Gametrailers.com's "Best fighting games of 2012"

Gametrailers website made a video listing the very best fighting games of 2012. All the familiar big hitters made the list including Soul Calibur 5, Dead or Alive 5, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, UFC??, Skullgirls & StreetFighterXTekken. Wait a minute Gametrailers did not mention Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown in the list of best fighting games of 2012. VF 5 FS got ignored! Maybe because it's a download only title?-maybe we should blame Sega for making it a download only title.. =( Virtua Fighter gets no respect from Gametrailers!

 

They even listed a UFC fighting game in the list =(

 

Wait, VF5 final showdown is coming out for us this year!?!?

 

yes only for xbox live arcade & PSN download.No high profile retail release.

 

Huh, you'd think they would have advertised it.

 

It is not mentioned because it's not new. It's being ported to consoles but that's it. VF5 in general is far from a new title.

The Best Fighting Games of 2012 is in the section of "Ultimate Gaming Preview", which discusses the best possible, already announced (usually) titles. It doesn't mean they think it's "the best, period"

 

I'm pretty sure its more than just that... It's $$$, on top of that, Sega burned quite a few bridges with people. They also make a big stink over VF replays and such (a-cho, EVO, etc), so for some other company that might want to put this game in the list, they probably feel they can't because Sega might swing their giant mallet and "smite thee".

This has to be the case, seeing as these same people "praise" VF for being such a good fighter throughout it's history, and I'm sure they have to have known about FS being released, as well as the huge petition behind getting 5R released.

I guarantee if UMvC3 were to be released this year vice a few months ago, then it would've been one of those games listed in this vid. As bad as DOA has been, even Team Ninja knows that they have to let people/reviewers talk about them and showcase their games for advertisement's sake. Sega just doesn't do that with VF, and it's hurting them severely.

Skullgirls has got its support from the community at SRK, and other Capcom-esque sites I'm sure. One of the guys behind the game is a MvC2 pro, also, and he has ranbats/sessions/etc for the game already, so it's technically acting as a beta and advertisement. I also don't remember anyone mentioning it having a disc release, I thought it was just a XBLA/PSN game, so if that's the case, then WTF is up with VF then???

Capcom and Namco like Starsky and Hutch, so since they're "close", you're gonna see their new products getting advertised together-- all of them.

UFC... Well, I guess they don't want to be viewed as a sports game, but I feel like it's gonna be a long time before that happens. Look at the Smash Bros. games, and how long it took for them to be "accepted" as a serious fighter. Dana White's gonna be coughing up mad dough to push this in tourneys and advertise the hell outta it, so who knows...

Strangely enough, Sega doesn't make a stink about Sonic games being showcased by game reviewers, but with VF, it's like the trophy wife who married a crazy man, so you can't even think about looking in her direction without the guy going ballistic.

 

If you remember our fellow VFDC member six-two (a poster here who is/was part of UFC development team), hesaid himself that UFC is NOT a fighting game, it is absolutely a sports game... UFC isn't a bad series of games, but it is a sports series, not a fighter.

 

I understand there have been people who said UFC isn't a fighting game, but rather a sports game. There are people, however, who see other MMA games that try to push the whole "we're a fighter, too" idea (like that last MMA game Po was talking about), and I think because of that, UFC has been (or is now being) looked at as something that could become a "fighter" per sé...

I agree with you though Gernburgs, I feel it's just a sports series, too...

 

Just goes to show you that Retail release is important.

If it's a digital download title they need to push the awareness more than ever, since it will get overshadowed by everything else in the marketplace.

I was quite shocked at the GT.com video also, but then again, makes sense it wasn't included in the list, since there hasn't been any new details on the console version of Final Showdown since mid 2011.

 

Many people forget that Virtua Fighter even exists. I mean, seriously, if it wasn't my favourite fighting game series, I'm not sure that any of my friends would have known about the series continuing past the SEGA Saturn. Gametrailers kind of has no excuse, but it's still the seemingly popular mindset in the West.

 

I didn't know about VF5 until I saw one of my XBL friends playing a demo of it.

I don't really read gaming magazines or watch much TV so just about the only advertisements I'm going to see are online, before movies and on the side of busses/billboards etc.

The best form of advertisement is word of mouth. Once folk start talking about a game it spreads like wildfire. Just gotta give them a reason to talk.

 

I'm not sure that necessarily the problem. I agree with Seidon that word of mouth has the real power. I mean, look at something like Pushmo. That's a download-only title, and it's among the biggest games on the 3DS. I think that Virtua Fighters tend to keep to their own, in a sense. Don't get me wrong; I'm as bugged as the next guy that the series doesn't get its due. It's just hard to get people psyched about a new VF title, when everyone is so easily wowed by the big, flashy visuals or enamoured in discussing the perhaps-a-bit-overboard cleavage seen on the somewhat controversial ad for SoulCalibur V.

What I think Final Showdown needs is a lot of love spreading throughout our friends who may know little to nothing about Virtua Fighter (a.k.a. word of mouth), and hope that SEGA gets a good mind to make a really clever ad campaign. The way I would probably do it is make two series of Internet/TV ad spots. One set of intense, combat-heavy commercials to appease the hardcore fighters and make them remember that Virtua Fighter is the O.G. in pretty much every respect. The second set of my hypothetical ads would embrace the cheesy side of the beloved franchise. I'm just spitballing, here, but it'd definitely get me psyched up for the game (as if I'm not, already).

 

Final Showdown's exclusion is soley Sega's fault. They need to do a better job of communicating with media outlets that the game is coming out. Considering this game is being released in the summer, it's pretty stupid that they haven't started any type of marketing campaign yet.

 

SEGA going for the stealth release, haha.

Will they ever learn? Survey says...no.

 

If that's the case and SEGA doesn't actively and appropriately advertise the game's imminent release, then it'll only fuel their perception that there just isn't Western interest in the series at all. In that case, it would be their fault.

 

They tread on their own toes. I guess they want to try and turn a profit on VF by not spending additional cash advertising it. It's a fucking joke if you ask me. Fighting games are enjoying a second burst of life and instead of using this resurgence to attempt to bolster a dying title in the west they let it fade away.

I'll be happy to play it and so will the other VF fans and folk who play fighters who happen to know it's coming out. Everyone else? They won't even see it come and go.

 

I bet even half this board forgets from time to time that Final Showdown is actually coming out.

 

My prediction:

Stealth release : March 17th

No features just Arcade and Versus mode(this is the reason for the stelath release). Sega's reasoning for this is because "VF isn't popular in the West." VF is done in the West and the East.

I only have to focus on getting good in KOF XIII.

I still have VF OSTs to enjoy, and listen to them while playing KOF XIII.