[X360] Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

[Blaze 12]

omonobu Itagaki: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 Interview

There’s nothing quite like Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. But it’s been over three years since it appeared, and now legendary game craftsman Tomonobu Itagaki (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive) is set to bring us a new installment, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

Recently, Itagaki sat down with TeamXbox to run down (through a translator) some of his philosophies for creating the next game in the franchise. If the short trailer we were also shown is any indication, we’re in for more giggling, jiggly models frolicking, blended with some hard-core volleyball whacking. After all, that’s what you came for, right?

Tecmo isn’t ready to reveal a lot about the game other than it’s coming out this fall, but Itagaki was willing to share some of his attitudes. Before he did, though, he complimented the user enthusiasm on the TeamXbox message boards for its “constructive information and discussion”—as well as it being a source of teaching for him. “It’s always active, so it’s really helping me with learning English,” he said.

How do you evolve (the franchise) from the first game to this one? When you went to the drawing board, what was your intention for making the game?

Tomonobu Itagaki: In general, in video-game development, the very first installment we pretty much throw out whatever we have, straightforward. And typically the sequel is more polished. In DOA1, we had a straightforward game. DOA2 became more polished. We think it’s the same progression and evolution taking place from DOAX1 to DOAX2.

There’s something askew here, but we can’t put our finger on it.

What feedback did you get back from players of the first game that helped you with this game?

Tomonobu Itagaki: Typically, on my fighting games, people will give me feedback based on more of a comparative analysis with other fighting games, and they’ll give me their thoughts. On the other hand, with DOAX1, they weren’t comparing with any other game—they were telling me they liked this, they don’t like that. They weren’t giving very clear-cut feedback.

I think one of the feedbacks that I took most seriously was one that said, I want to continue to play this game longer, but I can’t because of the way the game was designed. The user really loves the girl that he was playing, so he didn’t want to leave her or he wants to stay with her longer, yet he was forced to leave her or she left him.

Of course, one of the main themes of the game is to be with the girl, feel the girl’s presence and spend time with them, but then we had a lot of people who wanted the sport element of the game to be more serious. Those are the two points I learned.

How about new characters or changes to the old characters?

Tomonobu Itagaki: This time, on purpose, I didn’t add many new characters. [The] newer members of the family, Lisa and Coco, needed to be developed a little more to express them and feature them more.

How difficult is it to be creative in a new game. You have the framework of the game with volleyball—there’s only so much you can do with it, because it’s volleyball. Like any sports game, you stick to the rules and structure of the game, but I’m sure there’s always the desire to make something more. So, how tough is it for you, when you’re planning, to come up with fresh ideas to add to the game?

Tomonobu Itagaki: I think as a child, I’m sure we’ve all played volleyball or football—not the “real” ones, but the kids style or your own version of it, and you think, “oh, my version of volleyball is better.” That’s the kind of feeling that is important when you’re coming up with creative ideas.

In this game of volleyball, we don’t draw lines around the court. That’s how I played volleyball when I was a kid, because it’s just too cumbersome to have to put a line around, so we had our own rules and you knew what to do without the lines.

The game has a different level of excitement with the girls in it, but at the same time—at least in the U.S.—there seems to be a cracking down, just like at (the E3 show), they cracked down what the girls could wear or who could be in the booth. I guess they want to bring the appearance of serious business. (John: “I don’t know who ‘they’ is…”) I’m assuming like the ESA, who runs the show. (John: “But they don’t sell the games, so I don’t know why it’s important….”) It’s sort of an attitude…it’s like that’s just indicative of the whole attitude that seems to be happening in the industry—“Okay, we got an M rating, but let’s not push it.” (John: “But that’s not by people who make the games.”) The question is, with that kind of atmosphere, how constrained do you feel or do you not let it put any limitations on you when you’re creating a game to have sexy characters and to allow them to express that in the games?

Tomonobu Itagaki: I think that what’s most important is that to use our common sense and stick by that, because the rules that certain groups of people make…that could change. If you allow those temporary rules and things, and let it have an effect on you, then that’s not a good thing, so I stick with my common sense and I don’t really let those people, those rules affect me at all.

In the same sense, there’s a difference between the Japanese audience, the U.S. audience and I’m sure the European audience, even outside of games—in Europe, nudity is much more accepted; publications in Japan are different than publications in the U.S.; certain things are allowed or accepted, and certain things are not. So, when you’re making a game for a world audience, you’re not making three different versions of it. How much does that affect your creative process or how do you go about planning for these different audience’s taste or acceptances?

Tomonobu Itagaki: I think to make the game truly universal—meant for the world—I don’t think of any particular region or territory, I just make the game the way I feel. There are a lot of people who listen to these advices from various regions, that you can’t have this or can’t have that in our region, and when you start accommodating all those demands, at the end, you aren’t going to have a lot of choices.

When this is over, someone’s going to be soaking wet.

So, for an audience of one—you—how happy have you been with the products you’ve come out with, and how happy are you with the progress on the new game?

Tomonobu Itagaki: I think aside from never having enough time, everything has been good—and is good.

Any other comments he’d like to pass to his audience?

Tomonobu Itagaki: I’ll be visiting your message boards, so if are any questions, just put them up there and I’ll answer.

We'd like to thank Tomonobu Itagaki for taking the time from his busy schedule to sit down and talk with us!

DOAX 2 jiggles in real time

Gamedaily sat down with Tomonobu Itagaki and got some new details on DOAX 2. For instance, the trailer on Marketplace is confirmed real time!

I'm sure the same people who skeev out over Rumble Roses will continue to complain about this game's fixation on jiggling polygonal flesh, despite volleyball's inate moral superiority to professional wrestling. Besides, don't they know we only want this disc for the jet ski mini-game.

[Thanks Sense]

Interview: Tomonobu Itagaki

We sat down with the Team Ninja veteran to discuss DOA4, DOAX2, the future, and more.

Team Ninja's head ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki, was once again present and accounted for at E3 2006. We sat down with Itagaki-san to discuss how the Dead or Alive series has developed, where the series is going with DOA Xtreme 2, online fighting games, and several other all important matters. Itagaki was dressed in his usual rock star attire of black shades and a black jacket, and right before we sat down with him, he was mobbed by some of the hardcore DOA fans over at DOA Central.

Itagaki and his fellow developers at Team Ninja pushed back Dead or Alive 4 for over a month after the launch of the Xbox 360. At the Tokyo Game Show, he informed us that he had been working for several days without any sleep. When we asked Itagaki what he did after DOA4 was finally completed, he informed us that he took a month off just goofing around before starting work on DOAX2.

If you've seen the trailer for DOAX2, you may have questioned whether or not that was real-time footage. We asked Itagaki this same question and he looked at us baffled before proclaiming that the trailer was done in real-time. So of course we had to follow up asking him how it was that DOAX2 looked so much better than Dead or Alive 4 (which is still the best looking fighting games available on console).

Itagaki informed us that with DOA4 Team Ninja had to use quite a bit of the processing power of the Xbox 360 to make the game run as fast and smoothly as it does. With DOAX2, because the title is not a fast-paced fighting game, Team Ninja was able to use more of the Xbox 360s power to create the phenomenal real-time graphics seen in the trailer. He also reassured us that the Xbox 360 is a very powerful machine and one that he will be working on for the next few years. When we asked about the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, Itagaki simply stated that he would look at both consoles once they've hit the market and then decide at that point what projects he will make available to each.

Our conversation with Itagaki-san also revealed that DOAX2 will feature several new mini-games in addition to volleyball. As seen in the trailer, jet skiing has been added to the mix, but that's not all DOAX fans can look forward to. There will be several other mini-games based around the pool and beach areas of Zack's new island. We're personally hoping that the "butt bumping" between Kasumi and Ayane that we saw in the trailer will make it into the final product.

"[Team Ninja] creates games that are not constrained to anything, then they scale the game back to fit on the console they're working with."

Team Ninja is all about Xbox Live, and DOAX2 will feature online play in one form or another. Itagaki was able to confirm that there will be online lobbies similar to Dead or Alive 4. However, it's currently unknown what games will be available for online multiplayer. Once again, "butt bumping" is at the top of our list for online multiplayer mini-games in DOAX2.

There were over 300 bathing suits in the original DOAX, and DOAX2 will have even more. According to Itagaki, the first title was more of a gag title that he didn't really take as seriously as he takes some of his other games. However, DOAX2 he is taking more seriously, and the bathing suits will have more meaning this time around. The gameplay will also have more depth to it to appease players who thought the first game was just girls in bikinis.

Itagaki is so busy making games that he often times doesn't know what goes on with his games in the general public after he's done working on them. We took this opportunity to let Itagaki know that DOA4 will be featured in the Evolution Fighting Game Championships (Evo) later this year. At first Itagaki had Evo confused with the World Cyber Games (WCG) which will also be featuring DOA4 this year. However, after we explained that there were two different tournaments, WCG and Evo, Itagaki was very pleased to find out that his game would be featured at Evo.

Before Dead or Alive 4 released, it was stated on 1UP.com that this could be the last fighting game in the series. When we asked Itagaki about this, he explained that since it's the 10th anniversary of the series, he wanted to bring closure to the current storyline. However, that does not mean that the series if over and done with. Instead, he would like to move forward from DOA4 and possibly bring something new to the fans of the series in the way of a new storyline. While Itagaki did confirm that the next title in the series will be called DOA5, in our opinion, this indicates that the story and possibly many of the characters will be changing.

The story for DOA4 took 10 years to develop, so Itagaki wants to spend a bit of time deciding how things will take shape for DOA5 with a new chapter in the story. At one point it was thought that DOA4 would end Helena's story with DOATEC and begin Kokoro's story. However, when we asked Itagaki about this he stated that this was one possibility, but that nothing had been set in stone yet.

It has also been rumored that there would be more updates coming for DOA4 that would tweak the gameplay or possibly add more costumes for the characters. When we asked Itagaki about online updates for DOA4, he told us that he's currently focused solely on DOAX2, but he does know that people would like updates for DOA4. So while that's certainly no confirmation that updates are coming, the possibility is still there.

For most 3D fighting game fans, Tekken, Virtua Fighter and DOA are the main three fighters. However, between those three titles, Dead or Alive is the only series that has gone online. Even when Sega announced Virtua Fighter 5 for the PlayStation 3, online play was left out. When we asked Itagaki about his thoughts on this, he understood why VF5 would not be online given its heavy arcade background in Japan. However, he couldn't think of any reason why Tekken has not been online yet.

We asked Itagaki if he had gotten the chance to play Virtua Fighter 4 or 5, and he told us that he went out to an arcade but couldn't find VF5. Instead, he played VF4 and beat the game with 100 yen. While not trying to justify the difficulty of DOA4, Itagaki did think that it was too easy when he could beat the game on 100 yen without ever playing it before that time.

Team Ninja has done some amazing work on the original Xbox, so we asked Itagaki if he is able to make the games the way he wants with the power of the Xbox 360. He told us that there were two ways to make games. The first is to make a game that fits into the constraints of the console you're working on. Team Ninja doesn't work that way. Instead, the team creates games that are not constrained to anything, then they scale the game back to fit on the console they're working with. Itagaki continued, stating that the good thing about approaching game development with that style is that you may end up with a really good game. However, the bad thing is that the release date of your game may end up being delayed.

As our interview came to a close, we tried to dig into what Itagaki and Team Ninja would be working on after DOAX2. However, after Itagaki joked that he would be taking a vacation he wouldn't divulge what the next title would be. We asked about Ninja Gaiden 2, but Itagaki-san would only confirm that it would be coming this generation. Given his earlier comments about the PS3 and Wii, it seems clear that the game is currently scheduled for Xbox 360, but that doesn't rule out a port to the PS3 or Wii.

We'll have the full video interview available for download in the near future, as well as new information on DOAX2 and Team Ninja's future projects. Itagaki did confirm that DOAX2 will release this year with no delays like we saw with DOA4, so we should have quite a bit of cover coming to the Tokyo Game Show in September.

[aLeluia 1]

Sempre gostei dos jogos de DOA mas nunca cheguei a experimentar nenhum destes.

Para além das gajas deve ser uma seca valente estar a jogar volleyball. Prefiro andar a porrada com as personagens... x)