DOA Xtreme 2 update

Team Ninja's vocal boss-man Tomonobu Itagaki has treated the Japanese Famitsu Xbox 360 magazine to a progress update on Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

In an article partly translated by IGN, Itagaki said the game was about 60 percent complete, with the team currently tying the main Vacation Mode together and adding trick mechanics to the jet-ski sections.

Along with beach volleyball, jet-skiing will form the backbone of DOAX2. Players will begin with a jet-ski and the option to go racing. There'll be five different types of ski, says Itagaki, with specific handling configurations that will determine their relative performance - your choice of DOA girl won't actually affect that.

Vacation Mode, which takes place over a two-week period, will see you tackling jet-skis and beach volleyball to begin with, and branching into other mini-games once you unlock them in the shop. These include the hopping game from the original DOAX, a paper-scissors-rock style game of trying to push another girl into the pool, a run-for-the-flag button-masher, tug of war, water slider, and the usual array of casino games.

In volleyball, which is the one area of the game engine that still needs work according to Itagaki, the camera will now display the player's view of the court rather than focusing on the ball, which ought to help - particularly online, Itagaki notes - while more points will come from blocks and spikes, too.

Those of you who enjoyed the voyeurism of the original will be well catered for as well; it's Itagaki's goal to have as many bathing suits as the original game had, and one of your default items is a manual-focus camera for snapping the ladies - with a better version available in the shop.

Dead or Alive X2 is due out later this year on Xbox 360. See here for more of the game, and Xbox 360 owners can also download a trailer from Live Marketplace.