A concern I see right now is that the enemies died really easily. I'd expect this sort-of thing towards the end of the game when your weapons are upgraded a lot. The enemies shown can't be expected to put up the same resistance as the robots in Vanquish, but they died without the player doing any advanced techniques (where was the dodging?). In Ninja Gaiden 2 to obliterate opponents took a charged attack or prior limb liberation; in other words, it took more time to kill foes. Beheadings weren't taking place every second. I don't want the enemies dying so fast that there is little satisfaction in the 'en masse' deaths. This is why in RE4, players had to deal with the absurd image of Leon shooting ganados 6-8 times in the head with the pistol before it exploded in the early stages. Mikami had to find a way past the "boom headshot! dead" way plaguing many games (i.e. FPS games). For the later stages, he upped the easy kill headshot problem fix by adding the exposed plagas ganado. Then he hilariously to the dismay (horror) of many gamers added an enemy that's head grew back. If you expected quick kills through headshots in RE4, look out.

Meanwhile, THQ confirmed last night that it has dropped Devil's Third, the action game made by Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki.

During an investor call THQ boss Brian Farrell said Devil's Third no longer "fits THQ's profile", and was unlikely to make a profit. Apparently the game ran into trouble when the company supplying Itagaki's studio Valhalla with a game engine went out of business, forcing the team to switch engines mid-way through development.

This proved to be a costly dent in THQ's publishing effort. "When we ranked all of our product releases when we underwent our restructuring, the profitability of Devil's Third wasn't comparable with our other franchises," Farrell said.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel for Devil's Third. THQ is seeking to offload the game to another publisher. It remains to be seen if it will be picked up.

Next year will be the year we'll be releasing the console game, Devil's Third," Itagaki told 4Gamer. "At the moment, it is about 80% complete, and we can about see the end of it. However, there's still a little more polishing that needs to be done. That's also one of the reasons I've decided to work independently. For you fans out there, I'd like to apologize for making you worry. We'll be going all out next year, so please look forward to it.

Tomonobu Itagaki, designer of Valhalla Game Studios’ upcoming title Devil’s Third shared an update on his facebook account yesterday regarding the state of the game.

Apparently, Itagaki had been away from Facebook for a while because he was busy working on the game and assures fans that the final product is coming along nicely.

In response to fans sending him concerned messages, he assured them everything was alright, but it will be totally natural of him to be inactive on Facebook in the future as well due to work schedule for Devil’s Third.

Devil’s Third is a third-person shooter involving melee action being developed by Valhalla Game Studios, which was created by Itagaki himself along with members who left Tecmo, for Xbox 360 and PS3.

The game is Itagaki’s first title since he left Tecmo back in 2008 and is different from his previous hack & slash and fighting games such as Dead or Alive.

Devil’s Third’s backstory revolves around the Kessler syndrome theory. Debris from satellites orbiting the Earth leads to the destruction of all military and civilian satellites. This results in constant conflicts among military powers throughout the planet.

The game is scheduled to be released in 2014 and is being built on the same engine used by Darksiders 2.

but seriously, I'm curious why this is Wii U exclusive?

"We developed the game up to an early playable version at THQ but then there was the unfortunate end of that company. Then, when we went looking for partners and found Nintendo who really supported my vision. I'm not really sure if it would have been possible ten years ago to be honest, but I've had a long relationship with Nintendo going back to the Nintendo and Super Nintendo. Once I went independent, I definitely went over to Nintendo to say hello.

There will always be accidents on the battlefield. You have to find ways through those and adapt. The world has been through financial crises in the past few years yet we've all found ways to continue on. One thing that's different from my previous company is my relationship to the people I'm working with. Previously I wasn't necessarily responsible for hiring and taking care of everyone, but my position is different now and I feel a lot of responsibility for my team.

When people play this game I want them to think, 'What does it mean to live?' I want them to think about life itself. What does it mean to be alive? What does someone believe in a world like this? We're all citizens in a very fragile world order, as if it's made of a glass, that can shatter at any moment."

I'm not one to go looking for fights in back alleys. I prefer to find them in a big avenue. That's why I tried to pick the most major genre I could think of, the modern shooter. That's what led me to make Devil's Third."

- takes place place in an alternate United States
- all electronics and satellites have been destroyed
- the country is embroiled in a civil war with militias vying to control territory
- at one point you'll spot a soldier loading giant watermelons onto another soldiers back
- a soldier jumps off a building following a conga line of rainbow-colored chickens
- giant military propaganda posters with half-naked women pop up on screen

Anyone here buy this game? It's awesome. Chickens mode is the reason I play videogames!

The popular opinion on the game is wrong. You can read on Neogaf thread that there is a lot of love for the multi-player. Sliding while flamethrowering is something special. The game is a load of fun with the creative modes it has. I still haven't played a round of siege mode with 15 other players.

Ah yes, good old vert is back.

I've actually heard a LOT that the multiplayer is pretty fun...