Itagaki made DOA4 while p*ssed
Well, half the levels. Plus, more on DOAX2.
Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki says he's working very hard on the jet-ski parts of Dead or Alive X2, but other details like the story have yet to be nailed down. The tits are all in place though, obviously.
Speaking to UK website Kikizo, Itagaki continued to skirt around the issue of what one of his other projects, Dead or Alive: Code Cronus, actually is, and also revealed that he does most of his best work drunk. Someone email this to my boss.
"Most game developers including myself like to think in depth, so it's important to have time when you're not thinking so deeply. So you know, all those attractive environments in DOA4, we usually come up with the ideas for that and talk about it while we are drinking." As many as half of them apparently.
Why the love of drink? Well, as the transcript of my last "official complaint" meeting explains, it lubricates the creative process. You should certainly consider it if you fancy making games. "In the last ten years - not that you asked this question - I think I had better ideas when I was drinking whisky," Itagaki explains.
But back to DOAX2, which, unlike its volleyball-based predecessor, introduces all sorts of watersports: "I am working on the Jet Ski part of it very seriously," says Itagaki, "because I like Jet Ski games. There are two types of gameplay with the Jet Ski. One is the racing, where you compete on the difference of one hundredth of a second. And the others are more about riding the waves with good style."
As for other details, DOAX2 will have "about twenty new songs", and the photo mode will allow you to take pictures of things, amazingly.
For more on Itagaki's rockstar development habits, check out the rest of the interview. You can read more about DOAX2's features elsewhere on Eurogamer.