Virtual On Force - out now - apparently region free!

[DeepInTheHops]

That is the recent rumor (and an old rumor too, I guess):

http://www.segabits.com/?p=1566

I'm not sure what to think about this. It'll be good to finally be able to try it, but my expectations aren't too high.

[MentholMoose]

Cool.

I will buy it, but I don't think I will play much.

[MentholMoose]

And now there's this:
http://next-360action.sega.jp/

There is speculation that this may be a new VO game (EDIT: link courtesy velocity7):
http://blog.esuteru.com/archives/430902.html

The page at "next-360action.sega.jp" has little relevant info, other than a cryptic "SIX". Perhaps this a reference to the "VO4" teaser on the Force site when it was first launched.

However, the page source code reveals that the page statistics are tracked by the same Google Analytics account as "vo-ot360.sega.jp". The account number is 902977... vo-ot360 is the 13th site (or Website Profile) under the account, next-360action is the 17th site. I checked a few different sega.jp sites and there are a variety of Analytics accounts, so there is not one "master" Analytics account for all Sega sites (e.g. the account for sega.jp is 11009541, phantasystar.sega.jp is 4938206, sonic.sega.jp is 349115, and samba.sega.jp is 5889575). Another site under account 902977 is www.virtuafighter.jp (3rd site).

It is easy to create a bunch of Analytics accounts using a single Google login, but the accounts will be somewhat separate (the stats will be completely separate). Creating multiple Website Profiles lets you see a breakdown of all the sites on one page, so it's possible each team manages their own Analytics accounts, and thus the "next-360action.sega.jp" is being done by the same team as VF5 and VOOT360.

[CRAZYDAZED]

I think "SIX" is some sort of a countdown? On the speculation page, it said "10."

[MentholMoose]

Ah, I see. I didn't try to translate much of it, though I did see mention of the VOOT 360 blog post on the 13th, so a countdown makes sense.

Anyway out of curiosity I did further checking into Analytics accounts. So far I've found the following domains tracked by account 902977 (followed by the Website Profile number):
www.virtuafighter.jp - 3
am-mobile.sega.jp - 7
rhythm-tengoku.sega.jp - 8
r-tuned.sega.jp - 9
touchstriker.sega.jp - 10
spa-cup.sega.jp - 12
vo-ot360.sega.jp - 13
next-360action.sega.jp - 17

[neo helbeast]

I'm interested in their voot blog update more specifically this:

'Represents a little depressed regarding a specific number of words for 諸般 reasons not excuse, on the other hand also rumor on the street like because we actually quantity far more than the number of already download the our or the.
Erected a goal in that now you can talk, but the graft title of more than 10 years ago, and team at the time was also involved in XBLA titles for the first time, honestly can't forecast situation, but attaches feel about １周 happily, the initially goals achievement in has. Only if this is also our hot your support and your encouragement of team, that everyone again we thank'

To me it (after reading the rest) sounds like VO might have been permanently put on the shelf if VOOT hadn't sold so well.

[neo helbeast]

Also the force website has disappeared.

[MentholMoose]

Also the force website has disappeared.

Which one? The vo-force360.sega.jp site was always giving an error when trying to browse to it.

[MentholMoose]

It's confirmed by the latest Famitsu!!! Links courtesy velocity7, thanks man!!
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread. ... st21351924
http://i47.tinypic.com/63vayt.jpg

[guarayakha]

*Revives from the grave*

It's been a long time since I've been here, but good news, and it's also on kotaku

http://kotaku.com/5542249/another-count ... virtual+on

So rather than being a XBLA title, it's coming on DVD. Still annoyed that the PS3 is being ignored here, but at least this give me a reason to use my 360 again, lol. Hopefully all VRs and their variants are unlocked from the get-go, but it'll be interesting to see what changes they've made to the card system to fit with a console release.

[MurderDeathKill]

*prays for a turbo speed option*

...oh, who am I kidding? As long as SEGA brings it here to the States (or makes the game region-free), I'll get it.

[Schooly D]

Guess I'm kind of sad about this. From everything I've seen, FORCE doesn't play well at all. And I think it's very telling that still WAY more people prefer VOOT despite FORCE being, on paper, such an attractive option. I mean, who wouldn't want 2 v 2 Virtual-On?

What I see happening is FORCE drawing some people away from VOOT, which makes me sad if FORCE isn't a good game.

[Sixfortyfive]

Yeah, a brand new VO would be way better than this. It could suck too, but at least it'd be something different.

I'm still going to buy this though. It's criminal that this will get split-screen functionality and not VOOT!

[Long Shadow]

I'm all for VOF. Would be nice if they had OMG as an extra.
It has 4P split-screen (as seen on the right page) which is nice, not just 2P like Marz.

And now that it's a retail game, what are the chances of seeing more affordable Twin-sticks???

Not likely I know, but a retail game would have a better chance at selling a peripheral then a Digital only game.
(And I mean to sell in shops and not just special order like the current 360 Twin-Sticks)

[MentholMoose]

As long as SEGA brings it here to the States (or makes the game region-free), I'll get it.

Same here. There's zero chance I'll buy a Japanese Xbox 360 for this game.

[Sixfortyfive]

Btw Menthol I love that your gamerscore is still only 200 points. There's a man who knows what he likes!

[MurderDeathKill]

Mark of a true fan, that.

[Knoxximus]

I'm still trying to figure out if this is good news or not.

[Swamp]

And now that it's a retail game, what are the chances of seeing more affordable Twin-sticks???

Not likely I know, but a retail game would have a better chance at selling a peripheral then a Digital only game.
(And I mean to sell in shops and not just special order like the current 360 Twin-Sticks)

It's very likely that we'd get twin stick peripherals for the game; the sad thing is, is that it might be the Hori one.

[MasterFygar]

Well, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom had a specially made arcade stick to emulate the arcade experience, and half of that game consisted of characters from shows that never even got an American release, so if this does come to America, our twinstick-in-Best-Buys potential will be pretty good.

Although Force isn't amazing, I may find myself getting it and VOOT (as well as an actual 360) if sticks come out in America. Wasn't worth importing those beasts from Japan when I have an OMG cabinet, but it would be worth a trip to a game store if I could play both other arcade releases with it. The most promising thing about this for me is that, if this sells well too, Sega will see the series has potential- and weren't the crappy sales of Force and Marz what made them say no to a new arcade game in the series? If they get a better team together and let Watari make a fifth Virtual On arcade game, my garage space and wallet will cry as I frantically try to ship a full sized cabinet in from Japan on launch dayI will be ecstatic. We can only hope.