This interview was originally printed in the Winter edition of Xbox Nation magazine -- check out the magazine for the full feature on DOAX.
BY JUSTIN KEELING
Ita??s late on a dark October night, and Tomonobu Itagaki is wearing sunglasses.
Hea??s not what I expect from a video game producer. He strolls into our meeting room wearing a leather jacket, cowboy boots, and studded belt. His shoulder length hair obscures a weathered, mischievous face.
Plunking himself down opposite me, the self-styled bad boy of the Japanese video game industry casually dismisses Tecmoa??s PR manager/translator to go and find us some beers.
With the translator gone, Itagaki lights up the first of probably 80 cigarettes we will smoke tonight, and finally turns to address me a?g in English.
a??So, shoot.a??
XBN: Whata??s the exact nature of your involvement in Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball (DOAX)?
Itagaki: Actually, Ia??m not the producer of this game.
XBN: Whoa??s the producer?
Itagaki: Me. But really Ia??m the chief planner. Ia??m the chief architect. Chief tuner. Ia??m the Chief!
Itagaki abruptly gets up and walks over to the back of the room. He unsheathes a shining, three foot katana blade from a display case and points it directly at me:
a??You like this?a??
XBN: Err... yes. At Tokyo Game Show, Seamus Blackley mentioned that the concept for this game was born with you in his office late one night, and that you two originally called it a??Hentai Balleta??a?|.
Itagaki erupts into laughter and slaps his knees for several seconds.
a??No no no no! Well, yes.a??
XBN: So you agree that the main selling point of this game is its sex appeal?
Itagaki: No no no. The key word for DOAX is a??paradisea??.
XBN: But ita??s been rated an a??18 and over gamea?? in Japan. Ita??s adult entertainmenta?|
Itagaki: Let me tell you what entertainment is. Violence. Sex. Friendship. Death. Surprise. Betrayal. Dancing.
XBN: Is DOAX all of these things?
Itagaki: No! Not as such.
XBN: How do you classify the entertainment value of this game?
Itagaki: It is in several things. First is beauty. Second is sex. Sexual content, right? And therea??s humour.
XBN: Is DOAX using the same engine as DOA3?
Itagaki: No. we have a new engine. The DOA3 engine only featured three players at once. DOAX features foura?| and at higher quality!
XBN: Is it true that DOAX can be played entirely one-handed? Leaving the other handa?|.erra?| free?
Itagaki: Yes. But thata??s more to do with keeping the control simple. I have a five year old daughter. I want her to be able to play this game easily.
XBN: Youa??re ok with your five year old daughter playing the game?
Itagaki: Ok, not literally. DOAX has a great depth of playability. Two buttons, but you can just use one if you like it simpler. And the D-stick.
XBN: A lot of men will want to buy this game because of the attractive manga girls. For them, what is the most risquAc element youa??ve included in DOAX?
Itagaki: Youa??d be surprised, but this is not really a sex game. The girls are beautiful, but I think of them like daughters. Theya??re my babies!
XBN: So wea??re not getting any nudity at all?
Itagaki: Never! I ask you now, what kind of father would want to show his daughters naked?
XBN: I dona??t knowa?|. Do you happen to know any?
[Itagaki laughs hysterically]
Itagaki: Here look, Ia??m going to show you the latest trailer. No one else has seen this yet.
[Itagaki dims the lights and plays a new trailer for DOAX.]
Itagaki: Now does that look sexy to you?
XBN: Wella?|.
Itagaki: Even if we show nipples, that doesna??t necessarily mean a??sexya??. The real entertainment value of this game is in the beauty of the environments, the charactersa?| ita??s paradise!
XBN: A mena??s paradise.
Itagaki: Maybe. But when I see this, I feel beauty. I feel the love of the characters. I want players to feel the same way as they play.
XBN: Are you planning to have a booster disc for DOAX with extra costumes and such? How about letting players create and swap their own bikinis?
Itagaki: Thata??s all too Pokemon for me. Ia??m not a big fan of online gaming yet. When people buy this game, I want them to have the whole thing. I dona??t want to force people to buy new skins or whatever. We may consider a booster disc down the line though.
XBN: What percentage of the full game is actually volleyball?
Itagaki: Ah, ok. Let me break it down. About 30% of the game is the volleyball. About 2% is the pool-side hopping game. Another 30% is very beautiful, interactive CG.
XBN: Interactive CG? How does that work?
Itagaki: The player can control certain aspects of the CG. Like when characters dance, or relaxa?| there are various other activities on the island where the player can control the camera, feel involved.
XBN: How many minutes of CG are there in total?
Itagaki: About 10 minutes of pre-rendered CG like the trailer you just saw. And maybe 2,000 seconds of interactive CG. What is that, about three hours? Wea??re still making that actually.
XBN: Wea??re up to 62%. What else can you do in the game?
Itagaki: I guess about 15% is gambling. You can play roulette, blackjacka?| a number of things in the main hotel. You need to be careful though, the casino is always counting your winnings and you dona??t want to piss them off too much. Just like in real life! You can win money, but also prizes, extras for the girlsa?|.
XBN: Wea??re up to 77%.
Itagaki: Another 5% is the special trailer archive. This is a special opportunity for fans of Team Ninja games to check out a variety of unreleased footage from not only DOAX, but also the original of Ninja Gaiden, DOAa?| we have stuff pulled out of our archives from way back in 1996!
XBN: Ah interesting.
Itagaki: And the remaining 20% or so is shopping. Gift motivated stuff. Therea??ll be other ways to get extras for the girls than just the shop.
XBN: Moving on now a?g who is your personal favourite DOA girl?
Itagaki: Kasumi, for sure. I feela?|. responsible for her. Do you know that some hackers made a nude code for her in DOA3? It broke my heart. I feel very close to her after that event. It was an attack on her.
XBN: Kasumi is the youngest right? Shea??s 17. Dona??t you think DOAX sexualises young girls a bit?
Itagaki: Why not? In Japan, thata??s ok. Maybe ita??s 20 in America. Remember though, I was 27 myself when I created Kasumi. Ia??m older now, but 17 year old girls can still be very attractive. Still, Ia??m not the kind of creator that lets my own preferences get overwhelm the game. I makes games for the player, not just myself.
XBN: Would you be comfortable featuring a?g say a?g a 15 year old girl as a sexy character?
Itagaki: In Japanese tradition, people become adult at the age of 16. I think the legal age is 20. But there are cultures in the world where girls get married at 13. I guess the current status of society will limit what we can do or cana??t do. But when we design characters of course we design them on the Japanese cultural standard.
XBN: Leta??s talk about some of your other projects. How do you think Ninja Gaiden compares to Segaa??s new Shinobi game?
Itagaki: Honestly, I didna??t see it. I glanced at it at TGS, thata??s it. I was a fan of the original Shinobi games, but Ia??m not really interested in the new one. In short, it isna??t an influence.
XBN: Has work started on Dead or Alive 4?
Itagaki: Of course!
XBN: Are you planning it for Xbox or another system?
Itagaki: Ia??m looking at a fairly big change this time. I might look at a next generation system for DOA4a?| ita??s not decided yet. I dona??t want to alienate current Xbox owners though.
XBN: Youa??ve made some harsh comments in the past about Tekken. Do you regret saying these things?
Itagaki: Tekken 1 was good. Tekken 2 was better, and Tekken 3 even better than that. My family are big fans of Tekken 3! But Tekken was just did not push the genre at all. Such lazy development, it really annoys me. I do respect what the AM2 team did with Virtua Fighter 4. I am a fan of simplification, and I liked that they tried to increase the mass appeal of the game by cutting out one button. But DOA3 is still a better game.
XBN: Still, youa??ve made some harsh comments in public about the games that pretty much founded the genre. Do you consider it normal practice to slag off your competitors?
Itagaki: Let me tell you the real story with that. Back when the original DOA came out, Namco aired a radio commercial -- they insulted my series. As the father of DOA, I will never forget an insult to my family. I will get them back with nuclear missiles more than 100 times for that. I will never forget it.
XBN: I have some specific questions from fans now. Was the original DOA based on Virtua Fighter 2 code given from Sega?
Itagaki: No no noa?| thata??s just a rumour. We did study that game, and Sega was very helpful. But the code was all ours!
XBN: Do you think that DOA3 would have sold more if youa??d made it for PS2?
Itagaki: DOA3 couldna??t be done on PS2! What I call a??fat companiesa?? need to hedge their bets with PS2, but Team Ninja has the freedom to get the best looking games out there.
XBN: Is PS2 harder to develop for than Xbox?
Itagaki: No, not really. PS2 development was easy for us. Do you know something? We converted DOA2 to PS2 in just three months. If your programmers are good enough, PS2 development shouldna??t be anything to complain about.
XBN: Another question from a fan: how many similarities with the Xbox Ninja Gaiden have with the original games?
Itagaki: Practically none. Team Ninja originally developed the concept for a new action game ground up. Basically, Tecmo management begged us to call it Ninja Gaiden, so we did. The origin of the game is actually not the old Ninja Gaiden. We were just doing a next generation action game.
XBN: Final question, from the fans: what games and films inspire you?
Itagaki: [dramatic pause] My name is Gladiator! Great movie! But I think my favourite movie is probably Leon. As for games, Zelda, Ocarina of Time was fantastic. I didna??t like Majoraa??s Mask that much though. My current favourite is Pikmin. A work of brilliance. I really feel for the little Pikmin. Halo also impressed me recently. Ia??m stuck on level six, ita??s just so intense.
XBN: What else recently?
Itagaki: I liked Ominusha. MGS2 didna??t impress me, neither did Final Fantasy. Not games for me. I dona??t like games with low-interactivity.
XBN: With the huge success of games like GTA3 and Halo, do you think Japanese developers should be worried about Western developers taking over their turf?
Itagaki: Ia??m not worried myself, but I think other Japanese developers should be. Ita??s natural that Western gamers are catching up and developing their own style. I havena??t played GTA3, ita??s not a game for me. I like more loveable games myselfa?| like Pikmin.
.. war echt fies.
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