Team Ninja's first Ninja Gaiden without creator Tomonobu Itagaki was panned by critics and fans. Where did Ninja Gaiden 3 go wrong?

In a retrospective, Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi admitted that the team lost focus during development, saying the game had attempted to become too Westernized for its own good. "It seems like we made a Japanese hamburger for the West," Hayashi said, explaining "maybe as a Japanese developer, we need to make good Japanese food... and that’s what people are wanting from a Japanese developer."

Read more: Was trying to 'stay above water' »

Downloadable content has become a matter of course, especially when it comes to fighting games and additional characters. But Dead or Alive 5 won't be offering extra fighters as DLC, as Team Ninja feels that the practice makes the game "unfair" and throws off the balance.

"We have no plans to sell characters as downloadable content," said Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi.

Read more: 'We don't feel that it's right for fighting games' »

Team Ninja's cheesecake fighting game Dead or Alive will lollop onto Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 25, Tecmo Koei confirmed today at E3. The publisher also blasted out new screenshots and an E3 trailer for you to ogle.

Watch: And then a tiger leaps through the ring of fire to maul the fighter »

Do you enjoy stabbing men? If so (and who doesn't?), you may have been put off by the lukewarm response to Ninja Gaiden 3, but you can now give it a go yourself, as a demo was released yesterday for Team Ninja's stab 'em up.

Read more: Cutting fools on the streets of London »

Ninja Gaiden 3 was released last month to tepid reviews, but Team Ninja continues undaunted, releasing DLC for single player and multiplayer and various levels of difficulty. The content can be purchased as a pack or individually.

Read more: Talons, Claws and more »

You can learn a lot of things about a game through its demo: whether it controls well, how the visual style works, if the voice acting is grating. Or, if you're enterprising enough, you can learn all of its secrets, as in the case of the recently released Dead or Alive 5 demo.

Read more: Almost every DoA4 fighter returns »

Ninja Gaiden 3 is just a week away, and you've had two games to polish your ninjitsu skills to their peak. How can you further enhance your foe-slicing experience? Why, with a bloody sword accessory, of course.

Read more: 'Dragon Sword' latches onto Move controller »

Crossovers are all the rage in fighting games. While it may not be as all-inclusive as Street Fighter x Tekken, Team Ninja has revealed a special surprise guest character for Dead or Alive 5.

Virtua Fighter's Akira will be a playable character in the fighting game sequel. It isn't the first time the franchise has seen a guest character. Dead or Alive 4, for example, featured a Spartan from the Halo franchise.

Watch: Dead or Alive x Virtua Fighter »

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, a port of the PlayStation 3 game, will be released alongside the PlayStation Vita on February 22. The game was previously only committed to the "launch window," but today's announcement puts it squarely on launch day.

Read more: Vita port features »

Ninja Gaiden 3 is going back to its roots -- way, way back. Game director Yosuke Hayashi says he brought back the writer for the original NES Ninja Gaiden title, Masato Kato, whose credits also include Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

Read more: 'The story will keep you playing' »

Team Ninja has inched closer to a solidified release date for the next installment in the famed, and brutally hard, Ninja Gaiden series. Ninja Gaiden 3 will arrive on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in March 2012, with a Wii U version planned to hit sometime after. According to reports, Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi revealed the news to journalists at a San Francisco event this afternoon.

Read more: 'Hero' mode, Move support and more »

How many times can you remake a game? Team Ninja can seemingly do it forever, having transformed the original Ninja Gaiden on Xbox into Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus for PlayStation Vita. The Vita version adds upon the "director's cut" version made for Sigma with even more new content.

For example, Plus includes a new mission mode called "The Way of the Ninja," which will focus on "more varied gameplay." For example, one level will force you to exclusively use projectiles.

Read more: Vita functions to be used as well »

Isn't it about time Sony and Microsoft announced the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox next-thing-they're-going-to-name-it? Some have been pleading, especially with the arrival of games like Battlefield 3, which look significantly better on PC than on console. Industry Gamers polled a few developers, and the general consensus seems to be "no."

"There is way more to be done on this generation," Square Enix Group's Worldwide Technology Director Julien Merceron said. The longer a generation goes, the more "creative people and artists" can "really understand how content should/could be designed, helping designing way more polished experiences."

Read more: Is there room for improvement? »

Team Ninja explained at Tokyo Game Show that the goal for Dead or Alive 5 is to be more than a fighting game. It needs to be "fighting entertainment." The use of highly dynamic backgrounds and environments, mixed with some cinematic camera angles, certainly makes DOA5 look unlike any fighter out there.

But, is it too much? We can't help but wonder how this game will actually play in this extended gameplay clip. It looks incredible--but will it be more fun to watch than actually play?

Watch: Kicking a car into a KO »

Team Ninja is definitely trying to broaden the appeal of the Ninja Gaiden franchise. The addition of PlayStation Move support, for example, was meant to add "casual appeal." In addition, Ninja Gaiden 3 will include a new "Hero Mode," intended to make it easier for newer (or less-skilled) players to make it through the game's story. In a nutshell, the entirely optional "Hero Mode" enables automatic blocking and dodging of most normal attacks.

Read more: A more 'fleshed out' story »