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Tecmo Talk Dead Or Alive, Ninja Gaiden
Thanks to Gamers.com for posting two in-depth interviews with Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki about his Xbox-exclusive titles, one discussing Dead Or Alive Online, and the other regarding the forthcoming Ninja Gaiden. Discussing other products, Itagaki tries to claim that "..the female designers came up with more radical, more sexy [swimsuit] designs than the male designers" for Dead Or Alive:Xtreme Beach Volleyball, but then admits that the super-risque Venus swimsuit was his own creation, and stirs up trouble trashing substandard Xbox ports: "To be honest, I'm sick and tired of all these recent cheap multi-platform games. They take data coded for low-end machines, sprinkle a bit of anti-aliasing on top, and try to pass the thing off as an Xbox game. I would never do that kind of work, at least."
How innovative. The guy's using sex appeal to lure in gamers. And, of course, the game stinks.
Why do I say it stinks: Whats better?
1: Playing a game by yourself watching animated chicks play Semi-XXX volleyball or
2: Actually play along with REAL chicks and try keep one
Anyways, it's summer. If you're playing games that simulate a summer game, you're really a loser.
Yeah, this is a troll. Just as much as the game BMX-XXX was too. Think about it.
It's weird; I don't understand the sex appeal these games have. I've been a fan of Tecmo for a long time (Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl, Dead or Alive on the Saturn, etc), but this whole Beach Volleyball craze strikes me as kitchy at best, or another indication of the woeful state games have fallen into (and society as an extension, but that's a bit dramatic :P ) at worst.
Can someone who really finds these cartoon women sexy please enlighten me? I've approached this in the past with an open mind, and have always come away completely baffled.
Ninja Gaiden volleyball!
"OMG did u c the katanas on that 1!!"
All the Dead or Alive games pretty much suck in comparrison to other fighting games (although, ironically, it is probably the best fighter on the Xbox...but considering the compeition (Kabuki Warriors, Tao Feng, Kakuto Chojin, etc.), that isn't saying much). DoAXBV had no gameplay to it, just graphics of girls in skimpy bikinis.
Taking DoA online isn't going to suddenly make it a better fighter.
I fear for Ninja Gaiden, myself. I loved the Ninja Gaiden series on the NES, and I hate to think of how horribly Team "All Graphics, No Gameplay" Ninja will destroy this once proud franchise. The game looks spectacular, as all Team Ninja games do; but I fear it will have little to no gameplay, as all Team Ninja games do.
Thursdæ
"To be honest, I'm sick and tired of all these recent cheap multi-platform games. They take data coded for low-end machines, sprinkle a bit of anti-aliasing on top, and try to pass the thing off as an Xbox game. I would never do that kind of work, at least."
He's right. He codes for a high-end machine, builds anti-aliasing in from the get-go and tries to pass that off as an Xbox game.
I happened to read a forum for DOA:VB and pretty much confirmed my suspicion of that game. They got board of it really quick, and confirmed that the re-playability was quite low.
Makes sense, for a game that originally was going to just be a computer generated movie the volleyball part was tacked on so that they could sell it as a game.
I find this part funny:
"To be honest, I'm sick and tired of all these recent cheap multi-platform games. They take data coded for low-end machines, sprinkle a bit of anti-aliasing on top, and try to pass the thing off as an Xbox game"
Yet you seem to have no problem doing this to YOUR old saturn/ps1 and dreamcast/ps2 games? From the sounds of the interview besides probably reusing and updating a game coded for other platforms, all they are doing is adding online support and enchanting the graphics.
I also find it funny that the creator of the DOA girls is protective of "his girls" and doesn't like the nude patches/pics/etc, yet the hypocrite has no problem with dressing them up in skimpy outfits and using the sex sells pitch.
... Once Soul Calibur 2 is released on the Xbox. I still play the Dreamcast version from time to time and I'm really excited about SC2. Of course in the end sales matter, and sex sells even better these days.
"Discussing other products, Itagaki tries to claim that "..the female designers came up with more radical, more sexy [swimsuit] designs than the male designers""
And this is important because...? So that we know he practices Affirmative Action while making cheesecake? Or is it simply showing just where the team's priorities lie when making a game?
"for Dead Or Alive:Xtreme Beach Volleyball, but then admits that the super-risque Venus swimsuit was his own creation,"
Personally, I wouldn't be proud of that. I think the word "silly" is more fitting here than "risque."
"and stirs up trouble trashing substandard Xbox ports: "To be honest, I'm sick and tired of all these recent cheap multi-platform games. They take data coded for low-end machines, sprinkle a bit of anti-aliasing on top, and try to pass the thing off as an Xbox game. I would never do that kind of work, at least.""
Yeah, what he does is completely different. He calls them Xbox exclusives instead.
I think it's a shame that Ninja Gaiden will likely never be released for Gamecube. Team Ninja wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Nintendo and the NES. But the again, you could say for most game companies in existance today. Thanks for nothin' Team Ninja!
To this day, I still own an NES and the three Ninja Gaiden games, so I can play them on their native system.
DecafJedi
DecafJedi
my weblog: apropos of something
For as much as XBox owners talk about DOA3 I see it lacking. The moves feel predetermined and it's more about presentation than skill or work.
Seeing CvS2 on the XBox was also a disappointment with the laggy online fights and horrible controls.
You want gaming bliss? Import Soul Calibur 2 for the GameCube and get a Hori pad for it. Now THAT'S a real fighting game.
Sometimes I wonder if Tecmo is being paid by a secret Microsoft slush fund...I know they like developing for the Xbox over PS2 (they also made disparaging comments about the PS2 vs. Dreamcast).
But they can't be sticking to Xbox this hard. They are gonna be taking a bath...MS has to prop up their developers because the box doesn't sell shit. The Japanese game companies see Tecmo as a betrayer. What's going on here?
....I would never do that kind of work, at least
But you would use sex to sell a sub-standard fighting or volleyball game. Principles are very important in the gaming industry.
It's not the deepest game ever, but damnit, it's easy to pick up and play and do somewhat well at (there is stil room at the top, a good player will still beat out a bad player 9 times out of 10). It's one of the three games we play in our dorm room (the other two being Halo and Midnight Club 2). And my roomates think that the bounciness is actually quite ridicioulous. We play it on its merits as a fighting game alone.
And if you would read reviews (IGN) once in a while, DOA EXB actually had a pretty deep volleyball system and surpassed expectations of just being an oggle-fest.
Mod me down if you must, but consider that I am recovered Gamecube fanboy who now tries to make unbiased decisions about games. Your arguments are classic anti-xbox fanboy rants. Play the games with an open mind before you jump to conclusions. Jeez' fanboys are like maggots crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.
As for this, I am EXTREMELY excited about being able to play DOA2 online, and especially try out the DOA for Saturn I never was able to play. And Ninja Gaiden looks kick ass, and if the gameplay is as good as the previews make it out to be, we could have a real winner on our hands.
I'm the guy with the unpopular opinion