Behind those glasses are the tracks of his tears

Former Team Ninja supremo Tomonobu Itagaki has revealed how he came close to leaving the games industry after Tecmo executives released an unfinished version of Dead or Alive 2 on PlayStation 2.

Speaking at this year's DICE summit, Itagaki recalled being approached by Tecmo's general sales manager during the PS2 port's strict two and a half month development period. The manager asked Itagaki if he could borrow the game to play a little; Itagaki complied, but the disc was never played by Tecmo staff — according to Itagaki's tale, the disc headed right to the factory for production and distribution.

As a result, Itagaki began to question his desire to continue creating games: he stayed at home, drank a lot and watched Armageddon over and over again, crying at Aerosmith's iconic theme song I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. After an unspecified length of time — how often can you sit and watch that movie before you start to lose it? — Itagaki returned to work to create Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, but he looks back on the time pragmatically:

No matter what anyone says, Aerosmith and Armageddon were the ones who saved my life, my company, my friends and my family.

Michael Bay, Diane Warren, Steven Tyler — you have our gratitude.

[source wired.com]