A settlement's finally been reached between the disgruntled Team Ninja members and Tecmo. The lawsuit filed last July was on the issue of unpaid overtime work under flexible working hours. Details after the jump.

Following numerous trials and tribulations (probably because of a certain rock star developer we might all know - cough*Itagaki*cough), Yoshimi Yasuda has now resigned from Tecmo. Details of his resignation weren't revealed, but the only thing we could get is that he's bidding farewell to the company for "personal reasons".

Tomonobu Itagaki has been causing quite a stir when he announced that he will leave Tecmo. In an effort to minimize the damage he can cause, Tecmo issued a gagging order on him. It's how you tell someone to shut up in legalese. Details in the full article.

Following the release of Ninja Gaiden 2 for the Microsoft Xbox 360, things have gone way South for the people over at Tecmo. As if the departure of iconic game maker Tomonobu Itagaki and some key Team Ninja members wasn't enough, a big lawsuit has been filed against the company for alleged violations of the labor laws in Japan. More details after the jump.

Tecmo has fired off a response to Tomonobu Itagaki's statement yesterday in which the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive creator announced his departure from the company. In the statement, Itagaki also accused Tecmo of not paying him a pre-agreed bonus for Dead or Alive 4 as well as causing him "significant emotional distress". Tecmo's response at the full article.

Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki made a startling public announcement the night before the release of Ninja Gaiden 2. A statement forwarded by his aide Andrew Szymanski mentioned that Itagaki has official broken off from Team Ninja and will file a complaint against Tecmo Co., Ltd. Find out more about this in our full article after the jump.

  

According to an official announcement by Shanda Interactive Entertainment today, the Dead or Alive franchise, a series only seen on consoles and on arcade machines, will soon hit the PC in a full fledged online title. Dead or Alive ONLINE will become a joint project of Shanda and TECMO and should become available in China, Hong Kong and Macao before the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Although named similarly to Team NINJA's Dead or Alive Online for the Xbox, TECMO CEO Yoshimi Yasuda mentioned that the title will be a completely new game, dabbed with a feature set seen on any PC online game. "DOA ONLINE is not a simple replant from the console platform to the PC platform," said Yasuda-san. Dead or Alive ONLINE will be leaving of the capable hands of TECMO's Team NINJA Studios and will be molded instead by TECMO's own online game dev studio Lievo.

While the game is set to be released initially throughout Chinese territories, TECMO also announced that Dead or Alive ONLINE will be published for a global scale, offering the online title to other territories over a later initial release date. The Beijing Olympic Games has been dated at August 08, 2008, so we'll keep tabs on the progress of the title. More as they come in.

 

If you've been penny-pinching to save up for upcoming games, here's a little primer on US retail releases this week, starting July 2.

Eye catchers of the week (for the grown-ups) would be Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3 and Vampire Rain for the 360. We've been covering both games for quite some time now, and the anticipation is fit to burst through Rachel's black leather suit.

Moms and dads may also want to get Platinum Sudoku or Vegas Casino for those quiet times when the kids are busy with Marvel TCG and Taito Legends 2. (More about these and other games in our Full Article).

What a way to start the month of July! New month, new week... new games!

Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The demo for this ninja action adventure title was one of the few demos that actually lived up to its hype. For those who are old enough to crave challenges and gameplay more suitable for mature audiences, this PS3 exclusive is a must-buy.

• PlayStation 3 - July 3, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB M (Mature)
• Tecmo and Team Ninja

Vampire Rain. Take on the role of John Lloyd, the government's vampire hunter, as he purges Los Angeles of the vampire threat. We're hoping that this horror action adventure game will cast new light on the vampire game genre with its stealthy "high-tech Buffy meets Sam Fisher" gameplay.

• Xbox 360 - July 3, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB M (Mature)
• Microsoft Game Studios and Artoon

See the other game releases by clicking on the Full Article link below!