I've always been a fan of the Dead or Alive series. To this day, the story of my colleague Ludwig's visit to The States back in 2007 and how we played DOA 4 for hours straight at our boss' house (much to his chagrin) is one of the fondest memories of my life. It's been too long since I've had my fix, so you can be sure I'm looking forward to Dead or Alive 5.

At a recent event in San Francisco, Team Ninja brought out the first playable build of DOA 5. For fans concerned after Tomonobu Itagaki's departure from Tecmo, and based on the time I've spent with the game, it's a non-issue. Well, mostly.