Itagaki has a little more to say about Tekken 4...

http://xbox.ign.com/news/38187.html

An interview with the leader of Team Ninja is one that\'s never ordinary. A MUST read...

September 10, 2001[/b]

Although it was only five months ago, things have drastically changed on the Xbox side of things. The doubt that came from Microsoft\'s average E3 2001 (some say awful) showing is nearly gone, replaced with sold out signs for Xbox preorders. The worry about the Xbox being a disaster has now changed with the infinite possibilities on how big of a revolution will happen come November 8th. Most of all, the focus of software from E3 - concentrating on Halo and Munch\'s - has gone through a full 180 to the great anticipation of Dead Or Alive 3. As one of the most spectacular looking Xbox titles at launch, we once again had the great pleasure to sit down and chat with the master shinobi at Tecmo\'s Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki, and despite working 80 plus hours on every microscopic detail on Dead Or Alive 3, he had more than enough stamina to talk about several topics. And as you read through the interview, he\'s not one to mince words, either, when it comes to the competition:

IGNXbox: Last we spoke at E3 2001, you still had plans on making that football game that was your first canned title. Are we going to see that football game on the Xbox?

Tomonobu Itagaki: (smiles) Well, it may not be that game but we\'re thinking about doing sports titles for Xbox. My predecessor basically failed with the football project and the management has promised me that if I succeed with Ninja Gaiden THEN I can do a football game (smiles).

IGNXbox: Oh, well that\'s not really fair for us.

TI: Well, you may have to wait a while for that football game.

IGNXbox: That\'s fine, we can wait. Anyways, at E3 this year, Microsoft was really concentrating on the US developed launch titles like Halo, Munch\'s, and Mad Dash and they didn\'t seem to be paying a lot of attention to Dead Or Alive 3. But in the past couple of months, they\'re finally concentrating their attention on Dead Or Alive 3 and you\'re getting a lot of attention - many have said the title is the "killer app" for the Xbox. How has the additional pressure of being in the Xbox spotlight effected you and your team?

TI: I\'m very happy that they\'re actually focusing on Dead Or Alive 3 and for that, no matter how busy I am, I\'m willing to do whatever they ask me to do when it comes to promoting the title.

IGNXbox: Well, considering the quality of Dead Or Alive 3, shouldn\'t it be the other way around? Oh, on another matter, are you still thinking about releasing an arcade version of the title?

TI: Microsoft seems interested in the arcade market, so from that perspective, we have talked about the possibility. Fact of the matter is, the arcade games are no longer the place to demonstrate the technology of video games and now the home console it the place to show off what your game can do.

IGNXbox: With the recent Xbox Tokyo conference, the Xbox launch has been changed to February 22nd. Obviously, DOA3 is already set for a US launch but are you going to change anything in DOA3 for the Japanese launch?

TI: Originally, I didn\'t have time to differentiate the two versions. But now, since I\'m going to have extra time, I\'m going to work on the Japanese version. I do know and believe that the fans of DOA3 in the US are the most eagerly waiting this game and I\'m not going to do anything to make them disappointed.

IGNXbox: At this point, the game is about 50% complete. It looks pretty darn good to me, but what are you planning to add visually at this point besides finishing touches? Are there any major visual changes you\'re going to make and is there a final count for the cast of characters?



Hitomi, the powerful karate girl, is one of the new fighters in DOA3.

TI: Sixteen characters are the final count and we\'re keeping all the main characters from the past DOA series. What you see here is about half of the entire worlds - I don\'t like referring to the fighting levels as stages because they\'re much bigger than that. Of course, we have yet to add the tag battle mode, time trial, and other various fighting modes that we have yet to decide on. But don\'t worry; I\'m not going to screw up the tag system the way Tekken Tag Tournament did. And yes, you can quote me on that.

IGNXbox: Um…okay. Now that you mention the tag feature, that brings up my next question. The tag feature in DOA2 was a lot of fun, and I\'m wondering if you\'re going to make any changes to the tag feature. For example, each character in DOA2 had a special partner that would deliver a different tag team throw than others… are you going to add more of these special tag team throws?

TI: No, that\'s not going to happen and the reason being if the type of fighting styles don\'t match - kung fu and pro wrestling for example - it just wouldn\'t make sense. It would be a mismatch of martials arts. So the tag battle system has been evolved quite a bit and you\'ll be able to do some very interesting things with the new version of DOA.

IGNXbox: Like what?

TI: Hmm… well, I can\'t tell you much right now, but the last version of DOA, the tag battle was made for hardcore gamers. This time on the Xbox, the casual gamer will be able to totally enjoy the tag battle and the hardcore gamer will enjoy it even more. So, as you\'ve played it yourself the game is easier to play enabling casual gamers to easily enjoy the game while not losing the depth for the hardcore fans. The tag battle mode is along the same idea where tag mode is easier to implement for casual players but not losing any depth for the hardcore fans. And unlike previous versions, we\'ll have ending movies for DOA3 when you finish the game. So, I\'m making this the most well-equipped and most luxurious fighting gamer there is.

IGNXbox: Well, it\'s certainly looking that way. On that note, I have to mention the competition - Tekken 4 and Virtua Fighter 4. I\'m sure you\'ve had a chance to see both titles in arcades, so what do you think of them and out of both titles, which one is the better one?

TI: Well, Virtua Fighter 4 is the better game to me - I would pay money to actually buy Virtua Fighter 4. Tekken 4, even if someone paid me, I wouldn\'t play it! Let me explain my reasons why.

SEGA, of course, their infrastructure allows them to support hardware and software exceptionally. Virtua Fighter 4, as a fighting game, is a good game and my overall respect for it, in its detail and the overall gameplay, is high though I feel Virtua Fighter 4 plays a bit too identical to its previous versions. The hardcore gamers will realize that the card system [of VF4] idea originally came from Dead Or Alive 2: Hardcore\'s User Profile System. I really don\'t care about SEGA using my idea especially with a company that has a good infrastructure that allows them to provide this [the VF4 card system] for the gamer. I think it\'s a good thing - it\'s a game that the players out there need. Of course, I\'m referring to the arcade version and I\'m not sure if the US version or console version have the same things. I respect the overall content of the game from the outside though from the inside, the game isn\'t really up to par. The game was made very conservatively and it\'s kinda old. But again, I can excuse that because the game carries tradition. In terms of the actual gameplay, they failed with VF3 so they went back to VF2 and used that as guide for VF4. From that perspective, I\'m a little bit disappointed in VF4.

The content for Tekken 4, the inside, is very incomplete and as everyone knows, Tekken is a 2D game. So the fact that everyone has been saying that, they\'re not really happy about that. For that reason, they\'ve tried to change that feeling with Tekken 4 and truly make it 3D. But I can see that it\'s a failure. Would you like to hear why?

IGNXbox: I\'m sure all our devoted readers would love to hear.

TI: (smiles) If Namco listens to what I\'m about to say, they\'ll be able to make better games in the future. The attacks in Tekken 4 are made possible only because of the 2D nature of the game. Unless they change that basic motion, you\'ll never be able make a game that feels like you\'re in a 3D environment. I don\'t know, maybe it\'s by accident that we released the title around the same time on the same platform [DOA2: Hardcore and Tekken Tag Tournament on PS2], but I did my research on that game quite thoroughly. And I was quite surprised and shocked at the lack of motion in the title. For instance, the lack of distance of a certain move, or just movement in general, is very limited. The way they made the game look better was to keep the action moving forward and combinations of forward motions with flashy effects, they - in essence - cheated players in making the game look better than it actually was. So, I said to myself, if I were to make a sequel to Tekken, what would I do? First off, the game has to increase its motion capabilities to make the game more realistic.
In our game, we have huge environments yet there are a lot beautiful things packed in there, but if they were to maintain their style of forward movement and motion and make their environments as big and 3D as ours, their stages would be bland, plain, and flat. As a result, from an artistic point of view, the game is a bomb. So, for them to increase their level of artistic quality and the feel of realism, they basically reprogram the motion and everything from scratch. But I\'m assuming they didn\'t have the ability to do that, so that\'s why they just switch the background. The small stages make the level of the game very low. So, I guess to compensate for that, they made an airport as a fighting stage. Do you think your reader\'s will feel that\'s an appropriate background for a fighting game in 2001, especially after seeing what we\'ve done? Team Ninja wouldn\'t even use a stage like that for our games, even if it were for testing purposes! My main purpose is to create a fighting game so I don\'t want to focus too much on the backgrounds but it\'s also important to have a realistic motion and moves and to do that, they have to incorporate more realistic backgrounds. As one of the major developers that are trying to make the fighting genre grow in the industry, to see a game like Tekken 4 is a major disappointment; a game like Tekken 4 will "stunt the growth" of this genre as a whole. If Namco is serious about making a 3D game, they need to redo their game from scratch and if they\'re not willing to do that, they should go back to doing 2D games. Which reminds me (starts laughing), I guess they\'re bringing out Tekken on the GBA and it\'s looking pretty good on that system.

IGNXbox: Well, it does look good on the GBA. Still, the changes that the Tekken team made for Tekken 4 should keep Tekken fans happy. Do you think they didn\'t have time to make any huge changes or do you think they\'ve made just the right amount of changes that will keep fans of the series satisfied?

TI: I just think they\'re lazy... that development team has become lazy.

IGNXbox: Well, let\'s concentrate a little more on your game then - Dead Or Alive 3. How much do you feel this game has improved over Dead Or Alive 2?

TI: Uh… good question. (smiles) I think about five times the improvement; things I couldn\'t do with DOA2 I was able to do in excess with DOA3. In fact, when I\'m finally done with DOA3, I don\'t even feel like touching DOA2. When I go home, my daughter asks me to play "Kasumi\'s game" [DOA2], but I said no to that and to wait because I\'m making a new game for you. So instead, we just play Nintendo games at home.

IGNXbox: What games would that be?

TI: Animal Forest and, of course, Mario Kart... she\'s quite good at Mario Kart (smiles).

IGNXbox: If you were to pinpoint the biggest changes from DOA2 to DOA3, what would they be?

TI: First of all, we didn\'t have ending movies in DOA2 and now we\'re doing that. We\'re going to end up with a lot of good ending movies. So we got 50 members at Team Ninja developing the game but in addition, we have about 100 Tecmo staffers working on the movies. So I think that\'s one of the biggest differences from DOA2 and DOA3. Of course, the gameplay and controls are much easier with DOA3. Of course, the fighting areas are enormous now. Hmm… you know, I can\'t pinpoint every single thing because everything has been significantly changed and improved.


Diagram of the beach level

IGNXbox: You spoke about endings and I\'m assuming every character has their own ending, but will endings also be determined by certain actions while fighting and how many endings are planned?

TI: Well, each character has their own specific ending that will tell a lot more about their story. That\'s all I can really say for now.

IGNXbox: The Xbox has built-in online capabilities and a hard drive. Are you planning use that? For example, players can go online and download new costumes. Do you have any plans for that?

TI: Well, remember when I said earlier "I\'m not going to do anything to make the US gamers disappointed" about the Japanese version changes to DOA3? That has something to do with the question your asking. So again, to US gamers, don\'t worry about the changes to the Japanese version and US gamers should feel very safe when they purchase the game on November 8th.

IGNXbox: This is one of our reader questions: How do you feel about Xbox controller?

TI: This one (points to the US Xbox controller) "Duke", the Japanese one is called "Akebono" (starts laughing). Obviously, "Duke" is a little too big for me, but it seems like the Americans are using it so, no problem. And for me, "Akebono" is really good.

IGNXbox: Ok… are you still planning to show Ninja Gaiden at Tokyo Game Show this October?

TI: Was there plans to? (laughs) What a really interesting interview today! Of course, I\'m working on Ninja Gaiden especially since management won\'t let me work on my football game till Ninja Gaiden is done! (smiles) I can assure you, development is progressing very nicely.

IGNXbox: How much longer do you think we\'ll have to wait for Ninja Gaiden?

TI: Well, we\'re in a situation where the development of Ninja Gaiden has been changing drastically and in a good way. And we\'re very close to putting all our resources into finishing up the project. At a point earlier this year, we\'ve been working on creating the engine but now, we\'re almost at a stage where we can actually play the game. I\'ve personally tried out games like Devil May Cry and it\'s fine, but most of the adventure games out there feel a bit old to me. I\'m not saying old is bad and I respect developers who make traditional games. But we\'ve been focusing on the direction for the next generation, and now our Ninja Gaiden engine is nearly complete and ready to assign designers. I\'m planning to show visuals of Ninja Gaiden hopefully before the end of this year, or at worst, the beginning of next year.

IGNXbox: Can\'t wait... can\'t wait...

TI: Additionally, the Xbox sports titles that I talked to you and told you about earlier, you may see something on that before Ninja Gaiden. I\'m doing this to make people more comfortable about buying DOA3 for Xbox. Of course, since I\'m making it, it\'s not going to be an ordinary sports game.

IGNXbox: Nothing you say or do, Mr. Itagaki, ever is (smiles).


Once again, IGNXbox would like to thank Mr. Itagaki very much for his time and his interesting opinions. We also like to thank Tecmo of America\'s John Inada who translated the interview flawless… though a bit wide-eyed at certain points of the interview.

Interview conducted by Anthony Chau, IGN

... What do you guys think?

He may be right, that\'s what I think.  But he\'s just talking graphics, so if you like Tekken, play Tekken.  But I\'ll keep my DOAs.

I posted this in a different T4 bashing thread, my apologies if you\'ve already read it, but I\'m too lazy to rethink my thoughts (logic?):

I thought the first tekken was the best in the series. TTT and T4 are pretty bad if you ask me. This bashing is getting ridiculous though, he should stop talking until DOA3 can back up his talk. If DOA3 turns out to be DOA2 with less jaggies on the titties, then I see a lot of backlash coming his way.

He doesn\'t bash VF4, he praises it mostly. I also agree that VF2 was the best of the series. If VF4 is like VF2 with a few tweaks, then I\'ll be the first in line.

If DOA3 turns out to be the best fighter ever then he can say whatever he likes. Michael Jordan was a c@cky, trash-talking, egomaniac, but he\'s the best player ever in the sport of basketball.

If his actions can back up his words I don\'t have to like him, but I will respect him.