"Mission Mode, the big one, includes 25 self-contained survival stages that feature trials not found in the normal single-player story.

Karma Attack missions challenge you to obtain the highest score, while Survival missions dish out a single weapon and then throw enemies at you until you kick the ninja bucket. Sounds decent enough to grab our attention, but a co-op patch would be lovely...

While we're at it, 30 free videos (in three convenient packs) reveal the locations of the hidden i..."

The NPD Group's hardware and software numbers for the month of June has been released, representing sales for the United States in the five week period of June 1st to July 5th.

This month, there are three notable happenings:

• Wii overtakes 360 in the United States in Lifetime to Date sales, with 666.7k units sold vs. 219.8k units sold for the 360, bring the Wii's total to 10.9 million units sold in the United States in its 20 months of release.
• Metal Gear Solid 4, being the only major rel...

Each week GV brings you the lowdown of what's going down in 360 town, pointing you in the direction of the best demos, new games, and XBLA games. Drop in to find out what's hot and what's not!

This week we've got empire building, gore splashing, bus lifting, unwanted frogs, strogg-bashing, and more...

"HW
PlayStation 3 208.7K
PlayStation Portable 182.3K
Xbox 360 186.6K
Wii 675.1K
Nintendo DS 452.6K

SW Top 10
Top 10 SKU's May 2008 Rank # Units
(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc.)
360 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) APR 2008 1 871.3K
WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA APR 2008 2 787.4K
WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA MAY 2008 3 687.7K
PS3 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) APR 2008 4 442.9K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AME..."

"Remember how your fingers used to hurt back in 2004? Remember how many times you’ve shouted at your TV because Murai was too hard to beat? Remember Rachel? Four years later, Tomonobu Itagaki, now ex-executive producer at Team Ninja, strikes back once more with Ninja Gaiden II, the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed 2004 Ninja Gaiden for the original Xbox."

"Ninja Gaiden II has already stormed retail stores worldwide, swiftly followed by Itakagi’s resignation from Tecmo, along with a playable demo hitting the Marketplace in Europe earlier on in the week. Now, a few days later, the demo has at last been made available on the XBLM in North America. Oh well, better late than never…"

"With the news of his recent departure and the release of his final swan-song to the Ninja Gaiden series, Tomonobu Itagaki has had an amazing career.

We've already tackled the history of Ninja Gaiden in our previous retrospective, A History of Violence, but this time we're going back to look at one of Ryu's most influential allies.

In this special feature we look back at the history of the man and how he helped re-shape Tecmo in the early 90s to the company they are today. Join us as w..."

"I'll say this for Ninja Gaiden II -- it's got great combat.

Slicing up ninjas, demons and dinosaurs-on-fire in this new Xbox 360 game is a demanding and rewarding task. Both you and your enemies are fast and furious. Your ninjutsu is powerful, but you're constantly challenged to use it wisely. The gruesome decapitations and dismemberments, complete with body parts that lie around after you finish your opponents off, are intense.

The problem is, the game's designers seem to have focused ..."

"Team Ninja, the Tecmo internal game development group that created the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series, will soldier on after the resignation of Tomonobu Itagaki, representatives of the company said today.

"Team Ninja... is intact and, as a matter of fact, have several new projects already underway. Team Ninja is, more than ever, committed to producing compelling and cutting edge games in order to maintain its reputation as a high quality developer and to continue to receive the supp..."

"Ninja Gaiden II was released today and already an easter egg has been revealed in the game. As you see in the picture above, a big ‘X’ can be found in one of the levels in the game. What is it? What does it do? Where can I find such an awesome easter egg? All of these questions can be answered after the break."

"Bottom line, Ninja Gaiden II is a very good action title that has a repetitive yet satisfying combat mechanic. It doesn't look or feel quite like the masterpiece Itagaki stated it was, but it will provide you with several hours of a bloody good time."

"Tecmo issued a response today to yesterday's statement from Creative Officer Tomonobu Itagaki in which the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive producer announced his resignation and litigation over, among other things, unpaid bonuses.

In the statement, Tecmo denies responsibility to pay the completion bonus mentioned by Itagaki in his complaint. The company claims to have a bonus system in place, and states that it paid Itagaki this bonus every year. The bonus Itagaki mentioned in his complaint..."

"When Tomonobu Itagaki dropped a bombshell late last night telling us through a translator that he was not only leaving Team Ninja but suing his former employer, it was pretty stunning.

Temco later declined to comment saying that they were aware of his statement but unwilling to say more. Now Microsoft is chiming in, responding to our request for comment, thanking Itagaki for his years of Xbox support.

"Tomonobu Itagaki has decided to leave TECMO and Team NINJA to pursue other opportunit..."

"Tomonobu Itagaki is leaving Tecmo and suing the company for unpaid bonuses. The Dead or Alive creator cites an unfulfilled Dead or Alive 4 completion bonus, stating, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

An official statement from Tomonobu Itagaki was sent by fax to major Japanese news outlets. In the interest of fair and ..."

"Kikizo: Can you tell us about working with Microsoft as the publisher for Ninja Gaiden 2 - did this change the way you have led the project in any way?

Itagaki: There are good things and bad things about working with Microsoft. In the past, working with Tecmo Inc, it's the same company, we're all friends, we're all closely tied which is good. But because we're so small and have limited resources, it's very hard to break out of a cycle and the way that we do things. So the reason we went to..."

"On the one hand, this vanishing-body thing is such a blasé convention of gameplay that it's barely worth mentioning. No big deal, right? Often the designers make the bodies disappear for reasons of gameplay, because leaving all the bodies piled up is ludologically impractical: If every monster killed in World of Warcraft hung around forever, Azeroth would be so chest-deep in stinking corpses that you couldn't walk anywhere. The sheer metric tonnage of killing in our favorite games essentially..."

"Tomorrow morning at 2 AM Pacific Standard Time Microsoft will be releasing a Ninja Gaiden II demo, the same release that the Japanese audience got last week, but it will now be available to every region in the world except Germany. Xbox Live junkies should keep an eye out into the wee hours of the night."

"Xbox 360:

Ninja Gaiden II

GRID

LEGO Indiana Jones

Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy

Kung Fu Panda

Incredible Hulk

PS3:

LEGO Indiana Jones

Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy

GRID

Kung Fu Panda

Incredible Hulk

Nintendo Wii:

LEGO Indiana Jones

Cabelas Trophy Bucks

Kung Fu Panda

Incredible Hulk

PS2:

Kung Fu Panda

LEGO Indiana Jones

Incredible Hulk

PSP:

LEGO Indiana Jones

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2

Nintendo DS:

Summon Night: Twin Age...

"

"Microsoft today released two new trailers for Ninja Gaiden 2, the sequel to Ninja Gaiden developed by Team NINJA and scheduled to be available on June 6th, exclusively for Xbox 360. The game follows the story of Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja hero who is on a quest to avenge his clan and eventually prevent the destruction of the human race."

"It seem 1120 for horizontal but need confirmation, there are not good screenshot for horizontal check. for vertical 585 it's relatively sure and reliable
1120x585 would be another type of anamorphic resolution, opposed to the other classic anamorphic 1024x600 use in some X360 (COD4, PGR3, Oblivion, TR...)
but there are little more pixel in 1120x585 than in 1024x600 and 1120x585 is the better use of the EDRAM space that i have seen. it's 9.998MiB, just a 2KiB residue unused. maybe it explain..."

"Team Ninja's demo for Ninja Gaiden 2 has debuted on Japan's Xbox LIVE, but for some time since it settled on Japan's Xbox 360s, there has been no appearance of respective demos for other regions. In a response to inquiries probing the reasons behind the absence, Microsoft said that the Ninja Gaiden 2 demo will go live in other regions as next week ends.

The company did not clarify the reasons behind the demo delay, however. Some speculate that Ninja Gaiden 2 is Microsoft's stunt to get the..."

"You may have noticed we have not yet posted our review of Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden 2. We just wanted to fill you in on why. There were a couple of issues with the review build discs, specifically with the load times and the framerate. We have been told that these issues have been resolved in the retail version of the game. Therefore, we have decided to hold off on posting our review article and score until we are able to get our hands on a retail build of Ninja Gaiden 2 in order to verify this."

"Ninja Gaiden II is easily one of the best action games on Xbox 360. The depth in combat is as exciting as ever and the new gameplay additions and changes only add to the experience. The game has been focused from its predecessor into a more pure action affair, for better or for worse, but the formula remains the same -- frustrating camera and all. It's challenging and rewarding. It looks great in motion and it feels great to know you're the one at the helm, directing this bloody dance. It has..."

"Your job is to control both the layout and flow, in other words, not wait for the design team to lay things out for you like road stripes down some invisible highway. No Z-trigger gimmicks with easy lock-on cameras, no cheaply hamstrung AI that won't attack from any angle. Ninja Gaiden 2 isn't just about chaining buttons and timing countermoves and learning to read each enemy's telltale combo signs, it's also about directing yourself in a way that best suits your own unique play style.

Doe..."

"The story plays out across 14 beautifully rendered levels in different locations around the world, taking full advantage of the power on offer in the Xbox. The scenery at times is breathtaking, but this being a fighting game, there is little time to admire the background as the enemies come thick and fast."

"In bullish mood at a press event for Ninja Gaiden II at Soho, Itagaki has just watched journalists run through Hayate's latest adventure.

After getting our hands bloody by slicing and dicing through a horde of enemies - with Itagaki nodding his approval - we sit down with the developer and ask him about Ninja Gaiden II, Devil May Cry 4 and what comes next...

Ninja Gaiden had the remix of sorts with Sigma. Can you see the series continue without you? Is that something you'd like to see h..."

"During a one-on-one interview with Itagaki in London last Friday, Team Ninja's main man offered his thoughts on Grand Theft Auto IV. "I think it's made extremely well and is a fun game," he said.

"People always use that as an example of violence in games. But I don't think there's anyone who takes their job as seriously as the guys who make that game. You only have to look at all the detail in there.""

"In an interview with Kotaku earlier today Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki said that he doesn't plan on making any more Ninja Gaiden games for any platforms following the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360.

"Personally I think we were able to create the definitive 3D game in this series so I'm not planing on making any other games in the series," Itagaki said through a translator. "So I hope fans treat this as a swan song for the franchise.

"I think we were able to achieve everyth..."

"

"

"
"

"The next high-profile coming up in the near future is no doubt Team Ninja’s sequel to the original Xbox’s best action game, Ninja Gaiden. While we patiently wait for the promised demo to make its way onto the Marketplace, new details have been released by the Japanese magazine Famitsu, mainly shedding light on the tweaks and fixes that have been made to ensure a smoother ride through hell when the game releases on June 3rd.

The article states that each of the eight weapons featured in the ..."

"This beautiful CIA operative has been looking for Ryu to deliver a warning."

Tecmo releaes another batch of Ninja Gaiden II screenshots showing off a nice, stormy battle. I must say it does look like a good game, let's hope it is as good as the first one, if not better! The game will be released on June 3rd, 2008 in the States, and June 6th, 2008 in Europe.

"For a while now, we've known that Ninja Gaiden II is set to release to North American stores on June 3rd. But, ever since GDC when the Ninja Gaiden II information blowout occurred, our European chums have had to settle for a vague "June" release. Well, today, all of Europe can pull out their calendars and Sharpies because UK GAME stores and Eurogamer have pegged Ninja Gaiden II's Euro release date for Friday, June 6th. Now mark that down, get your pre-order on (if that's how you roll), be pre..."

"Look for exclusive Ninja Gaiden 2 content available April 15th. Download the demo on Xbox Live Marketplace in May."

"Release Date: 6/3/2008"

"Ninja Gaiden II is coming out June 3rd! It was officially announced moments ago during Microsoft’s Keynote at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC). Even cooler, you can save films of your gameplay and upload them to Xbox Live. Good to see this lovely feature from Halo 3 gaining popularity!"

"Well, it's not like the first Ninja Gaiden II screens were exactly pussyfooting around. Neither are these. These are grody, too! (This coming from someone who grew up watching Fulci and Argento giallo flicks.) Tecmo's Itagaki, above, and his Team Ninja really have stepped up the gore for the Xbox 360 exclusive Gaiden sequel. Hit the jump for screenies of Ryu slicing and dicing. If digital meat makes you squeamish, you might wanna sit this round out."

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"Okamoto said the eventual rating a game will get isn't of much concern when development begins. He also raised the possibility of producing localized versions of Ninja Gaiden II to comply with local ratings, although followed with a suggestion that he doesn't want to change his game for such purposes."