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Sega of America recently released a short documentary video from the Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown Pre-Launch Party. It features Chibita, Fuudo, Alex Valle, Westtrade, LA, and Plague as they talked about various aspects of the game but focuses mainly on the community aspect and how it has affected their lives. I think this quote from the video sums it up nicely!

"I like the game, but being part of the community is what makes it awesome. It's hard to experience this type of atmosphere outside of the gaming world" - Chibita

Check the video out! Original story from Sega Blog

Thanks for everyone's patience. We're now on a new kick-ass server which should hopefully result in a more stabilised experience from now on.

Most of the VFDC features should be back to normal, however, there are some remaining kinks in the system that I'm trying to work out, and a minor forum update was also necessary. You can read more about these in detail after the jump.

And of course, if you find something not working the way it used to, please let me know in this thread!

VFDC will be unavailable from midnight Thursday UTC, while some important maintenance work will be carried out. Specific times for major cities are shown below:

Los Angeles, Wed 5:00 PM
New York, Wed 8:00 PM
London, Thu 1:00 AM
Tokyo, Thu 9:00 AM
Sydney, Thu 10:00 AM

For updates during the down-time, keep your eye on the VFDC Facebook Page, or follow @vfdotcom on Twitter.

It has been recently announced that Spectator passes have sold out for this year's EVO, and many VF fans think this means they cannot enter the VF5FS tournament.

That is not the case!

Spectator passes are only required for Sunday, and 95% of the VF5FS tournament will be held on the Friday and Saturday. Only the final 3 in the bracket will need to play on Sunday, and SEGA will ensure they are able to enter the venue, even if they don't have a spectator pass.

This has been officially communicated by SEGA, so hopefully this clears things up once and for all!

From gamespot: Zorine Te and Mike "Iron Myke" Abdow of VirtuaFighter.com take a quick run through Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and explore the basic mechanics, changes and training tools of the game, including advice for newcomers to the series!

Now Playing: Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

Continuing on with VF5FS Pre-Launch Party interviews, this time I sat down with Chibita and Fuudo to run through some questions submitted by the VFDC community.

These legends of VF let us know what new players to FS should focus on, as well as sharing their personal opinions on the direction FS has taken. Chibita constantly reminded us how great a player he is, while the thoughtful Fuudo provides insight into the entirely different approaches he takes when preparing for VF and SF tournaments.

A huge thanks to L_A, Mai (SEGA) and Patrick (SEGA) for helping with the translations!

During the VF5FS Pre-Launch party, I had an opportunity to ask Patrick Riley, Director of International Product Development at SEGA, questions submitted by the community.

Over 30 of your questions were asked, where he elaborates on replay saving to the cloud, what the Demo (Xbox Live only) will feature, as well as other features that they would have liked to have included but simply couldn't due to time or budget.

I'm also pleased to announce that there's a couple of exclusives for each console, so check it out!

Image courtesy of Level|Up

The VF5FS side tournament at UFGT8 (a total of 64 players participating!) will take place Saturday, May 26, 2012. The final 4 will be streamed on Level|Up Series Channel around 10 PM US Central Time.

Update: Archive of the final are available and quick results in the following post within this thread.

Level|Up UFGT8 Archive of VF5FS Final 4 (At 59 minute mark)

The fourth volume of the 2012 Tokyo Bay Area Cup season will be held and streamed on May 27th, ~ 1PM JST start time on: Newton Live. The first three 3on3 tournaments had a different winner each time: Team Satani Fantastic Circus, Team Doramachikku, and Team Zenryoku Kabuppaazu. Will the trend continue?

The Bay Area Cups 3on3 tournaments are unique in that teams made at the beginning of the season remains the same at the end of the season. For past tournament summaries and other information, please check the Virtua Fighter Relationship 2011-2012 Season thread. The second post in the thread have a list of teams and team members participating in the Bay Area Cups (not comprehensive).

May 29, 2012 Update: Links to the archive of the event are posted below. Check following post for quick results.
Preliminary Qualifier
Playoff Stage
Final Tournament Stage Part 1
Final Tournament Stage Part 2

Kansai Bay Area Cup Vol. 6 event is expected to be streamed live on the Kansai Bay Channel on May 27th, 2 PM JST tournament start time. Next month there will be no 3on3 Kansai Bay Area Cup. Instead, there will be a 5on5 Hamaohtsu Cup.

The Bay Area Cups 3on3 tournaments are unique in that teams made at the beginning of the season remains the same at the end of the season. For past tournament summaries and other information, please check the Virtua Fighter Relationship 2011-2012 Season thread. The second post in the thread have a list of teams and team members participating in the Bay Area Cups (not comprehensive).

May 29th, 2012 Update: Archive of the event is provided in the links below. Check the thread for results.
Kansai Bay Vol. 6 - Preliminary Qualifier
Kansai Bay Vol. 6 - Final Tournament
Kansai Bay Vol. 6 - Post Tournament, Part 1 (Gods of Thunder Ranking Battles)
Kansai Bay Vol. 6 - Post Tounrament, Part 2