[i]Dead or Alive[/i] producer Tomonobu Itagaki recently discussed the much anticipated latest game in the series and its delays with Japanese gaming magazines [i]Famitsu Xbox 360[/i] and [i]Dorimaga[/i]. Itagaki told [i]Famitsu Xbox 360[/i] that the extra time allotted to the developers of [i]Dead or Alive 4[/i] was being used to make the game as complete as possible. He also said that some 360 developers rushed their games out before they were finished in order to make launch and are planning on just releasing patches for any problems. Mr. Itagaki chastised this practice as illogical, commenting that he believes in finishing his projects the first time around.

In [i]Dorimaga[/i], Itagaki said that DoA4 was 95 percent complete, but that the ?last five percent is the most crucial in development.? He wanted to assure fans that developer Team Ninja is working day and night in order to finish the game with their usual high standard of quality and indicated that the team is mostly working on fine-tuning the fighting balance for online play.

Itagaki also wanted to make it clear that Ayane was the winner in [i]Dead or Alive 3[/i], and that finishing the fourth installment of the series with Elena would reveal the real ending. Gamers will have to work to unlock Elena though, beating the game with 16 other characters first. There will be a total of 22 different characters in the game with favorites such as Leon, Ryu, Ein, and Tengu making returns to the franchise.