Today NowGamer was invited to take a peek behind the development curtain over at Team Ninja to get the latest on PlayStation 3 slash-fest Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.
Following the adventures of super-ninja Ryu Hayabusa throughout the world, Sigma was the first Ninja Gaiden to arrive on the PS3. Having received a fairly impressive response, franchise fans are expecting big things from the sequel and according to Team Ninja producer, Yosuke Hayashi they won’t be disappointed as he claims the team is trying to position Sigma 2 as “a culmination of the action game genre”.
The choice to release different versions of the franchise has long been questioned by the game-playing public and just as with the original, Sigma 2 will be a PS3 exclusive. When quizzed about releasing games simultaneously across all formats Hayashi said: “It is something we will look into in the future – our stance is to look at ways for players of each platform to get maximum enjoyment from the game.”
Violence has always been a hot topic when it comes to Ninja Gaiden, some love the cartoon blood that spews forth while others find it rather excessive, and it appears as if the more conservative of gamers will win out this time as the gore levels have been turned down from 11 to 1 with no blood on offer. “When we developed Ninja Gaiden 2 we put the emphasis on violence, but since last year the number of games featuring high levels of violence increased, so rather than do something everyone else was doing, we’ve tried to take a different approach and focus on the cool aspects in this game.”
Other interesting titbits revealed concerned the multiplayer aspect of the game, including the fact that Sigma 2 is to feature online score boards for co-op play, co-op missions will be completely separate to the main campaign and two new characters are to be introduced.
The new characters will have their very own story arcs that crossover with Ryu’s and the good news for fans of Rachel (who starred in the original Sigma) is that one of the new characters, Momiji, is female and featured in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword on the DS version. Team Ninja even confessed that if she proves popular she could appear in the next iteration of Dead Or Alive.
Signing off, the developer said that as well as changes to personnel and co-op play, improvements have also been made to the camera and save point system, which both courted some criticism in the original Sigma.
Check in again soon for more on the development of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and an exclusive one-on-one with Team Ninja.
http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/199899-Ninja-Gaiden-Sigma-2-Developer-Update
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