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Itagaki was tricked into releasing DoA2; A tale of booze, scandal, and Aerosmith
Topic Started: Thursday Feb 9 2012, 04:11 PM (154 Views)
famicommander
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Wipe that face off your head, bitch.
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wired
 

Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki almost quit making videogames when his company tricked him into releasing an unfinished title, he said on Thursday.

Itagaki, who has since left Tecmo and started an independent game studio called Valhalla, said in his speech at the annual DICE Summit that he only had two and a half months to port the fighting game Dead or Alive 2 to the PlayStation 2 in time for the home platform’s launch in March 2000.

“All of the staff, led by me, fought for a victory with all their energy,” Itagaki said through an onstage translator. “But unfortunately, the result wasn’t what we expected.”

As the deadline of the PlayStation 2′s launch grew closer, the company’s sales general manager approached Itagaki at his desk.

“Can I borrow a copy of this so I can play it a little?” Itagaki remembers the manager saying.


“I said, sure, yeah, go on, and I handed him the disc which was still under development,” Itagaki said. “But this disc was never played by them.”

Instead, Itagaki said to the crowd of game developers and executives, “it was taken into a factory for production on that day without me knowing it.”

Tecmo, Itagaki said, “made a huge profit.” But the release of what he called an unfinished game sent Itagaki into a spiral of depression.

“I thought I would quit making games,” he said. He started saying home, drinking from morning until night. He’d cry as he watched the movie Armageddon over and over again with his then three-year-old daughter, listening to Aerosmith’s theme song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”

Eventually, he went back to work with a renewed sense of purpose, creating the follow-up game Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore in the state that he and his team wanted it to be.

“No matter what anyone says, Aerosmith and Armageddon were the ones who saved my life, my company, my friends and my family,” Itagaki concluded.

http://blog-admin.wired.com/gamelife/2012/02/itagaki-dice-2012/

Jesus fucking Christ. This is a man who cares about his video games. He could teach Seth Killian and Yoshinori Ono a thing or two about what it means to make a fighting game.

No wonder Tecmo and Itagaki don't get along.
Denver Broncos: defending champs, 8-6, next game 12/25 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Colorado Rockies: 75-87, missed playoffs
Colorado Avalanche: 11-18-1, next game 12/20 @ Minnesota Wild
Denver Nuggets: 12-16, next game 12/20 @ Los Angeles Clippers
Colorado Mammoth: first game 12/30 @ Buffalo Bandits
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SuperDouxSanaCanThree
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Goddammit I LOVE Itagaki. Stories like this are why. (And pretty much any interview with him I read)
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ronaldmonster
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Wow. The really fucking explains why the game didn't have most of the CG let alone most combat animations of the dreamcast version. What the fuck...
-SG-
Sunday Jun 5 2011, 01:25 AM
Going way, way, way back I can remember playing with Legos cockgobbleing Star Trek TNG lolz

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famicommander
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Wipe that face off your head, bitch.
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Think the douchebags at Bethesda or Infinity Ward lose any sleep after they release unfinished games?
Denver Broncos: defending champs, 8-6, next game 12/25 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Colorado Rockies: 75-87, missed playoffs
Colorado Avalanche: 11-18-1, next game 12/20 @ Minnesota Wild
Denver Nuggets: 12-16, next game 12/20 @ Los Angeles Clippers
Colorado Mammoth: first game 12/30 @ Buffalo Bandits
Denver Outlaws: defending champs, first game 4/22 @ Charlotte Hounds
Colorado State Rams football: 7-5, next game Idaho Bowl 12/22 vs Idaho Vandals
Colorado State Rams basketball: 8-4, next game 12/22 vs Long Beach State 49ers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 11-7, lost West Division Semifinal
Denver Pioneers Lacrosse: first game 1/24 vs Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
#2 Denver Pioneers Hockey: 12-3-3, next game 12/30 @ Providence College Friars
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SuperDouxSanaCanThree
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Personally, crying over it is somewhat silly but I just love that he's almost like a fictional character among game designers. He's so much fun to read about. And I loved Ninja Gaiden.
Edited by SuperDouxSanaCanThree, Friday Feb 10 2012, 12:56 AM.
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ronaldmonster
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SuperDouxSanaCanThree
Friday Feb 10 2012, 12:56 AM
Personally, crying over it is somewhat silly but I just love that he's almost like a fictional character among game designers. He's so much fun to read about. And I loved Ninja Gaiden.
Imagine if you will.

You are a painter. Someone commissions you. Half-way trough what you think could be your greatest work, the guy who commissions you takes it and says good enough leaving your personal greatest work unfinished.

That's how Itagaki felt.
-SG-
Sunday Jun 5 2011, 01:25 AM
Going way, way, way back I can remember playing with Legos cockgobbleing Star Trek TNG lolz

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SuperDouxSanaCanThree
de Geso
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That's why I didn't say completely silly. But I can't relate to being a painter. I'm not really the creative type, clearly. Besides, I'm not bashing the guy, he's actually (As I said) one of my favorites to hear about. And while Devil's Third didn't really thrill me with what little I've seen of it, because he's attached to it I'll keep an eye on it.
Edited by SuperDouxSanaCanThree, Friday Feb 10 2012, 02:04 AM.
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famicommander
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Wipe that face off your head, bitch.
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I think, in general, Japanese developers are more likely to care about the quality of the final product and I think it has a lot to do with the differing development environments.

Major Japanese studios generally operate from a focused, top down perspective. Inafune has spoken at length about keeping development teams small enough to make sure that everyone working on the game completely understands the director's vision for the game. This leads to a more personal sense of responsibility in the quality if the game.

The director of Dark Souls apologized profusely for the game's shoddy frame rate and said he isn't sure if he even deserves to make a sequel.

“We don’t even know if we’ll have another chance. We have the confidence that we can improve from our mistakes this time and create an even better Dark world, but we don’t know if the users will forgive us for the mistakes, so I cannot give an exact answer.”

Contrast that with major Western studios where directors take less of a role, meaning there is less of a unified vision for what the game should be. Then consider a game like Modetn Warfare 3. There were three entirely different studios working almost in isolation on completely different parts of the game. Literally hundreds of people working on the game, most of then likely unaware of what the overall vision for the title is.

Obviously some Japanese studios don't operate like that anymore (Capcom) and not all Western studios operate like EA/Acti/Ubi, but I think it is definitely a factor. The majority of lazy develooment comes from the West. The Japanese may be just as likely to release a good or bad game, but rarely do they put out a glitchy or broken product.
Denver Broncos: defending champs, 8-6, next game 12/25 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Colorado Rockies: 75-87, missed playoffs
Colorado Avalanche: 11-18-1, next game 12/20 @ Minnesota Wild
Denver Nuggets: 12-16, next game 12/20 @ Los Angeles Clippers
Colorado Mammoth: first game 12/30 @ Buffalo Bandits
Denver Outlaws: defending champs, first game 4/22 @ Charlotte Hounds
Colorado State Rams football: 7-5, next game Idaho Bowl 12/22 vs Idaho Vandals
Colorado State Rams basketball: 8-4, next game 12/22 vs Long Beach State 49ers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 11-7, lost West Division Semifinal
Denver Pioneers Lacrosse: first game 1/24 vs Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
#2 Denver Pioneers Hockey: 12-3-3, next game 12/30 @ Providence College Friars
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Brokemon
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"He’d cry as he watched the movie Armageddon over and over again with his then three-year-old daughter, listening to Aerosmith’s theme song 'I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.' "

lofuckinl
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