Tomonobu Itagaki (板垣 伴信, Tomonobu Itagaki?) is a Japanese video game designer who created the Dead or Alive fighting games and the Ninja Gaiden remakes. He also has a reputation for making frank comments, negative and positive, on other developers and video games. Joining Tecmo in 1992, Itagaki produced two video game franchises that were commercial successes and earned him several promotions; he headed Tecmo's development team, Team Ninja, and sat on the executive board. He left the company after 16 years of service, filing a lawsuit against it for withholding bonus pay.
Personal life
Born in 1967, Tomonobu Itagaki graduated from Waseda University Senior High School on March 1985. Following that, he entered Waseda University and graduated from its School of Law on March 1992.[1]
He is married, and has a daughter, born in 1997,[2] whom he has mentioned as one of the primary influences on his projects,[3] including developing Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS,[4] and a constant gaming partner in games like the Halo series.[5] Itagaki has in his office a set of katanas his father made for him,[6] which he tends to take out to show to his visitors. As he wishes to stop people from reading his expressions during gambling-type games, he is always seen wearing sunglasses, a habit that has become his trademark in the video game community.[6]
Career
Tomonobu Itagaki joined Tecmo in 1992 as a graphics programmer, and initially worked on the Super Famicom version of the American football video game, Tecmo Bowl. His career breakthrough came in 1996 with his first Dead or Alive game - a game based on Virtua Fighter created in response to Tecmo management's request.[6] He was mentored by Yoshiaki Inose (of Solomon's Key's, Bomb Jack's, Rygar's and the Nintendo Entertainment System Ninja Gaiden's fame) and Akihiko Shimoji (of Tecmo Bowl's fame) in his early years at Tecmo, and was impressed by them to include fun as a necessary component in his projects.[7]
His rise through the company has been steady since then. He was appointed as the head of the third creative department in April 2001.[1] He then assumed the post of Team Ninja Leader in July 2001.[8] Tecmo appointed him as an Executive Officer in June, 2004. He later assumed the position of General Manager of the high-end production department in February, 2006. His Executive Officer position was however taken away in August the same year, due to his involvement in a sexual harassment scandal.
The release of Dead or Alive 2 had greatly increased the series popularity, as well as Itagaki's. He had sought to create fighting games with details he felt were lacking in other games. In the later iterations, Itagaki has built the story of the games around themes of family - Kasumi and Ayane in Dead or Alive 3, and Helena in Dead or Alive 4.[9] To date, the series has gone through four iterations with various enhanced editions. A fifth iteration has also been announced to be in the works.
In the Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball series, Itagaki brought together the girls of Dead or Alive onto an island. The player is to foster good relationship between the girls to create a harmonius winning beach volleyball duo. In the second iteration of the series, the focus is shifted by expanding the number of activities the player can have the girls take part in. He explains the core of the game as a paradise where the player can watch the girls they 'love' enjoy simple activities.[2][10]
Ninja Gaiden is Itagaki's efforts to develop a game centered on violent gameplay,[11] with super ninja Ryu Hayabusa as the protagonist. Capitalizing on the brand name of the earlier NES series, Itagaki developed a critically acclaimed action-adventure game for the Xbox which also had an international online tournament held for it. He continued work on it to release Ninja Gaiden Black as the opus of his Ninja Gaiden work. He is continuing the series on the Nintendo DS as Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, partly due to a promise made to his daughter.[4] At the same time, he is bringing the series' next chapter onto the Xbox 360 as Ninja Gaiden II.
Itagaki claims to be one of the very few in the Japanese video game industry to establish communications with the Western world.[12] He suggests other Japanese developers should do like-wise and be aware of the gaming tastes outside of Japan,[2] so as to be able to reverse the Japanese gaming industry slump of 2005.[6]
On June 2, 2008, just before the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360, Itagaki announced that he was resigning from Tecmo and was suing the company for withholding a bonus promised for his previous works. He was also suing Tecmo's president Yoshimi Yasuda for damages based on "unreasonable and disingenuous statements" made in front of Itagaki's colleagues.[13]
Mindset on game design and industry
Game design philosophy
Itagaki believes a good game should be an integrated product of good graphics, interactivity, and playability.[14] He also places a high priority on ensuring his games are interactive with the player's actions and respond quickly to the player's inputs.[15] It is this opinion which led to his derogatory statements on Heavenly Sword.[16] He finds the payoff for the game's button-prompting sequences to be less fulfilling than that of Genji: Dawn of the Samurai's (whose Kamui sequences he calls dumb, but entertaining).[17] Likewise, he cited Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Final Fantasy X as games lacking the interactivity appealing to him.[2]
Itagaki professes a liking for simplicity of inputs, he states too many inputs would result in the loss of the gaming experience.[18] As such, he respects Sega-AM2 for their work on Virtua Fighter 4.[2] Likewise, he deplores implementing scenarios to show off technology just for the sake of it, sarcastically asking what is the point of cutting down "thousand heads of cabbages on screen."[19] In his integration mindset, everything (graphics, controllers, interactiveness, responsiveness, etc) has its place, even CG pre-rendered cutscenes which he says can deliver a better cinematic experience of some scenes than doing them in real-time.[20]
Opinions on hardware
As a game developer, Itagaki has defined his philosophy as being able to extract the strengths of a game machine, and integrate them together to develop games to a level no one else can reach. He defines a game developer's satisfaction with a game machine as dependent upon these criteria.[21] With this philosophy, he continually expresses happiness in developing on the Xbox 360, proclaiming it to be more 'software friendly' than the architecturally 'too complex' PlayStation 3.[22][23] Furthermore, he admires the Nintendo Wii's dedication to innovation, which he holds in high regard for the spirit of gaming.[17] Itagaki claimed that he wanted to develop his games for what he viewed as the most powerful console on the market at the time of design.[23]
Itagaki has also spoken of his handheld philosophy which goes for responsiveness and physical interaction, instead of raw hardware power.[15] As such, Itagaki refuses to make a handheld game for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), stating it goes against the design philosophy of being a handheld device. He says a game created, based on the specifications of the PSP, would be more suited for a true home console.[24] This view is reflected in his statements on why Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword as a handheld game has to be designed to take advantage of the Nintendo DS' touchpad rather than conventional inputs which would have rendered it a typical game.
Pet projects
Itagaki classifies his projects into core projects (for business and technical excellence purposes), and those purely for self-fulfillment. The Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball series and Dead or Alive: Code Chronos fall into the latter. The Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball games are just meant for simple fun, and to fulfill a 'love' for the female characters, letting the player nurture and watch the girls partaking in simple joys. Even though he admits to there being sexual content in the game, Itagaki refuses to create scenarios which he feels are vulgar for his 'daughters', a term he uses to call the female characters.[10] Code Chronos falls into the same category of development, developed as Itagaki's hobby for style.[4]
Work ethics
Itagaki is thorough with his games, working on them from start to release, and even post release to correct what he feels are deficiencies, and polish them up to their full potential. He has shown this in his project developments, such as pushing back the release of Dead or Alive 4 just to polish the game based on feedback of top Japanese Dead or Alive players recruited to test it out.[5] For Ninja Gaiden, he wanted to leave the best and the ultimate action game on the Xbox before moving on to the Xbox 360, thus he reworked the game and integrated the additional downloadable content to produce Ninja Gaiden Black.[22][9] With Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, he chose to patch an easy-cash exploit rather than leaving it alone and ruminating over the consequences.[17]
Itagaki creates his game characters by immersing himself in their roles and the games. This is a reason why he objects to the suggestion of Kasumi in the Ninja Gaiden universe, saying her 'soft' nature is conflicting with the 'hard-edged' nature of the game whereas Ayane perfectly fits in.[6] It is this role immersion which helps him to develop and exclude guns from the moveset of the Spartan, Nicole in Dead or Alive 4.[5] However, immersing himself in the games' atmosphere has also failed him at times. The Butt Battle, and Tug-of-War of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 were heavily panned on the basis of minigame design. However, Itagaki defended those games as nostalgia comedic pieces, meant to make the player remember the celebrity games played on Japanese television.[17]
Frank personality
Itagaki values frank and "to the point" attitudes, believing anything else would allow "quibbles and sectionalists" to come in and derail the train of thought. His frank attitude is also in line with his admitted aggression, taking criticisms as challenges to overcome instead of something to mope over.[12] This relates to his desire for challenges, producing games like Ninja Gaiden which are acknowledged as 'hard' by the gaming industry,[19] and to push himself to produce games which can contend as the best games of the genre.[15][25][3] He openly claims to be the sole creative force behind his projects, as well as being able to convey his plan clearly for the team to understand. He bemoans that the Japanese are starting to forget the basic concepts, closing off their minds to outside criticisms.[6]
Itagaki has consistently given harsh opinions on Namco's Tekken games, mainly due to his grudge against the company for its insulting radio commercial on his Dead or Alive game. He has stated he never forgets an insult to his family, and will retaliate with "nuclear missiles more than 100 times for that".[2] This along with what he views as Tekken's stagnation in the fighting game genre (starting from Tekken 4), led him to comdemn the Tekken series, placing it as his top five hated games,[14] in spite of him stating Tekken, Tekken 2, and Tekken 3 were good games which his family enjoyed.[2]
Sexual harassment scandal
On November 7, 2006, various gaming sites reported a female former Tecmo employee filing a sexual harassment suit against Itagaki.[26][27][28] She claimed Itagaki has made several unwanted sexual advances on her ever since September 2003. While Itagaki has admitted to kissing her, he said whatever has gone between them was consensual. This stance is backed up by Tecmo which claimed its one month investigation has revealed the accusations were solely the venting of the female employee's frustrations over her personal affairs.[29][30][31] Tecmo has also demoted Itagaki and the accuser for their mingling of "personal affairs with their corporate responsibilities". Meanwhile, the court has found Itagaki innocent of the charges.[32]
takashi miike: the roger corman of japan
Yattâman (2009) (filming) ... aka Yatterman (International: English title)
Crows Zero II (2009) (post-production)
Kamisama no pazuru (2008) ... aka God's Puzzle (International: English title)
Kurôzu zero (2007) ... aka Crows Zero (Singapore: English title) ... aka Crows: Episode 0 (International: English title)
Tantei monogatari (2007)
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
Ryû ga gotoku: gekijô-ban (2007) ... aka Like a Dragon (International: English title)
Taiyô no kizu (2006) ... aka Scars of the Sun (USA: literal English title) ... aka Sun Scarred (International: English title)
Waru: kanketsu-hen (2006) (V)
"Masters of Horror" (1 episode, 2006) - Imprint (2006) TV episode
Waru (2006)
46-okunen no koi (2006) ... aka 4.6 Billion Years of Love (International: English title: informal literal title) ... aka Big Bang Love (Singapore: English title) ... aka Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (International: English title)
Yôkai daisensô (2005) ... aka The Great Yokai War (Canada: English title: festival title) (International: English title) (UK: subtitle) ... aka Hobgoblins & the Great War (literal English title) ... aka Spook Warfare ... aka The Great Hobgoblin War (literal English title)
"Urutoraman Makkusu" (2005) TV series (unknown episodes)... aka Ultraman Max (International: English title)
Yashagaike (2005) (V) ... aka Demon Pond (International: English title)
Izo (2004)
Saam gaang yi (2004) (segment "Box") ... aka Three, Monster (South Korea) ... aka Three... Extremes (International: English title)
Paato-taimu tantei 2 (2004) (TV) ... aka Onna to ai to misuterii 146 (Japan: series title) ... aka Part-time Detective 2 (International: English title: literal title)
Zebraman (2004)
Chakushin ari (2003) ... aka One Missed Call (Philippines: English title) (USA) ... aka You've Got a Call (Japan: English title)
Kôshônin (2003) (TV) ... aka Negotiator (International: English title)
Kikoku (2003) (V) ... aka Yakuza Demon (USA: DVD title)
Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (2003) ... aka Gozu (International: English title) (USA) ... aka Yakuza Horror Theater: Gozu (USA)
Yurusarezaru mono (2003) ... aka The Man in White (International: English title)
Paato-taimu tantei (2002) (TV) ... aka Onna to ai to misuterii 94 (Japan: series title) ... aka Part-time Detective (International: English title: literal title)
Jitsuroku Andô Noboru kyôdô-den: Rekka (2002) ... aka Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (International: English title) ... aka Violent Fire (USA: DVD box title)
Pandoora (2002) (V)
Kin'yû hametsu Nippon: Tôgenkyô no hito-bito (2002) ... aka Shangri-La (International: English title) ... aka Tôgenkyô (Japan: short title)
Shin jingi no hakaba (2002) ... aka Graveyard of Honor (Japan: English title) ... aka New Graveyard of Honor (International: English title: literal title)
Sabu (2002) (TV)
Onna kunishuu ikki (2002)
Dead or Alive: Final (2002)
Katakuri-ke no kôfuku (2001) ... aka The Happiness of the Katakuris (Japan: English title) (UK)
Araburu tamashii-tachi (2001) ... aka Agitator ... aka The Outlaw Souls (poster title)
Koroshiya 1 (2001) ... aka Ichi the Killer (International: English title)
Bijitâ Q (2001) (V) ... aka Love Cinema Vol. 6 (International: English title: series title) ... aka Visitor Q (International: English title)
Family (2001/II) ... aka Family 2 (Japan: video title (second part title))
Kikuchi-jô monogatari - sakimori-tachi no uta (2001) ... aka Kumamoto monogatari (DVD title)
Zuiketsu gensô - Tonkararin yume densetsu (2001)
Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha (2000) ... aka Dead or Alive 2: Birds ... aka Dead or Alive 2: Runaway (literal English title)
Tengoku kara kita otoko-tachi (2000) ... aka The Guys from Paradise
Hyôryû-gai (2000) ... aka The City of Last Souls (Hong Kong: English title: DVD title) ... aka The City of Lost Souls (USA) ... aka The City of Strangers (International: English title) ... aka The Hazard City
"Tajuu jinkaku tantei saiko - Amamiya Kazuhiko no kikan" (2000) TV mini-series ... aka MPD - Psycho (Multiple Personality Detective): The Complete Miniseries (USA: DVD box title) ... aka MPD Psycho (USA: DVD box title) ... aka MPD Psycho II (USA: DVD box title) ... aka MPD Psycho III (USA: DVD box title) ... aka Multiple Personality Detective Psycho - Kazuhiko Amamiya Returns (International: English title)
Tsukamoto Shin'ya ga Ranpo suru (2000) (V) ... aka The Making of 'Gemini' (informal English title)
Tennen shôjo Man next: Yokohama hyaku-ya hen (1999) (TV) ... aka Man, Next Natural Girl: 100 Nights in Yokohama (literal English title) ... aka N-Girls Vs Vampire (USA: informal English title)
Sarariiman Kintarô (1999) ... aka Salaryman Kintaro ... aka White Collar Worker Kintaro (USA: video title)
Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha (1999) ... aka D.O.A. (Japan: short title) ... aka Dead or Alive (USA)
Ôdishon (1999) ... aka Audition (International: English title) (UK) ... aka Oodishon (Japan: alternative transliteration)
Silver - shirubaa (1999) (V)
Nihon kuroshakai (1999) ... aka Japan Underworld (International: English title: literal title) ... aka Ley Lines
"Tennen shôjo Man" (1999) TV mini-series ... aka Man, a Natural Girl (Japan: English title)
Kishiwada shônen gurentai: Bôkyô (1998) ... aka Young Thugs: Nostalgia (USA: DVD title)
Blues Harp (1998)
Andoromedia (1998) ... aka Andromedia (International: English title) (USA: video box title)
Chûgoku no chôjin (1998) ... aka The Bird People in China (International: English title)
Full Metal gokudô (1997) (V) ... aka Full Metal Yakuza
Gokudô kuroshakai (1997) ... aka Criminal Underworld: Rainy Dog (International: English title: literal title) ... aka Rainy Dog
Jingi naki yabô 2 (1997) (V)
Kishiwada shônen gurentai: Chikemuri junjô-hen (1997) ... aka Young Thugs: Innocent Blood (International: English title: DVD title) (UK) (USA: DVD title)
Gokudô sengokushi: Fudô (1996) ... aka Fudoh: The New Generation (USA)
Kenka no hanamichi: Oosaka saikyô densetsu (1996) (V) ... aka The Way to Fight (International: English title: video title)
Rakkasei: Piinattsu (1996) (V)
Jingi naki yabô (1996) (V)
Shin daisan no gokudô II (1996) (V) ... aka New Third Gangster 2 (International: English title: literal title)
Shin daisan no gokudô - boppatsu Kansai gokudô sensô (1996) (V) ... aka New Third Gangster: Outbreak Kansai Yakuza Wars (International: English title: literal title)
Shinjuku kuroshakai: Chaina mafia sensô (1995) ... aka Shinjuku Triad Society ... aka Shinjuku Underworld: Chinese Mafia War (International: English title: literal title)
Naniwa yuukyôden (1995) (V) ... aka Osaka Tough Guys (International: English title: DVD title)
Bodigaado Kiba: Shura no mokushiroku 2 (1995) (V) ... aka Bodyguard Kiba: Combat Apocolypse 2 (International: English title)
Daisan no gokudô (1995) (V) ... aka The Third Gangster (International: English title)
Bodigaado Kiba: Shura no mokushiroku (1994) (V) ... aka Bodyguard Kiba: Combat Apocolypse (International: English title)
Shinjuku autoroo (1994) (V) ... aka Shinjuku Outlaw
Oretachi wa tenshi ja nai 2 (1993) (V)
Oretachi wa tenshi ja nai (1993) (V)
Bodigaado Kiba (1993) (V) ... aka Bodyguard Kiba (USA)
Ningen kyôki: Ai to ikari no ringu (1992) (V) ... aka A Human Murder Weapon (Japan: English title)
Redi hantaa: Koroshi no pureryuudo (1991) (V) ... aka Red Hunter: Prelude to Murder (International: English title: literal title)
Toppuu! Minipato tai - Aikyacchi Jankushon (1991) (V)
Rasuto ran: Ai to uragiri no hyaku-oku en - shissô Feraari 250 GTO (1991) (TV) ... aka Last Run: 100 Million Ten's Worth of Love & Betrayal (International: English title)
Actor:
Crows Zero II (2009) (post-production)
Kamisama no pazuru (2008) ... aka God's Puzzle (International: English title)
Kurôzu zero (2007) ... aka Crows Zero (Singapore: English title) ... aka Crows: Episode 0 (International: English title)
Tantei monogatari (2007)
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
Ryû ga gotoku: gekijô-ban (2007) ... aka Like a Dragon (International: English title)
Taiyô no kizu (2006) ... aka Scars of the Sun (USA: literal English title) ... aka Sun Scarred (International: English title)
Waru: kanketsu-hen (2006) (V)
"Masters of Horror" (1 episode, 2006) - Imprint (2006) TV episode
Waru (2006)
46-okunen no koi (2006) ... aka 4.6 Billion Years of Love (International: English title: informal literal title) ... aka Big Bang Love (Singapore: English title) ... aka Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (International: English title)
Yôkai daisensô (2005) ... aka The Great Yokai War (Canada: English title: festival title) (International: English title) (UK: subtitle) ... aka Hobgoblins & the Great War (literal English title) ... aka Spook Warfare ... aka The Great Hobgoblin War (literal English title)
"Urutoraman Makkusu" (2005) TV series (unknown episodes)... aka Ultraman Max (International: English title)
Yashagaike (2005) (V) ... aka Demon Pond (International: English title)
Izo (2004)
Saam gaang yi (2004) (segment "Box") ... aka Three, Monster (South Korea) ... aka Three... Extremes (International: English title)
Paato-taimu tantei 2 (2004) (TV) ... aka Onna to ai to misuterii 146 (Japan: series title) ... aka Part-time Detective 2 (International: English title: literal title)
Zebraman (2004)
Chakushin ari (2003) ... aka One Missed Call (Philippines: English title) (USA) ... aka You've Got a Call (Japan: English title)
Kôshônin (2003) (TV) ... aka Negotiator (International: English title)
Kikoku (2003) (V) ... aka Yakuza Demon (USA: DVD title)
Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (2003) ... aka Gozu (International: English title) (USA) ... aka Yakuza Horror Theater: Gozu (USA)
Yurusarezaru mono (2003) ... aka The Man in White (International: English title)
Paato-taimu tantei (2002) (TV) ... aka Onna to ai to misuterii 94 (Japan: series title) ... aka Part-time Detective (International: English title: literal title)
Jitsuroku Andô Noboru kyôdô-den: Rekka (2002) ... aka Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (International: English title) ... aka Violent Fire (USA: DVD box title)
Pandoora (2002) (V)
Kin'yû hametsu Nippon: Tôgenkyô no hito-bito (2002) ... aka Shangri-La (International: English title) ... aka Tôgenkyô (Japan: short title)
Shin jingi no hakaba (2002) ... aka Graveyard of Honor (Japan: English title) ... aka New Graveyard of Honor (International: English title: literal title)
Sabu (2002) (TV)
Onna kunishuu ikki (2002)
Dead or Alive: Final (2002)
Katakuri-ke no kôfuku (2001) ... aka The Happiness of the Katakuris (Japan: English title) (UK)
Araburu tamashii-tachi (2001) ... aka Agitator ... aka The Outlaw Souls (poster title)
Koroshiya 1 (2001) ... aka Ichi the Killer (International: English title)
Bijitâ Q (2001) (V) ... aka Love Cinema Vol. 6 (International: English title: series title) ... aka Visitor Q (International: English title)
Family (2001/II) ... aka Family 2 (Japan: video title (second part title))
Kikuchi-jô monogatari - sakimori-tachi no uta (2001) ... aka Kumamoto monogatari (DVD title)
Zuiketsu gensô - Tonkararin yume densetsu (2001)
Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha (2000) ... aka Dead or Alive 2: Birds ... aka Dead or Alive 2: Runaway (literal English title)
Tengoku kara kita otoko-tachi (2000) ... aka The Guys from Paradise
Hyôryû-gai (2000) ... aka The City of Last Souls (Hong Kong: English title: DVD title) ... aka The City of Lost Souls (USA) ... aka The City of Strangers (International: English title) ... aka The Hazard City
"Tajuu jinkaku tantei saiko - Amamiya Kazuhiko no kikan" (2000) TV mini-series ... aka MPD - Psycho (Multiple Personality Detective): The Complete Miniseries (USA: DVD box title) ... aka MPD Psycho (USA: DVD box title) ... aka MPD Psycho II (USA: DVD box title) ... aka MPD Psycho III (USA: DVD box title) ... aka Multiple Personality Detective Psycho - Kazuhiko Amamiya Returns (International: English title)
Tsukamoto Shin'ya ga Ranpo suru (2000) (V) ... aka The Making of 'Gemini' (informal English title)
Tennen shôjo Man next: Yokohama hyaku-ya hen (1999) (TV) ... aka Man, Next Natural Girl: 100 Nights in Yokohama (literal English title) ... aka N-Girls Vs Vampire (USA: informal English title)
Sarariiman Kintarô (1999) ... aka Salaryman Kintaro ... aka White Collar Worker Kintaro (USA: video title)
Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha (1999) ... aka D.O.A. (Japan: short title) ... aka Dead or Alive (USA)
Ôdishon (1999) ... aka Audition (International: English title) (UK) ... aka Oodishon (Japan: alternative transliteration)
Silver - shirubaa (1999) (V)
Nihon kuroshakai (1999) ... aka Japan Underworld (International: English title: literal title) ... aka Ley Lines
"Tennen shôjo Man" (1999) TV mini-series ... aka Man, a Natural Girl (Japan: English title)
Kishiwada shônen gurentai: Bôkyô (1998) ... aka Young Thugs: Nostalgia (USA: DVD title)
Blues Harp (1998)
Andoromedia (1998) ... aka Andromedia (International: English title) (USA: video box title)
Chûgoku no chôjin (1998) ... aka The Bird People in China (International: English title)
Full Metal gokudô (1997) (V) ... aka Full Metal Yakuza
Gokudô kuroshakai (1997) ... aka Criminal Underworld: Rainy Dog (International: English title: literal title) ... aka Rainy Dog
Jingi naki yabô 2 (1997) (V)
Kishiwada shônen gurentai: Chikemuri junjô-hen (1997) ... aka Young Thugs: Innocent Blood (International: English title: DVD title) (UK) (USA: DVD title)
Gokudô sengokushi: Fudô (1996) ... aka Fudoh: The New Generation (USA)
Kenka no hanamichi: Oosaka saikyô densetsu (1996) (V) ... aka The Way to Fight (International: English title: video title)
Rakkasei: Piinattsu (1996) (V)
Jingi naki yabô (1996) (V)
Shin daisan no gokudô II (1996) (V) ... aka New Third Gangster 2 (International: English title: literal title)
Shin daisan no gokudô - boppatsu Kansai gokudô sensô (1996) (V) ... aka New Third Gangster: Outbreak Kansai Yakuza Wars (International: English title: literal title)
Shinjuku kuroshakai: Chaina mafia sensô (1995) ... aka Shinjuku Triad Society ... aka Shinjuku Underworld: Chinese Mafia War (International: English title: literal title)
Naniwa yuukyôden (1995) (V) ... aka Osaka Tough Guys (International: English title: DVD title)
Bodigaado Kiba: Shura no mokushiroku 2 (1995) (V) ... aka Bodyguard Kiba: Combat Apocolypse 2 (International: English title)
Daisan no gokudô (1995) (V) ... aka The Third Gangster (International: English title)
Bodigaado Kiba: Shura no mokushiroku (1994) (V) ... aka Bodyguard Kiba: Combat Apocolypse (International: English title)
Shinjuku autoroo (1994) (V) ... aka Shinjuku Outlaw
Oretachi wa tenshi ja nai 2 (1993) (V)
Oretachi wa tenshi ja nai (1993) (V)
Bodigaado Kiba (1993) (V) ... aka Bodyguard Kiba (USA)
Ningen kyôki: Ai to ikari no ringu (1992) (V) ... aka A Human Murder Weapon (Japan: English title)
Redi hantaa: Koroshi no pureryuudo (1991) (V) ... aka Red Hunter: Prelude to Murder (International: English title: literal title)
Toppuu! Minipato tai - Aikyacchi Jankushon (1991) (V)
Rasuto ran: Ai to uragiri no hyaku-oku en - shissô Feraari 250 GTO (1991) (TV) ... aka Last Run: 100 Million Ten's Worth of Love & Betrayal (International: English title)
Actor:
A virtual Easter egg is an intentional hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game. The term draws a parallel with the custom of the Easter egg hunt observed in many Western nations.
This practice is similar in some respects to hidden signature motifs such as Diego Rivera including himself in his murals or Alfred Hitchcock's legendary cameo appearances. An early example of these kind of "Easter eggs" is Al Hirschfeld's "Nina."
Atari's Adventure, released in 1979, contained what was thought to be the first video game "Easter egg", the name of the programmer (Warren Robinett). However, evidence of earlier Easter eggs has since surfaced. Several cartridges for the Fairchild Channel F include previously unknown Easter eggs, programmed by Michael Glass and Brad Reid-Selth, that are believed to predate Robinett's work.[1][2] The 1978 Atari arcade games Orbit and Skydiver also include Easter eggs, programmed by Owen Rubin, though unlike Glass and Reid-Selth's eggs, the method of triggering these has yet to be discovered. Despite this evidence of prior art, Robinett's egg was certainly the first of its kind to be discovered and, consequently, the first Easter egg to come to widespread attention.
Easter eggs are messages, videos, graphics, sound effects, or an unusual change in program behavior that sometimes occur in a software program in response to some undocumented set of commands, mouse clicks, keystrokes or other stimuli intended as a joke or to display program credits. They are often located in the "About" box of a software. For example, two easter eggs exist in the "About" box of Adobe Photoshop 7: an alternative "Liquid Sky" splash screen and the ability to speed up credits to view funny quotations. An early use of the term Easter egg was to describe a message hidden in the object code of a program as a joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or browsing the code.
Easter eggs found in some Unix operating systems caused them to respond to the command "make love" with "not war?" and "why" with "why not" (a reference to The Prisoner in Berkeley Unix 1977). The TOPS-10 operating system (for the DEC PDP-10 computer) had the "make love" hack before 1971; it included a short, thoughtful pause before the response. This same behavior occurred on the RSTS/E operating system where the command "make" was used to invoke the TECO editor, and TECO would also provide this response.
The largest Easter egg is purported to be in the Atari 400/800 version of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, which contains an entire game that was more complex and challenging than the original Pitfall II. Many personal computers have much more elaborate eggs hidden in ROM, including lists of the developers' names, political exhortations, snatches of music, and (in one case) images of the entire development team. Easter eggs in the 1997 version of Microsoft Office include a hidden flight simulator[3][4] in Microsoft Excel and a pinball game[5] in Word (see Easter eggs in Microsoft products). The Palm operating system has elaborately hidden animations and other surprises. The Debian GNU/Linux package tool apt-get has an Easter egg involving an ASCII cow when variants on "apt-get moo" are typed into the shell. Many new video games contain easter eggs, like Microsoft's very popular Halo series.
An Easter Egg is found on all Microsoft Windows Operating Systems prior to XP. In the 3D Text screen saver, entering the text "volcano" will display the names of all the known volcanoes that exist in the world. Microsoft removed this Easter Egg in XP but added others. One which continues till Windows XP is to simultaneously hold the Alt, shift, and the number 2 keys in the Solitaire game to produce a forced win.[6]
A number of early Microsoft programs had hidden animated stuffed animal characters which could be revealed by following a complicated sequence of inputs. An early version of Microsoft Excel contained a hidden Doom-like action game called "The Hall of Tortured Souls". Windows 3.1 has a hidden developer credits page, which can be accessed by following a sequence of right-clicking and entering code words which is passed around by word-of-mouth.
Non-software
This section does not cite any references or sources.Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)
While computer-related Easter eggs are often found in software, occasionally they exist in hardware or firmware of certain devices. On some PCs, the BIOS ROM contains Easter eggs. Notable examples include several early Apple Macintosh models which had pictures of the development team in the ROM (accessible by pressing the programmer's switch and jumping to a specific memory address, or other equally obscure means), and some errant 1993 AMI BIOS that on 13 November proceeded to play "Happy Birthday" via the PC speaker over and over again instead of booting. Similarly, the Radio Shack Color Computer 3's ROM contained code which would display the likenesses of three Microware developers on a keypress sequence - a hard reset which would discard any information currently in the dynamic memory.[7]
Perhaps the most famous example of a hardware Easter egg is in the HP ScanJet 5P, where the device will play the Ode to Joy or Für Elise by varying the stepper motor speed if users power the device up with the scan button depressed. This is achieved through software intervention. Another Easter egg is found in the Kurzweil K2x musical keyboard series (K2500, K2600 and others): if users type "Pong" while in search mode they can play the game Pong. The EEPROM of Nagra smart cards for the Dish Network satellite television system contain the phrase "NipPEr Is a buTt liCkeR". Nipper was a hacker who broke old security routines on the cards, and this text is included as a fallback to old security routines, where the phrase was hashed against an input text to verify the card. Several oscilloscopes have been known to contain Easter eggs. One example includes the HP 54622D known to have Asteroids clone (and even saves high scores in NV-RAM).
Chip and PCB-based Easter eggs
Main article: Chip art
Many integrated circuit (chip) designers have included hidden artwork, including assorted images, phrases, developer initials, logos, and so on. This artwork, like the rest of the chip, is reproduced in each copy by lithography and etching. These are visible only when the chip package is opened and examined under magnification, so they are, in a sense, more of an "inside joke" than most of the Easter eggs included in software.
Originally, the Easter eggs served a useful purpose as well. Not unlike cartographers who may insert trap streets or nonexistent landscape features as a copyright infringement detection aid, IC designers may also build non-functional circuits on their chips to help them catch infringers. Easter eggs, however benign, if directly copied by the defendant, could be used in mask work infringement litigation. Changes to the copyright laws (in the USA, the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, and similar laws in other countries) now grant automatic exclusive rights to mask works, and the Easter egg no longer serves any practical use.
Western Digital's MyBook Pro has several words on the metal band that wraps around 3 sides in Morse Code.
The code reads:
PERSONALRELIABLEINNOVATIVESIMPLE
INNOVATIVEPERSONALDESIGNRELIABLE
INNOVATIVEDESIGNPERSONALDESIGN
SIMPLEINNOVATIVE
The Commodore Amiga models 500, 600 and 1200 each featured Easter eggs, in the form of titles of songs by The B-52's etched on the motherboards. The 500 says "Rock Lobster", the 600 says "June Bug", and the 1200 says "Channel Z". The Amiga OS software includes a variety of hidden messages as well.[8]
Several models of S3 Trio 64v+ graphics cards have the Beatles lyrics printed faintly along the edge of the card.
The circuit board under the bottom most plate of HP LaserJet 1100 printer has the following text printed on it: "This Product is Dedicated in Memory of our Good Friend Ming-Zen Kuo".
Easter eggs on DVDs
Easter eggs are also found on movie DVDs. In some cases, an extra click to the right or left, or going up in the menu instead of going down to select a choice will bring up a hidden feature, including concept art, humorous outtakes, or deleted scenes.[9]
Security concerns
Because of the increase in malware, many companies and government offices forbid the use of software containing Easter eggs for security reasons. With the rise of cybercrime and the prevalence of the Easter egg's "cousin", the logic bomb, there is now concern that if the programmer could slip in undocumented code, then the software cannot be trusted. This is of particular concern in offices where personal or confidential information is stored, making it sensitive to theft and ransom. For this reason, many developers have stopped the practice of adding Easter eggs to their software. Microsoft, who has in the past created some of the largest and most elaborate Easter eggs such as the ones in Microsoft Office, no longer allows Easter eggs in their software as part of their Trustworthy Computing initiative.[10]
In fiction
A DVD easter egg is a plot point in "Blink", a 2007 episode of the science fiction series Doctor Who. Appropriately enough, the actual video footage used for the easter egg is included as an easter egg with the episode on its DVD box set release.[11]
This practice is similar in some respects to hidden signature motifs such as Diego Rivera including himself in his murals or Alfred Hitchcock's legendary cameo appearances. An early example of these kind of "Easter eggs" is Al Hirschfeld's "Nina."
Atari's Adventure, released in 1979, contained what was thought to be the first video game "Easter egg", the name of the programmer (Warren Robinett). However, evidence of earlier Easter eggs has since surfaced. Several cartridges for the Fairchild Channel F include previously unknown Easter eggs, programmed by Michael Glass and Brad Reid-Selth, that are believed to predate Robinett's work.[1][2] The 1978 Atari arcade games Orbit and Skydiver also include Easter eggs, programmed by Owen Rubin, though unlike Glass and Reid-Selth's eggs, the method of triggering these has yet to be discovered. Despite this evidence of prior art, Robinett's egg was certainly the first of its kind to be discovered and, consequently, the first Easter egg to come to widespread attention.
Easter eggs are messages, videos, graphics, sound effects, or an unusual change in program behavior that sometimes occur in a software program in response to some undocumented set of commands, mouse clicks, keystrokes or other stimuli intended as a joke or to display program credits. They are often located in the "About" box of a software. For example, two easter eggs exist in the "About" box of Adobe Photoshop 7: an alternative "Liquid Sky" splash screen and the ability to speed up credits to view funny quotations. An early use of the term Easter egg was to describe a message hidden in the object code of a program as a joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or browsing the code.
Easter eggs found in some Unix operating systems caused them to respond to the command "make love" with "not war?" and "why" with "why not" (a reference to The Prisoner in Berkeley Unix 1977). The TOPS-10 operating system (for the DEC PDP-10 computer) had the "make love" hack before 1971; it included a short, thoughtful pause before the response. This same behavior occurred on the RSTS/E operating system where the command "make" was used to invoke the TECO editor, and TECO would also provide this response.
The largest Easter egg is purported to be in the Atari 400/800 version of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, which contains an entire game that was more complex and challenging than the original Pitfall II. Many personal computers have much more elaborate eggs hidden in ROM, including lists of the developers' names, political exhortations, snatches of music, and (in one case) images of the entire development team. Easter eggs in the 1997 version of Microsoft Office include a hidden flight simulator[3][4] in Microsoft Excel and a pinball game[5] in Word (see Easter eggs in Microsoft products). The Palm operating system has elaborately hidden animations and other surprises. The Debian GNU/Linux package tool apt-get has an Easter egg involving an ASCII cow when variants on "apt-get moo" are typed into the shell. Many new video games contain easter eggs, like Microsoft's very popular Halo series.
An Easter Egg is found on all Microsoft Windows Operating Systems prior to XP. In the 3D Text screen saver, entering the text "volcano" will display the names of all the known volcanoes that exist in the world. Microsoft removed this Easter Egg in XP but added others. One which continues till Windows XP is to simultaneously hold the Alt, shift, and the number 2 keys in the Solitaire game to produce a forced win.[6]
A number of early Microsoft programs had hidden animated stuffed animal characters which could be revealed by following a complicated sequence of inputs. An early version of Microsoft Excel contained a hidden Doom-like action game called "The Hall of Tortured Souls". Windows 3.1 has a hidden developer credits page, which can be accessed by following a sequence of right-clicking and entering code words which is passed around by word-of-mouth.
Non-software
This section does not cite any references or sources.Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)
While computer-related Easter eggs are often found in software, occasionally they exist in hardware or firmware of certain devices. On some PCs, the BIOS ROM contains Easter eggs. Notable examples include several early Apple Macintosh models which had pictures of the development team in the ROM (accessible by pressing the programmer's switch and jumping to a specific memory address, or other equally obscure means), and some errant 1993 AMI BIOS that on 13 November proceeded to play "Happy Birthday" via the PC speaker over and over again instead of booting. Similarly, the Radio Shack Color Computer 3's ROM contained code which would display the likenesses of three Microware developers on a
Perhaps the most famous example of a hardware Easter egg is in the HP ScanJet 5P, where the device will play the Ode to Joy or Für Elise by varying the stepper motor speed if users power the device up with the scan button depressed. This is achieved through software intervention. Another Easter egg is found in the Kurzweil K2x musical keyboard series (K2500, K2600 and others): if users type "Pong" while in search mode they can play the game Pong. The EEPROM of Nagra smart cards for the Dish Network satellite television system contain the phrase "NipPEr Is a buTt liCkeR". Nipper was a hacker who broke old security routines on the cards, and this text is included as a fallback to old security routines, where the phrase was hashed against an input text to verify the card. Several oscilloscopes have been known to contain Easter eggs. One example includes the HP 54622D known to have Asteroids clone (and even saves high scores in NV-RAM).
Chip and PCB-based Easter eggs
Main article: Chip art
Many integrated circuit (chip) designers have included hidden artwork, including assorted images, phrases, developer initials, logos, and so on. This artwork, like the rest of the chip, is reproduced in each copy by lithography and etching. These are visible only when the chip package is opened and examined under magnification, so they are, in a sense, more of an "inside joke" than most of the Easter eggs included in software.
Originally, the Easter eggs served a useful purpose as well. Not unlike cartographers who may insert trap streets or nonexistent landscape features as a copyright infringement detection aid, IC designers may also build non-functional circuits on their chips to help them catch infringers. Easter eggs, however benign, if directly copied by the defendant, could be used in mask work infringement litigation. Changes to the copyright laws (in the USA, the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, and similar laws in other countries) now grant automatic exclusive rights to mask works, and the Easter egg no longer serves any practical use.
Western Digital's MyBook Pro has several words on the metal band that wraps around 3 sides in Morse Code.
The code reads:
PERSONALRELIABLEINNOVATIVESIMPLE
INNOVATIVEPERSONALDESIGNRELIABLE
INNOVATIVEDESIGNPERSONALDESIGN
SIMPLEINNOVATIVE
The Commodore Amiga models 500, 600 and 1200 each featured Easter eggs, in the form of titles of songs by The B-52's etched on the motherboards. The 500 says "Rock Lobster", the 600 says "June Bug", and the 1200 says "Channel Z". The Amiga OS software includes a variety of hidden messages as well.[8]
Several models of S3 Trio 64v+ graphics cards have the Beatles lyrics printed faintly along the edge of the card.
The circuit board under the bottom most plate of HP LaserJet 1100 printer has the following text printed on it: "This Product is Dedicated in Memory of our Good Friend Ming-Zen Kuo".
Easter eggs on DVDs
Easter eggs are also found on movie DVDs. In some cases, an extra click to the right or left, or going up in the menu instead of going down to select a choice will bring up a hidden feature, including concept art, humorous outtakes, or deleted scenes.[9]
Security concerns
Because of the increase in malware, many companies and government offices forbid the use of software containing Easter eggs for security reasons. With the rise of cybercrime and the prevalence of the Easter egg's "cousin", the logic bomb, there is now concern that if the programmer could slip in undocumented code, then the software cannot be trusted. This is of particular concern in offices where personal or confidential information is stored, making it sensitive to theft and ransom. For this reason, many developers have stopped the practice of adding Easter eggs to their software. Microsoft, who has in the past created some of the largest and most elaborate Easter eggs such as the ones in Microsoft Office, no longer allows Easter eggs in their software as part of their Trustworthy Computing initiative.[10]
In fiction
A DVD easter egg is a plot point in "Blink", a 2007 episode of the science fiction series Doctor Who. Appropriately enough, the actual video footage used for the easter egg is included as an easter egg with the episode on its DVD box set release.[11]
No fim de julho uma criatura foi achada em uma praia de Montauk, estado de Nova York, EUA. A carcaça do bicho, uma espécie de mamífero com um bico e patas alongadas, teve fotografias divulgadas (veja abaixo na galeria) e causou certa comoção por lá, inclusive sendo alvo de programas humorísticos. Como o monstro não foi entregue às autoridades para estudos e desapareceu, imediatamente começaram também discussões na internet sobre uma farsa ou uma campanha publicitária viral.
Neste fim de semana foi descoberta a origem do bicho. Trata-se, sim, de uma campanha viral, uma tão divertida quanto a de A Bruxa de Blair quase uma década atrás. Rachel Goldberg, uma das pessoas que tiraram as primeiras fotos do monstro, é parente de Darren Goldberg, produtor do filme Splinterheads, atualmente sendo filmado na mesma região de Montauk.
A comédia independente terá como ambientação a cultura circense e o monstro deve ter alguma relevância na trama. A série de fotos deve ter sido imaginada para auxiliar não apenas a divulgação do filme, mas também seu financiamento. Há relatos de que a produção estava com problemas de dinheiro, mas recentemente ganhou um novo investidor/produtor (depois da divulgação das fotos).
Claro que a idéia de um monstro de verdade colocou todos os caçadores de bizarrices de plantão em alerta - e já tem gente garantindo que a história da campanha viral é mero oportunismo de seus produtores, que tentam assumir o crédito por algo que não é deles. Outros afirmam tratar-se de uma conspiração para esconder a verdadeira origem do monstro: Uma instituição de pesquisas do governo dos EUA que fica a alguns quilômetros dali.
Não há ainda qualquer informação oficial sobre a criatura, já que mesmo as atualizações no site de Splinterheads - que diziam "Nós temos o Monstro de Montauk" - sumiram sem aviso.
Neste fim de semana foi descoberta a origem do bicho. Trata-se, sim, de uma campanha viral, uma tão divertida quanto a de A Bruxa de Blair quase uma década atrás. Rachel Goldberg, uma das pessoas que tiraram as primeiras fotos do monstro, é parente de Darren Goldberg, produtor do filme Splinterheads, atualmente sendo filmado na mesma região de Montauk.
A comédia independente terá como ambientação a cultura circense e o monstro deve ter alguma relevância na trama. A série de fotos deve ter sido imaginada para auxiliar não apenas a divulgação do filme, mas também seu financiamento. Há relatos de que a produção estava com problemas de dinheiro, mas recentemente ganhou um novo investidor/produtor (depois da divulgação das fotos).
Claro que a idéia de um monstro de verdade colocou todos os caçadores de bizarrices de plantão em alerta - e já tem gente garantindo que a história da campanha viral é mero oportunismo de seus produtores, que tentam assumir o crédito por algo que não é deles. Outros afirmam tratar-se de uma conspiração para esconder a verdadeira origem do monstro: Uma instituição de pesquisas do governo dos EUA que fica a alguns quilômetros dali.
Não há ainda qualquer informação oficial sobre a criatura, já que mesmo as atualizações no site de Splinterheads - que diziam "Nós temos o Monstro de Montauk" - sumiram sem aviso.
Eli Roth (Cabana do Inferno, O Albergue) já havia dito que adorou o descompromisso com que filmou Thanksgiving, um dos trailers falsos de Grind House. Gostou tanto que agora teve a idéia de fazer um longa-metragem só com trailers.
"O filme será composto só de trailers falsos, e vai se chamar Trailer Trash. Eu quero fazer um filme como Borat ou Jackass, que seja literal e completamente ridículo, bobo e absurdo. Achei um jeito genial de colocar tudo junto, então vai ficar parecendo um filme de verdade", contou o diretor ao Collider.
"E quero fazer isso com um bom orçamento, porque precisa parecer filme de verdade mesmo. Daí eu terei a satisfação de me sentir como se tivesse produzido 30 filmes diferentes. Essa é a beleza de Trailer Trash - você só precisa de boas piadas e boas mortes."
"O filme será composto só de trailers falsos, e vai se chamar Trailer Trash. Eu quero fazer um filme como Borat ou Jackass, que seja literal e completamente ridículo, bobo e absurdo. Achei um jeito genial de colocar tudo junto, então vai ficar parecendo um filme de verdade", contou o diretor ao Collider.
"E quero fazer isso com um bom orçamento, porque precisa parecer filme de verdade mesmo. Daí eu terei a satisfação de me sentir como se tivesse produzido 30 filmes diferentes. Essa é a beleza de Trailer Trash - você só precisa de boas piadas e boas mortes."
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