Team Ninja: Wii U development comparable to PS3/360, hardware always changing, DOA5 possible

Team Ninja has been one of Wii U’s early supporters. The studio will be bringing a unique version of Ninja Gaiden III to the console when it launches later this year.

Ninja Gaiden III director Fumihiko Yasuda and Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi were interviewed in the February issue of Nintendo Gamer, and both men sounded positive about Wii U development.

First, Yasuda commented on Wii U development in general. He said:

“It’s very easy to develop for. We’re finding it very similar to develop for Wii U as for the Xbox 360 and PS3. …They’ve asked us what we would like to see from the hardware, and when we give them feedback we can see that they’re definitely listening to it and making changes. The hardware is still constantly changing.”

Hayashi then commented on the Wii U’s unique controller:

“I think it’s a really big deal that you have a screen right there in your hands; it’s a feature that’s really unique.”

Hayashi once again commented on how Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword will connect to the Ninja Gaiden III on Wii U:

“The Wii U’s touch control is just like the DS’s. We released a Ninja Gaiden game, Dragon Sword, on DS, so we want to introduce some elements from that into the Wii U version.”

Finally, Hayashi was asked if Dead or Alive 5 would be possible on Wii U. Although he wouldn’t commit to anything, he did say that “we’re definitely keeping other platforms in mind for DOA5.”

“We’re thinking about all sorts of things. Right now, our Wii U development is focused just on Ninja Gaiden, but we’re definitely keeping other platforms in mind for DOA5.”

Thanks to joclo for providing us with this information!