Support NeoGAF

[Redbeard]

At IGN

"The verdict? Best damn download in the history of mankind."

Screens are crummy captures, unfortunately.

 

[crawlingpeter]

well im excited

 

[BuddyC]

For those without Live, I'm sorry to say that there are no current plans to release the download in any other form -- but I'd bet there will be some sort of Director's Cut version in stores this holiday. Just a hunch.

.

 

[bob_arctor]

Damn that's awesome. I haven't even played through the normal game yet--I'll just wait it out and play w/ the new camera etc.

 

[heavy liquid]

Bring it on.

I've found that often letting the camera do its own thing works better than trying to adjust it myself, but it can be helpful in getting all enemies on screen. No more of this attacking crap off camera, you now have control to see whatever it is you're fighting.

Remember that hidden potion in the first chapter near the suit of armor? You can actually swing the camera around now to get a perfect view of that potion. This also makes Scarab hunting a lot easier.

Nice.

 

[DarienA]

I have mixed feelings about this pack... I think it's cool that it caters to the die hard gaiden fans... but what about casuals who like the game? Why lock them out of this by upping and locking the difficulty? Casuals like extra luv too!

 

[DJ Demon J]

So will GA issue a new review?

 

[Prine]

Thank you Itagaki

 

[Ghost]

ffs reading this hands on makes me think he's actually made the game impossible! Black ninjas on the first level, the sorcerers on chapter 2 throw volleys of 6 instead of just 1, and thats not even taking into account the faster combat and improved AI!

Im so gonna get 0wned...


cant wait

 

[open_mouth_]

I will never give up my copy of Ninja Gaiden... It's become a permanent staple of my collection.

 

[Prine]

I will never give up my copy of Ninja Gaiden... It's become a permanent staple of my collection.

I know, its there along with Halo, KOTOR and Rallisport Challenge 2

 

[robot]

ffs reading this hands on makes me think he's actually made the game impossible! Black ninjas on the first level, the sorcerers on chapter 2 throw volleys of 6 instead of just 1, and thats not even taking into account the faster combat and improved AI!

Im so gonna get 0wned...


cant wait

More black Ninjas??? Noooooooooooo! Hardest enemies in the game, imo.

 

[Mrbob]

Holy shiiaaat!

The best game of this year is getting better! I didn't think there were going to be this many additions! I can't wait until August 2 so I can get this!

Still, it's a tough one and I expect things to get much harder once I hit the midway point. What awaits in the tombs? Lord, I can already tell this game is gonna eat my balls.

What a visual....

 

[FightyF]

I have mixed feelings about this pack... I think it's cool that it caters to the die hard gaiden fans... but what about casuals who like the game? Why lock them out of this by upping and locking the difficulty? Casuals like extra luv too!

I agree. If it's available for free over Xbox Live...I don't see any reason why it's not available on the OXM disc.

That is, unless MS told them to do it so it would force people to get Live...

 

[open_mouth_]

After these booster packs are released, imo, it will cement Ninja Gaiden as a solid GOTY 2004 contender in my eyes.

 

[Littleberu]

After these booster packs are released, imo, it will cement Ninja Gaiden as a solid GOTY 2004 contender in my eyes.

Even if you didn't try all the game released in 2004 yet?

 

[Killthee]

Even if you didn't try all the game released in 2004 yet?

The keyword is contender.

 

[Littleberu]

The keyword is contender.

Ah I didn't see it. Really. But isn't N-G already a contender for 2004 GOTY?

 

[IJoel]

I can't wait for this.

Fanfuckingtastic!

 

[Buggy Loop]

Didnt really keep up with the updates, does it affect anything in the single player game?

 

[epmode]

More black Ninjas??? Noooooooooooo! Hardest enemies in the game, imo.

if you block, they can't hit you. at all.

(this is normal difficulty i'm talking about)

 

[open_mouth_]

Ah I didn't see it. Really. But isn't N-G already a contender for 2004 GOTY?

Yes, but it will cement its contention for GOTY, imo. Please read with both eyes open next time.

 

[Ghost]

if you block, they can't hit you. at all.

(this is normal difficulty i'm talking about)

That doesnt really help, as soon as you drop the guard you have 3 incendry shurikens in your chest. I found the best/only way to beat them is to keep moving, thats gonna be damn hard on the pretty cramped chapter 1 though. that last room before the first boss is gonna be a nightmare.

 

[PanopticBlue]

I have mixed feelings about this pack... I think it's cool that it caters to the die hard gaiden fans... but what about casuals who like the game? Why lock them out of this by upping and locking the difficulty? Casuals like extra luv too!

We already had a huge thread about this. This download is for the next MASTER NINJA TOURNAMENT, which is only available via Xbox Live to begin with. It's beyond me why people are still complaining about this...

 

[Nerevar]

For those without Live, I'm sorry to say that there are no current plans to release the download in any other form -- but I'd bet there will be some sort of Director's Cut version in stores this holiday. Just a hunch.

Once again, I'm glad I have a modchip so I can exercise my right to fair use.

 

[DarienA]

We already had a huge thread about this. This download is for the next MASTER NINJA TOURNAMENT, which is only available via Xbox Live to begin with. It's beyond me why people are still complaining about this...

#1. I'm not complaining. #2. I missed the part of the IGN interview where he said this was ONLY for people interested in playing in the tournament. The part I read he said this was for the hardcore fans.

 

[open_mouth_]

I love it when people complain about free content.

 

[SaitoH]

Definitely looking forward to this.

^w^

 

[epmode]

That doesnt really help, as soon as you drop the guard you have 3 incendry shurikens in your chest. I found the best/only way to beat them is to keep moving, thats gonna be damn hard on the pretty cramped chapter 1 though. that last room before the first boss is gonna be a nightmare.

it takes longer than all-out attacking, but if you're after total safety, just counter them to death. if they manage to hit you with a shuriken, roll just as it explodes and you'll take no damage.

if you decide to attack, they are much weaker against nunchaku/flails.

 

[rastex]

if you decide to attack, they are much weaker against nunchaku/flails.

Thanks for the tip!

I'm playing on Very Hard right now, and they're kicking my ass >_<

 

[epmode]

it's not that they're weaker against the weapons, so much as they easily get caught by them.. makes it much easier to take on several ninjas at once.

 

[BuddyC]

So will GA issue a new review?

 

[jett]

I don't understand why you call those captures "crummy". They are pretty much flawless.

 

[Kumiko Nikaido]

If anything, Tecmo should add the content of the Hurricane Packs to the Platinum Hits version of Ninja Gaiden when it sees releases.

 

[Craig Majaski]

Without our C- we might not be seeing these camera improvements at all.

 

[dark10x]

I don't understand why you call those captures "crummy". They are pretty much flawless.

People have become used to those anti-aliased, high reoslution Team Ninja shots. These captures are MUCH more accurate than any of those pre-release pics ever were. Perfect frame buffer grabs.

 

[cvxfreak]

Thank you Itagaki

Amen.

 

[Shompola]

People have become used to those anti-aliased, high reoslution Team Ninja shots. These captures are MUCH more accurate than any of those pre-release pics ever were. Perfect frame buffer grabs.

Looks cleaner than that on my TV.

 

[dark10x]

Looks cleaner than that on my TV.

Thank you for supporting my argument, then. Why do you think I was always against Dreamcast VGA? IT'S FAR TOO CLEAN!

These shots are EXTREMELY accurate representations of the actual output coming straight from the XBOX. However, TVs almost act like free-AA as they lack the sharpness and accuracy of a PC monitor. I'm running the game in 480p on my TV, and it looks both sharp yet smooth. Cleaner than these shots, to be sure, but that is a result of the TV not the XBOX.

If you were to output Ninja Gaiden to a VGA monitor via true VGA, it would look almost exactly like those shots.

 

[Blimblim]

Thank you for supporting my argument, then. Why do you think I was always against Dreamcast VGA? IT'S FAR TOO CLEAN!

These shots are EXTREMELY accurate representations of the actual output coming straight from the XBOX. However, TVs almost act like free-AA as they lack the sharpness and accuracy of a PC monitor. I'm running the game in 480p on my TV, and it looks both sharp yet smooth. Cleaner than these shots, to be sure, but that is a result of the TV not the XBOX.

If you were to output Ninja Gaiden to a VGA monitor via true VGA, it would look almost exactly like those shots.

That and the fact that the framebuffer content is "changed" a bit buy the TV encoder chip (be it brooktree or focus). That chip controls part of the picture brightness and contrast. Most framebuffer captures are always too dark.
Also these images are 720x480 instead of 640x480 you get on your TV (yes I know about overscan, but still), so it looks a bit squished too.

 

[dark10x]

That and the fact that the framebuffer content is "changed" a bit buy the TV encoder chip (be it brooktree or focus). That chip controls part of the picture brightness and contrast. Most framebuffer captures are always too dark.
Also these images are 720x480 instead of 640x480 you get on your TV (yes I know about overscan, but still), so it looks a bit squished too.

Quite often, framebuffer output that is designed to eventually end up being viewed on an analog output device (such as a PC monitor or TV set) use image aspect ratios that aren't standard 4:3 (or 16:9) until you compute the pixel's aspect ratio. In the case of Ninja Gaiden, which can display in anamorphic mode, both the 4:3 and 16:9 images could by derived from a base 720x480 resolution using non-square pixels. I'm not necessarily certain if this can be applied to a game device, such as XBOX, as I typically have encountered that resolution when working with various DV recordings or raw DVD frames. It seems that it might be the same deal here, though perhaps it is the actual capturing equipment which has produced this image at that particular resolution.

 

[Blimblim]

Quite often, framebuffer output that is designed to eventually end up being viewed on an analog output device use image aspect ratios that aren't standard 4:3 (or 16:9) until you compute the pixel's aspect ratio. In the case of Ninja Gaiden, which can display in anamorphic mode, both the 4:3 and 16:9 images could by derived from a base 720x480 resolution using non-square pixels. I'm not necessarily certain if this can be applied to a game device, such as XBOX, as I typically have encountered that resolution when working with various DV recordings or raw DVD frames. It seems that it might be the same deal here, though perhaps it is the actual capturing equipment which has produced this image at that particular resolution.

It depends on what resolution the developer uses. Sometimes you'll grab a 720x480 image, sometimes a 640x480 one, or even 720x576 for PAL50 (all using a debug Xbox of course). In the end it's all displayed on a 640x480 (not pal50 of course) so you may have to compensate for that so you get "square pixels" on the grabs.
Watching these 720x480 on my 1280x1024 screen makes the image look almost 16/9 so Hayabusa looks kinda weird...