Virtua Fighter 5 is coming to 360, booyah!

by Richard Mitchell { Dec 21st 2006 at 12:15PM }

Our fanboy fingers are shaking as we type this, but we'll try to remain strong. SEGA has officially announced that Virtua Fighter 5 (AKA the mother of all Japanese exclusives) is coming to the Xbox 360 -- despite SEGA's claims otherwise. The game is expected to ship in Summer 2007, some months after the February release of the PS3 version. While this is great news for fighting fans, it's even better news for Microsoft's hopes in Japan. Virtua Fighter is huge in Japan, much bigger than it's ever been in North America or Europe. VF5 could very easily move some 360s in Japan, especially given that VF fans can pick up the 360 for much less than a PS3.

Before we get too excited, we should point out that VF5 does not feature online play, an expected feature for 360 titles. Even including that caveat, this is an overwhelmingly positive outcome for Microsoft and 360 owners in general. Now if they'd just release a 360 compatible Virtua Stick ....

Alright, let's make some bets. Which exclusive will make it to the 360 next? MGS4, perhaps?

[Thanks to Xboxygen for tipping us off.]

Tags: am2, sega, vf5, virtua fighter 5, VirtuaFighter5

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

willpooted @ Dec 21st 2006 12:29PM

Why can't Sega implement online play in those extra six months? Isn't that what makes Xbox 360 so great? Xbox Live. And please Sega, if you're reading this... add support for face mapping via the Vision cam.

James P @ Dec 21st 2006 12:41PM

From what I know of the Virtua Fighter series, the reason online play isn't supported is that the controls are too sensitive and timing driven to account for any kind of lag that the intertubes would bring.

joefro @ Dec 21st 2006 12:41PM

DMC4 next 360 exclusive since M$ hearts Capcom

Ninegauger @ Dec 21st 2006 12:48PM

Whatever... online play in fighting games is usually a one way ticket to losing, over and over.

Dr. Funbags @ Dec 21st 2006 12:50PM

This Digg is a Dupe - Digg the Original - more diggs.

http://digg.com/gaming_news/Sony_Loses_Another_Exclusive_Virtua_Fighter_5

J.Goodwin @ Dec 21st 2006 1:11PM

Well, except that Virtua Fighter 5 is networked in Japanese arcades. By networked, I mean that different arcades around the country are connected to each other and you can play cross country matches.

Naturally, Xbox live has quite a bit more latency than SEGA's custom built single-purpose network...but DoA2 and 4 are plenty playable online unless you end up with some sucker who can't configure their router.

Tony @ Dec 21st 2006 4:14PM

A lot of companies kind of didn't do much with Sony's online service though... so I'm wondering if it not being online is more about that than anything else.

Given that the 360 would be seeing this months later, it could be added in. That alone would make it worth waiting for.

I'm happy about this, though. It's one more reason for me to wait on a PS3, as this is really my favorite 3D fighter for sure. I'm just not into DoA.

Jonathan H. @ Dec 21st 2006 1:52PM

While I'm glad that VF5 is coming to the 360, I see a slight problem in it being a possible "console-seller" for the system in Japan. Japanese VF fans are pretty hardcore when it comes to the series, so they might be more inclined to jump right for the PS3 version instead of waiting for the 360 version. Then again, this could end up going the other way and turn out to be another Blue Dragon-type scenario for the 360. Either way, VF fans still win in the end.