Dead or Alive
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Itagaki confesses to drinking on the job
He's been called an eccentric, a rock star, a hypocrite and once, even a game designer. Tecmo's Tomonobu Itagaki has been called a lot of things and, following on from an interview conducted by Kinkyzoo Kakalukeia Kikizo, we suspect that "drunkard" may be the next label appended to the already impressive list. When queried about how he gets his ideas, Itagaki calmly claims that he often sees them at the bottom of a bottle of whisky. "Of course, there are ups and downs, waves, of how I drink in terms of the amount, but it's a long period of time. In the last ten years - not that you asked this question - I think I had better ideas when I was drinking whisky. When I am drinking shochu, that's a conservative drink, so the ideas are not that great. Beer is just like water to me, so it just helps me and everyone else loosen up a little bit, it doesn't really contribute to coming up with ideas." The interview mostly stays on the topic of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (a game which Itagaki says he's developing as a hobby), but does reveal that Ninja Gaiden 2 is currently in its planning stages. If alcohol is a vital ingredient in games like Ninja Gaiden, we say let Itagaki and his team have a drink and loosen up. Heck, we encourage him to drink himself into a stupor -- we're sure a couple of vomit-encrusted keyboards are worth receiving another refreshingly difficult ninja kill-em-up. The man's outspoken for certain (don't forget his 5 most hated games, Tekkens 1 through 5), but he usually does a good job of sticking to his promises. That's one trait that many game designers could do well to adopt. Well, that and raging alcoholism. [tHaNKsh enbob89! Hic.]
Naughty Faceplates
Xboxic got some interesting faceplates today from an unidentified source. These Dead or Alive faceplates are almost definitely unofficial but they certainly are, um, eye catching. There are also Scarface and Blue Dragon faceplates in there for some reason. As far as I know, these aren't available at retail. Of course, there's nothing to stop you from making them yourself. Anybody have any other special faceplate designs they'd like to share with the rest of the class? Hit the read link to see more (technically safe for work, but still pretty risqué).
Pangya Golf commercial: 7 million can't be wrong
There's just so much enthusiasm coming from this commercial for Super Swing Golf Pangya, it's hard to ignore it. Or to breathe. If you make it through to the end, you may even glimpse Kasumi, fresh from getting her head kicked in by a despicable clone in Dead or Alive 4.[Thanks Nushio and AssemblyLineHuman!]
Dead or Alive 4 patched
1UP reports that a pair of DOA4 updates (focused on Xbox Live play) has been posted for download. The patches address frame rate issues and adjust damage levels for more balanced fighting. Team Ninja also threw in some new attacks. And, if you're not happy with your current rank, the first update will let you reset to "C". No excuses now... [Thanks, Chris]
