So is Metroid Other M a 4th party game? I mean, it is Nintendo + Team Ninja

Again, Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission both launched in America first. I think Other M will be simultaneous, say August.

See, you got me all excited on your first sentence... and then you just had to ruin it with your next.

I mean... imagine what I'm thinking when using your last comment with this visual:

It's not pretty... I'll tell ya that much.

I'd call it a 3rd party game, albeit using a 1st party IP, seeing how it's being developed by a 3rd party developer. I doubt Nintendo has a lot to do with development, apart from overseeing the project. Then again, I could be wrong, haha, but that's my opinion on the game..

Ah well, we'll have to wait and see, it's just that I wouldn't be surprised, at all, if this game came out in Japan first and us Westerners wouldn't get out hands on it until Q3/Q4.

I said it before and I'll say it again.

Just wait until Dead or Alive 5 comes out and Zero Suit Samus is a secret playable character.

I see nothing but positives from the Nintendo/Team Ninja pairing.

You are wrong!  Go read the 1up interviews from last E3, Sakamoto's in the drivers seat, Team Ninja are just his team's codemonkeys.  This is the next Metroid from the same guys who made the first four...

I'd be shocked if DOA5 didn't happen on 360 (and maybe PS3 too).  Then again, maybe it will go multi and get exclusives for each (a la SC2)?

We'll see.

I think partially you guys are both right.  Yes, Sakamoto is running the show and the game is going to be very Metroid.  But you cannot deny that the game itself has some very distinct 'Team Ninja' attributes.  From the cutscenes and style of the graphics to the look of the gameplay and how it seems to have influences from Ninja Gaiden.  I am only hypothisizing here, but I think Nintendo quite purposefully chose to use Team Ninja, because they new they needed to create a completely unique gameplay style for Metroid.  And Team Ninja had done that previously for other action/platformers, including Ninja Gaiden.

If you ask me, from what we've seen of the game, I think both parties have an equal share of involvement and work.  Team Ninja is coding and imputing their own ideas while Sakamoto and probably portions of R&D1/Intelligent Systems are also working on the games design and development.