360 Virtua Fighter 5 has online play!
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Jul 6th 2007 at 12:15PM }
Yeah, you read that right. Despite all the cries that it would ruin game balance, and that Virtua Fighter just wouldn't work online, there it is. Sega has officially announced that Virtua Fighter 5 for the Xbox 360 will feature online versus multiplayer. Given that this was one of our personal predictions for E3, we couldn't be happier. Online play in Virtua Fighter 5 will allow players to take on opponents in 1-on-1 matches over Xbox Live. The 360 version is based on the latest arcade revision and features new additions to the Quest and DOJO modes. Of course, Online play stands out as a particularly ostentatious feather in the 360 version's cap, as the PS3 version is an offline-only affair.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kakihara @ Jul 6th 2007 12:27PM
360, where are you.... Come over here. I like you alot!
Josh @ Jul 6th 2007 12:38PM
Hahahahaha...I can tell the 1 friend of mine that owns a PS3 the bad news. I told him that Sega would announce online play for the 360 and here it is. Looks like he'll be the only one in the group that won't be playing online, unless of course he decides to put down $60 for the better version.
RolexDPracer @ Jul 6th 2007 12:41PM
Hot damn!!!! I guess I'm getting a fighting game for my 360 after all!!
ryan @ Jul 6th 2007 12:49PM
lol. this is awesome.
feel that PS3fanboy that bought a PS3 for this game? yeah that's you getting screwed by MicroSoft.
D-pad uncool for this game? getta Hori Stick, you'd play hardcore if you were getting this hardcore game anyway.
yeah it's a hardcore game, more so than memorizing a tekken 10-hit combos. sure it's got like 0 personality but it plays nice...like REALLY nice.
i played the PS3 version and was like WOW, this beast is coming to 360 with improved graphics, AI and now it's ONLINE?!?
and what's that you say?? "it's a better version because it's had longer time to cook in the oven" and how long did it take GRAW 2 and RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS to come to PS3 with absolutely NO extras???
...yeeeeaaah... thought so.
suck it Sony. Sega and AM2 just like the 360 better.
adr0n @ Jul 6th 2007 1:24PM
Hmmm, not gonna start rejoicing until I see how much lag there is...SF II on XBLA was crippled by lag...
Tony @ Jul 6th 2007 1:42PM
I never had any lag problems on SFII myself. Not that I played it online a million times.
Obviously the latency issues are going to lead to people who are super serious into it claiming that it's not dead on and does not worthwhile for real competition... but who cares, it'll be a lot more fun because of it.
ryan @ Jul 6th 2007 2:05PM
lag? pfft..just play with those in your area. never, ever play overseas if you want a fun match!
AoE @ Jul 6th 2007 3:13PM
I've gotta agree with adr0n; I've yet to play a lag-free match of either SFII or DoA... I can't stand lag shitting all over my combos(it only takes a tiny bit, and I've experienced it even when playing vs friends who live in the same city)... For those who wanted online play though, it's nice that they included it.
AoE @ Jul 6th 2007 3:20PM
@Tony,
That really really depends on how you define fun. Personally, I've been playing this series since the start, so when I play, I like to play vs friends or others who are just as deeply into the game as I am. For us, even a little bit of lag can destroy a combo and throw a match. So online doesn't make it a lot more fun, it makes it frustrating. Obviously online play will add a lot of fun for all of the casual players in the world, but it doesn't add fun across the board. ;)
BlackBeltJones @ Jul 6th 2007 5:04PM
This is why xbox owners are willing to pay for online service. When the burden to pay for the servers isn't on the developer they are a lot more willing to spend the time to develop online play.
ccc @ Jul 6th 2007 5:33PM
Awl damn. MS just keeps delivering the hits right in Sony's face, When is the ref gonna stop this thing?
Heh.
@5
SF2 runs great online guy, U just have to play with some1 that has a good connection and there is no lag at all.
@9.
Hey, Ill be getting this game. so If U wanna play online in a server that will offer U no lag, get with me.
ed @ Jul 6th 2007 6:24PM
OH! OH! OH! PLEASURE OVERLOAD!
Elbone @ Jul 6th 2007 7:27PM
I predicted that online would be a part of this game for 360. Online play is a very important cog in the 360 machine.
The members of this club demand online play or we will not support the game. We lay out our hard earned or given money to play online in all or most of our games.
Thanks SEGA for giving us something to cheer about.
hanson @ Jul 6th 2007 9:38PM
Really, this console generation completely belongs to the Xbox 360. This really is the generation of the Wii60, because the Xbox 360 and the Wii control two different parts of the market, while the Playstation 3 is left fighting for scraps on the floor.
The Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 will now receive Online Play, even though the PS3 version didn't include that feature. That isn't a surprise, because it was like that with Virtua Tennis 3.
Street Fighter 2 on the Xbox Live Arcade sometimes had a little bit of lag because it was built under the rule that no game could use more than 50MB of space. Microsoft has now changed that rule for Xbox Live Arcade. But it's more important to remember that a rule like that never existed in the first place for regular Xbox 360 games. That's why Dead or Alive 4 currently works so well when you play online.
VF5 will obviously be similar to Dead or Alive 4, but even better in terms of online play because VF5 will be built on Final Versions of the development kits, while Dead or Alive 4 was built on Pre-Alpha Development kits that allowed the programmers to only have access to one-sixth of the General Purpose CPU power of the Xbox 360.
Virtua Fighter 5 is going to be an amazing game on the Xbox 360. The thought of playing with the extra features, like a controller that rumbles is awesome. Being able to play a Dojo mode and a new Quest mode is awesome.
The PS3 version of VF5 was pathetic because when you took the time to custom design a characters outfit, there was no way to play against anyone else online, and you couldn't even save the character to a memory card, like you could with VF4 on the PS2. So, unless you and a friend built characters on the same hard drive for the PS3, you couldn't play custom characters against each other.
It isn't like that with the Xbox 360 version! The Xbox 360 version is MUCH BETTER! You will be able to go ALL THE WAY and use your custom characters with their custom outfits to play against people from all over the world!!!!
And the Artificial Intelligence has always been important in Virtua Fighter games. VF5 on the PS3 had really STUPID artificial intelligence. It was like it was letting you kick the crap out of it for no reason. All of the editors of magazines and websites point out that the A.I. of the Xbox 360 version is much better in ways that make the enemies seem smarter and more fun to play against.
The Xbox 360 really does have the BEST software library, and it OBVIOUSLY is going to stay that way for a LOOOOOOONG time!!!!!!
Tom @ Jul 7th 2007 2:57AM
Lag happens. Get used to it. It's nobody's fault. Get used to it. It's beyond the developer's control. Get used to it. The possiblity of lag should under no circumstance influence descisions about what features to include in any game, ever. Get used to it.
Stranger @ Jul 7th 2007 3:59PM
@ Tom:
Lag usually IS somebody's fault. Like when one player with a crap connection or restricted NAT settings joins your game, or when your roommate is busy downloading porn over the same connection while you're trying to get your Gears on.
Get used to it.
Though I agree that dev's shouldn't consider such variables when deciding whether or not to implement online play. Buyer beware, I say!