Team Ninja's head ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki, was once again present and accounted for at E3 2006. We sat down with Itagaki-san to discuss how the Dead or Alive series has developed, where the series is going with DOA Xtreme 2, online fighting games, and several other all important matters. Itagaki was dressed in his usual rock star attire of black shades and a black jacket, and right before we sat down with him, he was mobbed by some of the hardcore DOA fans over at DOA Central.

Itagaki and his fellow developers at Team Ninja pushed back Dead or Alive 4 for over a month after the launch of the Xbox 360. At the Tokyo Game Show, he informed us that he had been working for several days without any sleep. When we asked Itagaki what he did after DOA4 was finally completed, he informed us that he took a month off just goofing around before starting work on DOAX2.

If you've seen the trailer for DOAX2, you may have questioned whether or not that was real-time footage. We asked Itagaki this same question and he looked at us baffled before proclaiming that the trailer was done in real-time. So of course we had to follow up asking him how it was that DOAX2 looked so much better than Dead or Alive 4 (which is still the best looking fighting games available on console).

Itagaki informed us that with DOA4 Team Ninja had to use quite a bit of the processing power of the Xbox 360 to make the game run as fast and smoothly as it does. With DOAX2, because the title is not a fast-paced fighting game, Team Ninja was able to use more of the Xbox 360s power to create the phenomenal real-time graphics seen in the trailer. He also reassured us that the Xbox 360 is a very powerful machine and one that he will be working on for the next few years. When we asked about the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, Itagaki simply stated that he would look at both consoles once they've hit the market and then decide at that point what projects he will make available to each.

Our conversation with Itagaki-san also revealed that DOAX2 will feature several new mini-games in addition to volleyball. As seen in the trailer, jet skiing has been added to the mix, but that's not all DOAX fans can look forward to. There will be several other mini-games based around the pool and beach areas of Zack's new island. We're personally hoping that the "butt bumping" between Kasumi and Ayane that we saw in the trailer will make it into the final product.

Team Ninja is all about Xbox Live, and DOAX2 will feature online play in one form or another. Itagaki was able to confirm that there will be online lobbies similar to Dead or Alive 4. However, it's currently unknown what games will be available for online multiplayer. Once again, "butt bumping" is at the top of our list for online multiplayer mini-games in DOAX2.

There were over 300 bathing suits in the original DOAX, and DOAX2 will have even more. According to Itagaki, the first title was more of a gag title that he didn't really take as seriously as he takes some of his other games. However, DOAX2 he is taking more seriously, and the bathing suits will have more meaning this time around. The gameplay will also have more depth to it to appease players who thought the first game was just girls in bikinis.

Itagaki is so busy making games that he often times doesn't know what goes on with his games in the general public after he's done working on them. We took this opportunity to let Itagaki know that DOA4 will be featured in the Evolution Fighting Game Championships (Evo) later this year. At first Itagaki had Evo confused with the World Cyber Games (WCG) which will also be featuring DOA4 this year. However, after we explained that there were two different tournaments, WCG and Evo, Itagaki was very pleased to find out that his game would be featured at Evo.

Before Dead or Alive 4 released, it was stated on 1UP.com that this could be the last fighting game in the series. When we asked Itagaki about this, he explained that since it's the 10th anniversary of the series, he wanted to bring closure to the current storyline. However, that does not mean that the series if over and done with. Instead, he would like to move forward from DOA4 and possibly bring something new to the fans of the series in the way of a new storyline. While Itagaki did confirm that the next title in the series will be called DOA5, in our opinion, this indicates that the story and possibly many of the characters will be changing.

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