Itagaki, the creator of the Dead or Alive and modern Ninja Gaiden series at Tecmo, has a bit of a legacy- Ninja Gaiden Black is considered to be one of the finest action games of all time, and when he announced he would be following that up with something even more ambitious in Devil’s Third, people sat up and took notice. Then his publisher, THQ, dissolved, and the project was seemingly stuck in limbo, until along came Nintendo and rescued it, much like they did with Bayonetta 2, making it a Wii U exclusive.

That said, the game’s E3 re-debut was sort of botched. It looked rough around the edges and did not necessarily inspire confidence. Since then, the game has been on radio silence, though apparently the development is coming along well. Very well, in fact. According to the latest update made by Itagaki on his Facebook page about the game (translated by Gematsu), the new game will smash all previous standards of console multiplayer.

Here’s what he had to say:

I’d like to speak about development status of Devil’s Third in my own words, to the extent that I am allowed.

• Devil’s Third is a strong fusion between action games and shooters.
• Devil’s Third development is going smoothly. In other words, we finished editing the closing movie the other day.
• Devil’s Third will be released next year. Nintendo has already announced this in their press release.
• The scale of Devil’s Third‘s story mode is greater than that of Ninja Gaiden.
• Devil’s Third demolishes the standard of past console games in online multiplayer.
• Almost all specifications I wanted to do were implemented. I got an up-close look at the great forerunners Call of Duty, Battlefield, Gears of War, and my beloved Halo. On that basis, we added completely new level of playability that only we can create.
• Anyone can enjoy this game; from casual gamers to hard-core gamers. Let me put it this way. You guys can throw a fun party, or can kill each other in realistic war. You can play your heart out.
• This is all I can disclose to you today. I can’t tell you when the war will begin. It’s the way the world goes. I really want to tell you more, my fans waiting with crushing frustration.

Do you have faith that Devil’s Third will ultimately turn out okay? Whatever its ultimate fate may be, Nintendo deserves credit for funding games like it, The Wonderful 101, and Fatal Frame V.

Remember Devil’s Third? The promising third person action game by Itagaki, the guy who brought us the incredible Ninja Gaiden (and Black) on the original Xbox, which was under development by his team with THQ publishing it? You remember how it got lost in the THQ turbulence and then vanished without a trace? Well, apparently Itagaki is getting ready to reveal it again as per his Facebook page.

‘As already announced, we’ll finally reveal “Devil’s Third” this year!

You can see that we’ve upgraded our title logo. I wanted to go for the metallic feeling of the Breitling that I love so much. But I don’t really wanna tell you exactly why, sorry ;D’ he said.

The new logo is pictured above; as to the fate of the game, it is a good guess that it has been acquired by Microsoft and become an Xbox One exclusive. The company needs some compelling Japanese content to make a case for the Xbox one as a viable platform in Japan, and Devil’s Third would be a good start. That, plus the fact that Itagaki and Microsoft have a good working relationship, and that Microsoft’s Phil Spencer was heavily hinting at a high profile Japanese exclusive recently, make a strong case for the game having gone over to the Xbox One.

But we’ll find out soon enough anyway.

Itagaki, creator of games such as Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, and currently working on his upcoming game, Devil’s Third, which he states will be the best game ever, has bluntly said that the Japanese games industry is dying. However, that’s not all. Apparently, all of Japan’s rapid industrial growth is coming to a halt, and that’s because the government did not invest in the proper infrastructure- as Itagaki believes it should have.

“Japan failed to import capitalism, or rather, it failed to understand the lessons of capitalism, of the free market economy. What I’m talking about isn’t just limited to the games industry. I’m talking about what has happened in Japan since the ’60s,” he sermonised. 

“Japan’s destiny – the destiny of this era – was already determined then. Didn’t I say I was one of the top three most knowledgeable in the industry? [Japan failed to] invest in things like infrastructure, education, the things you need to do to continue to be [a rising power].”

So, looks like Itagaki would like to set things straight, huh? Well, he sure would. He stated that he was seriously considering politics, so that Japan may have a strong leader.

Devil’s Third is due for a 2012 release.

Specifically, in this case we’re talking about the charismatic Itagaki, developer of games such as Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive.

Speaking to Edge magazine, Itagaki stated that Devil’s Third wouldn’t approach thebroken controllers inducing difficulty level of his previous games, as publishers THQ were adamant on keeping the game accessible. The game then won’t have anything half as difficult as Dead or Alive 4’s final boss.

Speaking about this, and more, Itagaki discoursed:

 “Look, I’ll say it: the boss character in Dead Or Alive 4 was definitely too difficult. I’ll apologise for it. I’m the one who did that, and I’m sorry.

“But, look, Ninja Gaiden, it was absolutely intentional that it be that difficult. That game was a revival version of a classic game for old-school gamers, so I wanted to make the hardcore happy.

“Ninja Gaiden 2, though, I really wanted more people to enjoy that, but… we ran out of time for balancing. That was a tragedy. Really.

“For Devil’s Third, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. We’ve got support from THQ’s testing team, and we’re going to work really closely with those guys to balance out the game. It’s going to be the best game ever.”

Ha, sure. Let’s hope so

Devil’s Third hits the PS3 and the Xbox 360 in 2012. The PS3 version will be 3D compatible.