http://i8.tinypic.com/6hhppxi.jpg
http://i17.tinypic.com/6cyrns6.jpg
http://i8.tinypic.com/4vsjh2c.jpg

http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4989_en.html

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/brutallyfun.htm
Check back at 11PM PDT but I'm sure there will be other leaks before then.

1up will have a preview and more screenshots tonite but I expect the best info to come from the conference they are having today (It should already be the 12th in Japan by now.)

I'm thinking it was posted on Xbox.jp too early and they ended up taking it down. There might be some video on the web on the 12th or 13th. By the looks of the screen shots I wouldn't expect anything less than a Z rating in Japan. Also expect it to be extremely watered down in Germany...if it is even sold in Germany.

To Mods: Now that Ninja Gaiden 2 is coming out can you please allow us to post clickable links? Thank you.

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Its not gonna be a watered down version for just Germany, thanks to the Germans all the Dicapitations and blood had to be removed for the whole PAL release, ie the whole of Europe!!!

>_<

and it will happen again

*shakes fists angerly

In the end they could do what they did for Gears and Dead Rising and have the game banned there. It didn't really hurt either game very much. Also they could just import it from a neighboring country... The best thing to do is to look at the sales of Ninja Gaiden 1, Black and Sigma(if it has been released there.)in Germany for the answer.

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Go back and check the brutallyfun link.
Also check out
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3162734

Microsoft being the publisher of this title is very weird. It does mean that at least Ninja Gaiden 2 is 360 exclusive, there might be a loophole which would allow them to make Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma though. One site even says that the game is exclusive for 2008, beyond that who knows.

Microsoft publishing the title could also mean that, if Team Ninja has the man power, they could release 2 games in one year. With Tecmo's booth right next to Sony this year we might be in for a surprise...well at least PS3 owners might be.

That being said I'm happy that I will be able to play Ninja Gaiden 2 sometime next year and for Team Ninja's continued support of the system. It does leave questions though.

Was this the secret 5th game?
Was this Project Progressive if not where is it?
Should 360 owners still look forward to Code Cronus?
Where is that game they showed art work from last year?
Will Ninja Gaiden 2 be "the" Xbox 360 game for 2008 Like Gears last year and Halo 3 this year?
If it is it will truly be Team Ninja and Tecmo's time to shine.

I'm hoping TGS answers some these questions. Read my GDC 2007 and Beyond thread read about what happened at the conference.

Edit: This deal is likely similar to Gears, while Tecmo still owns the IP, Microsoft has publishing rights to the title. The game named Ninja Gaiden 2 won't be going multi-platform(anything other than Xbox 360 and GFW).

Since Microsoft is publishing the title there is a good chance that they will release it as is in all territories including Europe just like they did with Gears(MGS's biggest game this generation.)

Edit #2: There is confusion about who is publishing the title. Once again we need to wait until TGS for clarification.

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New trailer of Ninja Gaiden 2 on gametrailers:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24818.html

Can't wait til' it comes out!

Wow this place is so dead that only 2 people want to talk about the awesomeness of Ninja Gaiden

I just saw the Teaser Trailer, Looks great though I wish they would show more. I can't wait for the actual release. I am wondering about Code Cronus though, there were supposed to be five games exclusive to the 360, or were to show up on the 360 first at least. DOA 4 has been released, DOAX 2 has been released, Ninja Gaiden 2 will be next, that just leaves DOA code Cronus and Project Progressive. But then there is no information on these projects at all, from what I remember DOA code Cronus was originally to be released on the X-box system. At any rate I will be looking forward to NG 2.

There is an NDA keeping people from showing the demo of Ninja Gaiden 2. here is the presentation from the conference.

http://www.gamespot.com/video/943273/6178829/ninja-gaiden-ii-ninja-gaiden-ii-itagaki-presentation-1?tag=multimodule;picks;img;1

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Sorry to post this late, I was busy fishing a mile of the coast.

The real deal this time.
http://www.gamersyde.com/news_5057_en.html

Download it from the marketplace and watch it on your TV.
Edit: One of the most awesome things I've ever seen.

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Darn you Team Ninja. I wish you had waited until next year to show this. Now you got me all excited for a game that could be a year away. Hope you guys are happy.

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It does strike me as very odd that Microsoft is publishing this title.

It could mean a few things. Perhaps Team Ninja finally sold out and will go exclusive to the Xbox from now on. Or, on the other hand, perhaps the last two Team Ninja releases on the 360 did so poorly that they cant get upper management at Tecmo to keep backing Xbox.

Sigma on PS3 seems to have sold more copies than DOA4 and DOAX2 combined.

Anyway, I have no doubt that NG2 / Sigma will eventually come to the PS3. Its just a matter of when...

As of now, NG2 looks decent. Solid 60fps action on the 360 is rare these days. But its not quite enough to have people at first glance see it looking better than Sigma does.

As far as Im concerned, Im going to need more variety than Hyabusa to get interested in another outing. As it stands, Im more looking forward to seeing how DOA5 pans out. Team Ninja has some big time catch up to play in the graphics department these days. The glory days of Team Ninja games standing head and shoulders above everything else visually (from a still image perspective) are perhaps, over.

Anyway, its quite early so who knows. Perhaps a demo will sway a lot of opinions.

-DeathCom

quote:

The glory days of Team Ninja games standing head and shoulders above everything else visually (from a still image perspective) are perhaps, over.

Anyway, its quite early so who knows. Perhaps a demo will sway a lot of opinions.

I've been having discussions on other boards about this and one thing that comes up is the fact that games that look better than Sigma and NG2 don't run at 60fps on either system. The games that people say look better all have something in common which is high quality normal maps which is very taxing on both systems. The only game that runs at 60fps and uses them is COD4 and when you look at close ups of the models they aren't very clean and clean graphics is something Team Ninja is known for. Even one of the Dev of COD4 said they were willing to at times drop the framerate to 30 if things get hectic on the screen but that isn't an option for NG.

If they were to match or outshine the best looking games both systems have to offer it likely won't be without cost. I know I want to see everything shown in that video in the final game without compromises. I'm fine with the way it looks and if they manage to do better without sacrificing anything it will be an amazing feat.
------------------------------------------------

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/107484.html
Not totally accurate but it does point out a lot of things.

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Thats why I said "from a still image perspective". Games like most on the Unreal Engine 3 have absolutely lousy framerates. Nothing holds up to Ninja Gaiden's rate, except fighters, like DOA4.

But thats more of what Im pointing at. Games like Tekken 6, Soul Calibur IV, and Virtua Fighter 5 are all sporting far more detail than DOA4 or NG2. Now both titles have good excuses, the first being a .5 generation Xbox 360 game and the other being an action game. So we really need to see if they can get on the ball with DOA5.

But aside from that NG2 Vs NG Sigma is the big deal. And the model detail isnt apparent enough for the average gamer to side with NG2 and instead say they look about the same quality. Most just see the resolution advantage over the original Xbox games.

But its sadly still photos that sway gamers more than framerate. Any EA guy will vouch for that. EA has always been about features, crap on screen, framerate (and gameplay) last. Yet they are the world's #1 publisher. (mostly because sports fans aren't really gamers)

-DeathCom

Just one suggestion from what I saw in the video could you make it so that Ryu gets burned by the guy who gets set on fire if he touches him. That would be awesome.

lol yeh tecmo have been dead for a good while now,

from the MS website it says Tecmo is the publisher.

Graphically (minus the blood shed) im disappointed with NG2. Itagaki promised a new art direction and this engine has been built from the ground up yet it only looks slightly better than NGS. Monsters wise they look much better, if you watch the gamersyde vid the spider thing looks very intimidating compared to the laughable freaks in the original xbox NG.

Game still looks good but other than the environmental destruction, the lighting is poor, it uses HDRI lighting but badly.

Its still a long way off, but Itagaki says they are pretty far into the developement so I doubt the graphics will improve
Seriously DOA can keep the plastic look, but NG really deserves to shine graphically too.

For those who haven't read it. Sorry it was a busy day for me.
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/821/821455p1.html

Producer interview.
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=135488

I'm not worried about the ratings the game is going to get just stating what will likely happen. For the most part I don't expect anything over an M in the US and if it turns out to be more I can still buy it anyway and I think most Ninja Gaiden fans will be able to purchase the game at any rating.

Japan and Europe are a bit different. Things will be OK for the most part if they skip Germany. Many Germans will just get their games for another country. In Japan a Cero Z doesn't help the system at all but I doubt the die hard fans will care that much. The problem the 360 has over there is that most of the big 360 titles have gotten a Cero Z rating.

As for 1080p. I will say that while the PS3 doesn't have an ability to scale that is apparent to the gamer it is apparent to the developer. Scaling on that is system right now can only be done with developer intervention...they may have changed things recently and gave users the ability to scale to their liking but scaling has been used in several big "1080p" games. It's not even worth their time to try and get this game to run at that resolution natively (framebuffer). The 360 can just scale to the appropriate resolution. If they have the power to spare and actually get the game to run with a true 1920x1080 framebuffer without any tricks involved they might as well use that extra shading power to work on the materials that make up the character models and make the character models a little less shiny. Outside of saying the res is supported on the box there isn't any reason to try and market it as a 1080p game.

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Ninja Gaiden interview.
http://uk.gamespot.com/video/943273/6179393/ninja-gaiden-ii-interview-1

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1922/the_philosophy_of_a_ninja_.php

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/824/824006p1.html
------------------------------------------------
Halo 3 spoiler for those who haven't already seen it.

http://www.mahalo.com/Halo_3_armor_hayabusa
------------------------------------------------

http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/second-hand-smoke-with-team-ninjas-tomonobu-itagaki-303234.php

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