Hey guys, just responding to why Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 isn't heading west.
Well, for one thing, they've (for lack of a better term) gone full Japanese otaku on it. Since the second game sold quite poorly in the US (also another important reason) they've decided to double down on moe culture. The main character headlining this version genuinely looks like she's around thirteen years old, and acts like she's eight. The other new main character Honoka is much the same, only she has massive breasts to help tell them apart. Almost without exception, all the western characters have been cut out of the game (Helena Douglas and creepy young child excepted), and since they were the only characters who looked like adults, this arguably leads to the game looking somewhat racist and ageist.
With this, it's no surprise that they're unwilling to release in the West. For many fans of the series, these characters (Tina, Christie, Mila, Lei Fang, Rachel, Lisa) getting cut out and replaced by generic wobbling schoolgirls is pretty unfortunate. It certainly puts me off buying it.
So basically, given how they've really doubled down on Japanese moe culture (something many people in the states would find extremely creepy given how young they like their characters to be) and their blanket removal of all but one western characters over the age of twenty, it makes sense not to open themselves up to potential allegations of racism and sexualising children.
Thanks for the show every week guys, not able to listen to it as often as I used to, but it's still a great show!
