Team Ninja ‘experimenting’ with next-gen ideas

Team Ninja ‘experimenting’ with next-gen ideas
David Scammell Updated on by

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Team Ninja has already started “experimenting with a few things” intended for next-gen hardware, the studio has told VideoGamer.

While discussing additional opportunities that the next generation of consoles may offer to its Dead or Alive series, DoA5’s producer Yohei Shimbori told us that “there are lots of things that [Team Ninja] would love to do on new hardware.

“There are plenty of things both graphically and within the core system of a fighting game that we can’t do with current hardware that we’re really looking forward to doing in the future.

“If we tell you [what they are] now then you won’t have anything to look forward to in the future! But we can tell you that it’s something that’s not in [Dead or Alive 5].”

Shimbori suggested that future hardware could offer significant improvements to the series online experience, and envisages an online lobby similar to “everybody throughout the world being in the same arcade”.

“Online, there are plenty of things that we’re looking forward to,” he continued.

“Right now you have a matching system and lobbies where people can gather, but the number of people that gather there is limited. We would like to see everybody in the world able to come together and fight online, like everybody throughout the world being in the same arcade.

“We’re experimenting with a few things right now, but we’ll leave it at that.”

Shimbori added that he felt that “the environment for fighting games has changed”, acknowledging that the genre has “been accepted into a sport”.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into online [in Dead or Alive 5], he continued. “Now every fighter has online capabilities and it’s very common that players can have that kind of communication. We’ve also seen the rise of pro gamers where fighting games have been accepted as a sport.”

Dead or Alive 5 launches on Xbox 360 and PS3 in September. It’ll be the first game to launch in the series in seven years.