After the merger of Japanese game development companies Koei (Dynasty Warriors) and Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive) was approved by shareholders late January this year, the deal is now complete, and a new joint holding company, Koei Tecmo Holdings, has been formed.

In Japan, April 1st marks the beginning of the new financial year, so this date was chosen as the day the holding company would become official. The company has also revealed its new corporate logo.

Looks good.

The merger is said to be worth $207 million, with expected revenues to reach $727 million, with profits of $166.2 million, by the end of the fiscal year 2012.

Previously Xbox 360 exclusive Ninja Gaiden 2 will be making its way over to the PlayStion 3 this fall, with new and improved features as well as sporting the new moniker of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

That’s according to a variety of reports hitting the ‘net today, after Japanese gaming mag Famitsu released the information within its pages, revealing that (Ninja Gaiden remake on the PS3) Ninja Gaiden Sigma developer, Yosuke Hayashi, will be working on the game and will be delivering an ‘upgraded’ version of Ninja Gaiden 2, heading up the Team Ninja development studio to do so.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 will contain new playable character Ayane (from the Dead or Alive series), new boss battles (apparently not possible on the Xbox 360) and new weapons, including spiked hammer, Genma.

Tomonobu Itagaki was famed for his preference for Microsoft’s consoles, supporting both the original Xbox and Xbox 360 with his games at Team Ninja, such as the Dead or Alive series and Ninja Gaiden, but after his departure from the company last year, it seems the studio will become openly multiplatform in the future.

After it was revealed last year that Koei (Dynasty Warriors) and Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive) were to merge into one holding company, the deal has been subject to the approval of each company’s shareholders.

It was announced yesterday that the merger has now been given the go-ahead, as the shareholders have indeed approved of the deal. There was a bit of dissention among the ranks though, as one of the shareholders, Effissimo Capital, are unconvinced as to the benefits of the merger.

Effissimo, who holds an 18 percent stake in Tecmo, making it the second largest shareholder of the company, say that they have not received sufficient explanation detailing the advantages of merging with Koei, and are expected to sell their stock in opposition to the merger.

Regardless of their opposition, the merger will go ahead as planned and the new Tecmo-Koei holding company will be official as of April 1st this year. The company is expected to be worth $207 million, while sales revenues are expected to reach $727 million on profits of $166.2 million by the fiscal year ending March 2012.

The merger between Koei (Dynasty Warriors) and Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive), announced earlier this year, has had some further light shed on the exact terms of the agreement.

The holy (or unholy) union between the two highly regarded Japanese developers will be worth $207 million and will result in the formation of a holding company, with official operation of this company beginning in April 2009.

Performance expectations are pretty high, with expected sales revenues to reach $727 million, on profits of $166.2 million by the end of the fiscal year March 2012. This can be compared to current figures for Koei and Tecmo, with operating profits at $88.3 million and sales of $427.9 million for both companies combined.

The merger, news of which came after Square Enix made a move for Tecmo, aims to give both companies a much needed boost in corporate value, against a slowly deteriorating Japanese development industry.

Quantum Theory, a third-person shooter coming from Tecmo, is looking extremely exciting and well-worth any spare attention you may have lying around.

The game stars a hero character named Sid, with a heroine named Filerna also featuring. Not much else is known, but if the footage is any indication of the real game, then this is definitely one to look out for! Watch the video below to see what the fuss is about.

While not much is really known about Dead or Alive: Online, what is known is that it’s a PC-based massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) in development at Tecmo and will be operated by Shanda Interactive Entertainment in China.

Watch the trailer below for some details on what you’ll be up to

So, it’s basically Dead or Alive… online. Good name, then.

A while back, Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive) was hit with a few lawsuits from employees seeking unpaid overtime in relation to Tecmo’s ‘flexible hours’ work scheme, which the employees claimed to be illegal. The overtime claim was to the tune of $77 000.

It’s now been revealed that Tecmo and the employees, Hiroaki Ozawa and Tatsuki Tsunoda, have reached a settlement. Tecmo released a statement concerning the arrangement: “On July 16th, two of our employees brought suit against our company regarding unpaid overtime in the Tokyo District Court and presented a proposed settlement. On September 1, 2008, a judicial settlement was reached.” No other details are known other than the settlement seems settled.

There is no news, however, regarding a settlement for the lawsuit filed by former Team Ninja head, Tomonobu Itagaki. They have found a replacement for Itagaki, though, in the form of Jin Hasegawa, who is to take the reigns of the internal development team, said to already have three titles in development, the details of which are to be revealed at the Tokyo Games Show next month.

Last week some surprising news surfaced involving an acquisition bid for Tecmo by Square Enix in a deal reportedly worth $102 million. Today was the day that the offer expires and it’s now being reported that Tecmo has in fact rejected Square Enix’s bid, in favour of a proposed merger with Koei (of Dynasty Warriors fame).

From a statement issued ealier today, it seems the two companies, Tecmo and Koei, hope to balance out each others’ portfolios, Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises proving more popular in the west, while Koei’s Dynasty Warriors series is much more popular in Japan. They also hope to cater to “varied and sophisticated” consumer needs and ensure that they acknowledge “multi-platform and the importance of overseas” markets.

“…Under these circumstances, these two companies have excellent financial positions, strengths and the ability to take advantage of each other in order to improve profitability and solidified the foundation of a worldwide leader.”

In some surprising news late last week, Square Enix (of Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest fame) has made a bid to acquire Tecmo (of Dead or Alive/Ninja Gaiden fame). The deal is said to be worth $102 million.

Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada has apparently been in talks with previous Tecmo president, Yoshimi Yasuda and the current president, Yasuharu Kakihara, since May this year. This news follows Yasuda’s resignation last week due to ‘personal reasons’. Tecmo is also currently undergoing some legal troubles, having to deal with Tomonobu Itagaki’s $1.4 million claim for unpaid bonuses as well as other employees seeking unpaid overtime to the sum of $77 000. Square Enix is fully aware of Tecmo’s “current circumstances”. In a press release, Square Enix laid out their plans for Tecmo:

“We believe that Tecmo will be able to make a great leap forward by joining the Square Enix Group, which will provide the group with further growth opportunities as well. We are planning to position Tecmo as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings maintaining Tecmo’s current organization and brand as in the cases of Square Enix and Taito.”

Tecmo has until September 4th to respond to the bid. If the offer is turned down, Square Enix will not pursue a buyout.

Game Watch have posted a whole bunch of new screenshots which were released at Nintendo conference today in Japan.

Included among them is some shots of Kirby Superstar DS, which may or may not be a straight remake of the SNES game. Also particularly exciting are shots of the newly announced Fire Emblem DS which looks to be a remake of an early Fire Emblem game from the NES/SNES era. Square Enix’s games are looking beautiful as always (except for the DS Kingdom Hearts with the odd name). Anyhow, this is one amazing batch of games - check them out if you love gaming.

Why do I single out Kirby you may ask? Kirby is awesome, that’s why.

Here are the names of the games shown on that page in English and in order so you at least know what you’re looking at:

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