ecently Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki stopped by the Game Informer Online offices to show off is upcoming fighter Dead Or Alive Ultimate.  Managing Editor Billy Berghammer got a chance to sit down with the Master Ninja and chat with him about his upcoming game as well as a multitude of other topics.  We bring you the entire interview below:

Game Informer: What got you interested in the industry? Why video games? Why did you get involved?

Itagaki: Well initially I was thinking that I’d become a professional Mah-Jong gambler, but I figured I couldn’t support myself doing that.

GI: Did you play video games in the arcade growing up?

Itagaki: I’m one of those few guys who didn’t spend that much time at the arcades. I got hooked on one game when I was in college and I believe it was a shooting game called Image Fight. That was the name of the game, from Irem Corporation.

GI: Did you work on video games anywhere else before Tecmo.

Itagaki: No, Tecmo is the only company. When I graduated from college I only had a few abilities. One, I was a good gambler. Two, I was a good writer. And three, I was pretty good with a computer. So since I knew I couldn’t become a gambler I had to choose to make games.

GI: So that’s, when you left college, that’s when you started at Tecmo?

Itagaki: Yes.

GI: And what was the first game that you worked on?

Itagaki: For the North American market I worked on Tecmo Super Bowl for Super Famicom. Well, I guess I can take credit for having snow in the game. In fact, that’s the only thing I did for that game.

GI: So the snow in Super Tecmo Bowl. What drove you to create Dead or Alive?

Itagaki: It was an order from the company.

GI: Have you taken any martial arts or were you just interested in martial arts? What drove you to go from, like, creating snow for Super Tecmo Bowl to making Dead or Alive?

Itagaki: Well, at that time Temco as a company was in a bit of trouble. We had to prove ourselves as a legitimate game maker. And to do that we felt that we had to have good arcade game, within the arcade game. You know, there are only two types of games that you had to do to prove yourself. One was fighting. The other one was driving. Well I don’t drive. I don’t have a driver’s license so I chose to go with fighting.

GI: Outside of a fighting game would there be any other kind of genre that you’d like to experiment with and create a game?

Itagaki: Well, it’s going to be fighting game and action game, that’s where I’m going to focus on. And the third is not exactly a genre, but I like to do something with a wireless game.

GI: Like cell phone?

Itagaki: Portable. Like PSP, whatever, that kind of thing. Nintendo DS.

GI: Yeah, you’ve said that you were interested in making a game for the Nintendo DS or the PSP. The DS is very unique since it has a dual screen. What kind of game would you envision making for a system like that?

Itagaki: I can’t say because it has to be explained along with an actual game concept, and I don’t have that yet.

GI: … Ninja Gaiden, can you divulge any plans for the Hurricane Pack # 2?

Itagaki: Well, in the Hurricane Pack Volume 2 there’s going to more enemies, new enemies, more powerful enemies. Of course, Hayabusa is the main character in the game of Ninja Gaiden, but it’s just as important to focus on the enemies because you get your enjoyment out of beating those enemies. So as I move along I like to create more enemies and learn from them so that I’ll be better at making action games.

GI: Are you looking to do more of the human-like enemies or is this, because at least as far as I know for Hurricane Pack 1 it’s going to be more human-type enemies, more of the ninjas and things like that. Are you going for more monsters in Hurricane Pack 2?

Itagaki: So when you say human-type enemies I’m not sure what you mean by that, but to me human-type enemy only means that it’s got a head and arms and legs and a midsection. But, I mean, it has to look like a real human. I get bored creating a human-based enemy like the S.W.A.T team from the original Ninja Gaiden. It just, it doesn’t interest me so I tend to do more human-based, but more interesting design. Once we focus too much on making human-based enemies then our ideas become limited. But then when you think more of a monster, all kinds of ideas pop in my head to be able to create good enemies.

GI: It’s been noted that some day there will be a Ninja Gaiden 2. Why did you guys go with the add-on packs, the Hurricane packs instead of saving all these good things for the sequel? And why not charge because you guys are giving so much content with each pack? I mean, the first pack seems pretty beefy I would say.

Itagaki: My ultimate goal is to make Ninja Gaiden the ultimate action game on the current generation systems. So that’s why I don’t hesitate to hold off on implementing good ideas on the current version of the game. To give you an example, if I were to start stacking chips next to the roulette I would stack it very high. And other people might say, “Why is he doing that? Why is he stacking the chips so high?” Team Ninja’s philosophy is, “why not?” And, “Let’s see how high we can pile the chips.” And by doing so we can, first of all, please all those people who bought Ninja Gaiden, and get their feedback, and get more good information to be able to make better games in the future.

GI: What would you tell a gamer who’s struggling through Ninja Gaiden because of its difficulty?

Itagaki: Well, I think a person who’s struggling to beat the game or progress in the game should feel lucky. You know, in this day and age it’s rare to end up finding a game that tortures you so much. If you still have the will to beat the game then don’t give up. It’s so much easier to give up, but that’s not what you should do.

GI: A lot of American gamers have complained about the difficulty. How did the Japanese market feel about it? Did they feel it was just as difficult? … Did they whine just as much as Americans did?

Itagaki: Well, I’ll prove to you how closely I keep tabs on what’s going on in the marketplace. In Japan, the Japanese consumers’ number one complaint is, “If you have time to make Ninja Gaiden, why don’t you spend that time making DOA 4?” That is the number one complaint. And, of course, the Ninja Gaiden fans in Japan, they’re saying that Itagaki should only work on Ninja Gaiden from now on. So now that we have two groups that are competing and fighting all the time. In terms of the difficulty level topic since, you know, we only sold through, like, 60,000 units of Ninja Gaiden in Japan so it hasn’t been a big problem at all. Typically, the number of complaints is relative to how many units you sold.

GI: Would you ever consider in one of the future Hurricane packs to allow for an easier mode to, you know, because some people have been swayed from purchasing the game because they’ve heard that it’s so difficult. Would you ever consider an easy mode to broaden your user base; or are you just not concerned with that?

Itagaki: Well if people are truly wanting us to do something like that, you know, it’s something that we could definitely consider. But, of course, first thing first, the current system, current generation system, I still have to perfect this game first. And once that’s all done, and if we still have time left then we might think about doing something like that. But, of course, having said that, I wonder if I should or not because I think I should cater to people who support my games and make them feel happy rather than supporting people who haven’t supported us, catering to people who haven’t supported my game.

GI: So on to DOA Ultimate, what was the decision to go back and redesign 1 and 2 and bring them online and to Xbox only?

Itagaki: Well, the original intention was to bring the DOA series, all the series to Xbox for people who purchased DOA 3. And, of course, that’s for my personal needs and desire as well. So because that’s how we started working on this project, the DOA 1 portion is an accurate, pure port of the original game. … No, nothing. Straight port. If you brush up on one area it’s going to stick out like a sore thumb so I couldn’t do anything. In contrary, DOA 2 Ultimate, we ended up using DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball graphics engine. And then also we used some of the Ninja Gaiden technology. So the only thing that is old is the story of DOA 2, but everything else has changed and become new.

GI: The virtual arcade is a very unique mode in DOAU. Why did you go with such a mode like that? And I guess the second part of this question is how do you feel about the shrinking of the arcade business? Do you think that this online version that you’ve created will kind of replace it in some places?

Itagaki: Well, or course, the main thing for me is that I love Xbox. And two the originality that I like that makes me love Xbox: one is power, two is Xbox Live. So it just so happens that Xbox Live is one of the originality of Xbox and I want to utilize that. In terms of the demise of the arcade business, and of course I didn’t cause that, that’s been happening the last few years, so I didn’t create the online portion to combat the trend in arcade or anything. Maybe at the end, looking back I may have some influence on what will happen to arcade because of the introduction of the virtual arcade. So just as an information for the American gamers who don’t know what’s going on in Japan, in Japan if you go to an arcade, so called video games aren’t doing so well. It’s basically gone. And the only things that are popular and the only thing that are still there are, like, bingo and other more of the gamble-based games that you use medals or chip to play and you get the medals in return when you win. You know, those are the kind of games that are still around. But video games as they are traditionally known are pretty much gone.

GI: … How will the ranking system work in DOAU? Say, for example, I’m playing you and you’re kicking my butt all over the place and I just decide to reset my machine, and I quit out. Will I be punished somehow? Will my ranking drop?

Itagaki: Of course it has to be that way. You have to be penalized for something like that. So, you know, no matter what the cause is, you know, whether if it’s lightening that turns you off, or a cat who presses the button you’re still responsible. It should be set up in the way that you’re responsible regardless of the cause. So of course, you know, not knowing what the real reason for your machine being turned off just because based on the assumption that something outside of your control must have done it, that’s not good enough to spare you from being penalized. On the other hand, the only way that you can be recognized for your win is when you win. And that’s what I believe.

GI: So with Xbox Live you’re planning on downloadable costumes, downloadable characters, downloadable arenas, another tournament maybe like the master ninja tournament for DOAU.

Itagaki: Well, of course, I’m in full agreement with doing a tournament because it’s good. As far as downloadable content I don’t plan to do it because if it’s something that needs to be put in the game it should be put in the game to begin with. And as far as DOAU is concerned, we’ve been working on DOA for so many years that whatever we bring out is going to be the best we can do with everything that needs to be in the game. Ninja Gaiden is a bit of a different situation. It was the first action game that, you know, when we first released the game, of course, we didn’t feel that it was as good as it can be. And now after the fact we are getting feedback from the consumers. We are actually coming up with additional downloadable content to give them what they should have gotten in the first place.

GI: You’re allowing people, with the language option, to play people in Japan and different countries. What was your biggest challenge with bringing this online? I mean playing across the ocean is, with a fighting game that’s so twitch, is pretty difficult.

Itagaki: Of course, once I arrived in the U.S. for this trip I experimented with my guys in Japan, and there was no problem whatsoever. Of course I don’t just say these things unless I test it myself. After testing the international online fight between the U.S. and Japan I can tell you that I’ve decided to make DOAU more about the global online fighting game.

GI: … After you’re done with this are you onto DOA 4, or I’m assuming that DOA 4’s already in development by another team? And will that be on Xbox, or is it something that you’re looking for next gen?

Itagaki: DOA 4 is already in production, and it is for the next generation platform.

GI: Could it go multiplatform this time around?

Itagaki: Well the next generation platform that I haven’t seen, or as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t exist in this world. I can’t comment on, therefore, I don’t know. …

GI: Would you use the same kind of philosophy you did this time because you went with Xbox because of the power? Would you go with the most powerful system?

Itagaki: My gut feeling is that, yeah previously when Xbox came out, you know, the difference between other systems was great, was like maybe five times the power or however you interpret it. But I have a feeling that next generation platform is not going to have such a big difference.

GI: … You’ve been extremely vague talking about your pet project, Project Chronos. Is it going to be something completely different like your DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball?

Itagaki: It’s a concept. It’s a game that is still in my head and so I can’t share the details yet.