Graphic violence has become commonplace in the current generation of video games, but sexual material is still largely taboo. The gaming industry has largely been able to avoid titles that focus on sexual exploitation, though games like Acclaim's BMX XXX at least show that developers are aware of the increasing number of adult players in the market. Of course it takes more than poorly-rendered breasts and grainy striptease FMVs to convince consumers to part with their hard-earned money. Japanese games publisher Tecmo, and their Team Ninja developers, are aiming to change all that with Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, a bikini-themed spin-off from their popular Dead or Alive fighting series. Though it is meant as a "thank you" to loyal fans, it could very well be the world's first mainstream softcore pornography video game.

The Dead or Alive games have always flirted with sexual themes, but these have been largely relegated to simple titillation in the form of partially revealing costumes and "bouncy" breast physics. The main focus has always remained on providing stellar visuals to support their rock-paper-scissors fighting engine, and T&A just came along for the ride. With Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (DOAX for short) the developers have brought that T&A front and center, and are taking their roster of female characters to a tropical paradise to enjoy all the digging and spiking action of beach volleyball. To most this will seem like nothing more than a thinly-veiled excuse to watch scantily-clad virtual girls roll around in the sand, but DOAX is not simply a cheap knock-off game with poor production values. It is a well-made game, but will that (or should that) ultimately matter?

Although you might not guess from the title, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a game that has as much to do with shopping, accessorizing and managing relationships as it does with playing volleyball. The term "vacation simulation" is a much better description of the overall feel of the game, though it is much less involved than the word simulation would normally imply. Playing volleyball still makes up a good percentage of your time, and mastering it requires more than just properly-timed button presses. The game reminds me a lot of Dead or Alive 3: what's here is very well done, but there just isn't enough of it. Most of you won't be surprised to hear me say that DOAX is a shallow game, but it's not for the reasons you'd automatically assume.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, billed as a "fantasy sports sim", sends you to the tropical paradise of Zack Island for some well-deserved rest and relaxation. When starting a new game you will select one of the eight female characters (Kasumi, Leifang, Lisa, Hitomi, Tina, Christie, Ayane and Helena). All of these ladies are returning from previous Dead or Alive titles with the exception of Lisa, who was crafted specifically for this game. She serves as the default partner for the other girls and provides a basic tutorial when you start a new game. At the end of a vacation the game will end, but you can simply start another vacation with all of your money, items and collectibles intact. The game has no traditional "ending" so you can continue to play indefinitely.

A vacation in DOAX lasts for 14 days, and each day is divided into four segments: morning, daytime, evening and nighttime. There are a variety of activities in which your character can engage aside from actually playing volleyball, and participating in most of these will cause time to pass from one day segment to the next. There are a number of shops on the island at which you can buy accessories (like shoes, nail polish and hats), swimsuits and collectible items. Many items can be worn at the same time, so you can dress your character up with shades, shoes and a hat to match that new swimsuit you just bought. In fact an odd little addiction may develop where you are constantly trying to create the best-looking outfits for your character. After you're shopped-out you can take a break at the poolside, where your character will relax on a lounge chair indefinitely (it makes a great screensaver). There is a pool-hopping mini-game here that you can use to earn a little extra cash.

You can also pass the time by watching "gravure movies", which are short snippets of real-time animation that feature your character stretching, swimming, rolling around in the sand or relaxing in an inner tube. This is where most of the games' titillation is to be found (and indeed, much of its controversy), and you can use the analog sticks to move the camera around and use the right trigger to zoom in to your hearts' content. Like I stated earlier, there is nothing vulgar going on here (no breast groping or crotch grabbing or anything like that); it's akin to what you'd see in an issue of Maxim magazine. The gravure movies are a great way to check out the more exotic swimsuits and admire the scenery (among other things, of course). Each character only has around eight different gravure movies, and while they are a lot of fun to watch, they can become repetitive very quickly. Gravure movies eat up one of your day segments, so you've got to carefully plan when to waste time with them.

When night falls, returning to the hotel is your only option. From here you can send and receive gifts, manage your inventory or view your item collection. You can also visit the island's casino, which features four different games: roulette, poker, blackjack and eight different slot machines. Much like in real life the odds favor the house, though it helps to understand the various rules and probabilities for each game. It's not as deep as a dedicated gambling game, but it's a fun diversion nonetheless. Although the casino is impressively modeled in full 3D, you never get to see Zack or the other girls walking around or playing, and it feels like you're in there all by yourself. When you grow weary of playing the slots, shopping for high heels or looking at nearly-naked rear ends, you can get down to earning some serious cash by playing volleyball.

The volleyball mechanics are simple and straightforward, and will likely become second nature after a few matches. The left analog stick moves your character and the right stick moves your partner. The A button is used to serve the ball and to spike, and B is used to defend a spike and to pass the ball to your teammate. The default controls use analog sensitivity on the A and B buttons; lightly tapping the A button lets you gently tap the ball over the net, while pressing A hard results in a spike. It is difficult to consistently tap the buttons with the correct amount of pressure, but luckily the game allows you to switch to digital controls if you wish. In this case you have two buttons for returning (hard and soft) and two buttons for receiving (hard and soft), a setup that is a lot more intuitive and works much better.

Games are played from a side perspective with a camera that pans to either side of the court to favor the team on offense. This setup works very well and there are very few occasions when the camera adversely affects your play. Most sports games provide some level of control over the camera however, and so it's a little disappointing that there is no such option in DOAX. All vacation matches are played up to seven points and the winner must win by two points. Points can be scored even when you aren't serving, leading to some very fast-paced matches. There are no hard boundaries on the various courts, which makes it impossible to hit the ball long or wide. This sometimes makes it easier to score on spikes to the backcourt, but it also helps quicken pace of the game and can lead to some outrageous volley sequences.

Proper positioning of both characters is one of the keys to winning consistently. Your AI-controlled partner will generally put themselves in good position, but you may need to back them away from the net so that you can take control of the front court. You can aim spikes and returns while the ball is in the air, though you'll need to acquire proper position at the net for best results. You can block a spike on defense with proper timing, and pulling off a last-second tap is a wise move against an blocking opponent. Mastering the games' three different serves (overhand, lob and jump) is equally important, as a well-timed jump serve can net you extra cash in the form of "nice points". Overall it's not quite as deep or as feature-rich as a true volleyball simulation, but DOAX is still a highly playable game and can be a lot of fun.

Though it might not be readily evident, success on the court requires more than just mastering the simple volleyball controls. How well your opponents play against you is governed both by their mood (they can be "unwilling", "usual" or "confident" in any given match) and their relationship with your character. You can improve your relationships by giving the other girls gifts that they like and conversely, unwanted gifts can ruin a good relationship. Gifts for each girl can be selected based on her hobbies, favorite color, birthday and suit preference, though you'll have to look outside the game to find this type of information for each character. Continually "buttering up" your opponents with their favorite gifts will increase their fondness for your character and make them much less likely to play their best against you. And you can certainly make the game more difficult for yourself by sending out a battery of hated gifts.

It comes as quite a surprise that Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball requires this much attention to its relationship management aspects. The "dating simulator" (or "friendship simulator", in this case) is a genre that is largely unknown to western audiences, so I'm not sure how much appeal the game will have for mainstream players. In order to keep your partner from leaving you (which will likely happen on your first vacation) you must keep her happy both by giving her gifts and by playing well in volleyball matches. Aside from that, one of the biggest challenges in the game is getting the girls to wear the skimpiest suits available (the Venus or Gaia leave very little to the imagination). Though it's certainly not the noblest of video game goals, it does require extensive knowledge of each girl's likes and dislikes and paying attention to some subtle behavior cues.

Of course, the game is engaging in large part due to its excellent (dare I say sexcellent?) visuals. Each character is expertly sculpted from thousands of polygons with smooth curves and seamless joints, which is good news considering there is very little clothing in the game to hide sloppy modeling. Even the girls' hands and feet are nicely rendered and animated in a realistic manner, though some of the girls seem to have feet that are too big for their petite frames. The animators at Team Ninja have solved a number of niggling anatomy bugaboos in DOAX, namely the proper articulation of wrists and ankles. There's nary a joint out of place, which is all the more impressive considering the wide range of animations assigned to each girl. All of the motion-captured moves look very smooth and fluid, and there are very few visible "pops" between different animations.

The biggest standouts though are the swimsuits themselves, which feature outstanding texture detail and lots of little details like strings, bows and buttons. Many of the 300+ suits were designed by female members of the development team and some, like the infamous Venus, are based on real-life suits. The only area that really disappoints is the facial animation; the girls resemble lifeless porcelain dolls much of the time, and they are nowhere near as expressive as characters in other games (Final Fantasy X comes to mind). While the pixel-shaded skin gives each body a nice amount of depth, it tends to make the girls look too fake and cartoony. There is also a fair amount of clipping, largely involving hats and skirts that pass through other objects. It seems that implementing proper soft and rigid bodies in real-time graphics is still a bit too complex for most developers, but overall DOAX is a great visual package.

Sound effects and music are not as crucial to the overall experience as the graphics, but there are a few points worth mentioning. The volleyball-related sounds come across just like you'd imagine they would, with solid effects for spiking, passing and digging. The in-game music is absolutely dreadful for anyone with even a modicum of taste, but luckily you can use the seldom-seen custom soundtrack feature with DOAX to play your own music. (I recommend setting the mood with some Sublime in the daytime and Massive Attack at night.) Once you've set up your own playlists you can begin to appreciate how fantastic the game sounds with a Dolby Digital 5.1 setup. All of the original Japanese voices are well-suited to each girl, from the smart and sophisticated Lisa to the cold-as-ice Ayane. Though Denis Rodman gets top billing on the back of the box, his performance as Zack is bland and uninspired. The original Japanese actor does a much better job of bringing the off-the-wall character to life.

After spending considerable time with Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball I'm still not sure exactly what to make of it. On the one hand it is a solid game with excellent graphics, a variety of well-implemented play modes and huge number of items to collect. These play modes are lacking in options however, and many more features (more courts, more mini-games, more nighttime activities) could have been included to make the game more compelling. Much of the gameplay boils down to dressing up virtual dolls in skimpy outfits and then watching them frolic around in a provocative manner; though stimulating, this can only hold a players' attention for so long. The volleyball is fairly entertaining and easy to pick up, but the lack of options limits its variety and lasting appeal. There is an exhibition mode that supports two players (but not four) and this can add a little extra replay value to the game.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball received a Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a move that surprised many in the industry, including Tecmo. The content descriptor on the back of the package cites instances of "Mature Sexual Themes", "Nudity" and "Gambling" in the game. Gambling has appeared in many T-rated games, and while the sexual themes are hard to miss there is nothing vulgar about what these girls are doing. There is a brief snippet of unclothed backside in the opening FMV, but this is no more than the infamous shower scene in one of the endings of Dead or Alive 3, a game that curiously received only a Teen rating. There is little here that hasn't been seen in other games, and while I ultimately do not disagree with the M rating, it does highlight some inconsistencies in the thought processes of the ESRB.

The sexuality is the core of the game though, and indeed it wouldn't even exist without it. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball raises the notion of how a game with such strong sexual themes will be received by the current game market, as well as the broader question of whether these types of games are healthy for the gaming industry. These are important issues to consider, as the gaming industry has proven susceptible in the past to sways in public opinion caused by politicians with re-election agendas. If they thought the violence in DOOM was troublesome, I'd hate to see their reaction to the sauciness of DOAX. Sex is a much bigger hot-button issue than violence, and an influx of sexually-charged games could hurt the mainstream acceptance that gaming has gained in the past few years.

With that said, does DOAX deserve scorn for its shameless flaunting of T&A? I'm not entirely sure. The girls do not touch themselves or each other and there is no verbal insinuation aside from innocuous comments like "that suit looks great on you". The game is very voyeuristic though, and allows you to watch very attractive and very skimpily-dressed women act out a variety of softcore fantasies for no reason other than sexual arousal. The line between cock-tease and full-blown pornography has yet to be crossed, but it's easy to imagine how games could progress into sex simulations after seeing this game in action. I can't say I'm entirely displeased with Tecmo for developing DOAX though, as it at least shows they are willing to experiment with new game types.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is an interesting game that offers some fun moments and shows a lot of potential, but its lack of depth and features limits its appeal. The elements that are here (volleyball, gambling, dress-up, item collecting) are fun and engaging but quickly become tiresome in the absence of other activities. More modes and features, as well as additional controls over volleyball matches, would have made this a much more appealing package. Its sexual nature can only carry the game for so long, and once the giddy thrill of seeing the DOA girls in bikinis wears off, the item collecting and money raising aspects can become a bit of chore. I think a rental is definitely in order, as a few days of vacation on Zack Island will be more than enough to satisfy the curiosity of most players.

(And before you ask, the answer is no.)