Bad boob physics must scream books. Last month, the world was graced with Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 Best Shot, pages of full-color gravity defying pics. And this month, we get not one, but two DoA tenth anniversary books: Side A: Love! Kasumi and Side B: Kiss! Gals. Can't wait for what literary marvels next month holds. Until then, jubblies after the jump. Brian Ashcraft

DoA Anniversary Porn Picture Book [Moeyo!]

The jubblies aren't the only thing different about Dead or Alive the movie and Dead or Alive the game. The actors don't really look like their in-game counterparts. Here's a handy chart for Japanese otaku. Let's see, actress Jaime Pressly is Tina Armstrong. Holly Valance plays Christie Allen. Sarah Carter is Helena Doulgas. And Kane Kosugi appears as Ryu Hayabusa.

Okay. That's not funny.

But if you knew that picture of Kane Kosugi was from Century 21 ads he did, then it would be HILARIOUS. Brian Ashcraft

DoA Movie Explained To Otaku [AkibaOS]

Don't think of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 as a game, but as peripheral goods. Take this book, for example. Called Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 Best Shot, this book is a collection of in-game poses. Think of it as DoAX2 boiled down to its smutty, gravity defying essence. There's a gallery of embarrassing swimsuits, possibly NSFW depending on where you work. After the jump. Brian Ashcraft

Best Shot DoA Style [Costume GET!]

Suuure ya do! Here's a Dead or Alive 3 ad for the original Xbox. An oldie no doubt, but a goodie. Brian Ashcraft

Classic DoA 3 Ad [VGB]

Just because Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 didn't exactly set the world on fire, doesn't mean its game goods can't. (And some will argue that the series is now produced to sell certain segments of the population life-sized character pillows.) This year, DOAX2 gets a Kasumi beach resort statue, which doesn't really look like its in-game counterpart. I mean, look at those thin ankles! Kasumi has chunky ankles!! And those jubblies, Kasumi has — er... Yup, the fake plastic part, they got that right. Brian Ashcraft

New Kasumi Toy [G-TOYs]

Ass-pinchin', booze-hound Tomonobu Itagaki sits down with 1Up and talks up a good interview. He discusses last year's console launches and is very open about Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, which was met with a frosty reception. Standout Itagaki quote:

In our house, my daughter was playing DOAX2 almost exclusively, playing volleyball and playing Kokoro and getting all her swimsuits. But as soon as the Wii came to the house she's been playing Tennis. And she plays tennis in real life, she can return a serve from an adult, so I've just been seeing her playing tennis a lot.

Is it because this is coming from Itagaki that this remark seems so dirty? Must be! Brian Ashcraft

Big Itagaki Interview [1Up]

When Microsoft proudly showed the Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 trailer at this year's TGS, I felt embarrassed for them. This was the game the company was pinning hopes and dreams on? Come on. DOA X2 is anything but mainstream and appeals only to a small segment. Hardly a title worth giving that eXtra push to. Well, turns out I was wrong, and Microsoft Japan was very right. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 has cracked the top ten in sales, coming in at number 7 and moving 45,065 copies in its first week. Wow, just wow. Brian Ashcraft

In Dead or Alive promotional material? Noooooooo. Impossible! On November 22nd, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 hit Japanese store shelves. Retailers, such as Game City (pictured), rolled out in-store advertisements like this Ayane poster that features next-gen teats. The shocking thing isn't that boob dials were included in promotional material, but that it took right up till the game's release for someone to notice. Hit the jump for the shameful close-up. Brian Ashcraft

Ayane's Embarrassing Ad [Moeyo]

Following the grand tradition of nudie playing cards come these bikini-wearing Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 decks. To celebrate the series' 10th anniversary, Tecmo is releasing the "Eternal Summer Happy Trump 'Ayane' Set" and the "Eternal Summer Happy Trump 'Hitomi' Set" for about US $30 a piece. Both feature 52 cards of gravity defying physics. Brian Ashcraft

DoA Cards [Dengeki Online]

When not downing bottles of Jack Daniel's, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and pinching Tecmo staff, Tomonobu Itagaki makes video games. He's announced Dead or Alive 5 in a press conference that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the series' conception. Itagaki already has game play concepts in mind, such as no Tag Team and a special hiding-behind-your-company-while-you-sexually-harrass-female-employees mode. Bets are that DoA 5 is an Xbox 360 exclusive and that Itagaki is currently drunk. Brian Ashcraft

More Dead Or Alive [VGB]

This is not news. This is a warning. Dead or Alive posters have been hitting movie theaters. Nowhere is safe. Not even Taiwan! The movie opens next month in the U.S. Is anyone actually going to see this? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Flickr] Thanks, Chef!

Sure, the hair, the face and the jubblies look okay, but it's the little things that can make or break. Hands are usually a dead giveaway. If you want to see if an artist is any good, check the hands. This nice figurine, with the wordy moniker "Mon-Sieur Bome Collection No. 14 Dead or Alive Kasumi White Ver.", features passable mitts, but unfortunately suffers from some seriously fugly stubby feet. Don't think that's important? Just ask Eliza what she adores about Florian—Gauger's answer: Her feet!

Square toes after the jump. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Moeyo!]

Thought Canada and Mexico were the only places with special 360 bundles? While Microsoft put its Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on the Canadian and Mexican PGR Xbox 360 bundles, retailers in Japan haven't been so lucky. Microsoft Japan hasn't been so lucky. While there have been victories, like Bullet Witch selling out at many retailers, the battle continues to be an uphill one. Here, Akihabara shop Aso Bit City offers Dead or Alive 4 as a "starter set" for a mere US $302 (34,800 yen). The bundle should go for US $419.20 (47,985 yen) and comes with a wireless controller, an HDD and DoA. There's only twenty of these special bundles, so act quickly indifferent Japanese consumers! Brian Ashcraft

Thanks, Paul

It's Mortal Kombat meets Dead or Alive meets that Bananarama song "Venus." This ridiculous bikini girl fighting "game" clip involves novel special attacks like firing things out of their dirty pillows. The ultimate finishing move? Taking off an opponent's top, causing them to run away in shame. The genius title of this cinematic wonder? Bikini Karate Babes. NSFW clip after the jump. Brian Ashcraft

Watch Here

When not downing bottles of Johnnie Walker, Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki enjoys the simple things, like hosting Xbox 360 tournaments with grade schoolers. Itagaki enlightens:

Is DOA4 really that hardcore? The elementary school kids that come to my house to play are always squealing with laughter as they kick the ass of the final boss, Alpha 152S.

Does this mean Itagaki has spawned or just has made his living room into the neighborhood game center? This is a side of the leather jacket wearing, cigarette puffing and Ramones hairdo sporting game creator we haven't seen before. Itagaki, the doting den mother. Willing to so bet he yells at the kids when they sit too close to Kasumi boobies. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [1Up]

It's a familiar song and dance after a game adaptation is announced: folks get worried, nervous, excited and then horribly disappointed. Going by the trailer, the Dead or Alive movie looks to be no exception.

Fear not says the flick's producer Mark A. Altman. He should know as he's brought us those House of the Dead movies. We are in good hands. Mark A. Altman is a seasoned pro, and he uses his middle initial. Mark assures us:

I've seen a number of cuts now of the film and all I can say is I think it's incredibly faithful to the game so if you like the games, you'll like the movies not to mention the fight scenes are incredibly memorable. I like to think it's the closest I've gotten to working on a James Bond movie...so far... I always loathe to jinx things by talking about sequels before the films open, but I think this is a rich universe with great characters and we all had a lot of fun making it so it's certainly my hope they'll be many, many more DoA movies.

By mentioning that the movie keeps getting re-edited (never a good sign) and that it's like a James Bond film (ugh), we can take Altman's remark of making many more DoA movies to be only one thing: a threat. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Firing Squad]

DoA's creator and youth role model Tomonobu Itagaki likes to hit the sauce. Does the leather jacket and sunglasses-wearing rockstar developer wait until after work to get his drink on? Oh, no. He waits until work. Itagaki states that all of the settings for Dead or Alive 4 were thought up on a binge. So how much does the dude drink? The hooch hound explains:

I am drinking pretty much full-time. Of course, there are ups and downs, waves, of how I drink in terms of the amount, but it's a long period of time. In the last ten years - not that you asked this question - I think I had better ideas when I was drinking whisky. When I am drinking shochu, that's a conservative drink, so the ideas are not that great. Beer is just like water to me, so it just helps me and everyone else loosen up a little bit, it doesn't really contribute to coming up with ideas.

Oddly, he says that he is so serious about photography that he doesn't like to take photos while he is drunk. That game designing gig is merely fucking around. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Kikizo]

According to Hollywood, that upcoming Dead or Alive film adaptation deserves only one thing: a sequel. Not only that, there's a Castlevania movie on the horizon. More movie adaptations for gamers to dread!

The DOA picture is being helmed by director Corey Yuen, who's directed and produced a bunch of movies in Hong Kong. He even co-directed the French production The Transporter. As a fight choreographer, he's worked on some pretty big films like Lethal Weapon 4, X-Men and Romeo Must Die. It's not the action scenes that everyone is worried about, but all the crap in between.

And that hammy dialogue in the DOA film trailer? That's courtesy of some big-time Hollywood writers, such as Adam Gross (Bill Nye, the Science Guy TV series writer), his brother or husband Seth Gross (also a Bill Nye writer) and J.F. Lawton (the genius that wrote Pretty Woman). Anyone that wrote dialogue good enough for Richard Gere is good enough for me. Now, I definitely must watch this film!

Lawton is currently working on Deathrace 3000, a movie about an ultraviolent car race that's set in 2020. It's a remake of the Stallone/David Carridine flick. It's being directed by Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson.

Like Uwe Boll but better and without the desire to hurt people, Anderson has made a deal to direct the Castlevania movie. The film's producer said the movie will be "a whole new spin to Castlevania." Swell, that and another DOA film. Just what we needed. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [1Up]

This somehow slipped between our cleavage (heh), but DoA's va-va-voom girl Kasumi is appearing in the upcoming Wii game, Pangya Golf. Tecmo's bringing the hugely popular casual online game to Nintendo consoles in the future. But, will Itagaki and Team Ninja be assigning breast physics to each one of Kasumi's Wii jubblies?

More Here [Famitsu]

Peter Moore sits down with a hoarde of 1Up editors (no Luke, haha) and discusses the Japanese launch (wishes DoA 4hadn't been launched), handheld gaming (no comment) and Halo 3 (no E3 guarantees). Given that Moore's a PR savy exec, he is surprising candid earnest. Doesn't reveal much. Make that, he doesn't reveal anything.

Part 1
Part 2 [Game Videos]

Last summer, a painted PVC Kasumi figurine went on sale for a whopping 8,190 yen (that's about $77 US) and were snapped up by serious collectors. A huge shipment went on sale recently at Toranoana in Den-Den Town for a measely 2,000 yen a piece. Does that mean Kasumi has lost her vexing hold over Japanese otaku? Meh, probably not. I'm more curious why there's a big "Do Not Touch" sign on the plastic case. Ewww.

Dead and Alive [SenakaBlog]

Here's some unfinished business from Crecente's clotheshorse insanity yesterday. Tecmo's selling bikinis from Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Not sure when these when on sale, but they fetch $149.99 a piece. Bit pricey, if you ask me. Then again, I've never bought a bikini, so what do I know.

Click on Store, Then Shop Merchandise [Tecmo] Thanks, Chilly!

The hobby-based 2006 Wonderland Festival hit Tokyo over the weekend. Reputable companies like Konami displayed their new Rumble Roses plastic dolls, while other reputable (read: sleazy) outfits showed their stomach-churning figurines. Whether the toys or the ladies caused a greater stir is still up in the air.

Hoards of cosplayers put in an appearance as well. Check out the links below for tons of pics.

Cosplayers [Akiblog]
Kasumi [Akiblog]

Mario quickly realizes he's been wasting all these years on Peach.

Scroll Down [Jyouhouya]

In an interview with Famitsu Xbox 360, Tecmo's resident rock 'n' roller Tomonobu "I hate Tekken" Itagaki, the outspoken bad boy said there would be a Dead or Alive 4 patch this February. It would correct some of the data save problems and smooth out some of the balance between characters. That's good news for folks with buggy software, but bad news for diehard console gamers sick of PC-like patches.

Story Here [Xbox-News]

Sorry, Sony. There are currently no plans to bring the otaku favorite Dead or Alive 4 to the PS3. According to Gamer Andy, the official word from Tecmo is:

Tecmo does not intend to develop DoA for PS3 as of yet. The first titles under development on PlayStation 3 should be announced "soon."

Don't give up, Kasumi diehards, because Tecmo left the door open with that "as of yet" bit, which I take to mean, "Sure we'd love to bring it to the PS3, but are under contractual obligations as the moment, so as soon as that contract runs out, expect the PlayStation version."

Full Story Here [GamerAndy] Thanks Ethan!

Want to know why the DS is sold out in Japan? Just take a look at the country's software rankings from December 26th to January 1st. Nine, count 'em, nine, of the top 15 games are DS titles. The new DS brain trainer, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Mario Kart take the first three spots, respectively. The old DS brain trainer (by old, I mean it was released last spring) is number five. Other hot titles include Mario & Luigi RPG2 (#7), another brain game Yawaraka Atama Juku (#8), Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisecchi (#9), some Pokemon game (#10) and the mini-game buffet title Dare Demo Asobi Taizen (#15).

Dead or Alive 4 didn't crack the top ten, selling something like 60,000 copies and coming in at #13. Disappointing, sure, but the game has sold better than any other Xbox title in Japan. Ever. Personally, I *heart* DoA 4, and think the game is the 360's first truly enjoyable experience. Think Crecente agrees with me on that. If there's anything to be learned from the DS sell-out, it's that folks will shell out and buy the system... as long as there's exceptional software there. People buy systems to play games on, not games to play systems on.

Software Rankings [M-Create]

Hardcore or not, I was somewhere in the wilds of Kyoto prefecture, huddling next to a hibachi and eating warm mochi. A good chunk of my New Years' holiday was spent pounding rice cakes, clapping at local shrines and eating prodigious amounts of Kobe beef with the in-laws. I picked up the game as soon as I got back to civilization, swinging by Gang Star, my neighborhood game seller. The tiny shop has three aisles of games and keeps all the new releases under glass. Consoles are stuffed on the shelves behind the counter out of reach. A buncha NES emulators, various PlayStations, an Xbox 360 and an original Xbox system, which was going for 7,800 yen (about $74). There was one last copy of the 360 fighter (they had only ordered three). When I got back home, there was Kobe beef, ice-cold Kirin, New Years' TV, cousins and in-laws waiting for me. Dead or Alive 4 must wait until after the holidays.

[Official Site]

Lock yer doors and bolt the windows. Starting December 17th, there are going to be hoards of otaku roaming the Tokyo streets, looking to score some hot one-on-one Dead or Alive 4 action. Tecmo's fumigated the gremlins that were wrecking havoc on the software and keeping DoA4 from being released on schedule. To celebrate, Team Ninja's putting up Xbox 360 demo kiosks at Sofmap in Akihabara on Dec. 17th, LaOX in Akiba on Dec. 18th and Sakuraya in Shinjuku on launch day. There is no need to sign up as anyone can walk in and play.

Remember the photos of Japanese folks avoiding 360 kiosks like the bubonic plague? Those will be distant memories now that the console's killer app is finally gonna get a much needed airing. Dead or Alive? In Japan, the 360 is showing signs of life.

Full Story Here [Watch Impress] Thanks Yamakiyo!

Japanese gaming site/mag Famitsu reminds readers that Dead or Alive 4 hits the 360 at the end of the month and even provides costume pics to hold over DoA fanboys until then. Along with Ninety Nine Nights, this title should help move stagnate consoles here in Japan. More images to follow.

Story Here [Famitsu]

According to Watch Impress, Tecmo has announced that they will further delay Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360. The game will go on sale December 29th, over two weeks after the 360 Japan launch. The reason given for this second delay was "the stability of the online battle system." That's Japanese for "the software's all effed up, and we can't get the damn thing to play without crashing the friggin' 360."

Hey, know what DoA means? Dead on Arrival, that's what. Woot!

Full Story Here [Watch Impess] Thanks yamakiyo!

Do Japanese gamers want to buy the Xbox 360? Or do they want to buy a white box that lets them play Dead or Alive 4? Good ol' Cheapy D dropped by Yodobashi Camera and found out. Photographic proof after the jump.

See the Battle Here [CheapAssGamer] Thanks Cheapy D!

Tecmo's offering these "The most beautiful in the World" slip-cases for Dead or Alive 4. Is it even necessary to mention they're Japan-only? Well, they're Japan-only.

Find the Cases Here [EG]

ME: "Why isn't there a Dead or Alive 4 kiosk? Is Microsoft worried it would cause a mob scene?"
MICROSERF: (laughs) "No, it's because the software's rated for 18 and up, and we didn't want to put it behind a curtain or cover it."
ME: "Like Biohazard?"
MICROSERF: "Exactly."

Out of the corner of my eye, a Dead Rising kiosk sits in plain view. A kid in a soccer jersey is tearing through a buncha zombies. CERO rating: Ages 18 and over.

ME: "Oh, okay."

Yesterday, we posted pics of how Microsoft Japan is promoting the Dead or Alive. Now it looks like they're venturing into the upskirt category.

Buy the new DoA game! Oh, you'll need to purchase this white box too.