14 DAY TRIAL // The Dead or Alive fighting games have always been known for their impressive attention to the female form and the outlandish imagination of the artists working on the game. But with the fifth full title in the series, Team Ninja plans to create women characters that can be respected and not just admired.
Speaking to Gamasutra, Yosuke Hayashi, the leader of the development effort at Team Ninja, has stated, “In the series up to now we focused on some kind of… Sports Illustrated. Like a magazine for high school kids, with women portrayed in that sense. We’ve always had the sex factor in the game; in the past, the female characters had to have big breasts, they had to have scanty dress.”
This approach will change with the new installment and the developer added, “We’re trying to focus on the real women that surround us; the voice of a female, the mannerisms. We are being realistic about it.
“We want to show something that’s more high class, that adult males of our generation could look at a woman and be impressed with her as a woman, not just as a pin-up.”
Dead or Alive 5 is set to arrive during 2012, but the development team has been pretty quiet about the game, the characters it will use and the modifications made to the gameplay.
The efforts of Team Ninja are now focused on Ninja Gaiden 3, set to arrive in late March.
It seems that the developers are eager to move beyond the sex and violence focus that has defined their previous titles and are crafting emotional experiences to link players with the game world and will show them how the main characters feel.
Some fans have reacted badly to this new game design philosophy, but Team Ninja has assured them that over the top violence will remain a part of the Ninja Gaiden game features.