Good as Gold


DOA Ultimate is on the way.

WWWWOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Dead or Alive Ultimate has gone GOLD!!! This was revealed today by major gaming websites Gamespot and IGN, from an official announcement from Tecmo, the makers of the sexy fighting game. Whereas in the record industry 'going gold' probably refers to sales, in the videogame world it means that the production and development of the game has been finished, a 'master copy' of the final retail version is done and on the way to the presses to be duplicated into thousands and thousands of copies. Copies that will inevitably make their way into the grubby paws of slavering gamers like ME.
It's about time. The first time a bit of news on DOA Ultimate, formerly Dead or Alive Online, was revealed was more than a year ago. Initially announced as DOA2 with DOA3 graphics with online capability, DOAO changed quite a bit in the many months since the original news announcement following the release of the offshoot DOA game, DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Since then, development team Team Ninja has tantalized fans and gamers with screenshots of surpassing beauty, of huge, new interactive stages, flashy new moves and modes, a new CG movie intro (which ironically has already made the rounds on the Internet) and LOADS of alternate costumes for DOA's virtual femme fatales/fashion models. The wealth of extras dates back to the first home versions of the original DOA, for the Playstation One and the Sega Saturn. Since then, fans have clamored for extras but strangely enough, Team Ninja kept extras and fluff to a minimum in every game since... until now. DOAU marks a return to the more playful, fan-servicey DOAs, and hopefully will carry on into later versions of the game, set to appear on the next generation of gaming consoles.

For now though, DOA Ultimate is poised to make it big with gamers, with every DOA fan at fever's pitch right now in terms of excitement to grab the game. Some sites have reported a release THIS WEEK, while a couple venture an in-store presence of the game next week. The sooner it arrives, the sooner I get it here in Manila, so I'm crossing my fingers. Whatever happens though, I am looking forward to getting the game before or by the end of the month, so I can enjoy it during the Todos Los Santos this November. Crossing fingers... crossing fingers...