http://games.kikizo.com/features/itagaki_interview_aug05_p1.asp

Have a look at this new interview with Itagaki-san, there' s quite a lot of interesting DOA4 and 360-related stuff, and hit back with any feedback you guys have...!

Kikizo: Talking about the technical quality of Dead or Alive 4, when I saw the first screenshots, I found the most striking aspect to be the background detail, and the way that further distance is more realistically ' out of focus' and blurry - maybe some sort of filter has been used - and then the closer detail is obviously sharp texture detail. But the characters themselves are harder to tell between their Xbox 1 counterparts. Is that because this is first generation 360 stuff, is there some other reasoning? Can you talk us through some of these graphical points?




Itagaki: Well you know, what you say about the characters not looking much different -- along the same lines, shouldn' t they be ageing?! The DOA girls are completed, at least in the world of DOA. That is how they should look, and they shouldn' t look any different. I am not going to add additional wrinkles or a freckle or anything like that just to show off the new power of the technology.

You know, when DOA3 was introduced and we showed the graphics to people, a lot of people criticised that they didn' t look much different from, I guess, the Dreamcast version [of DOA2]. There was a lot of criticism on that, but then, when people actually played these characters, they realised right away how different these characters played. The same thing will happen with DOA4. For those who are critical or sceptical about the evolution of the DOA4 characters, once they get a chance to play, they will realise that I was right.

I am very impressed that you actually noticed the optical element of the visuals, because that is what we are really focussing on right now.

I personally like the way that the team is sticking to the art style that suits this game and really works well for the series - while really dveeloping the technical standard of the environments etc.

There' s also a lot of discussion about DOA' s gameplay, and stuff.

No, sure.

Thanks for clearing that one up, Itagaki!

I received a Mac development machine from Microsoft [...] In testing the game, we overheated the machine - and broke a bunch of them!

Quit blocking the vents and fans with your porno magazines! Don' t make me slap you!

I broke many!

I fail to understand why you didn' t just tell Tecmo that you broke one more and sent it to me for free. Why did this situation not occur?

Anyway I have heard that the motion blur will only be available in replay modes or the new camera mode (or something like that). Hopefully the depth-of-field blur (BG' s out of focus, foreground sharp) will remain during the gameplay.

Great interview!

A fantastic read, I always enjoy reading interviews with this guy, especially ones as in depth as Kikizo' s. Can' t wait for DOA4

Woohoo more stuff to rub in the face of my DOA addicted girlfriend!

Anyhow, the backgrounds and enviroments look great in this game and the visual effects are a cool improvement. I agree about the characters, the style should remain how it is, they just dont seem like they are meant to be real. Besides it gives Team Ninja more time to add the other extra little details, the ones that make the game move in the fluid way it does and look amazing in the process.

I wanna know what else they plan to add into the online play.