www.segaarcade.com

Just found this site, which is for sega enterprises, the people handling arcade vf4. Has a downloadable "brochure" that I haven't seen yet.

but 2 other things caught my eye. The first is a feedback page for players to give feedback about the games. For those of us still worried about button layout, there might be a chance we can get a word in if the cabinets haven't gone into production yet. If like me, you want a DC stick/Japanese arcade layout, you can reference the 2P side of the VF3 US cabinet (PKG placed perfectly).

Second, there's a page that lists distributors, so interested people could call looking for a release date here in the US.

I wanna do this stuff myself, but have to go to work now.

Spotlite

 

Done! But I bet it would be more effective if a few more people do the same...

 

I'm sure cabinet production must be done by now. VerB should be in the US anytime now surely?

Adio.

 

Who knows, can't hurt to try...

 

Finally got around to also submitting a request for goos button layout. I'm gonna put it here so people who want to can simply cut and paste it into the feedback form at segaarcade.com.

"I am writing regarding the upcoming Sega arcade game Virtua Fighter 4.

I have been a fan of this series for a long time, but have always felt that the cabinets (in the US) for these games suffered from poor layout of the controls; specifically the buttons.

In the past, it would seem that the person who designed the button layout thought that if someone were playing on the 1 player side, that their hand would somehow be placed differently than if they were playing on the 2 player side. This is not the case.

Virtua Fighter is a very precise game, and the comfort of the players hands is very important. I had the chance to play the "location test" versions of VF4 in Stanton, CA and Hayward, CA and found the button layout once again unsatisfactory, and quite painful to be honest.

If the designer looks at the 2 player side from the Virtua Fighter 3 cabinet, you can see that if you rest your hand naturally over the buttons, it will correspond to the G,P,K and E buttons perfectly (thumb on G, index on P...).

This layout is the model that should be followed, on BOTH sides; eliminating E since VF4 has no E button. The G and P buttons vertically in line, then the K button slightly above and to the right.

All Sega games in Japan and other parts of the world use this layout, as well as most other games in Japan. And it's not without reason, it's perfect layout.

Even though I'm sure this message might be too late, I'd rather see the game delayed a little longer (it's already out in every other part of the would) to have this problem corrected. Thankyou."


guys, I hope some of you follow suit. I know it seems like it'll never make a difference, but if enough of us do it...

Spotlite

 

Your completly right... But what can we do. I wish we could have the proper VF4 cabinet with those cards you can get to save your rank and stuff.

Looks like the only way is to move to japan, or buy the machine...

 

I played on the VF4test machine for nearly 14 hours yesterday... the button layout is such that P,K,G are almost in a straight line (horizontally), and my wrist aches so bad today that I think I know what carpel tunnel syndrome feels like now =(

 

14 HOURS!!? woww.. that's enough for 2-day sleeptime. For me playing with some charas like Akira can put strain on wrists very quickly. Can't imagine playing more than 3 hours. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

Trigger/versus/images/icons/wink.gif

 

Hehe originally, I was planning to go to the arcade at 2pm, but then I figured I'd take advantage of the Saturday morning token special from 10am-11am, so I arrived at 10.30am and stayed till midnight. Of course, we took a break for lunch and for Jamba juice in the evening, but other than that, it was nonstop action. And yeah , by the 10th hour, I was starting to SUCK really badly.

My wrist still hurts now...

 

Exactly!

when I played at Hayward, for about 10 hours, my hand was FUCKED! the back of my hand was so swollen...

At SHGL it wasn't quite as bad 'cause I could sit down.

There's just no substitute for the right set-up. I honestly have no idea what the people who design this stuff are thinking... that it looks cool?

Supposedly, there was a big amusement show this weekend in Vegas where the final made it's US debut, but I didn't see anything about it on any game sites. When I called Sega's official distributor here in LA, he had never HEARD of VF4. That's hopeful, eh? But he did say that it wouldn't be available until after the show if it was coming out. I can't believe how lame the scene here is. USA, dude!

Spotlite