“The flame of my life is about to go out,” reads the message. “The fact that this message has been posted means that my time has finally come. I am no longer in this world. (I have entrusted someone important to me with this final message).”

“My life was a continuous battle which I kept winning. I caused a lot of trouble for others too. I take pride in having fought to the end, and having followed my convictions. I have no regrets, but I am deeply sorry that I could not deliver new works to my fans. I’m sorry. So it goes.”

Itagaki had worked with Koei Tecmo on a wide range of projects, from its classic Ninja Gaiden series to the Dead or Alive fighting games, as well as a host of different spin-offs. He had left the company a few years ago, announcing the founding of his own company, Valhalla Game Studios, which was also eventually dissolved before he founded Itagaki Games back in 2021. His focus with his own companies was to work on new IPs for PC and consoles.

He had originally joined Tecmo back in 1992 as a graphics programmer where he originally worked on Tecmo Super Bowl. The development of the first Dead or Alive game, which at the time was developed for the same arcade hardware as Virtua Fighter, is noted as being the first major breakthrough in his career.

In 2001, Itagaki had taken up the role of the leader of Team Ninja, and 2004 saw him becoming an executive officer of the company. Along with having worked on all mainline Dead or Alive games up to the release of Dead or Alive 4, Itagaki also worked on projects like Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Super Swing Golf, and horror title Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly.

He also had a hand in the creation of Ninja Gaiden, which came about from his desire to develop a title that featured violent gameplay. This resulted in the release of Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox. He also worked further on the title to then release it as Ninja Gaiden Black, before eventually also making Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the Nintendo DS. He left Tecmo just before the release of Ninja Gaiden 2 in 2008, suing the company for withholding his bonus payments.

Itagaki is survived by his wife and daughter, the latter of whom he has credited as being a major inspiration behind the development of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. While he has worked on several titles throughout his life, the most recent game released with his name in the credits is Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time from 2020, where he served as the Supreme Advisor. Before this, Itagaki had also worked on 2015’s Devil’s Third as the director.

While there are definitely some who believe the PS4 Pro and upcoming Xbox Scorpio are good for the video game industry, there is at least one developer who believes the entire point of these newest consoles are simply to cater to the needs of VR. That developer is Tomonobu Itagaki who is the creator of popular games like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive.

In a recent interview with Polygon, Itagaki talked about his latest project, The Devil’s Third and what he thinks the point of the new consoles are. He first talked about how he’s not sure where the future of consoles lies which that led to his comments about VR and the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio.

“PlayStation 4 Pro is just rhetoric. The current gen doesn’t have enough power to support VR, so they’re releasing it to support VR. I’m going to get in trouble again for saying this, aren’t I? Microsoft and Sony are going to be on my case for saying shit like this. PS4 Pro is not really their motivation. VR, which is what the upgrade is for, requires a lot of processing power.”

This certainly isn’t the first time someone has made claims that the newest consoles, which are not a full generation past the PS4 and the Xbox One, are being released out there for VR. Considering Itagaki’s many years in the video game industry, it’s worth giving his words further thought. But what are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below.

Initially running on the engine that powered the now defunct THQ’s Darksiders II, the game is currently being developed for an estimated 2014 release window on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Story

Development

The development process of Devils Third began when Tomonobu Itakga announced his resignation from Tecmo (June 2nd 2008) shortly before the release of Ninja Gaiden II due to a legal dispute, suing the company for withholding a bonus payment that was promised to him for previous works for the company, he was also suing Tecmo President Yoshimi Yasuda on the grounds of “unreasonable and disingenuous statements” made in front of his colleagues.

With his resignation tendered, Itagaki departed Tecmo and formed his own game development studio named Valhalla Game Studios. The new studio was also made up of ex staff members from Team Ninja (Metroid: Other M and Dead or Alive: Dimensions) who also left Tecmo, this time in 2009.

Despite the games development process being largely uneventful, the game was initially running on a supposedly THQ owned engine which, following THQ’s unfortunate liquidation (December 2012 – defunct as of January 2013) the developers at Valhalla Game Studios continued their development cycle using an adaptation of an engine from Relic Entertainment who had, in the past worked with THQ on numerous projects.

With THQ originally slated as the publishers for Devils Third, there was some concern over the rights to the intellectual property, these rights were however given back to Valhalla Game Studios.  A statement from THQ reads: “THQ confirms that the company will not be publishing Devil’s Third. All of the game’s IP rights have been returned to Itagaki-san and the Valhalla team.” Itagaki revealed that they were anguished and THQ were kind to them and he appreciates THQ managers that signed the transfer contract.

With the rights being returned to Valhalla Game Studios, development continued and even though Itagaki has said that Nintendo’s struggling Wii U could support the game, there has been no mention of a port to their system with the focus instead being on 7 Generation Consoles. With the 7th gen focus in mind, this will be the first time Itagaki will have developed a game for the PlayStation 3. The studio is currently planning the release of the game and also intend to expand the Devils Third universe by using numerous digital devices and other forms of media entertainment.

Gameplay

Tomonobu Itagaki has a habit of making his games mind numbingly difficult, Ninja Gaiden being the prime example here, but this departure from the hack and slash genre as well as his more common competitive fighting genre, leaves a lot to be considered in terms of gameplay.

While not a lot is known about the gameplay at the minute, we do know that it combines visceral close combat action and third person shooting with online features, similar to products previously released by the original intended publisher THQ who released the Warhammer 40k: Space Marine game, which focused on visceral close combat and third person shooting with online elements.

Itagaki has said “It’s not taking a hack and slash game and tacking on some ranged weapon combat. We feel we have a lot to learn as we make this, but we also feel confident in our experience and the fundamental elements of head-to-head competition in [our previous] games.” THQ’s Executive Vice President Danny Bilson has described the games online multiplayer features as being “phenomenal” and that it was this feature that initially made THQ sign the developers contract.

Story

The backstory for Devils Third is based primarily on the Kessler Syndrome Theory. The theory (which was put forward in 1978 by NASA Scientist Donald J. Kessler) posits that a large enough number of objects (namely, satellites) in low orbit around the Earth have the chance of colliding with each other.

Were these objects to collide, they would generate a reasonable amount of space debris which stays in low orbit, thus increasing the likelihood of further collisions which in turn lead to more cascades and thus the cycle repeats. In Devils Third, combat functions across the earth have been changed for infantry forces now that they lack the satellites which they so rely on. With both military and civilian satellites being out of action a war breaks out in the resulting chaos.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

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.

THQ had dropped the Devil’s Third IP citing poor sales projection as the reason, however they have given the rights of the IP back to Valhalla Game Studios and Tomonobu Itagaki.

“THQ confirms that the company will not be publishing Devil’s Third. All of the game’s IP rights have been returned to Itagaki-san and the Valhalla team,” THQ confirmed to Eurogamer.

Itagaki was also pleased after getting back the rights, but I feel a bit sorry for the man. They must be obviously very disappointed with this thing and it must be difficult to find a different publisher for the game, considering how risky the project is in this climate.

“Most important thing is gamers’ happiness. And people in business side like distributers and presses. And developers. It’s a Happy Three. So we can’t thank THQ enough. Anyway, we now own the Devil’s Third IP,” he told Famitsu (via Eurogamer).

“They didn’t want to part with this IP, but we all have to see into the future and at last they did, for us. We were anguished and they were really kind to us. Mr. Danny Bilson was searching for a way to work together until the very end. I do appreciate him and THQ managers that signed the transfer contract.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Tomonobu Itagaki, the founder of Valhalla Game Studios, has said in the company’s blog that “This year, at the E3 show, we have decided to go public with the latest game we are working on right now at Valhalla Game Studios,”Tomonobu continued reminding his work  “In the past, I created four unique games – ‘Dead or Alive,’ ‘Ninja Gaiden,’ ‘DOA Xtreme,’ and ‘NG Dragon Sword.’ Thus, this announcement will be the fifth all-new project in my lifetime.”