Tecmo: Ninja Gaiden will return

Team Ninja's new boss has dropped a big hint that Ninja Gaiden will return - and that it will be a multi-platform game when it does.

Speaking to Kikizo about his predecessor Tomonobu Itagaki's comments on the series future, Yosuke Hayashi said, "in time, what the consumers, the gamers are looking for is going to be the next chapter - the future of an outstanding series".

"We feel that we're in a position of being able to make that call, and to provide pure entertainment that's going to be enjoyed by action gamers and our fans. That calling is already there - we feel it, and therefore we will continue to work towards a future for the series."

Hayashi had previously said that the PS3-exclusive Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 would not make the transition back to Xbox 360 as a special edition version, because it would be "more or less too old" and "enough people have it already on the Xbox 360".

"The total audience of Ninja Gaiden fans and actions gamers will probably just be wanting more, so at that point, we have to open up a new chapter, not just repackage all the updates for the other audience and calling it Black.

"At that point we're going to have to push ourselves to the next level, and we are better off giving both audiences an entirely new game - I think our time and energy will be better used that way."

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 introduces an online co-operative mode and new playable characters Ayane (Dead or Alive) and Momiji (Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword) on top of the furious hackandslashery that defined the competent Xbox 360 release this time last year.