The Dead or Alive series returns with its 5th installment on September 25, less thatn one week from today, and on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. So far, three Virtua Fighter guests, Akira, Pai, and Sarah, have been confirmed, and two brand new characters, Rig, a male Canadian taekwondo fighter, and Mila, a female Spaniard-American kickboxing/wrestling/MMA fighter, have been confirmed, with possibly more characters to be revealed after the game is released. Oh, and as a nod to the apparently-discontinued Dead Fantasy (which I think Monty Oum has abandoned at this point), Kokoro's face apparently resembles Tifa as she appeared in Advent Children.

The game takes place two years after Dead or Alive 4, and there are some new features implemented into the gameplay. First, stages now change accordingly, and can both aid and ail fighters as fights go on. Second, there is a "power blow" feature that allows you to charge up an attack that unleashes a cinematic combo that ends with an attack that you can aim to send your opponent flying away in any direction, possibly into danger zones.

Now, don't bash me for this, but the only reason why this game (as well as DOA4) is rated M instead of T is the overly-risque fan service from the female characters in the game, as the action violence in the game is only about T level. The first three main series DOA games were all rated T, and the Dimensions spinoff on 3DS was also rated T. The other spinoff games, which involved beach volleyball and other beach-related games, as well as casino games (many of which were pointless, in my opinion), were rated M. Since Tomonobu Itagaki, they man who created the Dead or Alive series, no longer works at Tecmo, I'm sure that those other games (other than those already in development after he left) will no longer be made, but I still would want them to tone down the fan service, because it is too blatantly risque. I do like fan service, as long as it is within the realm of decency, and not shameless, all-out erotic fan service, and the action violence that occurs in the game is only about T-level at most.

The ESRB Knows Dead or Alive Too Well

Then again, someone posted a very interesting comment on the above Kotaku page that reads as follows:

OMG boobs jiggling in bathing suits! Adults only!

Children murdering each other for sport? Totally appropriate for 13 year-olds.
In case you don't know that that is, that's a reference to the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, of which the concept is basically children murdering each other for sport, and was rated PG-13 rather than R. In my opinion, I think the only reason that the movie got a PG-13 rating was because of the many discretion shots in the film, as all the extremely violent deaths described in the book happened offscreen, but I still think the movie should have gotten an R rating, because children killing children is not appropriate for children to watch, not to mention that it is also a very evil concept. (Though I think it would go well in a crossover with Mortal Kombat, since the activities these children are participating in are certainly indeed mortal combat, and in my opinion, such a crossover would certainly make more sense than Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, which was rated T due to the DC Comics license in the game.)