You can bet Xbox 360 fanboys won't like this one. Yosuke Hayashi and Hitoshi Hasegawa of Tecmo's Team Ninja sat down with Gamasutra to talk about their current and future plans. They both agree: the PS3 is the most powerful system out there. But despite this, they still maintain a diplomatic stand, saying that the Xbox 360 is still a great console.

After seeing how much of a good game Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is, we certainly can't wait to get another portable title from the accomplished team. So here's some good news: during Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword's launch in New York, Team Ninja member and producer Yosuke Hayashi said that the team is interested in making games for the DS and the Wii. More details in the full article.

It's barely a month after Yosuke Hayashi announced plans for downloadable content for Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but Tecmo has just announced that it will be available starting later this month in Japan. The downloadable content will include three new missions, available for download separately.

 

First is the Weapons Master Mission which limits you to only five weapons. This download will be available on August 30. The Speed Master Mission sets the game up for, well, speed missions. As the name suggests, time will be limited. This mode will be available late September. The final mission will feature Rachel as a playable character. The Rachel Master Mission will feature five new survival tests for her and will be available late October.

Also, Tecmo will be finalizing its plans for the game's Survival Mode. Players will go through a series of missions to see how long their swords will last against a barrage of enemies. Scores for each mission will be given a worldwide ranking. The download will be available later this month.

Downloadables will be priced at ¥ 315 each for Japan but Tecmo has not made any official announcements yet for the US.

PlayStation 3 owners who just can't get enough of Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden Sigma should be happy to know that there's a Collector's Edition of the game out now, chock-full of extras and surprises that'll make any Ryu Hayabusa fan flip out and explode in a burst of Team Ninja joy. If you're already making plans to buy the original version, however, here's a teaser video of one of the Collector's Edition's goodies, namely a behind-the-scenes look at the game titled Behind The Sword.

The video shows a lot of gameplay, with Rachel putting that massive scythe of hers to good use. There's also some bow-and-arrow action from the Ninja in black himself, as well as some nifty boss-dodging. And let's not forget the insights we get from the legendary (and controversial) Team Ninja leader and Executive Producer Tomonobu Itagaki, as well as Yosuke Hayashi. Nearing the end of the video, we find out about Behind The Sword - an in-depth look into the inner workings of the slash-em-up that's achieved legendary status up till now. Certainly something to look forward to.

The Collector's Edition of Ninja Gaiden Sigma is out for sale now. Enjoy the video!

As Ninja Gaiden Sigma's North American release looms ever closer, we've got another sneak peek at the PlayStation 3 exclusive's Collector's Edition.

This new teaser from GameTrailers boasts of the features the Collector's Edition will sport once it hits the shelves in a few days. We are told that the Ninja Gaiden Sigma Collector's Edition will feature "Behind the Sword", a sort of documentary about Team Ninja. It will also include interviews with the men at the helm of the project: Tomonobu Itagaki (executive producer) and Yosuke Hayashi (director and assistant producer).

Anyway, Ninja Gaiden Sigma's Collector's Edition will be exclusively available at GameStop come July 3. Better watch the video so you can decide whether to get the two disc version or not, as the release is only a couple of winks away.

 

Given that Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden Sigma is heading for the PlayStation 3, the guys over the console's home site had a sit down talk with game Development Director Yosuke Hayashi. This latest interview has Hayashi-san detailing (and reiterating) NGS' features, the most notable of which is a hint on Tecmo's Sigma plans for PlayStation Network:

We'll be making an announcement regarding our plans for downloadable content soon.  The content will have some amazing depth for a download!

Unlockable stages? New gear? Non-leather threads for Rachel? Hayashi-san didn't specify what fans could expect, although we're definitely hoping for the best. Other points that the dev directors elaborated on included their upcoming plans for using PlayStation Home, Rachel as a playable character, and the "Making of Ninja Gaiden Sigma" documentary that was bundled in the extra disc of NGS' collector's ed.

On a slight off-topic note, Hayashi explained that "If we came up with a game design that fits the PSP's profile you could definitely expect us to make an entirely new game for the PSP." That's the latest on Hayashi and NGS - expect the game to drop into retail this July 3 - hopefully with the complementary smoke bombs.

When we say Sony's got good things going, we're not just talking about new PS3 firmwares or groundbreaking announcements. When the world's greatest female action character graces a console, you just know something's special.

Fortunately, that's not all Sony would brag about.  When we say good things, we mean commitment from prominent game developers such as Team Ninja.

Yosuke Hayashi, the same man who made the PS3 smoke, dropped a few words to express his loyalty to Ninja Gaiden Sigma's home.

"There are some developers who have complained about the difficulty of developing for PS3. But, I am a creator, a developer - and by making a product, we receive money from the players. We shouldn't complain about the difficulty," he said, referring to other devs that find the console too complex.

"If they think it's difficult, they should get out of the ring," he continued. This can only mean one thing: Hayashi is here to stay for the PS3. "As I said, people who complain about the difficulty of creating games for PS3 should get out, right? While I'm saying that kind of thing, if I get out myself, then what I say doesn't mean anything! So, I should stay - right?"

Got it? Not surprising if you didn't. All we know, Team Ninja's set for some more action with Sony in the near future.

Team Ninja recently mentioned that it will try to silence the PlayStation 3 critics with the help of real-life Rachel video game title Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The Nintendo Wii, to be quite frank, also has a lot of critics (ranging from weak graphics to lack of hard-hitting games).

When asked if Team Ninja is also willing to silence them Wii haters, producer and director Yosuke Hayashi gave a rather ninja-esque answer. Gaming site Pro-G was at the recent Ninja Gaiden Sigma event in London and met up with Hayashi.

The exact question was if the title is going to make an outing on the Wii. Just imagining playing as Ryu Hayabusa, or Rachel for that matter, using the Wiimote sends shivers down our spine. However, Hayashi's answer was quite vague:

We would make something for the Wii if we came up with something unique that would only work on the Wii. There are several groups within Team Ninja. The PS3 group, the Xbox 360 group, and there are Wii fans in Team Ninja.

Pro-G mentioned that Hayashi told them something more but the site didn't divulge it. The only Ninja Gaiden action Wii fans can have for now are the ones coming from the Virtual Console.

 

Team Ninja's own Yosuke Hayashi, who is in charge of producing and directing the highly-anticipated Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PlayStation 3, let loose some strong fighting words for critics of Sony's shiny black console - specifically, how Ninja Gaiden Sigma will shut them up with sheer magnificence and awesomeness.

Well, not exactly that, but he's pretty confident about it. "I have heard much criticism of the PS3, but I am confident that Ninja Gaiden Sigma will demonstrate how powerful the PS3 really is," pointed out Yosuke Hayashi.

He explained by citing the difficulty in making a multiplatform title, particularly how hard it is to focus on one system's specifications and capabilities. Hayashi elaborated,

Multi-format videogames have boomed in recent years, but when you make a game for multiple formats you cannot focus on one machine's specific capabilities - you have to focus on a common ground for all formats.

And that is how Team Ninja operates. "It is Team Ninja's policy to push a console to its limit and set high standards. Team Ninja wanted to make Ninja Gaiden Sigma the best action game it could be, and push gaming standards to its upper limit. That is why we chose to make the game for PS3."

If that's the case, then why an Xbox title remake instead of a new title altogether? Yosuke responds by saying Team Ninja considers Ninja Gaiden as the number one action game around, so they went with remaking it for the PS3.

He then discussed the key points that could very well make Ninja Gaiden Sigma the killer title for the PlayStation 3 - citing the game's usage of many graphical techniques. One of them is self-shading, and the fact that it could do all that in 1080p resolution and still run at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second.

Gone were the times when males dominated the gaming scene. Years have passed, and hundreds of digital babes made gamers blush. We have Terra from FFVI, Samus Aran from Metroid, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider - all those characters from established franchises. Tecmo, however, believes that the world's greatest female action character is their Ninja Gaiden Sigma's Rachel.

Director Yosuke Hayashi dropped by CVG to give some word about their upcoming playable female character. He said:

Our main goal has been to create a new playable character, the fiend-hunter Rachel, who will be considered 'the world's greatest female action character'. Rachel offers a new and different experience, and through her character, players can enjoy a manoeuvring feel and actions that are completely different from the super Ninja, Ryu Hayabusa's.

The game may look cool, and we all enjoyed the demo, but here's a big statement we've got here. Will Tecmo live up to their word? We'll have to wait 'til Ninja Gaiden Sigma ships next month.