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Devil's Third

Tomonobu Itagaki introduces us to Valhalla Studios' first game.

Tom Bramwell avatar
Interview by Tom Bramwell Former Editor-in-Chief
Updated on
32 comments
EurogamerWere you able to draw upon experience within THQ? For example, Volition have a lot of experience with third-person action through Red Faction. And what kind of technological base and sharing has there been between the teams?
Danny Bilson

You're absolutely right. When I talk about this not being a THQ Partners kind of deal, that means Itagaki-san's team and Valhalla will have access to any resource across the THQ world, whether it's Kaos, Volition, Vigil or any of our other teams, and any tech and support they need or any design or anything else around shooting.

But I have to say - we haven't seen any need for that yet, because their art has a very unique and specific kind of shooting and melee blend, which is going to be very unique to this game. So they are offered support, but we haven't seen any need for it yet, because what they offer is very unique.

Tomonobu Itagaki

Well, in the trailer, you'll notice where the guy in the snakeskin jacket grabs a military dressed-up guy and smashes his head against the side of a military vehicle? That is actually a tank from Homefront.

So that's a very small level of cooperation [laughs]. But whenever the resources are needed, we arrange what we can.

Danny Bilson

You've got to understand that we treat this team as if they were an internal team. They have our full support.

EurogamerI understand that Kaos is doing some quite ambitious things with Homefront on the multiplayer side. Are you looking at this game as a long-term multiplayer prospect with persistent elements?
Danny Bilson

Oh you have to do that with multiplayer now. All multiplayer has to have progression, perks, persistence, all those things - that's what makes it fun and keeps people coming back for more. Those kind of systems will be applied once the game's tuned and we've built the mechanics. That's absolutely our current thinking.

EurogamerSo what sort of stage are you at with development of the game?
Tomonobu Itagaki

About 10 per cent of the way through. Well, we say that but nobody ever believes it [laughs].

EurogamerWell, they also always say that the last 10 per cent of the game takes 50 per cent of the time, so when should we look forward to playing it?
Danny Bilson

[Following conversation off-call] Yeah I don't mind. Very roughly - we haven't announced any kind of date - but you can imagine it's roughly two years from now. Roughly.

One thing about the way we develop here at THQ now is that we don't ship it until it's unbelievably awesome, so when I say two years, it could be shorter, it could be longer, but it really is dictated by game quality, and when Itagaki-san and our team shake hands and say we're ready to go. That's when we go.

We can't afford any more in this world to push stuff out the door - it doesn't work that way. We have to compete at the highest level of excellence, and that means the code is more important than anything. It's my job here - and I'll say me on that one - to protect the code, and so that's sort of how we get in business easily with talent like this, because they know now that the game comes first here at THQ.

EurogamerLooking at that kind of timeframe and this level of ambition, a lot of things are going to change with control and even display options in the next two years. Are you considering PlayStation Move or Project Natal, or even stereoscopic 3D?
Danny Bilson

On this game? I don't really want to comment on that now, because I don't think it would be fair.

EurogamerHow do you feel about 3D technology?
Danny Bilson

Well I think it's a lot of fun, and with THQ you'll see we have a couple of things we're going to show at E3 that are going to surprise people in 3D. For now it's fun and fun is good and interesting, but we're definitely experimenting and have a couple of projects in 3D that you'll see at the show.

EurogamerCool. Could I ask that question to Mr Itagaki as well? What do you think of 3D technology?
Tomonobu Itagaki

I'm very interested in looking into 3D. We've been looking at what's available for 3D PC games, and I also have a 3D TV at home now.