Fresh DoA4 details

Team Ninja leader, Tomonobu Itagaki, has uncovered a bevy of details for Xbox 360 title, Dead or Alive 4 via an interview in Famitsu Xbox.

The Japanese magazine reports Itagaki's desire for additions to the fighting system, with an emphasis on individual holds for each character and hopefully the return of the offensive hold system, providing similar techniques to Leon's mount tackle and Jann Lee's dragon gunner moves from DoA3. Itagaki reveals that because of this improved feature, Lei Fan has a total of 14 holds currently in the game.

The Team Ninja leader goes on to say the fighting system in DoA4 is based off his most favoured title in the series so far, Dead or Alive ++, shifting things more towards an offensive style of play, adjusted reversal techniques and more unique moves across the character classes. All of which should result in a different feel to the game, aided somewhat by around 20 playable fighters according to Itagaki, with a mixture of all the old characters and new faces. That's about 17 oldies in total, apparently.

In the six-page feature and interview, Famitsu Xbox also discloses that a camera-man mode should be available, complete with a shutter speed function for blur effects, although it's said that the blur makes it too difficult to be used during actual gameplay fighting, so is for viewing only.

With Team Ninja working on hair and clothing simulations (the former not quite as detailed to create individual strands, but still impressive), it's no surprise that there are plans for downloadable costumes and other content, as it's expected to be around ten or more outfits per character. These should also look more visually impressive to what's been shown so far, with a graphical upgrade courtesy of Xbox 360 beta development kits finally available to the team. Mist and fog effects should be apparent along with a higher quality of visuals, come the launch of the game with the 360 in Japan this December.

Europe should get Dead or Alive 4 around Christmas, with any luck.