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Microsoft Unveils Ninja Blade
by David Jenkins
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September 1, 2008
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As part of the same press conference at which price drops for the Xbox 360 family of consoles were announced, Microsoft has also unveiled new action game Ninja Blade for the first time.
Although the name was leaked several months ago, no details of the game itself have been revealed until now. The game will be developed by current Tenchu makers From Software, who also worked on the Otogi series for the original Xbox.
A brief trailer of the game shows a ninja character moving around contemporary Tokyo and fighting demons, in gameplay which appears reminiscent of both Tenchu and Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden series. The game is due for release next year as an Xbox 360 exclusive.
Also announced at the press conference was a new "Platinum Collection" range of budget re-releases, to include Ace Combat 6, Assassin’s Creed and others.
Several other previously-announced games were also demonstrated, including Capcom’s localized version of Grand Theft Auto, Fable II, Fallout 3, Infinite Undiscovery and a new Gundam title.
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Don't anybody mention that travesty gone further south by Activision. Yes the one they kept remaking like a wayward Tomb Raider franchise... before they whored it off to the first bidder.
Ninja's are the most abused gameplay.
Perfect Ninja game? Climb most walls (doesn't even have to be detailed like Assassin's Creed), cross some ceilings, freely use a physics based grappling hook to hang enemies, swing from scenery and swing it around for effect.
Sword use, magic use, wonderful stealth kills, target enemies in a queue and unleash (the character can just jump between them, slashing, for all I care).
Basic elements that we've seen portrayed in many other games, but do you get a full blown Ninja game that does the Ninja honor?
....well not from Microsoft, unless you felt Shadowrun went well.
Could Activision please stop publishing sloppy games? Control should always feel tight, like a good reaction should. For ideas on what I mean, please play a Capcom title. There is no easing in their action animations.
Snappy. Tight. Stealth. Ninja.
Now that Itagaki has disappeared under the radar, who will create authentic Ninja games? I'm not expecting much from the team that created the Tenchu games, as they miserably failed to improve their experience since the first in the series.
Although Microsoft making it an exclusive might provide them with a little more dev-power than they are usually accustomed to in order to make this successful.
Who knows, only time will tell...