Do you have any favorites among the current console fighting games? And has there been any other fighting games which has influenced the play mechanics of Tao Feng?

(JT) I’m really looking forward to Soul Calibur 2. I think that TF was influenced by the genre as a whole. Our choice in play mechanics was more of a reaction to where fighting games are in general. We tried to get away from the claustrophobic feel by incorporating longer range attacks and running jumps. We wanted our characters to really get around the environments and I think that was the direct opposite of where every other fighting game has gone. So more than anything that influence pointed us in directions to take as opposed to things to emulate.

Fans of fast, brutal fighters should definitely keep an eye on "Tao Feng." It features an interesting mix of twitch-based, combo-focused fighting from the old-school arcade days while adding interesting twists such as its limb damage system and the ability to use the environments. When you consider that it's also one of the most visually stunning 3D fighters ever, it's not hard to see that fighting-game fans will have a lot to look forward to when "Tao Feng" is released for the Xbox at the end of March.

Though development is still early, the company has stated that the game will feature both old and new characters, as well as a new four-player link mode. The as-yet-unnamed sequel (Mortal Kombat Advance 2 is the tentative title) will even link up to the original Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance for some multiplayer action as well as special data trading which will unlock hidden specials in the new game.

Only 8 more days until Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus is released on Xbox. To continue in the countdown until the game's release on March 18th, we have 5 all new exclusive quicktime videos, consisting of 4 combos and 1 showing off one of the game's many expansive levels.

In addition to the individual videos, we have also combined the 5 individual clips into one super clip for those on broadband connections. It should be noted that even though the animation in these videos are fluid, they were captured at only 30 fps, while the game runs at a consistent 60 fps, resulting in even smoother gameplay than the videos depict.

Stay tuned all this week as we continue to bring you more exciting Tao Feng content.

With the current lack of online play in most fighting games, fighting games for consoles have been turning to new ways to keep players interested. What did you do with Tao Feng's single player game to keep players coming back for more?

Tobias: Tao Feng single player game is generally the Quest mode. That’s kind of the method of facing your boss in the game. In regards to online play, we would have loved to have had Tao Feng function online. I think when we started and where Xbox Live was at the time, didn’t coincide with us building the engine. I think that all fighting games at some point have to have some kind of online play ability. There are some latency issues that have to be solved for that to work well. I think that with the demise of the arcade the competitive aspect of fighting games has gone away, but I think online can kind of bring that back...