Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

[Altimus]

Pretty good stuff.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/879/879604p1.html

[Cyros]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

The 360 fanboy in me wants him to end up at MGS so he can develop 360 exclusve titles.

The rational gamer in me just wants more action games from Itagaki that can be shared by all.

[Flawless]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

No need to start a new thread, so I will just put this in here.

Rumor: Three Dozen Team Ninja Members Leaving With Itagaki

In case you thought Team Ninja's former boss, Tomonobu Itagaki, was leaving game publisher Tecmo as a solo act of attrition, think again. If that act was a single shot across Tecmo's bow, here comes the fusillade. Word on the street is that key members of Team Ninja -- as many as three dozen or more -- are headed out the door as well, but that's not all. It seems that each one of the soon to be ex-ninjas will be serving Tecmo with a class-action lawsuit in regards to unpaid bonuses for completed games.

While Tecmo has fired back, stating, "Tecmo would like to assure its loyal fans that Team Ninja, known for its top-selling and critically acclaimed Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises, is intact and, as a matter of fact, has several new projects already underway," one has to wonder just how many people are left that truly constitute the development group known as 'Team Ninja.' Journey was never the same after Steve Perry left, but imagine what it'd be like without the whole band. Yes, Tecmo still owns the IPs and can freely make all the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games/ports it wants to, with or without Team Ninja (Dimps, we're looking at you), but what will these games be without the people who made them hits?

Another problem for Tecmo is that in Japan, any lawsuit filed against a publicly-traded company must be immediately reported to its shareholders on the same business day. The fact that Itagaki had actually filed a complaint against Tecmo in Tokyo District Court on May 14, but Tecmo management withheld this information from shareholders, possibly as late as when the notorious developer released his high-profile public statement on June 2, creates even bigger problems for the game publisher.

We'll have more on this drama as it unfolds, but with this peek into the myriad facets of Japanese law, it looks like Tecmo's shareholders better brace for even more bad news.

[HMcCoy]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

A CELL SHADED NINJA SCROLL GAME USING THE NG ENGINE!!!!!

The boss battles would be sick. Man I wish I had a few million bucks lying araound.

[Cyros]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

Wow....what other franchies does Tecmo have of any importance besides Deard or Alive and Ninja Gaiden? I can't imagine those games being worth anything if the rumors about Team Ninja being gutted are true.

[jmood88]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

Tecmo is dead.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

What's the last great game this guy and his team made anyway?

[Flawless]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

Ultimate Technique unleashed. Confirmed that Tecmo employees are suing the company.

First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki sues former employer Tecmo, now this. On June 16th, two Tecmo employees filed suit with the Tokyo District Court for unpaid wages, demanding 8.3 million yen (US$77,000) in payment. According to the suit, the workers were illegally placed on a "flexible hours" work scheme, starting four years ago. From that point, overtime wasn't paid, apparently. The plaintiffs represent all 300 Tecmo employees and contest that because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime. Tecmo developer Hiroaki Ozawa is one of the plaintiffs in the case, and since February has headed up the "Tecmo Labor Union". The suit even claims that Tecmo has created false documents and has covered up accounting documents. Officials are looking into whether Tecmo has violated labor laws. Things look bad for Tecmo. Very, very bad.

[Pared]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

Damn, this isn't good for the company at all. Why in the hell would you want them to work for you after this?

Looks like they're taking them to the bank.

[Flawless]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

Tomonobu Itagaki and Crew Return With a New Team and Xbox 360 Game

1UP: So that's really almost all of the core staff behind Ninja Gaiden 2. You pulled together quite a roster.

HM: We also have a team of young but skilled engineers working in a new environment and putting together something completely new. We have the young programmer who realized Itagaki-san's new ideas on Ninja Gaiden DS, along with a whole team of other great programmers.

1UP: That's pretty cool. How many people do you have total?

HM: Well, I just told you that we can make a football team from just the guys from Team Ninja. But if we add the other guys, let's just say we can actually play a football game.

1UP: That's like, what, 44 people or more? That's a pretty big team.

HM: We might even be able to set up a special team on top of the offense and defense. [Laughs]

1UP: Can you tell me the name of your new development team?

HM: We're planning on an official release sometime in the near future, but I'm going to call ourselves the "Tokyo Vikings" for now. [Laughs]

1UP: I was told a few minutes ago that a couple guys who worked on Virtua Fighter 5 joined your team. Is this new game a fighting game?

HM: [Bursts out laughing] No, no that would be impossible.

KE: Yeah, we did all what we can do for a fighting game. We have no more reasons to make another fighting game.

TI: It'd be more fun if we made something new, right?

1UP: Given your past history, can I assume that you're developing something exclusively for Xbox 360? If so, is it because of the hardware's power, or because of its bigger-than-PS3 user base?

TI: I'm trying to be flexible in that respect, but I do feel that the Xbox 360 still has a lot of potential that I haven't been able to play with yet. I also have many good friends [at Microsoft's Xbox team] too, and being in a comfortable environment is best.

1UP: Are you going public with your new game at E3?

TI: No, no. It's too early. I wouldn't mind having a photo exhibition, though. [Laughs] Anyway, I feel it's my duty to make the best game possible to deliver to my fans. So I don't intend to stay out of the game for too long. To any of my fans reading this, if you see me at E3, feel free to say hi.

[Speedy]

Re: Where in the World is Tomonobu Itagaki?

I couldn't see the last 2 words on the home forums page until I opened it and really thought it would be "carmen sandiego".