or Alive 2's development, the fan base requested Team Ninja to add a beach volleyball mini game as other fighting games had similar mini games. After Dead or Alive 3's release, the staff later decided to create the beach volleyball game as a standalone game. Soundtrack Reception Reviewers were mostly positive, especially to the depth of the volleyball game, as well as with the high quality of the visuals and animation. Review scores ranged from poor to very high, resulting in the averaged ratings of 74% at GameRankings and 73/100 at Metacritic. In its review, Edge focused on the game's unusual social, rather than adversarial, focus. Maxim gave the game a score of eight out of ten and stated that "The sharp graphics and advanced jiggle physics will no doubt prick the interest of lonely gamers, but surprisingly, the game's volleyball action is pretty solid. And that's the most important thing... right?" Entertainment Weekly gave it a B and said, "It's kinda difficult not to get caught up in this goofy title, as you use your v-ball winnings to buy shoes and skimpy clothes for your fellow beach bunnies." Playboy gave it a score of 74% and said, "As long as you know what you're in for, DOA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball can be a mildly entertaining collection of digital diversions with, at the very least, the best-looking virtual women to grace a video game." At the first Spike Video Game Awards in 2003, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball won in the category Best Animation. In 2006, GamesRadar ranked gravure scenes in the game to be one of the 100 greatest gaming moment in history. Conversely, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball won the "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2003" in "Dubious Honors" category for Most Embarrassing Game. In Japan, the game sold over 122,000 copies during its release week including 73,000 copies on its launch day. By the end of the year it had sold over 127,000 units in the region according to Media Create sales data. Lawsuit In January 2005, Tecmo sued Ninjahacker.net, a hobbyist game modding site dedicated to user-created modifications to the game and other Tecmo games. The site included custom skins that made the game's characters fully nude. Tecmo alleged that the site breached the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other laws, and sought between $1,000 and $100,000 for every skin swapped on the site.