Dead or Alive 4 ships December 29

Tecmo always said that Dead or Alive 4 would be in stores during the 2005 holiday season, and now it's official: The company today announced that the game will ship to major retailers nationwide on Thursday, December 29. During the past month or so, the game's presumptive release date kept getting pushed back by about a week at a time by online retailers, causing many to wonder whether the game would indeed ship in 2005, especially since Tecmo remained mum about a specific release date all the while. But now fighting fans can look forward to an action-packed weekend courtesy of the latest game from Ninja Gaiden developer Team Ninja.

Look for a full review of Dead or Alive 4 on GameSpot later this week, followed by an HD video review early next week. For now, read our final hands-on impressions based on having spent plenty of quality time with a retail-ready version of the game.