New DOA4 auto update

By Ellie Gibson Published 17 March, 2006

This one balances things out.

Tecmo has released a new automatic update for Xbox 360 fighter Dead or Alive 4.

Apparently this one includes some small adjustments to the interfaces and "balances" characters, tweaking moves like launchers, stuns and sweeps. A few characters' speeds have changed - some are faster, and some are slower. And there's bad news for button bashers - certain power moves now do less damage, so you'll have to play a bit more skilfully.

When you download the update, you'll also get the option to reset your battle tactics - but your Zack money, avatars and so on will not be affected.

The new DOA4 update is available now via Xbox Live.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • morriss #1 6 years ago

    Still mulling over if I should buy this.

  • Huntcjna #2 6 years ago

    Bloody love this game I need to get back into it now the new balancing patch is out, problem is I don't want to take FNR3 out of my box.

  • Hicksy #3 6 years ago

    It's total and utter shite!

    :(

  • Zuiyo #4 6 years ago

    Hum... been playing a few seconds ago.

    I would prefer console games not to be patched. But apparently it's going to be almost inevitable.

    FCUK patches.

  • smelly #5 6 years ago

    Stuff like this totally puts me off buying a 360.

    Sorry, but if you cant release a game in a finished state, dont make me download stuff to make it final.

  • mazzl #6 6 years ago

    @smelly, not to be an xbox fanboy.. but do you really think ps3 will be any different? or pc for that matter?

  • Darkedge #7 6 years ago

    hmmm just hope the have fixed the stupid amount of jugging in the game.. makes it a right pain to play.

  • alimokrane #8 6 years ago

    I wasnt a beat them up guy but after dead or alive 4, I sure as hell became one. The online play is addictive (when you manage to get past the lags which happen quite often). Have to go home and see what this update'll do.

  • smelly #9 6 years ago

    @smelly, not to be an xbox fanboy.. but do you really think ps3 will be any different? or pc for that matter?

    Well patches are the reason I stopped playing pc games, and bought a ps2/xbox and cube. This is going backwards for me.

    As long as people start accepting patches as the NORM, then we'll start getting shoddy buggy not fully tested games being released, and people will accept it knowing they can download the patch. It's a disgusting state of affairs to be in, and I (for one) am avoiding any patches for that reason.


    @LeDilettante : "I dont care that you dont care. I think it's HUGELY important that patches DONT become the norm on consoles. Otherwise companies will start releasing unfinished games and patching bugs, and I dont think ANY of us want that surely?"

    Or is this one of those things where everyone is suddenly going to get upset because i dared to say something bad about their choice in machine? Grr

  • Furbs #10 6 years ago

    smelly, if you dont want patches, then stick to 2D puzzle games and 8bit stuff. As games get more complex interms of coding, as online becomes increasingly important, and as development costs rise, its going to become more and more common.

    Whilst the third one isnt really excusable, the first 2 are.

  • Scientist #11 6 years ago

    "then we'll start getting shoddy buggy not fully tested games being released"

    This isn't true as the platform holders have a set of techincal requirements and standards such that a really buggy incomplete game would not pass master submission.
    Whereas PC developers do not have to submit their game for platform approval and can therefore get away with releasing obviously unfinished games.

  • Ninjamagic #12 6 years ago

    WOe to the days of PC patches coming full time to consoles is all i say. I remember this thread and the debate.

    Anyone seen GRAW? and the bugs in the eurogamer review? and how they marked it down because of its rushed state even?

    Seems like nearly every game on microsofts xbox 360 is now being patched for being buggy/crap just like the PC.

    Heres hoping Sony takes a few lessons/hints from this for PS3.

    Even if they restore some semblence to the "rushed to the shops" mentality its good for consumers

  • optimusprym8 #13 6 years ago

    I am unbelievably shite at this game. I ruled the first 3, funk knows what's happened here, maybe I'm not hardcore enough anymore. It's going back as soon as Oblivion is out.

  • Xerx3s #14 6 years ago

    Here we go again.... A) patching is new, B) Expect sony to have the same policy now that they include a HDD + online service.

  • reality_cheque #15 6 years ago

    @smelly: could you not just go and re-read one of the other gazillion threads where patching is attacked/defended/counter attacked etc, instead of trying to start the whole bloody thing all over again.

  • reality_cheque #16 6 years ago

    @Ninjamagic: "Seems like nearly every game on microsofts xbox 360 is now being patched for being buggy/crap just like the PC"

    Stop talking such utter bollocks.

  • smelly #17 6 years ago

    Okay, I'll shut up. I'll just pop up in 5 years time and say "I told ya so!"

  • Stormflood_UK #18 6 years ago

    Anyone seen those Kazumi figurines you can find on eBay? Blimey.

  • tengu #19 6 years ago

    I'm already pretty bored with this game, it just isn't as much fun as DOA3 or DOAU. The AI is just annoying, and there aren't enough single player incentives compared to other beat em ups to hold the interest for long, and the multiplayer(non-online) again, isn't as good as previous titles.

    I'll be trading this one in against Oblivion next week I think.

  • paulf #20 6 years ago

    id get fn3 instead mate if i was you much more fun imo

  • tengu #21 6 years ago

    Nah, I hate boxing games.

  • reality_cheque #22 6 years ago

    I'll just pop up in 5 years time and say "I told ya so!"

    If you believe the bullshit we'll all be downloading games rather than buying them in these archaic 'shop' things anyway, so you won't even notice patches :p

  • smelly #23 6 years ago

    If you believe the bullshit we'll all be downloading games

    Lol.. True.

    But we all know that'll never happen. If everyone is downloading games, then shops wont stock the console (as for the shops, the consoles themselves make bog all profit), if no-one is stocking the console, no-one will buy the console to play the games.

    (If u get me).

  • moggsy #24 6 years ago

    If everyone is downloading games, then shops wont stock the console (as for the shops, the consoles themselves make bog all profit), if no-one is stocking the console, no-one will buy the console to play the games.

    Yes that's true unless you change the way that consoles are sold to be more like the mobile phone market (where the hardware is heavily subsidised) then the manufacturers could allow the shops to make more profit on the console itself. This subsidy would be payed for by the money generated from the various downloads - a very lucrative market if handled correctly.

    So you probably won't get game shops anymore but the likes of Comet and Dixons will sell games consoles next to the Blu-Ray players etc.

    It's the future...

  • --Ad-- #25 6 years ago

    The final boss is still very unfair... She still makes the DOA4 disc become an expensive frisbee.

  • Ninjamagic #26 6 years ago

    reality_cheque

    Bit of a misleading name with comments like that.

  • Genji #27 6 years ago

    Is it possible to have an argument on here without resorting to insults?

    I'm not against patching games on consoles. I think it's a good idea in this case, where you tweak little things to make it more balanced.

    It's only when patches are being used to fix serious bugs that I start liking it less. Not that I think bugs shouldn't be fixed, but that they shouldn't be there in the first place. Not on a console.

  • WhyMeeeeee #28 6 years ago

    well i just been reading xbox forums, there was a march update to prepare 360 for future games and since update 100's of 360's been dieing.
    the thread has got 900+ replies lol

    eurogamer, do some investigative journalism on this subject, it looks like a major problem for microsoft
    Edited by WhyMeeeeee at 18/03/06 @ 05:58

  • Wobble #29 6 years ago

    Viva Piņata!

  • smelly #30 6 years ago

    @Genji : My point exactly. But for some reason, just because i argue against anti-nintendo posts in other threads - my point is therefor invalid as i'm OBVIOUSLY a fanboy (or some other equally lame name).

  • reality_cheque #31 6 years ago

    The final boss is still very unfair... She still makes the DOA4 disc become an expensive frisbee.
    Is it as bad as that boss (i think it was in on of the tekken games) where the screen is all wobbly? I still feel angry every time I think of it!

  • reality_cheque #32 6 years ago

    But we all know that'll never happen. If everyone is downloading games, then shops wont stock the console (as for the shops, the consoles themselves make bog all profit), if no-one is stocking the console, no-one will buy the console to play the games.

    High street shops are already suffering from online purchases - if things keep going well for places like Amazon, Play.com etc, and more of the high street shops start getting into the online business themselves, people won't actually need a physical shop to purchase the hardware and that's without any of the big 3 doing their own online distribution. I certainly don't see it happening this generation, but with the progress that's being made in mobile telephony (super3G supposedly offering 100mbit/sec) it's not entirely bluesky thinking to suggest that future 'generations' of consoles could incorporate a huge HHD and some kind of evolved super3g to handle its own communications, thus removing the need for a broadband connection in the home - and once you've removed that, you've got rid of a major stumbling block towards downloadable games.

    @Ninjamagic - sorry, I could have been a little more diplomatic there. I was just annoyed at your "Seems like nearly every game on microsofts xbox 360 is now being patched for being buggy/crap just like the PC. comment, which was a little bit overdramatic, and which I consider to be a fallacy caused by the fact it's the most high profile games such as GRAW, COD2 or DOA4 that have the problems, almost all the others are abolutely fine.

  • --Ad-- #33 6 years ago

    Is it as bad as that boss (i think it was in on of the tekken games) where the screen is all wobbly? I still feel angry every time I think of it!

    @ reality_cheque

    Wasn't that DOA3? Yeah that did my head in too. But yeah I think this girl is worse. You could generally beat the DOA3 boss by getting up close, but the DOA4 boss has moves that take 3/4 of your health off and also likes to disappear behind you when you throw a punch at her then pummel you in to the ground from behind. Great example of writing AI that makes you want to imagine the coder getting the crap beaten out of him by his own creation for real :-)

  • miiiguel #34 6 years ago

    " Still mulling over if I should buy this."

    ...me too, I had the box in my hand this Sunday, for about 15 minutes. Couldn't decide between this and FNR3. Maybe I'll get Burnout: Revenge, and forget this fighting game urge I have.