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Castlevania man on PS3, X360

And co-op for DS Portrait of Ruin.

Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi says his initial reaction to Sony's PlayStation 3 announcements at E3 was, "Mmm, maybe it's too expensive."

In an interview with GameInformer, Igarashi also shares his views on Microsoft.

"I'm not really negative over Microsoft, but for some reason they tend to back off a little when it comes to something really foreign," he observed.

"But if Japanese developers would say they're working on Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest or Metal Gear maybe, then I guess Japanese consumers would take it seriously and consider purchasing it."

Of more interest to Castlevania fans will be Igarashi's revelation that Portrait of Ruin, the next instalment in the DS series following the excellent Dawn of Sorrow, could feature unlockable co-op missions playable over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

"It's not confirmed yet because I haven't started work on it," he joked about co-op. "That's why I can’t confirm. But actually I'm thinking about preparing a special unlockable stage where you can do co-op over Wi-Fi."

"Technically speaking, I think we are able to do something like co-op, yes," he added.

Elsewhere in the interview, Igarashi said he felt that the stylus elements of Dawn of Sorrow ended up a bit uncomfortable - the idea was to draw a rune on the screen at the conclusion of a boss battle, and the developer admitted that, having played using his thumb, the screen "got really messed up".

He's happy, he says, simply to use the two screens to display the map and items and so forth. Portrait of Ruin will probably maintain this approach - and will of course adhere to the series' love of collectibles, although this time it'll be skills and items rather than souls.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, announced just prior to E3, sees players take control of vampire hunter Jonathan Morris and a young girl with magical abilities called Charlotte Orlean, on a quest to stop some eejits rebuilding Dracula's Castle.

It's set during World War II, oddly, at a time when thousands of lost souls are wandering the earth "in search of salvation".

Portrait of Ruin's due out this November.