What does Virtua Fighter need to sell in the west?

[George]

I wish Shenmue had been a major success because I am fucking crazy enough to want to play all of the 17 or 18 original chapters planned separately. The second game was just about being on the boat, fuck that is so awesome.

[Sega Uranus]

The second game was just about being on the boat, fuck that is so awesome.

Sounds boring.

No, you protect a girl and fight Chai on the boat because he climbed up on it, WOAH! The potential for pirates as well is so awesome too, WOAH!

[STORM!]

There is no needs to change anything on VF series;
the game is perfect!

 My only complain is about the story behind it.

 Yu Suzuki was not a fan of pre-rendered CG movies, that's why AM2 don't make many movies. Sega neither...

 I think the addition of a story mode with CG movies would work fine. Maybe in VF6, since VF5 is too old now. About VF6, probably Sega will use the game to release a new board, like they always do with the series.

 About the story, the pieces we have are very interesting, but very confused at the same time, and sometimes oddly like the stories made by Capcom -_-

  I'm still looking for the 4th Champion of VF... seems like there was no champion on VF4. Kage and Shun fought in the last, but the fight was not finished...

 Another interesting part of the story is Jean; he is Lion's friend, but Lion don't remember him. Same as Jean, who has no memories of his past, thanks to J6.

 There are also rumors about Akira's and Lion's father being involved with the J6. I really wanna a story mode with CG movies ;p

[George]

SEGA doesn't like making CG movies? Don't they own a CG studio?

[MadeManG74]

I know what you're saying, but lets face it VF 5 is dead in the west now , noone really cares for it , and I'm not sure SEGA even bothered to bring the game to the West inthe Arcades . SEGA really needs to make a console exclusive VF , making full use of next gen graphics and Online modes , and then can build a Tournament behind that.

I don't see much point in having a Tournament to a game that as sold poor in the west , be it on 360 or PS3 . Much better to focus on a new VF imo .

Ahh, sorry I thought you meant VF5 Vanilla specifically, which I agree on. I think that Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (or they could rename it just Virtua Fighter: Final Showdown if they want to dissasociate with 5) can still be successful.

I'm not certain on VF5, but for 5R it wasn't bought to the west because of Sega's new ideas for Arcades. They didn't sell machines, but only 'leased' them to owners, AND the machines needed to be hooked up to VF.net to run at all. This meant that pretty much only Japanese arcades were able to host the machines. I remember reading on SRK some arcade operators approaching Sega to buy a cab but had to be turned away.

As for making it console exclusive, I don't think that would be wise. In Japan especially an arcade release is still lucrative and helpful in attracting the hardcore players that would be likely to attend the tournaments in the first place. Capcom is even planning a Super Street Fighter IV Arcade release due to demand I believe.

And lets not forget, didn't VF4:Evo outsell VF4 Vanilla? I think that Final Showdown would be a fine showcase for something like this.

[SOUP]

SEGA doesn't like making CG movies? Don't they own a CG studio?

Just Yu Suzuki isn't a fan of them.  Sonic Team loves the crap out of those CG movies.

[Team Andromeda]

Just Yu Suzuki isn't a fan of them. Sonic Team loves the crap out of those CG movies

Yu Doesn't work on the VF series anymore , and there's been plenty of AM#2 and Yu Suzuki games that featured CGI and intro's Saturn VF Kids is fully of them .In fact most of AM#2 Saturn games featured CGI intro's

As for making it console exclusive, I don't think that would be wise. In Japan especially an arcade release is still lucrative and helpful in attracting the hardcore players that would be likely to attend the tournaments in the first place. Capcom is even planning a Super Street Fighter IV Arcade release due to demand I believe.

Oh I don't mean make VF only for the home . I just mean SEGA should make a MegaMix II developed only for the 360 and PS3 and to use their chipsets fully . Make its a sort of Fan service, like Fighters Mega Mix or Smash Brothers

And lets not forget, didn't VF4:Evo outsell VF4 Vanilla

I thought both VF 4 and VF Evo sold well on the PS2, but that was when Vs Fighters were still sort of  popular inthe West .  Vs Fighters seem to be in decline these days. As much I like and admire VF 5, its not much of step up over VF Evo (which to me is the pinnacle of the series )

[Orta]

CG intros are just CG intros. They were stupidly popular in the 32 bit era. Every game had them and in all of them they had no influence in the game itself. Yu Suzuki doesn't like CG sections. Everything must be real time. I think he said it himself in that GDC talk where he presented Shenmue.

[SOUP]

Just Yu Suzuki isn't a fan of them. Sonic Team loves the crap out of those CG movies

Yu Doesn't work on the VF series anymore , and there's been plenty of AM#2 and Yu Suzuki games that featured CGI and intro's Saturn VF Kids is fully of them .In fact most of AM#2 Saturn games featured CGI intro's

Just relaying what Storm said

[Team Andromeda]

CG intros are just CG intros. They were stupidly popular in the 32 bit era. Every game had them and in all of them they had no influence in the game itself. Yu Suzuki doesn't like CG sections. Everything must be real time. I think he said it himself in that GDC talk where he presented Shenmue.

I was only pointing out that a number of Yu Suzuki and AM#2 games have FMV or CGI intro's. I remember Yu Suzuki showing off CinePak FMV Jackie driving in his car, when AM#2 and Yu Suzuki held its Saturn Fight back press conference to show off Saturn VF II , hell even the likes of OutTrigger had a pointless intro, VF Kids had a different FMV for each character . Its simply the case that a lot of AM#2 games had FMV

 Also FMV can have an influence on the game, as a Panzer Dragoon fan , the FMV is every Panzer game, helped to tell the story, and draw one into the world

[cube_b3]

Arguing against CG videos is pointless in my opinion, especially in fighing games they serve as a reward for beating the game, unlocking CG endings is what motivates me to play the game with different characters.

Several other plus points of CG videos have been mentioned here, the absence of individual CG endings marginally hurt the VF franchise, however I think Virtua Fighter 6 needs something new and I don't mean the introduction of another fighting style.

I believe Virtua Fighter 4 introduced Character Customization and those features it was a strong selling point but every game has it now, Tekken, Mortal Kombat etc have done considrable experiments in offering something new such as Cart Racing, Adventure Worlds (Konquest, Tekken Force Mode, Tekken Bowling, Tekken VolleyBall).

Virtua Fighter needs something new and fun as well.

Adding CG endings, intros etc will help marginally, may encourage younger players to pick up the game and bond with the characters but every fighting game already seems to be doing that, at the very least Sega wouldn't be missing a segment so it is still a significant factor.