Devil's Third: Designer Blames Players for Negative Buzz

We can't help having mixed feelings about Devil's Third. On one hand, it's the new game from Tomonobu Itagaki, the designer behind Tecmo's later Ninja Gaidengames and the Dead or Alive series. On the other, it's a title with a turbulent history. Devil's Third was once in development for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 before publisher THQ went belly-up and the game was briefly left in limbo. But then Nintendo surprised just about everybody by announcing that this particularly violent shooter-slasher combo was to come out as a Wii U exclusive. They're strange bedfellows, for sure. Can Itagaki's new game - the first from his studio, Valhalla - find an audience on Nintendo's console?

It's probably fair to say that early previews haven't exactly been glowing, with multiple outlets complaining of awkward controls, shabby graphics, and juddering framerates. Given the game's difficult production, this may not be too surprising to some of us. But Itagaki, who's long been famous for his outspoken personality, has hit back at the game's critics in a recent Facebook post:

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.

It reads like a poetic way of saying that the people who previewed the game simply weren't playing it correctly, which is odd, given that many of the complaints leveled at the game are to do with its technical qualities and not just its mechanics. 

Elsewhere, Itagaki has also blamed the Wii U's GamePad for the game's awkward controls, and says that a Pro Controller and USB keyboard are really the way to go. He's also defended the game's framerate, stating that "I promise you can fully enjoy this MASSIVE shooter with 30 FPS."

It's a defensive reaction, for sure, but Itagaki can at least be reassured that Devil's Third has its supporters. A vocal group of fans have rallied to defend the game on Itagaki's Facebook page, and some critics have even suggested it could become a "so bad, it's good" cult classic along the lines of Deadly Premonition or something like that.

At the time of writing, it's still not clear whether Devil's Third will get a release in North America, even though the game's scheduled for release on Aug. 4 in Japan, Aug. 28 in Europe, with the Australian release following on the 29th.

There have been rumors, as you can see on Gamespot, that Nintendo of America's choosing to distance itself from a game it believes could be a "disaster." The company hasn't responded officially to this, but it's possible that it's waiting to see how the rest of the world reacts to Devil's Thirdbefore it considers pushing the game in the US.

More news on this as we get it.

Destructoid