Yes, Itagaki has made some enjoyable games on the Saturn, DC, and PS2 before MS started paying him per word.
The difference being, he wasn't the sole purveyor of quality software on those platforms, and as a result his teams software was consistently overshadowed. Team Ninja owes it's current level of success, and Itagaki's big mouth in particular, to the captive Xbox audience.
A bottom tier fighter like DOA looks great when it's no longer competing against Virtua Fighter and Tekken for market share.
Ninja Gaiden would have been Devil May Cry Ninja Edition on any other console.
Again, it's going to be fun to watch Itagaki's house of cards come tumbling down when he can no longer boast a graphical advantage over the other hardware out there, and has to compete based on content alone.
Granted there will always be those that overreact to his shameless pandering by padding their scores accordingly. In the long run, he'll always be Suzuki and Mikami's bitch.
Enjoy!
I'll be around next gen for the laughs. ^_^