Tomonobu Itagaki, the man formerly behind Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games, did not bring his latest creation, Devil’s Third, to E3 2011. He promises it will be at Tokyo Game Show, however, and wants to bring death by dildo to yet another THQ-published game.
I only wrung a few Devil’s Third updates from Itagaki during our interview. He says the Valhalla Games developed title is “going well,” but that the game needs more incubation time before it’s ready to be shown publicly. It was officially unveiled last June, with an expected release in 2012.
He also says that Devil’s Third, his studio’s hyper-violent shooter-action game, is being made on the same “high performance” engine that powers games like Darksiders and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Itagaki says the team at Valhalla has built on the work started by developers Relic Entertainment and Vigil Games, adding their own technical improvements to the game engine.
Itagaki says it’s also possible that Devil’s Third will be a Wii U game too, though it’s only officially announced for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
“There’s always a possibility,” Itagaki said of Wii U support, via his translator. “If Nintendo’s fan base increases, especially in terms of hardcore games, then yes. Machine performance-wise, it can handle it.”
THQ reps added that Valhalla Games is on the short list of THQ developers looking at Wii U hardware right now, investigating which game experiences are best suited for Nintendo’s next-generation console. The publisher has already committed Darksiders II as a Wii U title and is running on early hardware.
As for Itagaki’s E3 2011 presence, the game creator said he was there to play some games, particularly titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Prototype 2 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. “They’re all very inspiring to me,” Itagaki explained. “Especially Call of Duty, in terms of the environment, how real it is. Ghost Recon, I just happened to see, but I’ve always thought the title is awesome, since I’m a military fanatic. The graphics are just phenomenal – CoD also. We have to do better with Devil’s Third.”
His other favorite? “The game that does this,” he said, swinging a floppy, green sheath that he has rolled up in his right hand. “Saints Row: The Third?” I asked, recalling the game’s oversized sex toy-as-melee weapon gag. I guessed right.
“This is not lip service,” Itagaki said to me two or three times. “I couldn’t stop laughing, it’s just that it’s so funny. I love it.” (He continued to wave that floppy object during our interview as proof.)
Asked whether Itagaki was planning on including outlandish weapons like that in Devil’s Third, he said that too was a possibility: “That’s a great idea, so maybe it shouldn’t be a permanent fixture, but maybe it will be downloadable content.” (THQ core games executive VP Danny Bilson later shot down Itagaki’s dream of dildo-based violence in Devil’s Third, saying “He can’t. That’s a Saints Row trademark.”)
One other thing that may come to Devil’s Third is Japanese comedian Masaki Sumitani’s character Hard Gay, recently featured in a teaser video for the game. “I’m not saying that there isn’t any talk about it,” Itagaki said when asked about a Hard Gay cameo.
Devil’s Third is still a far in the future game, with our first look at it in action – played by Itagaki himself, he says – happening at TGS 2011. He said the developer is taking its time for a very good reason.
“The more time I get to spend developing a game, the better the result,” Itagaki explained, “so I’m going to spend a long time making it.”
We’ll see for ourselves at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, I guess.
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