Outspoken developer Tomonobu Itagaki is back and working on a new game with a team built of the core members of Team Ninja. He also has no respect for the swine flu.
What has Tomonobu Itagaki been up to since resigning from Tecmo last June? Partying with swimsuit models? Drinking 24/7? The answer is a bit more pedestrian, as he explained in an interview with 1UP. Itagaki, apparently, has taken up photography and, uh, is designing scale models. Oh, and he’s making a new game, too.
“Game making is my true calling,” Itagaki said. “I’m aware that I have fans all around the world waiting for me. The rest I leave up to your imagination.”
So no word on what exactly Itagaki’s making, but rest assured, he’s doing it in good company. The staff of his new team, which is apparently big enough to have a game of American football with, includes key members of the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden teams, and even some new talent from Sega, transplanted from the Virtua Fighter staff.
Itagaki having a history of producing Xbox 360 exclusives, it’d be natural to assume this mystery game’s going to be on Microsoft’s system, right? “I’m trying to be flexible in that respect, but I do feel that the Xbox 360 still has a lot of potential that I haven’t been able to play with yet,” Itagaki said.
So everything is shrouded in mystery at this point. Itagaki, will, however, be on hand at the upcoming E3, so maybe he’ll drop a hint or two while he’s there. Unlike many of his Japanese counterparts, Itagaki clearly isn’t concerned about the risks involved with international travel.
“I would be surprised if the [swine flu] had the guts to get in my way,” he said. “In terms of floating particles, I’m more annoyed by the dust that gets on my Digital SLR imager.”
