Dead or Alive Ultimate

Ever wanted to go online and have a good fight? No, I don't just mean shooting one another with machine guns or rocket grenades. I mean a fight where you can someone give a mean looking Death Valley Driver to the ground. Or how about a sharp Thai kick right to the head? You know -- a real one on one fighting game. You can play the Xbox edition of Capcom vs. SNK 2 for some online fighting, but that's the only one I can think of that's available for consoles. Why isn't there more? Tecmo finally answers the demands of fight fans everywhere. They are delivering their top beat em up series to the Xbox Live service in Dead or Alive Ultimate (formally known as Dead or Alive Online).

Team Ninja's Dead or Alive 3 game was a huge hit for the Xbox thanks its superior character models, excellent music, and intense fighting action. The game is also notorious for having some of the most outrageous looking half naked girls ever seen in a video game. Who could forget characters like Kasumi and Christie - both of whom come with perfect figures and tiny outfits, which may cost the series some credibility, but they sure are easy on the eyes -- no doubt. The only real problem you could say the game had was that since it was originally a launch title for the system, there was no option to play it online. Instead of just sticking some online features on a previously released Xbox greatest hit (like THQ did with their lame Tetris Worlds game), Tecmo and Team Ninja are giving Xbox owners a chance to play the first and second games of the hit DOA series in this new title. Perfect for gamers who never got the chance to play them to begin with!

The original Dead or Alive game is based on none other then the never before released Sega Saturn version, the first ever home edition of a DOA game. The game has only a handful of fighters, Tina the female wrestler still had brown hair, and just like the bonus Saturn game found in Panzer Dragoon Orta, the game remains unchanged from the original. Therefore, you can expect to see some basic first generation 3D visuals. The version of Dead or Alive 2 however, is completely redone using the DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball engine, so the game will look as good -- or even better then DOA 3. The Dead or Alive series has always been about high quality graphics no matter what system it appears on, and Ultimate shouldn't disappoint. You can also expect a few other cool surprises: new costumes, cinemas, and expanded fighting arenas to liven up the game even further.

From the demos I've seen so far, the game appears to be mostly in Japanese. Is the game going to have English voice-overs this time like the Playstation2 did, or is most of the game going to remain in Japanese like Extreme Beach Volleyball I wonder?