VF5 sighting in Chicago!

I saw this post over at Gamefaqs. It was posted early Wed, 8/23/06.

[ QUOTE ]
Virtua Fighter 5 is now on test at Gameworks Schaumburg (Chicago, IL)!

The techs set the machine up tonight, it's on the second floor near Psy-Phi and next to DDR. It's about 23 credits a play (yikes). It's in the Lindberg cab that Virtua Tennis 3 was in.

Machine is set to whatever it was at I think it was E3 or wherever it was demoed in the U.S.: 45 second rounds, 3 points to win for VS, 2 points for solo games. No character change on continue (I'm sure that can be adjusted if people want it changed).

It's also in Japanese, there's no endings or intros (just throws up the staff roll after the game is over).

El Blaze and Eileen = fun as hell (I'm a little biased towards luchadors =P). Not sure I like the changes to Pai Chan though.

I'll probably be there on Thursday night, since the game allows time card play, and there's those time card specials on Thursday nights after 9 or 10PM (gotta be 21 or older).

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds legit. We need one of our own VFDC members to verify.

Can this mean VF5 on arcade is possible outside of Japan? /versus/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Here is the link of the original post. If you're around Chicago, VF5 is here!

 

FAAAAAAK!

 

Let's see pictures.

 

ill report on this tomorrow

 

i thought psy-phi was canceled, seems like a hoax

 

[ QUOTE ]
PhoenixDth said:

i thought psy-phi was canceled, seems like a hoax

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe this was a hoax, but after calling and talking with the manager he assured me vf5 is there, because I stated I was from out of town and would be coming to visit just for VF5. As for as psy-phi that is too good to be true. However, if it is there then it would be the only demo copy available to play that I know of right now. I also heard the project was canned from rumors on message boards. I guess one more call or madrox checking out the scene will clear this up.

Madrox-
Please take some pictures of vf5 and psy-phi, thanks.

 

how long till Ontario Mills Gameworks in socal has it?

 

I think the fact that psy phi is there just means that this is most likely the ONLY VF5 machine we will see in the US. Chances are SOA has no use for the test version of VF5 anymore so they just dump it at Gameworks, similar to psy-phi.

 

These machines all show up in Illinois because that's where the Sega arcade distro center is. The likelihood of these showing up in other Gameworks are slim to none.

I'm lead to believe that this is a test to gather info for the PS3 port.

 

Still though, that's extremely fortunate for anyone in that area. Damn.

 

phy - phi is there ,, they dont have any of the cards for it though --havnt played as i only stuck wiht VF. hee hee. techs also didnt know if they had vf cards,,but ill check next time.

posted quick synopsis on jamoree section for you others.

here some crappy phone cam pics

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6d607b3127cce8c6b0ce9384e00000016100EcMmzVuxZsR

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6d607b3127cce8c6b0cd4b94300000016100EcMmzVuxZsR

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6d607b3127cce8c6b0cd0b94700000015100EcMmzVuxZsR

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6d607b3127cce8c6b0cc6b95100000010100EcMmzVuxZsR

 

so its real and I am officially jealous and on chicago's nuts. Chicago for the new NYC1

 

the fact that this game is running in an arcade in the US is proof that the only reason VF5 isn't being released outside of Japan is that AM2 just doesn't fucking feel like it.

/versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

Could someone please explain why AM2 is not releasing VF5 stateside in arcades?

Don't we have enough VF support here to warrant atleast a few machines here and there?

 

because americans are cheap and rather wait for the "console version"

no arcade operator is suicidal enough to cover 15k in machine costs

 

[ QUOTE ]
Could someone please explain why AM2 is not releasing VF5 stateside in arcades?

Don't we have enough VF support here to warrant atleast a few machines here and there?

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

no arcade operator is suicidal enough to cover 15k in machine costs

[/ QUOTE ]


It's not the support. It's the infrastructure. We don't have the arcade infrastructure within SoA's umbrella. That's the demand side. Further to this, it's an investment that SoA is just not willing to make.

- The cabinets need to be manufactured and shipped to North America at SoA's expense.
- The manuals need to be translated.
- SoA Arcade Group needs to have people trained to understand VF5's nuances.
- The game would require translation and/or some kind of North American sanitization (this takes time).
- Marketing and sales strategies/campaigns for an arcade version would be required by SoA. This costs tons.
- Having the game 'owned' by SoA would require them to appropriately license the VF5 software and therefore continously upgrade that licensing agreement with each and every upgrade out of Japan (lots - we're at 2 already).
- Legal fees for the distribution of another Lindbergh title under SoA's jurisdiction.
- Lastly, the game is designed for VF.net. There are issues with the way VF.net is owned and operated in that non-japanese IP addresses are not permitted to communicate (hence why we can't hook up FT to the net and get VF.net here) with the japanese servers. To distribute the game without VF.net goes completely against the majority of the development $$ that Sega spent in the making of VF5 (it's a glorifed FT2 with tons of VF.net upgades, most will agree).

It's far more complex than simply saying "Hey, send us 25 cabinets and we'll stick em in choice arcade over here!". Given that the arcade infrastructre is but a fraction of what it is in Japan, it makes absolutely no business sense to have a North American release of VF5 in the arcades. You didn't see VF4 Final Tuned in North America (commercially) for the exact same reasons.

 

This makes me want to apply to University of Chicago.

 

Spot on LlanFair, spoken like a true follower of arcade sector. You could also add the need for spares and VF.Net cards as issues.

All your points are well made on what limits VF5's appearance. I wish some of the magazines had your grasp.

On a side note, there is a move towards Sega Amusement USA operating their own games rather than distributing them, and this means that VF5 Version A may get a limited US release supported by the ALL.NET (see recent GamesWorks announcement).

All the best,

 

hgamer is going tonight to play!

 

Indeed. I spoke with the games department at GameWorks HQ and was told that the VF5 machine referred to above is indeed on test at the named location but that it is uncertain how long it will remain there. In addition, I was told that there are no plans to bring more VF5 machines into the fold here stateside. Those of you in Chicago had better get your playtime in while you still can before they are finished gathering whatever information they are (GameWorks could not specify what exactly they are gathering information wise from the test machine). Apparently, the GameWorks location with VF5 is a designated test site for games. That is why you folks are so lucky and those of us elsewhere, like myself and others here in Minneapolis, probably won't get to see VF5 prior to its' PS3 release apart from road trips to Chicago.