00:06Check out the architecture! This thing is awesome!
00:11That's our new interface control system, completely redesigned for the PlayStation 2.
00:15Extremely cool! I love the new Neo-Tech look!
00:19Yeah, Maggie, why don't you tell the viewers what we have in store for them?
00:22Alrighty then, the team from Tecmo dropped by to give us a taste of their new DOA 2 Hardcore game.
00:28Oh, and Maggie, don't forget about our trip out to LucasArts to check out the new Starfighter game.
00:32Okay, who's the host here? You or me?
00:35Sorry.
00:36We also have cool moves, downloads, and all the other stuff you've come to expect from the PlayStation Underground.
00:41So check it out!
00:43Okay, I'm going to float around here while checking out all the new PlayStation 2 stuff.
00:47See you on the inside!
00:58Get ready, fight!
01:13Get ready, fight!
01:26From the producers of the Japanese PlayStation 2 game Dead or Alive 2 comes the all-new, all-American version DOA 2 Hardcore.
01:32It's got fearless fighters, great cool control, and scads of incredible women.
01:38Hey, keep your pants on, fellas, because it's time to hear from the game director, Tom Itagaki, on what makes this fighting game so sweet!
01:45There are three things that make a fighting game great.
01:50First of all, we focus on the motion of the game.
01:53Secondly, we work on the playability or control.
01:56And thirdly, we think about what will feel the best when we play.
02:01The visual and sound are secondary.
02:03It doesn't matter how good it looks or how good it sounds if you don't have those three things.
02:08Motion, control, and the good feeling.
02:14What I mean by motion is that it is not just the attacks, but is the entire movement of the character, from standing position to fighting.
02:25The stance of the character is quite important.
02:27No matter how good of an attack this particular character might have, if his stance does not look cool, you aren't getting the full benefit of the motion.
02:39Of course, the standing is one thing, but the attacks do need to look good.
02:43And when you get hit, you need to look like you're in pain.
02:46That relates to the good feeling that you get as a player.
02:57Okay, besides the motion, the control, and that I love it when my face is bashed in feeling,
03:11we needed to know what separates DOA 2 Hardcore from the other fighting games.
03:19The controls of the game are based on the Japanese game Janken, or Rock Paper Scissors.
03:24In the past, fighting games have only had two types of moves, offensive and defensive.
03:31So I added the third component, the hold button.
03:34The concept of Janken is so simple.
03:36It is something that everyone can relate to.
03:39That is why when we apply it to a fighting game, it works.
03:45The typical block feature of other games are low risk, low return.
03:49Our hold button allows you to do high risk, high return.
03:52Also, we do have a regular block mode as well.
03:57Speaking of blocks, DOA 2 Hardcore features a bunch of blockbuster new levels.
04:01The question is, what inspired these new levels?
04:04And did those amazing women have anything to do with it?
04:07We created three new levels for this game.
04:10Crimson is based on the city of Hong Kong.
04:12I designed the desert scene from the Great Plains of America.
04:22And in the dojo, I wanted to introduce Japanese culture to Americans.
04:29Whenever I come to America, I am impressed by it and touched by it.
04:31When American gamers play the dojo level, I want them to feel the same thing.
04:36To be impressed by it and touched by it.
04:38So I included subtle details like a shiny wooden floor and the paper partition door that you can knock out if you want to.
04:44These things are very Japanese and I am hoping that gamers will get a feel for the culture.
04:47There are also two other new levels, but you'll have to wait and see them for yourself.
05:01Delayed gratification is so 90s, but it looks like we don't have a choice.
05:05Where we do have a choice is asking another question.
05:08And that is, what else can our gung-ho gamers expect?
05:10DOA 2 Hardcore is not just a fighting game.
05:14I look at it as a fighting action game.
05:17So if you keep playing the game and punch a wall or break a door, it may show you things that will surprise you.
05:27One thing that was no surprise to us was the incredible animation.
05:30We wanted to know how they were able to capture such realism.
05:33So we went to the source, lead animator Hiroaki Matsui, who explains how he got his dojo, uh, Mojo, working.
05:41Basically, we start off with a hand drawing of the character.
05:47That is always the basis.
05:49And then in order to capture some live feel, we use motion capture.
05:53After that, we go back to the hand drawing.
05:56We enhance the motion capture images.
05:58We take a video of the motion capture to aid in touching up the motion capture by hand.
06:05This is power, Lei Feng!
06:07There's something about DOA 2 Hardcore that makes the game feel very much like a movie.
06:13You don't know anything about power.
06:17And it's not just the gratuitous violence, ear-piercing sound effects, and female fighters.
06:25We looked at Itagaki-san to shed some light on the subject.
06:27In the past, fighting games often had a cinema mode that tells the backstory.
06:34During the game, you switch back and forth from cinema to game mode.
06:38Because the quality between the two modes was very different, it tended to break the flow.
06:42What we try to do with DOA 2 is to have a seamless transition from cinema to the gameplay.
06:49I believe that is what gives you the movie-like experience.
06:53This is why we need to use the DVD platform of the PlayStation 2.
06:56DOA 2 Hardcore is not only a bone-breaking game, but a groundbreaking game as well.
07:06In short, we love it.
07:07But will there be more games like it?
07:09We asked director Tom Itagaki to tell us what's up for the future.
07:12I am in the midst of figuring that out myself, and I'm talking to a lot of people and giving it deep thought.
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