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Dead or Alive 5 downloadable on PSN day and date with retail release
After showing the launch trailer for Dead or Alive 5 at its Tokyo Game Show event, Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi revealed that the game will be available as a download on the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store. The downloadable version will be available day and date with the retail version on September 25. A downloadable version is also headed to the Xbox 360, and will be available three months after launch.
Team Ninja reveals Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus headed to PS Vita
At a private event in Tokyo, Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi announced that Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus will be coming to PlayStation Vita in early 2013. Hayashi didn't reveal further details, though it stands to reason it will receive the same treatment that the original Ninja Gaiden Sigma received on the Vita via Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, which was released earlier this year.
Team Ninja set to announce new console game at Tokyo Game Show
Team Ninja will announce a new game at this week's Tokyo Game Show. Posting on Twitter, Team Ninja notes the announcement of Dead or Alive 5 at last year's event, and the Tecmo subsidiary wants to repeat that with a newly announced console title this year. Team Ninja is currently developing Dead or Alive 5 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. The only Team Ninja release that's not a DoA or Ninja Gaiden entry remains Metroid: Other M.Joystiq is in Tokyo this week, ready to report whatever this may be and every other piece of juicy news from the Makuhari Messe convention center. Japan's headline gaming event kicks off on Thursday, September 20, running through to Sunday, September 23.
Dead or Alive 5 says hi to Virtua Fighter's Pai
Virtua Fighter's Akira and Sarah Bryant aren't the only two Sega stars joining Dead or Alive 5. Plucky, pig-tailed pugilist Pai Chan has also been confirmed today.Pai was rumored to be a playable character back in March, when some hackers dissected the Dead or Alive 5 demo and found alternate costume data for 25 fighters in total. Famitsu has images of Pai throwing down against old-timer Gen Fu in some dojo that we imagine rests atop a mountain in China somewhere – that's how these things usually go, right?
Dead or Alive 5's Mila has good concentration skills [Update: Now with dev diary]
Mila, a diner waitress and MMA fighter, is the second new character in Dead or Alive 5's roster (the other being Rig). Maybe it's her enthusiasm to fight Bass Armstrong's daughter, but Mila does a great job of concentrating on beating up Tina in this trailer. You'd think she'd be distracted by a level of urban disaster that makes I Am Alive look like a flickering lamppost, but maybe her dual occupation lifestyle helps her to multitask.We hope to find out on September 25, when the game comes out on Xbox 360 and PS3.Update: In the meantime, jump past the break to take a look at Team Ninja's internal development process in the third episode of its Dead or Alive 5 developer diary series.
Behind the scenes of DOA5's character development, Virtua Fighter involvement
The latest Dead or Alive 5 developer diary focuses design challenges, specifically the importance of redesigning Kasumi and implementing Virtua Fighter characters. Sega provided the key animations for Sarah and Akira, which Team Ninja had to adjust in order to fit them into the DOA framework.
Dead or Alive 5 to feature Facebook integration, online training mode
Posting to social media sites about watching beautiful women beat the tar out of each other may not be the best idea, unless you're doing so via Dead or Alive 5's newly announced Facebook integration.The feature's implementation hasn't been explicitly demonstrated as of yet, but it will somehow allow players to "rock bragging rights by posting titles and sharing fighting records with friends on Facebook," according to a press release from Tecmo Koei. A network-enabled training mode, dubbed "Online Dojo," was also announced, though the mode's specific features were not specified beyond the fact that it is a training mode that will work online.Meanwhile, Lisa and Helena were revealed as returning playable fighters, as if there were any doubt, and their match footage can be seen above.
DOA5 lead: Japanese view of women in games 'not going to change'
The Dead or Alive franchise is notorious for its blatant emphasis on sexy female fighters in tiny, physics-defying outfits – in the western world, at least. In Japan, this form of female representation is "common sense," Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi tells MCV."With the representation of female characters in the Dead or Alive franchise, we've always wanted to make the girls look as attractive as possible, and that's something that's not going to change for us at all," Hayashi says. "We are a Japanese developer, and we're making the female characters with our common sense and our creative sense. When you take that to countries outside of Japan, it tends to be very misinterpreted in some cases, people considering it sexist or derogatory, etc."In February, Hayashi said Team Ninja would attempt to shift focus in Dead or Alive 5 away from sex and violence, heading instead in "a direction that contains emotional experiences that can move players." It's entirely possible that Hayashi was pandering to western sensibilities with that statement, but it's also possible he plans to combine deep, emotional experiences with sex-infused character models. There's nothing immoral in making beautiful things, as Hayashi sees it."For us, within our culture, we're showing women like that, and we're trying to make them look attractive," he says. "We can't help if other cultures in other countries around the globe think that it's a bad representation. Within our nationality and within our national borders, we obviously have morals that we create our female characters from, but within our Japanese sensibilities, we've made those characters the way they are and we're not going to stop doing that."
Dead or Alive 5 adds Brad Wong and Eliot to the roster
Despite being featured in Team Ninja's relationship graph, Brad Wong and Eliot were never officially confirmed for Dead or Alive 5 – that is, until now. Tecmo announced the pair as the latest additions to Dead or Alive 5's roster today at Gamescom.In addition to giving us a glimpse at Eliot and Brad Wong, Team Ninja has also sent out some images of a new stage, a small house in China. While the fight starts in this house, the gallery below shows its wooden walls are hardly enough to keep the greatest combatants confined.%Gallery-162516%
Team Ninja reflects on the road to Dead or Alive 5 in this dev diary
Dead or Alive 5 represents the most significant visual overhaul the series has seen, but Team Ninja also assures (in the above developer diary) that it's also the most accessible entry yet.
Pore over important plot details before Dead or Alive 5's launch
With last week's quick video synopsis of the events leading up to Dead or Alive 5, we totally get it if you're still confused about what's going on. We'd hate to think that you went into Team Ninja's latest not knowing that Zack was running the show this time around, or that Brad has no relationship with anyone at all.A short video is hardly enough for such a storied franchise. And so Team Ninja's laid it all out in plain text on its website. There you can read up on the plots to each Dead or Alive game, and what to expect from each fighter, emotionally, going into Dead or Alive 5.
Oh, right, there's a plot in Dead or Alive 5
The above Dead or Alive 5 cinematic would like to remind everyone out there that, yes, the Dead or Alive series does have a plot. To prove it, here are some random things that are related to that in some way probably.
These Dead or Alive 5 videos aren't embarrassing at all
While the subject matter of recent Dead or Alive 5 trailers has been suspect, we can assure you this footage won't make you cringe at the sight of overly sexualized costumes. Nope, the only cringing will come from good, old-fashioned violence.
Zack is creepy in latest Dead or Alive 5 clip
It was only five months ago that Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi said the team was trying to elevate its image of "sex and violence" and move towards something more emotional with Dead or Alive 5. Zack seems happy at least. Happiness is an emotion, right?
Dead or Alive 5 tags in with new 2-on-2 footage
We're sure there are plenty of people who still think of Virtua Fighter characters in Dead or Alive 5 as some kind of sacrilege but, man, pairing Akira and Kokoro looks like just about the best thing ever. In other, completely unsurprising news, Tecmo has revealed that both Jann Lee and Tina will return in Dead or Alive 5.%Gallery-160752%
Watch DOA 5's Rig beat up Bass (on a rig)
Meet Dead or Alive 5's Rig. Through some incredible cosmological coincidence, Rig works on an oil rig. He also has a penchant for weird, sleeveless hoodies. Get to know him intimately in the video above.
Dead or Alive 5 adds new fighter, improved photography mode
The latest issue of Famitsu reveals a new Dead or Alive 5 character named Rig, a Canadian fighter who specializes in taekwondo. Bass Armstrong, the wrestler who is totally not Hulk Hogan, is returning to DOA5 as well. The same issue also brings word of an updated photography mode, which allows players to change angles to snap still pictures and video replays.We assume this functionality will be used solely for capturing evidence of impressive combos, and for showing off the impressively interactive stages. We can't imagine what else someone would use a photo mode for in a Dead or Alive game.
Team Ninja's Hayashi says 'no plans' for Dead or Alive 5 character DLC
Don't expect any supplementary character DLC for Dead or Alive 5. Depending on how you feel about Freddy Krueger surprises, this could be an important revelation.Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi says there are no plans to offer post-launch character DLC in Dead or Alive 5. In fact, he thinks the practice wreaks havoc on the balance of the game – essential in any good fighter. "Even with over 20 characters that's still a real challenge," Hayashi tells Videogamer. "If we had 50, how much more time would need to balance the game? It gets that much harder to get it right, and it's already very difficult to get right."Hayashi also doesn't like the idea of different players with different character rosters. "It's a similar thing to if certain people have all these characters and others don't. It makes it an unfair game, and we don't think that's the right way to go for fighting games."
Dead or Alive 5 brings back tag matches, cuts DOA 4's online lobbies
Friendships have been ruined over Dead or Alive – we'll never forgive you, Frank – but now you and Billy don't even need to consider fighting each other in Dead or Alive 5. Tag matches return, allowing two folks to go up against two other folks in a contest of might, both locally and online.And speaking of online stuff, Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi confirmed with Joystiq that the interactive lobbies seen in Dead or Alive 4 would not return in Dead or Alive 5. The reasoning behind omitting the interactive lobbies in Dead or Alive 5 is so that Team Ninja can provide the best, most stable online experience possible. Sure, that's all well and good, but ice-skating crabs.%Gallery-157383%
Dead or Alive 5 enters the retail arena on September 25
The latest entry in the Dead or Alive series launches on September 25, Tecmo Koei has revealed. Dead or Alive 5 gets a visual facelift and incorporates some more interactivity into its levels, but will retain the same four-point counter system seen in Dead or Alive 4.It is also revealed today that Sarah Bryant will join fellow Virtua Fighter character Akira at launch.%Gallery-157383%
