First Look: VF5 on 360

I agree and disagree at the same time. One of the things WE can do is beg Sega to release a demo on PSN store and Marketplace as well as improve their entire NA marketing campaign. Sure, it IS up to us to build a community, but Sega has the resources to reach many more people than we could ever do. It also doesn't really help our cause for building a better community if no one plays VF, has any interest in playing VF or perhaps haven't even heard of VF. At least with a demo, we'll have something to work with in trying to convert that player to VF.

So maybe if we barrage Sega with emails asking for a demo on the PSN store and marketplace, we can get one.

So yes, in the end, it really does come down to US. However, it's important that WE use Sega for our cause and not just ignore their resources and give them the excuse that "it's not their job to advertise their game" because, well...it is.

I.e. We need to work WITH Sega to advertise VF, not alone.

 

What you're saying comes back to the idea of community again. I agree. WE as a community need to barrage SEGA to support us and continue the things that we do to accommodate new players. And maybe come up with new things.

 

People with a passing interest in VF will NOT be looking at the tuttorials or anything else like that. Hell most will barely go through the move list if at all. As much as I try to promote VF to the people around me, I have never had any of them go through the training without having me hammer it to them that it is a must.

Multiplatform will be fun when you start hearing stuff like "I'm a pad player, no not that pad, the other one".

 

I appreciate your response, and I agree that Sega needs to market the game better in the US. Heck, the Japanese Playstation Store has two promotional videos for VF5 while the US store does not and it could have easily been up there. One of them doesn't even need any sort of translation. And this is a minimal thing they could do for promotion. Especially early in the console's lifecycle.

And there's a lot more Sega could do. And it is in our best interest to work with them too, and we do do that.

Having said that, you are making it sound like it's the only effective thing we can do. Or that Sega is the only one who could reach out to potential serious VF players. They can reach a mass market better than us, I won't argue with that.

However, if you're a part of any fighting game groups around you, you can spread interest. More importantly, you can spread interest to people who will likely stick to the game and play it at a similar level as yours (and hopefully everyone's game continues to rise). I'm not just talking about posting on VFDC or Shoryuken, you don't just throw all of your eggs in either the Sega basket or the online basket. Those are part of what you do, but not the only thing.

We are at an interesting time becaues there is no arcade to help us gather naturally in a physical location. During VF1-4, part of the backbone of New York City was Chinatown Fair and other arcades that did have those games. In Southern California you had a few arcades that had VF1-4, but that alone wasn't enough. Toronto too, as well as a few other places. But they provided places for players to realize "oh there is someone in my area, and they may or may not be posting online." It was actually the players in those areas that pushed to have the non-Sega of America arcade games to be imported over to the US. New York and Southern California both have Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned, and their scenes maintained strong, but it took a lot of effort on the players' parts--to keep everyone together.

What I'm getting at with the New York, Toronto, and Southern California examples is that they eventually had to take it into their own hands, despite having a rich arcade background, to hold the scene together and constantly rebuild it (bringing in new people). They did this in person, it wasn't just online and it wasn't just through Sega's marketing. It was on a player to player basis, and they even pushed to keep the scenes alive during VF4:Final Tuned--something they did without Sega of America.

But we're at an interesting time. None of us are going to import the VF5 Arcade machine and we can pretty much say it's all console. I was fortunate enough to help convince the manager of Portland's top fighting game arcade to get a VF4 machine when VF4 came out. That made buiding a scene much easier, at least for those who would go to the arcade. I had to take it upon myself to find out about others who were also in VF, and sometimes that was pretty tricky but I found some of the best players in the scene outside of the usual spaces and places.

In Portland of all places, RaybladeX and I are rebuilding a VF scene for VF5. He's been doing it by constantly showing VF4:Evo (and now VF5) to the serious fighting game players in the area, convincing them to play the game, and they do it at these meetings the top fighting game players in the area have on a weekly basis. I've been extending that effort by trying to reach out on some of the days he can't do this, such as today, when I go to Portland State University where there is a group of gamers (including many fighting game players) and I have been playing VF on some of their setups and there are some of those who already have played VF and some that are finally seeing it played at a decent level when we play there.

Some of these players that want to play VF more and more with our continued efforts were already sort of reached out by Sega's marketing. But they didn't have much incentive to play until they saw more players like themselves in the area that liked playing VF and knew how to play it.

On top of the usual fighting game get-togethers, I occasionally find people at the gaming shops who want to play. I post on VFDC, Shoryuken, Gamefaqs, 1Up, and wherever else. And while people don't publicly respond, many do privately acknowledge and eventually respond. On SRK, I have a VF thread in the community section and it looks like I'm talking to myself, but I know a lot of people that read it all the time and comment on it in person or in private messages. If I happen to be at a fighting game tournament, I do make side conversations about VF. I try not to be too pushy, but sometimes you let the conversation wander into "so what games do you play?"

Fortunately for me, I do have stories to tell. Whether it's the SoCal gathering or talking about the gatherings of the past when I used to travel for VF3tb and a bit for VF4. Talking about the scenes or even about VFDC. Maybe I just have a lot to say about North American VF, but a lot of the local players have some interest in hearing about it.

So yes, there's so much Sega can do. But we can't make Sega be the basket where we throw all of our eggs in terms of outreach. If anything, you'll find potential VFers in the fighting game crowd. Sometimes you find them in the "interested in fighting games, but never got around to getting strong at them" crowd, and they sometimes get strong at VF. Marketing is something that the supplier has the resources to do strongly, but we still have our part.

On top of that... Sega is mainly limited to spreading awareness of Virtua Fighter. Awareness is not enough. Players and community have the advantage of actually showing and explaining the beauty of the game, expressing a love of the game.

That's why I have to stress that a community isn't just given to us, we build it. We could be reaching out to more people if Sega did a stronger job, sure. However, we have to work with what we have. Sitting around thinking about how Sega could do the job better does us no favors, unless we're on Sega's marketing team. We can e-mail Sega all we want, but we should also be looking to other potential players if we have the energy to do that too.

 

LEts hope th onine features canhelp allure th game more.....being able to put videos on xbox live for evryone to see would be a good start

 

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you.

It's just that you made it sound like it was ONLY up to us. Sega still has a large role in all of this. They could easily get a lot of attention for VF, especially now that:

A. It's multi-platform.

B. It's early in the PS3's and 360's lifespan, leaving VF to be one of the only and currently best fighting games available (or soon to be available) on both systems.

It's also, in the case of PS3, one of the best games overall for the system. Since PS3 doesn't have much content on the PS store, getting a demo and a few trailers up would do a world of good. Would doing so create instant VF addicts? Possibly on an extremely minute scale, but it would come down to us to really get them addicted/serious/semi-serious about VF.

Sega, basically, could just make our jobs so much easier.

I also try to spread the VF love. When I'm at 2000+ (like...the only arcade left downtown), chances are you'll hear me talk about VF. I too, however, try to not be too imposing. With no VF arcade machine though, it makes it a whole lot harder to get people to care about VF. So the only possibility is to invite people to a gathering or go to one of their gatherings to preach the game's worth (bringing a copy of the game helps too >.>). And believe me, I'm gonna try. Unfortunately, I don't own a copy of the game. =P

And even if I wanted to, everyone's schedules are fucked up. Hell, Cuz hasn't had a gathering in years (or weeks, whatever). So I haven't even had a chance to play VF with other players myself. I would invite a friend for one of our gatherings if his schedule permits (big if). I would even go to one of their Tekken gatherings if my schedule permits (another huge if). With exams, work, school and life in general, it's extremely hard to spread the VF love especially now that arcades and fighting games are dying in popularity as they're being replaced by the more accessible (and online play enabled) FPS genre.

So...yeah, Sega releasing a demo will definitely help out and give us a good stepping stone to work from:

VFer: "You should play VF."
Random person: "Was never too serious about fighting games...More of a Tekken guy anyways."
VFer: "Ya? Damn, that sucks. Too bad, there's a fairly big community building up here in [insert city], so we could use some new blood. You should come to one of our gatherings/parties though, have some fun and try out the game."
Random person: "I don't know. My schedule with work and University is killing me. Don't really have time."
VFer: "What can you do...Life's a bitch. [laughs] Why not download the demo? It's free and you can play on your own time. When you get a chance, tell me your thoughts on AIM/MSN/ICQ."

Here's where the path could branch off...

Path A:

Random person: "I don't got my PS3 hooked up to the net though."
VFer: [reaches in bag] "Here dude. [hands over CD with VF demo on it]. Just transfer that over to your PS3 and you're good to go!"
Random person: "Hey, thanks dude!"

The VFer continues on, pleased with the fruits of his labour. Where will life's never ending journey take him next?

His house most likely...

Path B:

Random person: "Sure, why not..."

Now, for part A, well...I assume the whole demo on a CD thing could be done. >.<

Anyways, point is, once they get the chance to play, you can start discussing the game with them, direct them to VFDC, etc. And if another random person downloads the demo and they want to find out more about the game in general, guess what's the third thing that comes up on google when searching for "virtua fighter"? That's right, VFDC.

However, those people who will end up using google and other forums to lead them to VFDC...well, we can't get to those people. They need to find us and the only ones who can reach those people would be the Sega marketing staff.

So back to my original point...I completely agree with you. We need to work with Sega, but it does come down, mostly, to us to carry the burden of increasing and, perhaps more importantly, sustaining the VF scene. However, it's important to not downplay the influence that Sega can have on a mass market scale.

Hell, I myself only got into VF when I saw a used copy of VF4 evo selling for $14 at EB Games. Yes, VF4 evo was an impulse buy for me. I didn't even find VFDC until a good year or two (whatever it was, can't remember) after first playing it. It was Gamefaqs (I believe) that originally led me to this site in the first place.

So would anyone here have found me to join the VF scene or preach the game to me or direct me to VFDC? Hell no, because I wasn't a part of any scene since I wasn't very serious about fighters, so how could you possibly discuss the game with me? The only way I could become part of a VF scene was if I went out looking for one. Others may not have the money to do an impulse buy, but a demo would be perfect for them.

Anyways...you see what I'm getting at right?

 

You know what is a load of crap, people spending a ton of money on VF and then being called/calling themselves "hardcore." Bullshit. Money is easy to spend, esp for some people who have the disposable income laying around. I'll call it hardcore when they are deciding on paying rent and buying a ps3 to play vf on. The amount of money you dump into a game has never been and never will be a measure of your dedication, only a measure of your financial priorities.

 

Well, it doesn't matter whether or not spending money on VF is a sign that you are hardcore...

but I honestly can't comprehend why someone would not have bought whatever version of VF5 that's out already if they really like the game or if they are hardcore about it. I mean, does it even matter what platform it's on as long as it's the only way you can play it outside of Japan?

You can't even buy the arcade cabinet if you had the money this time around.

 

Hey Poppa,

I pretty much completely agree with you. It's no coincidence that I actually popped a thread up expressing my annoyance that Sega of America hadn't even put up anything on the US Playstation Online Store (especially when they would happily do that for Armored Core 4, I do like that game btw). I almost wondered if they thought VF5 would just sell itself, despite history saying otherwise. Not saying Dead or Alive 4 was a huge success, but Tecmo did quite a bit (and still does) to market the game. We both agree that there's so much Sega could and should do, and so much that it's definitely not doing. Especially Sega of America when it comes to promotion.

Our differences are mainly on how we've sort of wanted to balance each other's expression, though I think we're both on the same level.

Having said that. I did post the way I posted, and it was with complete honesty, but I put a big onus on us (sorry, wanted to be cute there). The reason I put the onus on the VF community is because we are the VF community, and it's the one thing we have the most control over. Part of our efforts should certainly be directed at Sega.

I strongly emphasize our role because sometimes, with some individuals or even groups, it is easy to develop an attitude where one doesn't act to improve a situation but stands back and calls out on other parties (including highly responsible ones) to be responsible. Some people forget we do have a role and we can actually do something. To see who isn't doing their role can often be easy. Especially if it's their job (*cough* Sega). But to do nothing when we do want to see change is a form of hypocrisy in my mind.

In a way, my true view is that as fans who want a better situation, we should take our role so seriously as if it was completely our responsibility. Because that is the only thing we can truly be responsible for. However, part of taking that responsibility is to also act as watchdogs for Sega of America and to some degree, AM2. To be heard and listened to is valuable.

But I also believe that Sega of America should take their role so seriously as if it was completely their responsibility. That is what they can control, and their job is technically to do that.

And if the direction towards the ideal ends suggests that fans and Sega must work together (they should), that would be part of the responsibility.

But again, I honestly believe you and I are in complete agreement and have a very similar view on things. We're just out there clarifying some details (that we actually agree with). Maybe it's just that we're directing our posts to two different destinations. You're calling on our community to push Sega to do better and ultimately you want your message to spread to Sega. I probably take that for granted as a given (I assume we will naturally pressure Sega), and I'm calling our community to just act in general and acknowledge their capability on a micro level--I ultimately want my message to spread to the community.

Sega has a lot of power and say in the mass market. We have power and say on a more micro-level. There's a lot both could and should do.

-Chanchai

 

2 new screenshot =)

http://www.jeux-france.com/Webmasters/Images/55741320070510_204344_1_big.jpg

http://www.jeux-france.com/Webmasters/Images/55741320070510_204343_0_big.jpg

 

Nice screenshots.

I like the new features, for the Xbox 360 version.

 

yeah me too. i'm wondering or not sure i buy a 360 and go with this, or go with a ps3... i have more games i like on the ps3 but at the same time it's becoming a pain to get..