All Articles: Devil’s Third

The tumultuous development cycle of Devil’s Third is finally starting to get to Tomonobu Itagaki, the game’s Director. The Wii U exclusive has been beset by the bankruptcy of its original publisher, a rocky relationship with its current publisher, an engine switch, and upgrading to a new console generation in mid-development.

Itagaki, who is no stranger to speaking his mind, took to Facebookto blame Devil’s Third’s poor reception on game journalist’s overall lack of skill:

Guys, At last, I was be able to understand about the reactions. Devil’s Third is the game which reflects the player’s skill directly/vividly. This is truth.

Game developers claiming any negative reviews are the result of the game journalist’s skill, or lack thereof, is nothing new. But when game journalists are in almost universal agreement that a game isn’t very good, it’s possible the game might not be very good. Criticism exists to inform readers, not to wage vendettas against people the critic doesn’t even know.

Hopefully Devil’s Third will be a good game, and who knows, maybe the people playing it weren’t very good. But we won’t know for sure until the game’s launch this August in the UK and Japan.

The rumor mill went into overdrive last week, with multiple people saying that Nintendo had relinquished the publishing rights to Devil’s Third. Originally announced by THQ in 2010, the “hack and slash” game was re-announced by Nintendo last year.

Writing on Twitter over the weekend, the consolemaker put all the rumors to rest and confirmed they still plan to publish the Wii U game in North America:

We know you are eager to hear more about Devil’s Third. We are excited to bring the game to Wii U and will have more to share soon.

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 11, 2015

Devil’s Third, which is in development at Valhalla Game Studios under the supervision of Tomonobu Itagaki, is currently scheduled to be released in Japan and the UK this August.

Tomonobu Itagaki, the creator of the Dead or Alive franchise and the mastermind behind the Ninja Gaiden revival, is finally ready to reveal more about Devil’s Third, his first game with Valhalla Game Studios. In this ten-minute gameplay trailer, the outspoken developer talks a bit about his wild new action game. But unless you’re fluent in Japanese, the finer details of shooting someone with a machine gun or slicing an opponent to ribbons with a katana might be lost on you.

In addition to all the brutal shootings and stabbings, the trailer goes into the story of Devil’s Third, which involves a future without satellites and a return to warfare using hand-to-hand infantry combat with small arms and melee weapons. After this terrorist attack takes out our satellites, the tattooed star of Devil’s Third, who is known as Ivan the Terrible, goes on a one-man crusade to hunt down those responsible.

Besides talking the game up in detail, Itagaki also confirmed the Wii U-exclusive has an official release date in both Japan and the United Kingdom. Devil’s Third will be released on August 4 in Japan and August 28 in the UK (and presumably the rest of Europe). A North American release date has yet to be announced, but Nintendo has promised it’ll be out by the end of the year.