The reasons behind the success of the ‘beach volleyball’ franchise, spawned from the hugely successful beat-em-up Dead or Alive, may always have been somewhat dubious, but Dead or Alive Xtreme is a big deal, at least in its home country of Japan. Now comes word that the latest iteration of the title will incorporate support for Sony’s forthcoming virtual reality platform, PlayStation VR – formerly Project Morpheus.
Let’s make no bones about it, Dead or Alive Xtreme is a ogler’s paradise. Developer Team Ninja, having made their name with its answer to Namco’s Tekken 3D beat ’em up series, Dead or Alive, they went on to exploit what you could call their most popular ‘assets’ in a spin off series focusing bizarrely on the sport of beach volleyball. To be clear, that meant taking their lovingly rendered, well endowed virtual women from DoA and popping them all in bikinis.
The latest in the series, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, is already confirmed for the PlayStation 4 but word has come from last week’s Tokyo Game Show that the developer are looking to incorporate virtual reality support. Quite what this means for the game proper is unclear, however there is a worry that Team Ninja, given the developer’s voyeuristic leanings in the past with ‘spectator’ modes, it could just be a more immersive version of a swimsuit pin-up calendar.
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Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt though for now and be under no illusions that such a title appearing with virtual reality support, in whatever form, is a big deal for what is as yet a niche technology.
The title is due to be released in Spring 2016, with PlayStation VR’s official release window Q2 2016.