Team Ninja sings praises of PS3

The new-look Team Ninja is backing PS3 following the departure of former leader Tomonobu Itagaki.

"For the PlayStation 3, we do not believe that we've seen the fullest of its potential from any standpoint: from a developer standpoint, and also a consumer standpoint," Yosuke Hayashi, the new head of the Ninja Gaiden IP, told Gamasutra.

"There is greater potential, and we see that possibility the most in the PlayStation 3. It's going to be up to us developers and Sony to make sure that that does happen.

"For any developer that's been working on all of the platforms that are available today, I think they would agree that the PlayStation 3 is the most powerful system out there," he added.

Traditionally, the developer - a subsidiary of Tecmo - has favoured Microsoft and the Xbox formats, having only recently deviated with Ninja Gaiden Sigma on PS3, and Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword on DS.

However, leather jacket and sunglass-wearing studio founder Itagaki famously resigned in June, leaving plenty of opportunity for reorganisation and refocus in his wake.

Hitoshi Hasegawa, who's now in charge of the Dead or Alive fighting series, also sees plenty of possibility in the Wii.

"Maybe not Team Ninja specifically, but with Tecmo as a whole, we've been supporting the platform from the very beginning," said Hasegawa.

"Internally at the company, we have a lot of knowledge, and I think we've mastered most of the components to make a very compelling and entertaining product using the console.

"We will continue to work in that path," he added. "We have a lot of Wii console fans within the company, so hopefully there's something that we can work on."

However, none of this is to say Microsoft will be kicked to the curb, as Team Ninja continues to applaud the "all-round integrated aspects and elements" of the Xbox 360.