Virtua Fighter 5 for Xbox 360!

While Xbox 360 fans are quite content with the selection of games available on their console, many gamers have lamented the fact that a few key exclusives remain destined for the PLAYSTATION 3 format. One of those games was Sega's hotly anticipated Virtua Fighter 5, which will be a PS3 launch title here in New Zealand.

However, Sega announced today that they will be bringing Virtua Fighter 5 to the Xbox 360 sometime at the end of Q2 2007.

While Tekken has always been more popular in New Zealand, Virtua Fighter 5 is a huge coup for the boys at Redmond. With the exception of XBLA classics, the Xbox 360 is a lightweight in the fighter genre department. The inclusion of what many consider to be the deepest and best fighting game series of all time will give the machine a much needed boost in that area.

It will also come as a blow to Sony, who have to watch yet another hotly anticipated exclusive jump ship to their competitors console before they've even managed to release the PS3 in Europe and Australasia.

Given the small release gap, Virtua Fighter 5's multiplatform status is unlikely to affect the 360's standing in Japan. However, it will give those in the West struggling to find reasons to buy the NZ$1200 (approx.) PS3 one reason less.

Virtua Fighter 5 was destined to be an offline only game after online issues plagued the arcade version of Virtua Fighter 4. It is unknown whether an online function will be added to the game in this waiting period to conform with Microsoft's policies. Stay tuned for further updates!

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