Any chance this is related to the Phantasy Star announcement the PSU admins were hinting at when the American servers shut down? I'm pretty hopeful that the original PSO gets revived on some platform, and Xbox Live wouldn't be a bad home. It might even get me to renew my Gold subscription, which I didn't think was worth doing when it ran out ten months ago.
If it is a new virtual on it will be the first time in ages that Sega have not dissapointed unless the game turns out to be complete turd.
Article, including a (way too small) magazine scan: http://kotaku.com/5542249/another-countdown-clock-sorta-ruined-but-hey-virtual+on
Well, judging by the screenshots in the Famitsu article the game does not significantly differ from the thousands of Gundam/Armored Core mech-games. I sure hope I'm wrong, but even if it's gonna be an outstanding Virtual On successor, I'd still be disappointed. I expect something original, something new, something very very fancy... like Bayonetta or similar.
This is not technically a "new" Virtual On. VO Force was released in arcades before, but was passed over for a home port in favor of the terrible VO Marz. Also, I expected Zach to come tell us how this is proof of Sega making a new console.
At least we're safe for now - it looks like the troll's been knocked back under his bridge for a while... so let's cross before he rises with tales of a new Sega console again! Back from La-La Land for a moment, Force was originally the 4th arcade title released in the Virtual On series. However, since it wasn't given a home version (in favour of the poor Marz) all those years ago I can almost see why a great fuss is being made about its arrival on the 360, though who else feels the "new action game" description bends trading standards laws slightly? P.S. Does anyone know if there is any truth to the current rumour doing the rounds about Shenmue and its sequel being prepared for XBLA with sales to determine whether future chapters are released online periodically? This one's surely right up Sega News Wire's proverbial street, but who really wants the return of Zack Morris: The Gaming World's SuperShadow?
Shenmue in episodic form is by far the only way Yu Suzuki can complete the series now. Segammy wont risk making another big expensive game that may not sell, so making small episodes with a licensed engine (unreal3? cryengine? the new one from Id?) might be the only alternative. After all making the first episode with material from the initial chapters of shenmue 3 wouldnt take that much money, and if sales numbers are solid enough there would be an episode 2 around the corner.
Awesome. 4-player online Virtual-ON FTW :dance: Well that's it, the Wii is getting replaced with the 360slim/Natal when it's released. Just need Hori to do another run of the Twin Stick EX controllers in a decent quantity this time. Force and Oratario Tangram with decent twin sticks :love2:
Some clean shots. http://www.andriasang.com/e/galleries/2010/05/21/virtual_on_force/ I know i'll probably get flack for this but... I don't get why sega hasn't ported or made any Virtual On games for the PSP. Gundam Vs Gundam series does exceptionally well on the system. Oh well, gonna have to get this game when I get a 360 in the future (waiting on slim at $200 price).
Based on my experience with the ad-hoc networking, I don't think the PSP would handle two-player Virtual On very well. None of the games in the series really comes alive until you have more than one player, so I would imagine that the multiplayer limitations are really what keeps a port from happening.
You might not think so but japan would disagree. Ad-hoc multiplayer is a huge thing on the PSP in japan. Look at monster hunter. MH3 for wii only achived 1 million in sales with online play (MH2 on PS2 only around 600k), The last PSP version sold over 3 million with only adhoc and they expect the next PSP one to reach above 3 million (almost 4 million) as well.
