Developers who lack the skill to develop for the PSP should shampoo my crotch.

this guy is full of contradictions.

i would love to see a psp version of ninja gaiden, but to shy away from a title like that simply because he doesnt want to try to reproduce a title that is better suited to a home console is little justification.

there are plenty of games that are are made from the ground-up and are well suited to the device [killzone: liberation for example]. to say that you can not create a decent game because of a console stigma is a cop out answer and undermines his abilities as a A-level game designer. something tells me that something was lost in translation.

Translation:

We would have to spend more time and money on the PSP version to improve graphics quality.

If we were to port the game directly to PSP, graphics would be unacceptable. Since people bought PSP over DS so they don't have to put up with DS dreadful 80s quality graphics, the game would not do so well.

If we were to make graphics better on PSP, all the DS people would complain about their version sucking. No amount of rubbing the screen would make this better.

@26. Is being one of those dev.'s a requirement? Or can anyone lather and rinse it?

@notblind

im guessing your like 12? I dont think any gamer old enough to be from the 80's would think ds games look from that era.

Companies will go to the system that will be in their best intrest sales wise, and because ds has a much bigger install base it will have a better chance of selling.

If you want to blame games not going to psp, blame it on psp owners themselfs. the attachment rate of games to systems is horrible.

but mostly its because psp fanboys are bitter assholes that rather complain about ds then play a psp.

Damn Keif, that was dead on.

Uh, I can't believe this hasn't come up, but maybe he's just not happy with the control nubbin, and the lack of a second analog stick? I don't remember using the right stick much in the Xbox release, but you can't really argue that the nubbin is equivalent. Remember how much fun it was to aim in Killzone?

gotta love all those ds haters :)

Ninja Gaiden is coming to the DS, live with it

Damn. I have been saying this about the PSP since about two months after it came out.

Guess who feels all validated suddenly?

Itagaki always blows me away how he puts his interviews, while the content may not make sense at all, he always delivers in the fun department.

It's important to never get boring and have hilarious interviews that are highly quoteable. Although I think a PSP Ninja Gaiden would be quite nice.

"sigh" I own both a PSP and a DS. Even though PSP has been getting a lot of love lately because of Monster Hunter Freedom and Syphon Filter, I was harshly reminded of how much better the DS is for pick up and play when I started playing NSMB again and I was harshly reminded of how good some DS games look when I logged online to play Metroid Prime: Hunters on Alinos Perch and saw the new pics of Zelda Phantom Hourglass and FF: CC and both look like low res Cube games.

I do enjoy my PSP for what it does, but the DS is the epitome of a portable experience. The time it takes me to start a PSP game (3 to five minutes depending on title and load time) I'm already a few minutes into a DS game. The analog nub is absolute trash from some games and bearable for others. Syphon Filter is awesome when the action is slow paced and you have time to take cover, peak, fire, duck, repeat. As soon as the action heats up, try manually aiming and watch in awe as you hit not a goddamn thing. Without autoaim, that game would be nearly unplayable. Ever try to play a FPS on PSP? It's a nightmare. You absolutely can't aim without autoaim turn on. Games that are paced so that on the fly accuracy is not priority work well on PSP. But with Ninja Gaiden, it'd look great on PSP but the though of the control scheme leaves me wondering "why bother". Also, it would be expensive to make, with a good chance of it not selling well, hence...no profit. DS wins that battle hands down.

Look, I'm looking forward to Wipeout Pulse, Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd, Syphon Filter 2, on PSP because these games work on PSP. But DS quality cannot be denied...Zelda, FF:CC, FFIV, It's a Wonderful World, Ninja Gaiden, Dragon Quest.

I can't help but think that joystiq instigates such fanboyism (not that fanboys wouldn't exist without them). But the title of this "article" itself seems to hurt the cause of peaceful discussions. It screams xbox fans hate SONY, everyone hates PSP, or nintendo fans hate SONY.

Joystiq please be more thoughtful in your article titles! I'm sick of coming to read the comments here and reading the same bullshit.

Look how the people seem to eat up the term "console wars", they go far out of their way to cause e-fights (sad word). No console will ever be better than the other period..It's all about developers.

I don't even know why i'm posting this..It'll fall onto deaf ears..stupidity will continue in the comment section of pretty much every article. Gone are the days when you might actually get a enlightening comment in an article.

I'm off to look for a new blog..it's not that joystiq isn't good, it's that joystiq is too popular and that brings horrible 'fans'.

Toodles.

Itagaki may be a brilliant game designer, but he's a horrible PR guy. This is the same dude who develops a series of games with unrealistic individual breast physics and then claims he'd "never have nudity" in his games. Every other thing the guy says is an attempt to shoot himself in the foot.

"The time it takes me to start a PSP game..."

You're so blatantly full of ds Striderhayasa, you could at least put some effort in constructing your lies.

As usual, the Nintendo fanatics have their hysterical rantfest after Joystiq eggs them on with in-cite-ful reporting.

"GameRankings has Burnout Legends at 86.8%. Clearly nobody that reviewed the game actually played it. It's trash. And I really really like Burnout."

You sir, are a complete fool. Burnout Legends is one of the most addictive and excellent games of its ilk on the PSP. A tad buggy, perhaps, but overall it's simply fantastic. Your subsequent opinions about anything for the rest of your life are null and void.

"But be honest, with the PSP's short battery life and more in depth games, you're just sitting in your room playing it anyway."

My PSP has battery life on par with my DS Lite, 6+ hours or 7+ with the extended battery with screen on full. Actually, the Lite gets slightly worse than that on full blast, so I run it at 3/4 bright.

Games being 'better on PS2' applies to any system, especially DS/Wii. I guess we should be saying how lame Trauma Center on DS is when you can have the 'big screen experience' on Wii? Pathetic argument. As for shallow, simplistic pick-up-and-play games, I agree, the DS has more. Trouble is, I find most of those games uninteresting or short-lived.

"If you want to blame games not going to psp, blame it on psp owners themselfs. the attachment rate of games to systems is horrible."

Another Nintendo fanboy 'PSP fact' that you love to use to bash - In truth, the game attach rate has gone way up, recently. Go read the article from Sony Game Day.

"The time it takes me to start a PSP game (3 to five minutes depending on title and load time)"

Ah, the other fanboy FUD anti-PSP argument. Even going by Gamespot's somewhat dated article on the subject, the average PSP game loads in well under 2 minutes, with many (especially new ones) coming in around 70-90 seconds. For a disc-based system, not a huge deal.

"Joystiq please be more thoughtful in your article titles! I'm sick of coming to read the comments here and reading the same bullshit."

No can do, buddy. They'll not only continue to fan fanboy flame(rs) to incite more activity, but they'll IP ban your ass for daring to point out their penchant for pandering. So much for expressing a contrary view (I'm posting from an anonymizer, btw).

I nominate Striderhayasa as Queen of the DS Fanboys, Overlord of PSP Bashing here at Joystiq. They have groomed him well. He's a regular FUDboy.

I got your 'load times' right here, Strider.

Extra Translation: DS makes tons of money at a huge attach rate and so we are hoping to capitalize on that. Hopefully if we get more people to play the Ninja DS game, they will give it a try on PS3 and 360.

Oh and @ required

By your logic, Okami with its critical acclaim and high scores should have sold like WOW right? *cough*CloverBankruped*cough*

what a sad world you live in pixalator. I love how you try to chock it all up to ds fanboy lies.

I have a psp, but the diffrence between me an you is i wont defend its faults, just like I wont do with the ds either.

and in the end you yourself have shown to be the biggest fanboy of the lot. cause only a fanboy would take criticism as fanboy hate. while in reality it is quite possible to enjoy a system while aggreeing that it has its problems. All that and, you even took it upon youself to trash talk the ds in your rant. You seem to think that people are only fanboys if they dont like sony products.

i still standby my comment on psp fanboys being biter assholes. psp fansites ou will see them trashing ds and bitching when ds gets a game it "doesnt deserve". conversly on a ds fansite you see people actually talking about ds and much less often talking shit about the other system.

"My PSP has battery life on par with my DS Lite, 6+ hours or 7+ with the extended battery with screen on full. Actually, the Lite gets slightly worse than that on full blast, so I run it at 3/4 bright."

I'm not sure how much battery life you get in a PSP when you buy the bigger battery. Either way, it probably should have been included in the beginning. I don't have it, so for me the battery life in the PSP is a pain.

"Games being 'better on PS2' applies to any system, especially DS/Wii. I guess we should be saying how lame Trauma Center on DS is when you can have the 'big screen experience' on Wii? Pathetic argument. As for shallow, simplistic pick-up-and-play games, I agree, the DS has more. Trouble is, I find most of those games uninteresting or short-lived."

Yeah... you're an idiot. Don't respond to me if you don't understand my points.

Now excuse me while I go play Killzone on my PSP. Unlike you, I can enjoy both systems. It's more fun that way.

wait? the PSP is almost twice as powerfully as the DS , and the hooky DS version wants to touch itself way to much for my liking I would actually prefer a "normal" NG game on the PSP.

However the PSP is a poor selling system and had pretty much failed quite rapeing the dead bring out the PSP 2....

Sidepocket
more like capcom decided to close them down just because they wanted to market new games, sadly good games get no respect and high selling games more offten than not get to much attention for the lack of care place within them.

"However the PSP is a poor selling system and had pretty much failed quite rapeing the dead bring out the PSP 2...."

I doubt they'll be bringing out a PSP2 any time soon. I'd predict a lite version before that. The PSP is already super powerful and doesn't need a new, more advanced version to compete with the DS. It's ahead of its time. Hopefully it'll age into greatness before Sony kills it.