Our fanboy fingers are shaking as we type this, but we'll try to remain strong. SEGA has officially announced that Virtua Fighter 5 (AKA the mother of all Japanese exclusives) is coming to the Xbox 360 -- despite SEGA's claims otherwise. The game is expected to ship in Summer 2007, some months after the February release of the PS3 version. While this is great news for fighting fans, it's even better news for Microsoft's hopes in Japan. Virtua Fighter is huge in Japan, much bigger than it's ever been in North America or Europe. VF5 could very easily move some 360s in Japan, especially given that VF fans can pick up the 360 for much less than a PS3.
Before we get too excited, we should point out that VF5 does not feature online play, an expected feature for 360 titles. Even including that caveat, this is an overwhelmingly positive outcome for Microsoft and 360 owners in general. Now if they'd just release a 360 compatible Virtua Stick ....
Alright, let's make some bets. Which exclusive will make it to the 360 next? MGS4, perhaps?
[Thanks to Xboxygen for tipping us off.]
