VF5 360 gets online multiplayer

By Robert Purchese Published 9 July, 2007

Plus analogue control and more.

SEGA has revealed that the Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 will come complete with Live multiplayer when it's released in August.

And that's not all. We now know that it will boast the latest arcade update and have optional analogue control and vibration support. There's also more fighters to face-off against in the Quest mode, as well as items to collect and emblems with which to customise your appearance.

You'll even be able to earn in-game money to spend on lots of bits and pieces in a fancy shop, lending a little more incentive to head-to-head battles over Live.

The DOJO mode has some new tricks, too, in the form of leaderboards and more training settings to help you get to grips with it all.

Virtua Fighter 5 earned a firm place in our hearts when we played it on PS3 earlier this year, earning itself a much deserved nine out of ten. Thanks to Richard Leadbetter's detailed comparison article we know the Xbox 360 version will look almost identical, and with its new additions could see itself reaching the much coveted score of 10. We shall see.

Virtua Fighter 5 is due for release on Xbox 360 in Autumn.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Beano #1 5 years ago

    Playing VF5 with the 360 controller will not work, but nice addition with the online mode.

  • Moz #2 5 years ago

    Will be interesting to see if they do an update for the PS3 to give it the latest arcade tweeks

  • GamesConnoisseur #3 5 years ago

    Delay to release of a game can be beneficial, such as the case for Oblivion for PS3 which is the better version for it and now 360's VF5 will clearly be the 'director's cut' with the additional elements. So I best trade in my PS3 version of VF5!

  • lambtron #4 5 years ago

    I thought they said this was impossible...

    So basically they were bullshitting because it wasn't possible (for them) on the PS3.

  • Ninja_Cop #5 5 years ago

    i hope they roll out dedicated servers

  • login_name #6 5 years ago

    They never said impossible, they said it wouldn't work right with the split second timing and reactions required for expert play, and I agree. Live support will obviously be aimed more at the casual gamer.

    Until someone brings out a better controller, these games will always be better on other consoles. The d-pad on the 360 controller is bloody awful and analogue just doesn't cut it I'm afraid, not fast enough imo.

  • The_Inquisitor #7 5 years ago

    Yah, I love SEGA!

    Hopefully Hori release a joystick for it because I'm not playing with that pad.

  • orakio #8 5 years ago

    Playing these games on the dreamcast controller went very smoothly. Doesn't the 360 controller somewhat resemble this template? (I don't own a 360, just going by some images)

  • Beano #9 5 years ago

    "i hope they roll out dedicated servers "

    For a 2 player online game like VF5, dedicated servers will not be a benefit. Peer-to-peer is better for VF5.

  • kissthestick #10 5 years ago

    very late news!

  • Toothball #11 5 years ago

    I think I'll stick with the PS3 version. The XBox D-pad is never seems to go the direction you want in times of need.

  • Xerx3s #12 5 years ago

    Sega has revealed that the Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 will come complete with Live multiplayer when it's released in August.

    followed by...

    Virtua Fighter 5 is due for release on Xbox 360 in Autumn.

    ?

  • TDS #13 5 years ago

    OMGZ!! 360 is teh winner!!!!!

  • lasersrule #14 5 years ago

    Will Sega and MS give me a steady 16.6ms ping as well?

    But hey, at least we'll have the ESSENTIAL analogue control and rumble. Just like the arcade!

  • Huntcjna #15 5 years ago

    I have my awesome DOA hori stick still so looking forward to this. :D

  • login_name #16 5 years ago

    @orakio

    The 360 controller looks great in images and feels comfortable to hold but it's just not responsive enough for fast, precise input that fighting games tend to require. How anyone can screw up a d-pad as much as Microsoft have is beyond me, but they have. It feels like an old PC controller, stiff and inaccurate.

    The Dreamcast controller was a little poo for fighting games also but it was much better than the 360 controller, mainly due to the responsive and accurate d-pad. I personally used pad adapters when playing these games on Dreamcast, or a really good arcade stick.

  • Dizzy #17 5 years ago

    If you are serious enough to complain about the D-pad, you will have an arcade stick anyway. Just like serious racers use wheels. If not.. the D-pad will do fine.

  • binky #18 5 years ago

    WOOOO HHHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

  • TheJanitor #19 5 years ago

    i cant imagine playing this on either the D-pad or analogue on the 360...

  • Dizzy #20 5 years ago

    I cant imagine playing this online on PS3.

    Nice try though Janitor.

  • Machiavellian #21 5 years ago

    I cannot see anyone who would want to play using a gamepad period. If you are casual enough to play a fighting game with a gamepad I am sure the 360 pad will do fine for you. Anyone else who is serious about playing a fighter would use an arcade stick anyway.

    I have the PS3 VF5 and playing it on the gamepad is a frustrating experience.

  • stormuk #22 5 years ago

    Since when was August in Autumn?

  • bloodflowers #23 5 years ago

    Hori EX Turbo. D-pad works.

  • Darren #24 5 years ago

    Good job 360 VF5 has analogue controls as the 360's D-pad is absolutely dreadful compared with the PS3's.

  • login_name #25 5 years ago

    Saying that anyone who's serious about fighting games would use a stick over a controller and therefore the pad is more than acceptable is a ridiculous argument/assumption. I'm serious about my fighting games and I much prefer a good quality pad over a stick any day. I find them much more precise and comfortable to use. I like sticks, but I prefer pads.

    Edit: The 360 d-pad is barely good enough to scroll through menus. Trying to play Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat (and without doubt VF5) is comical at best and down right annoying/frustrating the majority of the time. Anyone who thinks the pad is acceptable is fooling only themselves and obviously doesn't play these types of games or is in major denial.
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/07 @ 12:29

  • BrokenSymmetry #26 5 years ago

    "the Xbox 360 version will look almost identical, and with its new additions could see itself reaching the much coveted score of 10."

    Sure...

  • Ryze #27 5 years ago

    nice.

  • Arcadiian #28 5 years ago

    @ lambtron

    SEGA never said it was impossible on PS3, they said that VF was too accurate to be played online, and therefore not worth it. So now it must be worth it. In the form of Yen, probably.

    Best news in ages though.


  • Edward_Gamer #29 5 years ago

    Virtua Fighter 5 on the Xbox 360 has better graphics, better artificial intelligence, more features, and Online Play.

    The Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 is a LOT better! It is BY FAR the BEST version of the game!

    The Xbox 360 version will even have a cool new ARCADE STYLE JOYSTICK released when the game is released.

    The Xbox 360 version is also custom designed in a way for the Analog thumbad to work in a digital way. That should be great! But anyone who truly loves Virtua Fighter knows that if you are a complainer, then you NEED a JOYSTICK anyways! And that is why I'm so happy there is now going to be a JOYSTICK controller for the Xbox 360!

    All of the websites and magazines have confirmed the Xbox 360 version of the game has more polygon detail, better lighting, and higher quality textures with sharper resolution that is upconverted to 1080p on the Xbox 360.

    It has also been confirmed that the Xbox 360 version of VF5 has characters with much better Artificial Intelligence. The Xbox 360 CPU opponents react intelligently; they don't just let you kick the crap out of them, like the stupid PS3 version.

    The PS3 version of VF5 wasn't even as good as the PS2 version of VF4 in terms of the way the custom outfits were handled. On VF4 for the PS2, you could create characters with custom outfits, save them on your memory card, and then let your custom characters fight against the custom characters of your friends when you went to their houses.

    But with the PS3 version of VF5, you couldn't save the custom created characters to any sort of memory card. The only way you and your friends could let your custom characters play against each other was if they were created on the same hard drive. THAT SUCKS!!!!!! because it means that you need to create the same custom characters every time you go to a different friends house.

    The Xbox 360 has the best version of Virtua Fighter 5! You can create custom characters, and you can use them on the Internet to play against people from all over the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    The Xbox 360 version of the game even has a special Dojo mode and a brand-new Quest mode that is FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I am a BIG fan of Virtua Fighter, and there is no doubt about it, the Xbox 360 version is INFINITELY better because of the improvements in gameplay, graphics, and most of all the Online Mode!!!!!

  • aabyssx #30 5 years ago

    Online multiplayer will not work (for HC players).
    Alone with my ping I loose about 2-3 frames, and there is no data in there. In a fighting game where you need to react in 8-10 frames...
    ...it will be a mode for button mashers only.

  • Beano #31 5 years ago

    @Edward_Gamer:

    LOL... that's funny.

    Sure the 360 apparently has slightly cleaner graphics (some say near identical) and overall updated to follow the arcade game improvemenets. But a LOT better than the PS3 version ?

    I own both a PS3 and 360 and will not be buying the same game again since I'm not planning to play it online. If I didn't allready own VF5 on PS3, I honestly belive I would still buy the PS3 version since the 360 require to buy a arcade stick also - hard-core beat'em'ups like VF simply can't be played with the 360 controller.
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/07 @ 12:57

  • SimonM7 #32 5 years ago

    AM2 said in an interview that the online play will be flawed - there's just no way around that - but that the consumer demand was surprisingly high and that the Live infrastructure made it a realistic possibility to include it within the limited development time.

    I think people sidestep around the real significance here though. On top of a whole bunch of new items, proper anti-aliasing, new training mode stuff and an extended quest mode with more AI people than before - this is based on the latest arcade release. It's the best tweaked version of VF5 to date, and *the* version of the game if you're serious about your virtua fighting in and out of arcades.

    That's reason enough for the hardcore to shell out for a new stick and this version.

  • Darren #33 5 years ago

    Is it me or does Edward_Gamer come across as less of a Virtua Fighter fan and more like an Xbox 360 fan boy? LOL

    Whatever, the previews I've read in various magazines have said that the 360 and PS3 versions are nigh on identical bar improved anti-aliasing, a better training mode, an online mode, which may or may not be good and rumble (presumably). Overall it's a tweaked game with extras that's benefitted from additional development time rather than a reinvention. I doubt it'll play or look much different for the most part but if people want to believe that then fine!

    Edward_Gamer - "All of the websites and magazines have confirmed the Xbox 360 version of the game has more polygon detail, better lighting, and higher quality textures with sharper resolution that is upconverted to 1080p on the Xbox 360."

    Rubbish... I've not read any such thing in all the articles I've read both online and in the dedicated 360/multiformat magazines so I don't where you got that... OXM360 by any chance? ;)

    The one thing that has been improved and which has been officially confirmed by SEGA themselves is the higher quality anti-aliasing but that is notably missing from your list of "improvements"!!! LOL

  • neil_likes_bums #34 5 years ago

    lolz

  • TONYgr #35 5 years ago

    very good news!GO SEGA GO!

  • Ryze #36 5 years ago

    @ Edward_Gamer

    Yes, the 360 is a great console, and I personally wont even touch the PS3 until they stop ripping us off with a trojan horse blu-ray player without enough decent games - despite having owned a PS2 since 2001, with a massive game collection.

    BUT - could you take your tongue out of the 360s arse? You sound like a tosser 12 year old fanboy.

    Microsoft have only just made amends for an awful console faiure rate, and still haven't fixed the din that the DVD drive makes while spinning, and the D-Pad is also completely inadequate for the majority of games.

    Other than those issues, yes fuck PS3, go 360.

    That is all.

    ryz.

  • effinwooly #37 5 years ago

    excellent !

  • Overlush #38 5 years ago

    @Edward_Gamer

    Shit dude, just stick your cock in your 360 if you love it that much! Come to think of it, the jizz might stop it from overheating.

  • speedstars13 #39 5 years ago

    Way to treat your royal PS fans, SEGA. NOW release the Virtua Fighter 5: Evolution!!!!!!!!
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/07 @ 22:21

  • Rash' #40 5 years ago

    To the gloating 360 fanboys, all the improvements can be added to the PS3 version through an update. Question is does Sega have the resources to provide the online mode?

  • Kryon #41 5 years ago

    "Microsoft have only just made amends for an awful console faiure rate"

    Atleast they have made amends! I don't recall Sony doing any such thing when my three PS2s borked. I know the PS2 failure rate wasn't quite as bad but it was still appalling with the earlier models... Funny how some people seem to forget these things...

  • DjFlex52 #42 5 years ago

    back and forth...xbots and sonysuckups square off.
    Now E3 2007 is here and all fanboys are locked and loaded and ready for battle.
    Nintendolts are eerily quiet so far but it's early.

    Funny thing is Nintendo, Sony and MS are all winners, it's the fanboys who are the losers ;)

  • Kryon #43 5 years ago

    "Nintendo, Sony and MS are all winners"

    Lol...No son, they're not. One of the companies you've just mentioned is not 'winning' anything apart from poor sales at the moment...