Xbox Project Zero 2, DOA Ultimate dated
Dated in the sense that we now have release dates for them and dated in the sense that it's taken way too long for them to come out in Europe.
Project Zero 2: Crimson Butterfly will be released on Xbox on 4th February, and followed a fortnight later on the 18th by Dead or Alive Ultimate, Microsoft announced today.
(Well, "Xbox announced" is what we're supposed to put these days, but it's one of those things you'll have to give us time to get used to. We had to build an "Infogrames catcher" into the content management system after the Atari name-switch in order to completely overcome that one, you know.)
Anyway - Project Zero 2's release on Xbox sees the addition of a first-person view mode, various new costumes for heroine Mayu and her twin sister, more ghosts, surround sound, improved visuals and a new survival mode. In other words, it's the "Director's Cut" version that came out in the US last year. Not that Tecmo would be all that concerned if you knew that; the Japanese developer's policy with regards to Europe seems to be "there is one, but we don't support it".
Hence Dead or Alive Ultimate also taking four billion years to turn up at all. DOA Ultimate features the original Dead or Alive as an unadulterated port with an "Ultimate" version of DOA2 in the same package featuring visuals updated to the sort of level DOA3 was pitching at. Both versions should be playable online over Xbox Live, and that's good news if you fancy getting Kasumi's knickers in a twist while someone else watches.
We look forward to finally telling you what we think of both games next month.