The "Dead or Alive" series has always been a rather unconventional game.
Unlike usual fighting games such as "Street Fighter" or the "Tekken" series, "Dead or Alive" or "DOA" seemingly prioritized busty female characters over sensible plotlines.
You may be saying that "a fighting game is a fighting game, you punch, you kick, there's no need for a storyline" and you may be right. However plot can still be a main draw to games like Jin's ascension in the "Tekken" series or Ryu, Ken and Akuma's relationships in "Street Fighter."
As reported by Ubergizmo, the latest "DOA" continued the tradition of showcasing the fine points of the female form, with situations like potential wardrobe malfunction. But instead of fighting, characters engage in a game of volleyball.
Kotaku said that the game has barely a discernible plot. And although the volley ball physics of the game is well done, it's just called as an excuse to watch beautiful women bounce around half naked.
However, "Dead or Alive Xtreme 3" is only available in Japan and so far, there have been no official campaigns or lobbies for the game to be released outside of its native country.
The reason for that was answered by the publisher Koei Tecmo's reply on Facebook, on why it prefers for the game to remain inside Japan, as well as "with regard to how to treat female in video game industry."
According to the publisher, "We do not [have plans to] bring 'DOAX3' to the west and won't have any [change] of plans in the future. Thank you for asking."
Wired reported that when asked why, the Koei Tecmo responded, "Do you know many issues happening in video game industry with regard to how to treat female in video game industry? We do not want to talk those things here. But certainly we have gone through in last year or two to come to our decision. Thank you."
And although the response may be in broken English, what the publisher of "Dead or Alive Xtreme 3" simply means that it does not want to deal with "social justice warriors" who generates issues regarding "sensitive" topics such as sexism, racism, stereotypes and discrimination.
And with the game featuring women doing nothing but play ball in bikinis, it's not farfetched to think that it will generate controversy in "politically correct" America.
Over the recent years, there have been many debates and controversies regarding video games with scantily-clad female characters. The so-called "social justice warriors" protest that this portrayal of women in games degrade the image of femininity and just aims to please the fantasies of male gamers.
So is "Dead or Alive Xtreme 3" too "extreme" and "sexy" for America?
