July 20, 2005 - Tecmo's Team Ninja studio is currently working to make sure that Dead or Alive 4 launches with the Xbox 360 in Japan. While this was always the assumption, series producer Tomonobu Itagaki makes the point extra clear in an interview featured in the latest Famitsu. He's quick to add that he doesn't feel too much pressure due to his team's experience working with different hardware.
Regular updates on Dead or Alive 4 tend to appear first in the monthly Famitsu Xbox, but Itagaki does manage to share some big revelations on the game to Weekly Famitsu. DOA4 will include more than 20 characters, Itagaki reveals, adding that he himself came up with eight of the characters. Itagaki also states that he came up with the storyline for the game.
The storyline was set two years ago, but full development didn't start until approximately one year back. There was a period where development on Dead or Alive 4 was taking place simultaneously with Dead or Alive Ultimate, Itagaki mentions.
One area of the game's visuals was not shown in the E3 trailer: a slow shutter effect. The latest screenshots in Famitsu show slow shutter blur on the characters, particularly noticeable as parts of their bodies become blurs during their quickest fighting moves.
Itagaki explains that the characters in Dead or Alive 4 move too fast to be properly captured at sixty frames per second. Current generation titles, Itagaki reveals, have attempted to paint an ideal world, capturing perfect, blurless frames. Dead or Alive recreates the world as your eyes would see it, which is with fast objects blurred. Team Ninja is considering including a cameraman mode in the game so that players will be able to snap pictures with this effect clearly visible.
While the presence of this effect in the latest screenshots is a surprise in its own right, Itagaki's next comment should cause even greater shock to fans of the series. Itagaki reveals that major changes have been made to all the characters fighting moves. Moves that have been in the series until now have been replaced. This change has required more than just balance considerations. Team Ninja has also had to consider the overall control of the game and the feeling the game gives players.
Dead or Alive 4 seems to have taken on a slightly new form since its E3 debut, with the new blur effect and the new skills. We expect to get a closer look at the title early next week at Microsoft's Xbox summit in Tokyo and will be sure and report back with how this Xbox 360 launch title is shaping up.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/635/635119p1.html
Regular updates on Dead or Alive 4 tend to appear first in the monthly Famitsu Xbox, but Itagaki does manage to share some big revelations on the game to Weekly Famitsu. DOA4 will include more than 20 characters, Itagaki reveals, adding that he himself came up with eight of the characters. Itagaki also states that he came up with the storyline for the game.
The storyline was set two years ago, but full development didn't start until approximately one year back. There was a period where development on Dead or Alive 4 was taking place simultaneously with Dead or Alive Ultimate, Itagaki mentions.
One area of the game's visuals was not shown in the E3 trailer: a slow shutter effect. The latest screenshots in Famitsu show slow shutter blur on the characters, particularly noticeable as parts of their bodies become blurs during their quickest fighting moves.
Itagaki explains that the characters in Dead or Alive 4 move too fast to be properly captured at sixty frames per second. Current generation titles, Itagaki reveals, have attempted to paint an ideal world, capturing perfect, blurless frames. Dead or Alive recreates the world as your eyes would see it, which is with fast objects blurred. Team Ninja is considering including a cameraman mode in the game so that players will be able to snap pictures with this effect clearly visible.
While the presence of this effect in the latest screenshots is a surprise in its own right, Itagaki's next comment should cause even greater shock to fans of the series. Itagaki reveals that major changes have been made to all the characters fighting moves. Moves that have been in the series until now have been replaced. This change has required more than just balance considerations. Team Ninja has also had to consider the overall control of the game and the feeling the game gives players.
Dead or Alive 4 seems to have taken on a slightly new form since its E3 debut, with the new blur effect and the new skills. We expect to get a closer look at the title early next week at Microsoft's Xbox summit in Tokyo and will be sure and report back with how this Xbox 360 launch title is shaping up.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/635/635119p1.html
