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Those in the 2D fighting game community may be familiar with the Godsgarden tournaments held in Japan. Similar to last year, they've opened a voting system where the public can vote for who they'd like to see given an automatic berth into the Godsgarden 4 SF4AE finals. What does this have to do with VF? Glad you asked!

Famous VF players, Fuudo and Itazan will be entering the tournament and are both up for your votes! These guys have shown support to our community in the past (interviews, tournaments, etc) so here's an opportunity to give something back!

Head on over to the Godsgarden 4 Voting page and click on the left button against Fuudo (No. 7) and Itazan (No. 107). You're allowed up to 5 votes per day, and FYI, the right button counts as a vote against the player, so don't hit that!

Only the top 8 voted will go through to the final round where they will meet the remainder of the tournament that has qualified via pools. Voting closes on 3rd August 2011, so get those votes in!

» Godsgarden
» Godsgarden 4 Voting page

Interested in the latest tier list for a version you can't play? Thought so! Hot off the press from the latest issue of Arcadia magazine (August, No.135) comes the latest tier list for VF5FS:

SS: Akira
S: Lion, Jacky, Taka-arashi
A: Goh, Lau, Wolf, Brad, Shun, Vanessa, Jean, Sarah, Kage, Jeffry, El Blaze
B: Pai, Aoi, Lei-Fei, Eileen

The VF5FS Ver.A Tier List discussion, led by Reno, is already underway. Read on to hear some thoughts behind the rankings, as well as an alternate (but compatible) take from famous Japanese Akira player Joseph.

Itabashi Zangief is one of the most dominant players in both the Virtua Fighter and Street Fighter scenes. He's won multiple championships in Virtua Fighter in both single and team play, with hi s most recent major victory being at SBO2008 with his partners Fuudo and Joe. While he has yet to win a major in Street Fighter, he is always in contention with his smart and patient Zangief play. Debates still rage on about who is the best Zangief player between Itabashi, Zangitan and Cantona, but there is no question that Itabashi is a player who brings out the absolute best from his characters.

Itabashi, along with players such as Fuudo, Nuki and Tokido are part of an elite group of players that excel at high levels whether they're playing 2D or 3D fighting games. How does he accomplish this? He thinks the answer is simple: he knows everything.

Being the friendly guy that he is, Itazan answered some questions that I had for him regarding both titles as well as a bunch of other random things I wanted to ask him, so if you're interested in what he has to say about his infamous encounter with Chofu KK Sara and who he thinks the best players are, keep on reading at the link below!

» Itabashi Zangief interview

Most hardcore 2D fighting game fans may be aware of the Shadowloo Showdown 2011 tournament to be held this coming weekend of 25th and 26th June 2011. Famous guests such as Gamerbee, Itazan and Tokido will be present to compete for cash prizes in various 2D fighting games.

However, on Sunday 26th June 2011, Australia's best VFers will be throwing down the gauntlet to challenge the international visitors in a VF5 Exhibition. Thanks to the good folks at Shadowloo.com, this event will be streamed live! Stay tuned for more details!

» Shadowloo Showdown Live Stream

While this may not be the E3 news everyone was hoping for, this Gamasutra article shares some insights into SEGA's new focus, according to SEGA West president, Mike Hayes. Here's an excerpt:

“What we’ve done as a company is try to be as agnostic as we possibly can,” he says, “so everything’s focused on the brand, rather than Sega as a company.”

While legacy brands and content are important where they fit, and help benefit smaller products and large brands like Sonic, Hays says, that can’t define Sega as a company. Sega’s profits doubled for the fiscal year 2010, showing that while a diminished focus on the Sega brand may irk the hardcore fans, it’s working for the company.

If SEGA are doing so well financially, how about throwing us VFers a couple of bread crumbs, eh?

Hot off everyone's favourite Japan-only news press comes news of a newly released Command List App for iPhones and iPod touch called the VF5FS All Command List. Probably a convenient pocket guide with system information and basic command lists, however, it appears to be devoid of any frame data.

As great or as disappointing this may sound, it's all for naught anyway since it's currently not available to anyone outside Japan. Surprised? Didn't think so.

» VF5FS All Command List

The Virtua Fighter 5 Original Soundtrack is available to purchase from most online stores that will import from Japan. This OST includes tracks from the Virtua Fighter 5 (2006), Virtua Fighter 5 R (2008), and Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown (2010) versions.

Featured on 2 CDs with a total of 72 tracks, this is a must have for all fans and collectors alike! You too can now enjoy your favourite tracks from versions of VF5 you never got to play at your own convenience!

» Soundtrack for VF5/R/FS coming May 2011? discussion thread
» Wave-master info
» VF5 OST on Amazon

2011 Pre Beat Tribe Cup

The Pre-Beat Tribe Cup tournament was held on 4th May 2011. This 5-on-5 tournament was comprised of 49 teams where each team represented a single character. Below is a promotional video for the event, but head over to the 2011 Pre Beat Tribe Cup discussion thread for video links to the Semi Finals and Finals!

» 2011 Pre-Beat Tribe Cup Video Playlist (features quarter final, semi finals and final)
» 2011 Pre Beat Tribe Cup discussion thread

"I want to get as many people around the world as possible interacting with the entertainment Sega produces." - Yukio Sugino, director of internal game development at Sega of Japan.

"Our team members have spent long nights trying to make games as fun as they can get them, really valuable experiences. From my standpoint, seeing games like that go unnoticed by people is about the saddest thing I can think of. As a company, we need to bring our newest creations wherever they can go and show people the fun involved with them. This challenge of bring Sega-style play, Sega-style entertainment, Sega-style content to people worldwide is the road Sega needs to tackle going into the future."

Translation of a Famitsu interview with Yukio Sugino from 1up.com. Additional information from that interview can be found in this link

VF5FS Version A Released Today

VF5FS Version A is officially released today in arcades across Japan. DK's latest diary entry details several changes and have been kindly translated by Reno in the VF5FS Version A System Notes thread.

Some of the changes include a revised Bound system, bugs like the "Super OM" now fixed, the backdash counter hit priority increased, as well as tweaks to various attack properties and hit boxes.

As a bonus, DK's diary entry includes some nice smart phone wallpapers available for download, such as the one seen here.

» DK's Diary Entry #87
» VF5FS Version A System Notes discussion thread