TOKYO - GameSpot News traveled to Tecmo of Japan's Tokyo-based headquarters today to check out the latest titles in development from the company, including Dead of Alive 2. After a long session of quality Dead or Alive 2 fighting, we sat down with Tomonobu Itagaki of Team Ninja to discuss what Tecmo's plans are for the title. Here's what we learned:

　　Arcade: The arcade version is currently nearing completion. Right now, the game only needs a few more tweaks and a few of the endings to be complete. One area that Team Ninja is currently focusing on is tagging. Currently, to tag another team member you first need to knock down or severely stun an opponent. Team Ninja is experimenting with other ways to go about tagging; the final version of the game may allow you to tag at any time. Regardless, Dead or Alive 2 will be hitting US arcades this October.

　　Dreamcast: The Dreamcast version of Dead or Alive 2 will be ready for the US by Q1 2000. (March has been mentioned as a target.) Because the NAOMI board (which powers the arcade version) contains more RAM than the Dreamcast, certain parts of the game must be altered for the console. For the most part, Tecmo claims that its port will be identical. A few extra enhancements will find their way into the Dreamcast version, but there won't be any new characters. Team Ninja finds that the balance is perfect and doesn't want to add characters that might offset that balance. And while we did mention that a US version of Dead or Alive 2 would be hitting store shelves in Q1, no Japanese release has been announced. In fact, Dead or Alive 2 may not see a Dreamcast release in Japan. Which brings us to...

　　PlayStation2: Tecmo has hinted that Dead or Alive 2 will land on the PlayStation2 platform next year. According to Team Ninja members, the game can easily be ported to the PlayStation2 system - in fact, they mentioned that 95 percent of the NAOMI game data could be transferred. Team Ninja also mentioned that for the PlayStation2 version, they would like to improve special effects like the motions of characters' faces. There's no release date yet for the PlayStation2 version (the port hasn't been made official), but it's likely the game could be ready by early next year.

　　It looks like Tecmo has a giant hit on its hands with this one - once we started playing, we were completely hooked. Dead or Alive 2 should fare quite well in both US and Japanese arcades, and the upcoming equal or improved home versions will no doubt become hits in their own right. Stay tuned for more Dead or Alive coverage in the near future.