PS3 fans who didn’t get a taste of Tomonobu Itagaki’s most recent magnum opus of ninja excess will get a chance to with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, a PS3 remake of the previously Xbox 360 exclusive game.
Now that outspoken 360 supporter and former Ninja Gaiden mastermind Tomonobu Itagaki has left Tecmo (and not after causing quite a ruckus), Team Ninja can feel free to make as many PS3 games as they want. Their first effort for Sony’s console will be Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, an enhanced remake of Ninja Gaiden 2, which was previously a 360 exclusive, according to scans from Japanese gaming rag Famitsu.
Sigma 2 will feature new content and add PSN support. So far details on what exactly’s new are scarce, but there’s one tidbit that should excite fans of Team Ninja’s other marquee franchise, the Dead or Alive fighting game series. Like Sigma 1 added an extra character in the buxom Rachel, Sigma 2 looks to add a new playable warrior as well: Dead or Alive‘s purple-haired ninja femme fatale, Ayane, who looks to be dressed skimpier than she is in DoA (how is that even possible?) and wields daggers.
It very well may have been Itagaki’s departure that allowed for the existence of Sigma 2 to begin with. Even though Sigma 1 was also an effort helmed by his own studio, as Kotaku points out, the outspoken designer clearly never really approved of the project. “All you need to do is play Ninja Gaiden II and then try and play Sigma afterwards and you’ll see why,” Itagaki said. “Despite the fact that it’s on a ‘next-generation’ console there’s no evolution whatsoever. That was made not by me, but one of my sub-ordinates who basically tried to copy the success of Ninja Gaiden.”
Yeesh. I would be happy to not have that guy breathing down my neck anymore, too.
[Via Joystiq]
