Itagaki rants at Tekken
Again. Apparently it's "prehistoric" and the developers are "a pretty weird bunch".
Tecmo's charismatic Tomonobu Itagaki, head of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden dev studio Team Ninja, has taken a pop at Namco's Tekken series, describing the developers as "a pretty weird bunch", labelling the game "prehistoric" and even having a dig at spin-off title Death By Degrees.
At the end of an interview on 1UP.com concerning the Dead or Alive Ultimate tournament that European gamers are inexplicably not allowed to enter, Itagaki-san was asked what he thought of Tekken 5, which has just been released on PS2 in the US; the interviewer no doubt banking on his subject refreshing some of his notorious views on the rival beat-'em-up and giving the piece a nice kicker. Certainly did that.
Not that it was an especially clandestine attempt. When asked whether Namco "chickened out of the online arena", Itagaki-san indicated that Namco's dalliance over online was symptomatic of their "weirdness".
"First they put in all of these half-finished 'features', then they take them right out again. Tag fights, elevation differences, walls. I don't know if it's because they're impatient, or because they lack the ability, but no matter the reason those guys are a pretty weird bunch," he told 1UP.
"Oh, and come on guys, let's quit trying to hide the prehistoric nature of the main product by tacking on some absurd 'bonus game'. I have been saying this for five years, haven't I? If you have the time to make an action-style 'bonus game', why don't you create an honest-to-god action game and sell it as a standalone product?"
"Oh, that's right, I forgot something important. You guys did do a 'bonafide' action game, didn't you? What was it called again? Oh yeah, NINA: Death by Degrees," he added.
Dead or Alive Ultimate, a port of a three-generation-old beat-'em-up packaged with a graphical overhaul of a two-generation-old version, neither of which is apparently prehistoric, is available worldwide.