Tekken's Nina To Star In New Namco Brawler 15
Thanks to Gamers.com for the news that Namco has announced a PlayStation 2 spin-off title starring Tekken's Nina Williams, according to this week's issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly. It seems this Nina-starring game "...has the look of a 3D brawler along the lines of [but hopefully with better playability than!] Dream Factory's The Bouncer. It's tentatively scheduled for release in 2004" - more details/screens are likely at the Tokyo Game Show next week. In other Japanese news, the same issue of Famitsu also rated the Capcom-published Japanese version of Grand Theft Auto, giving it a relatively lofty 32/40, and a Gold award.
Re:Love the spin-offs (Score:2, Informative)
I chalk it up to fighting games being based on action instead of story, but when they try to expand the story of one or more characters in any other game genre, there's just not enough meat to make the game compelling. The only exception would be puzzle games or other pure-action games where story doesn't matter (Puzzle Fighter, the Capcom vs. Psikyo mahjongg game, Gunspike/Cannon Spike, etc.)
Look at the Samurai Spirits RPG, the animated Street Fighter quest game, etc. for more examples of how these spin-offs generally don't work well.