Virtua Fighter Going Mainstream

You're thinking of VF3. I still remember how fantastic it looked the first time I saw it in the arcade.

 

Seem like sales on the PSN are actually pretty good. And the community is not to shabby either. Have yet to receive one of those "hate mail" messages yet from winning in ranked a lot.

 

This^

 

I'm curious to see the sales figures on how many copies have been bought on psn and xbl, I haven't had trouble finding games so I assume there's lots of people playing.

 

Currently 50,000 players on PSN. Considering that only a portion of ppl who buy games ever play online, much more than 50,000 ppl bought PS3 VF5FS, right?

Or does PSN track every single person who purchased and installed VF5FS?

So far I've gotten 1 hate mail.

 

I think it tracks everyone who plays one ranked match. That isn't everyone, but it may be a large number.

Is it 50k even or over 50k? If it's 50k even it's likely capped at 50k.

 

So far for me, same can be said for the 360. Though I would say sales are only a third of PSN's total in comparison.

 

A lot of those ps3 users might not have bought the game though. The game was free with ps+ and the game was advertised on the store which would have gotten people interested. It is a high profile game after all.

If there really were that many people who picked it up then I am disappointed at how few are still around. Aside from ranked its almost impossible to find a game to play.

A shame because there is always more fun to be had in non ranked matches since people aren't just focused on getting those points and actually want to have fun.

 

As I make this post there are 61,182 ppl in ranked, on the PS3. also just because its hard to find a player rooms doesn't mean there aren't lots of them. Here's the problem. Once a match starts, then the player room is not visible to the search. You can only see player rooms before or after matches. There are dozens of rooms going all the time of PSN, its a matter of timing as to whether you see them or not. Yes This is a Sega Fuck up., or who ever designed the online component of VF. You should be able to see a list of rooms whether they're in session or not, and whether they're full or not.

I know for a fact that many many ppl who got VF5FS don't play, and won't play online, because they are either simply Single Player types, or they are two-player purists who know that online has lag, and absolutely an incredible amount of Spam.

It seems that the PSN ranked mode is increasing about 1000 players daily.

I can't speak for the XBL which I hear is a lot lower (can someone confirm)

There are lots of players in player matches and lots of players in room matches , its just they don't show up while they're in session, which leads everyone to think there's no one in player/room mode. To the contrary there is.

 

Even if the PSN+ users didn't buy the game, Sega still gets a bit of money for it. Unsure how much, but Sony does have to comp them.

Yes, Sega royally messed up the online UI, and I'd love to see it patched. So many things I'd like to see improved. Also would like to see some PS3 netcode improvements- 1 bar matches are terrible, I don't remember it being that way on XBL VF5 vanilla.

Sometimes you can have a fun series of ranked matches- especially if you run into someone from this site- ran into Denkai on PSN last night- that was an experience.

Also, if you're planning to participate in the tourney scene for VF5, ranked is vital for learning how to scrub-check and scrub-kill. It's a good way to promote the scene. I went to ReSe this weekend, and I know 2 folks bought the game due to seeing it played decently, and the finals were a good bit of hype for a smallish crowd.

 

I think, the way SEGA handled the home version of FS, is the key for any future installment of the series. SEGA can focus on the development of VF6 and the japanese arcade scene , they can have as many revisions as they want, only this time they can do that without neglecting the western gamers. Both arcade and console versions can co-exist and everybody will be happy. SEGA knows that VF must be succesfull on both consoles and arcades, in order for the series to survive.

Anyway, it is too early to talk about VF6. I'm very happy to see that the number of ranked players increases day by day. VF5FS needs strong sales.

 

Just checked it and so far as it stands, XBL has a total of 13,019 players.

 

Wow, that's a huge gap no matter how you want to spin it.

 

I honestly think this was a great time for SEGA to release VF5:FS because it's out before Tekken TAG2 and right before EVO. The only problem is a lot of Tekken players are playing VF just because the scene has kinda died for Tekken6:BR and they are waiting for TAG2. Many of those players will not be into VF after TAG's release. I'm a bigger fan of VF, but I play Tekken because many of my friends are into it more than VF. I'm actually the minority around my friends because I think VF is a prettier & a classy game compared to Tekken. Too much canned combos in Tekken! I love the almost free flow of a fight in VF. The animation are amazing also. Not to mention all the situational options you have in VF, keep me playing it for years! I try to get people into VF and they are just overwhelmed or they feel it's boring. I hope this scene really grows in the States after EVO! I know it won't ever have the amount of players that TEKKEN, STREET FIGHTER or even Mortal Kombat(GOD I HATE MK)but for those who step into the depth, strategy and class that is VF they will be hooked for life.

 

VF5FS has definitely brought VF into the light and at least the game is on peoples minds. IGN was late with their review and it's a heavy hitter review site and the game got a very positive review.
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/06/25/virtua-fighter-5-final-showdown-review

The XBL player base is much smaller than expected but remember not everyone gets the game right away. In the weeks to come hopefully the player base increases. I agree with Shinobi that it's too early to talk about VF6. We waited so long for R and we finally got FS.

 

There's canned combos in VF, too... #justsayin

For real though, I'm really glad VF is blowing up, in some areas bigger than others, but it's still blowing up.

I talked to a few cats out here in SD and some have even picked up the game. I mean dudes with KOF, GG, BB, and other fighting game backgrounds getting on the game, and liking it. Sure the system overhaul makes it really easy for others to pick up the game without busting out an abacus, but the fact of the matter is that people are getting into it after how many years now??? The time has truly come...

There is a flipside to this though. There are tons of people, some who even enter tourneys and place high, who don't really understand the ins-and-outs of the game, so they're snagging up any character with a flash kick, and "scrubbing" it out; so then people are looking at this thinking that's all that is to VF, which isn't the case. It's like looking at Tekken and saying all there is to it are launchers to juggles, which there's way more to it than that.

I am truly glad that the community has responded to things like this with tutorials (and in-depth commentaries) outside of Sega's (not that theirs was bad, but it shows the community's dedication to the game). Of course there's combo videos (hopefully showing max dmg potential for each launcher and weight class with possible "setups").

It would be interesting to hear someone like Skisonic, Yipes, or that one guy who did commentary for MvC2 at EVO2k7 (name plz?) do some knowledgeable commentary on VF one day, and like the whole area gets mad hype throughout the whole event. Who knows? It could very well be the game that has the next "EVO Moment"...

 

Ya, I'm aware VF has canned animations. What I'm trying to say is it's not too locked in terms of the inputs into specific combinations to get a certain combo if that makes any sense. VF just plays like melted butter instead of thick cheese or something like that. Tekken is deep, but the movement feels restrictive and you need to learn slight unintended glitches(KOREAN BACK DASH, HAHA STEP & SNAKE DASHING)like cancelling the back dash to sidestep and it makes the characters look like they are having a seizure. VF already had that back dash into evade or crouch dash intended, so it feels more organic in terms of game play. Also you have so many options to cancel mid combo into another movement or mix up it's mind blowing! I play Lei Wulong in Tekken because he almost feels like a VF character with all the mix ups from specific stances. The only thing about Tekken is if you are out gunned in priority on wake up or punish it's more due to the character's own lack of tools to handle certain innate disadvantages depending on the match up. You can still win with any character in Tekken, but for some it's a harder hill to climb. All the characters feel like they have a shot to win no matter the match up. I never fear certain character match ups in VF, just the people that play them.You feel like your playing the player, not the character in Virtua Fighter!

 

Virtua Fighter is the only fighting game I enjoy even when I get my ass handed to me, for that exact reason: I can feel how the other player gets mad or frustrated and changes tactics. When I play Street Fighter, I'll eventually do or receive a hadoken sooner or later when fighting Ryu / Ken / Akuma / Gouken / Oni / Sakura / Dan / Evil Ryu (for God's sake)... well you get the idea xD

That, and the beauty and elegance of the animation

 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Virtua Fighter is the only fighting game I enjoy even when I get my ass handed to me, for that exact reason: I can feel how the other player gets mad or frustrated and changes tactics.</div></div>
Yeah that's why I play online. When I beat a player, and then 5 minutes later we meet again, and he shows he obviously thought about his defeat by actively changing his tactics and shutting down my attack pattern and strong points... At that point, I was laughing out loud even while being handed a domination-loss.

That's an enjoyable loss, rather than losing to a masher's lag.

 

Yeah that's why I play online. When I beat a player, and then 5 minutes later we meet again, and he shows he obviously thought about his defeat by actively changing his tactics and shutting down my attack pattern and strong points... At that point, I was laughing out loud even while being handed a domination-loss.

That's an enjoyable loss, rather than losing to a masher's lag. </div></div>

this 100%.

i was facing someone who used Jean once. i beat him in like 4 rounds or something, wasn't very close. about 10 minutes later, he found me again and challenged me. this time he beat me in 5 rounds. he then sent me a message after that. said something like "be careful, i noticed you sidestep too often so i started going for HC/FC attacks".

that kind of stuff is what i like to see when i get punished. i don't like it when someone rubs it in after they win, so this was refreshing compared to other online games i play (like NHL 12 when someone uses the same tactics to sneak in the game winning goal and then they gloat about it)