Posts tagged itagaki 
Hayashi: Team Ninja taming its 'sex and violence' image in DoA 5
Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi says the studio's perspective has changed since Tomonobu Itagaki left in a huff in 2008, and even though most of its 200 staff are original team members, Hayashi is calling them his "new team." The most obvious shift is the new team's focus on creating an emotional ex...
Itagaki: 'The era of pursuing technical strength has ended'
When he was at the top of Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki was seemingly obsessed with high-end graphics and processing power, choosing to work exclusively on the first Xbox for technical reasons. With his new Valhalla studio, Itagaki has shed that aspect of his public persona as well. At a party for...
Devil's Third is Itagaki's bloody, bullet-filled new game
Missed Tomonobu Itagaki? After a controversial departure from Tecmo, the producer of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden found himself with some free time ... and a job offer from THQ. Devil's Third is the debut game from his new studio, Valhalla Games -- and it features all the violence and gore that y...
Itagaki's Valhalla Game Studios project to be unveiled at E3
As any of us in the video game journotainment industry will tell you, the only truly dark days are the ones you don't get to spend writing about Tomonobu Itagaki. Not only is the man a constant font of great quotes, but once you make a crack about his leather jacket and sunglasses, you're halfway t...
What Itagaki's been playing: 400 hours of Dragon Quest IX
After taking the past two years off from game development following a messy breakup with his old employer, Tecmo, Tomonobu Itagaki is back in the game (biz) as chief creative officer of Valhalla Game Studios. But what was Itagaki up to in those two years? Speaking with Famitsu (translated by 1UP), ...
Solved mysteries: Itagaki's leather jacket and sunglasses
You may think that, being born into this world, Tomonobu Itagaki escaped the womb wearing a pair of sunglasses and one bitchin' leather jacket -- and you may well be right. Back then, medical records simply did not document such phenomena. Also, if the records did, we wouldn't know because we can't...
Itagaki's suit against Tecmo ends in settlement
Finally, Tomonobu Itagaki can have a restful night of sleep in his sunglasses. The ongoing legal dispute between the Dead or Alive creator and former employer Tecmo, over unpaid salary and bonuses, has ended in a settlement. Itagaki announced the resolution of the dispute in a public statement. I...
Itagaki has only nice things to say about Team Ninja's Metroid project
Being away from Tecmo seems to have done wonders for Tomonobu Itagaki's attitude. In an E3 interview with 1UP's James Mielke, the former Team Ninja head said he was "very honored and pleased to be of service" in response to the suggestion that Ninja Blade was a close imitation of Ninja Gaiden. He ad...
Itagaki: Easier to develop for PS3 than Famicom
Can we make a formal request? Can Sony hire Itagaki to take Ken Kutaragi's old job? No, we know, Kaz technically has his old position, but Sony really needs someone out there saying crazy things about the PS3, and we think Itagaki's the man for the gig. Here's what he recently told 1UP: "I don't thi...
Itagaki says PS3 development easier than Famicom
According to former Tecmo employee and Team Ninja leader Tomonobu Itagaki (Dead or Alive series, Ninja Gaiden Sigma), developing for the PS3 is easy-peasy. "I don't think that developing for the PS3 is hard at all. It was much harder developing for the Famicom," Itagaki told 1UP. "It's true. I mean,...
