On the eve of the Tokyo Game Show, heralded developer Team Ninja made a surprise announcement: Ninja Gaiden 3 isn’t their only game in the works — Dead or Alive 5 is on the way, too. And, as if to quell any doubts about its existence, they treated us to a live showdown between director Yohei Shimbori and lead programmer Kohei Shibata in the never-before-seen title.

From our observations, DOA5 seems to be pushing the dynamism in the series’ multi-tiered stages even further: its arenas now feature interactive elements to ramp up the challenge. The demo stage we saw, a construction site atop a skyscraper, had huge steel girders that crashed down from their cranes to the ground. At one point, a wrecked car flew across the screen and smashed into one of the fighters. These incidents can be triggered by the player — either through skill or by luck.

“The concept this time is the idea of ‘fighting entertainment,’” says Shimbori. “Fighting games tend to become the realm of the hardcore player, but entertainment isn’t always about being the best. This time we wanted to make a game that was also fun to watch, [hence] dynamic moving stages. [They’ll] make the game more fun even for newcomers to the series, while original fans of the series can really get their teeth into it.”

In other words, these arenas will feature seemingly random elements that players can use to inflict damage on an opponent. So aside from the girders and flying car, we also noticed other objects — plastic cones, bins, random debris — that moved around in real time, suggesting that you may be able to lob them at your opponent like in the PlayStation’s Yakuza series. This ability should make for some excellently showy bouts: you can almost imagine the atmosphere at a fight tournament, or just a game night at home with friends.

With six years having passed since the last new, properly numbered DOA title, it seems as if Team Ninja realizes how long it’s made the fans wait and is working to move the series in a new direction. Time will tell whether these new features pack the requisite punch.

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PUBLISHER: Tecmo Koei  •  DEVELOPER: Team Ninja  •  MULTIPLAYER: Yes  •  RELEASE DATE: TBD 2012  •  FOR FANS OF:  Babes, brawls, ninjas