Tomonobu Itagaki promises Devil's Third is still in the works

Have you given much thought to Devil's Third lately? The third-person shooter that's set to be the first release from the Tomonobu Itagaki-led Valhalla Game Studios was originally announced way back in June of 2010, when original publisher THQ was still a going concern, and there's been practically nothing since.

In this week's issue of Famitsu magazine, Itagaki stepped up himself to confirm that the game was still under development. "It's going along really well," he said. "We're discussing things with publishers; we're continuing to expand on and deepen the gameplay. That's about the level we're at." (Itagaki didn't specify which new publisher or publishers he's working with.)

So why hasn't there been any new gameplay info revealed in a couple years? "That's because we haven't released any information," Itagaki replied. "It's like we're continuing to go along under the surface, waiting for the right timing to launch our missiles. Besides, if we revealed where we were hiding under the surface, it wouldn't be much of a war, would it?"

Itagaki also confirmed in the short interview that Devil's Third would not be shown at E3, as it "wasn't the timing for that" yet. However, the mind behind Dead or Alive and the reinvented Ninja Gaiden still has his eyes firmly set on the prize. "That's part of the reason I went independent, after all," he said. "The game itself is pretty well along in development. I'm building upon the context I've created up to now to provide gameplay that will really surprise people. I'm not sure there's really a game like this on consoles, and I'd like fans to know that I'm definitely building this up Itagaki-style."