From our little one-on-one with Tomonobu Itagaki last week, it looks like the man mainly responsible for the DOA and Ninja Gadien series is at a crossroads in his career.

He told us there'll be no more Ninja Gaiden games. Or Dead Or Alive beat-'em-ups. So what's next for the outspoken Japanese dev? From what he's said, even he doesn't know yet...

Please tell us that the stories of Ninja Gaiden II being the last game in the series EVER aren't true!

Tomonobu Itagaki: Ha, I've done everything I wanted to accomplish with this franchise and all of my closest colleagues are satisfied and agree that we've done as much as we can with it.

What did you think of the PS3 game Ninja Gaiden: Sigma? I'm told you won't even sign copies of the game...?

Itagaki: It was no good.

Why's that? I thought it was pretty good.

Itagaki: All you need to do is play Ninja Gaiden II and then try and play Sigma afterwards and you'll see why.

Despite the fact that it's on a 'next-generation' console there's no evolution whatsoever. That was made not by me, but one of my sub-ordinates who basically tried to copy the success of Ninja Gaiden.

Does that mean we'll never see NGII on PS3?

Itagaki: No because it's a 360 exclusive.

But Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden: Black were Xbox exclusives at the time...

Itagaki: We've announced it as an Xbox 360 exclusive, but I don't own Tecmo the company. But if that were to ever happen it would be a loss of face for everyone involved.

As the NG series is at an end then, what's your favourite memory of the series?

Itagaki: I think it's probably the Attract mode which you might have seen when you leave the screen on without doing anything. It shows a ninja graveyard. That's my most memorable moment.

What would you like the series to be remembered for?

Itagaki: I'd like to be remembered as the black sheep of game design.

So what's next for Dead or Alive?

Itagaki: This is another area that me and my closest colleagues all agree that we were able to achieve the definitive fighting game with DOA4. So we're not looking to extend the series at this point.

What's next then? Where do you go from here?

Itagaki: I'd like to make a brand new action game. Something that no one's ever seen before.

And ideas on what that might be? You're going to take some time off first though, right?

Itagaki: Yes, I'm going to take a few months off before I really get into it. But regardless of what it is I think you'll definitely see violence as a component of that franchise as well.

So the whole 'violence in games' issue doesn't worry you then?

Itagaki: No, it does not bother me because we are following all of the rules in terms of ratings. And I believe we're following morality as well in only showing violence between combatants. I think the 'violence issue' is something that is within each individual who plays the game.

I'm not shallow enough to tell people that they shouldn't be concerned with violence and I don't want to put words in other people's mouths. I just know that I have to follow the ratings and make sure it's not going to offend anybody. I feel there is no issue with that.

If I had any complaints about government regulations it would be the fact that Tokyo recently outlawed smoking in taxi cabs. That's a bigger problem for me right now.

What are your thoughts on Grand Theft Auto IV?

Itagaki: I think it's made extremely well and is a fun game. People always use that as an example of violence in games. I don't think there's anyone who takes their job as seriously as the guys who make that game. You only have to look at all the detail in there.

Worthy of being the biggest game of all time?

Itagaki: I think it's an important argument to make that; how many billions of people in the world are there? And it sold a few million copies. In the overall scheme of things it's not a huge deal.

But it is the biggest entertainment launch ever. And that's a fact. Do you think it's worthy of that headline?

Itagaki: I don't want you to think I'm being cynical, or that I'm trying to dodge the question or anything, but I don't think of those things like that. As far as me thinking it's worthy, I don't have a particular opinion. I mean it sold, people bought it. That's the reality of it.

PR: Time's up.

Itagaki: How did you like the content of the answers?

CVG: Yeah, very good. Better than I thought they'd be through an interpreter.

Itagaki: Laughs

He's right about DMC

lol @ DOA4 being "the definitive fighting game."

Silly Itagaki, you're always good for a laugh.

he is right about dmc, but for what it is, its still a good game

this genre is sinking fast, only three franchises so far have made the break through GOW, DMC, NG, with PoP and heavenly sword trying

POP is a different game. It's a platformer more than it is an action game.

O.k that leaves heavenly sword,

doesn't change what i'm trying to emphisize (this genre is dwindling fast) at some point these franchiseze will run out of ideas (GOW is a planned trilogy), unless something new and refreshing comes up from different devs who are willing to risk it. but i don't see this happening, devs go where the money is and this genre doesn't offer that much compared to other genre

Itagaki is the man :P

However MGS4 hasn't really changed that much, but I bet you it will sell like crazy, a game doesn't have to be innovative to sell, otherwise every FPS clone and TPS would fall flat on its ass.

No oppertunity missed to dog FPS.

..and jrpg.

Goes without saying, I was guna put that in there but I thought I would wait and see if someone would point that out :D

Seriously though, the JRPG argument is getting old. YES WE KNOW they didnt change and YES WE DO love them :D

I don't see why a series "HAS" to change, people like a certain game for what it is, take tomb raiders for instance the general concept and gameplay has always remained the same and people like it for what it is.

Personally I think hack and slashers offer more than most genre's (shooters for example) its all a matter of opinion and preference.

However MGS4 hasn't really changed that much, but I bet you it will sell like crazy, a game doesn't have to be innovative to sell, otherwise every FPS clone and TPS would fall flat on its ass.

I think 90% of games reuse the same idea's and something different is rare especially considering developers are fast running out of new idea's, but thats just how it goes, also if something isn't broke, why fix it ?