Today, SEGA must have felt a little left out of the E3 hubub and as a result decided to share its video game release schedule through 2008. SEGA isn't giving out concrete dates, but has announced that Xbox 360 games Virtua Fighter 5 and SEGA Rally Revo will be available this Fall, The Golden Compass this December, Condemned 2: Bloodshot is penciled in for February, Iron Man next Spring, Universe at War: Earth Assault Q1 of 2008, and The Club will make its way to retailers Winter 2008. So, later this year SEGA will grace us with some online Virtua Fighter 5, SEGA Rally Revo and The Golden Compass and anything releasing in 2008 we won't comment on, because 2008 is way too far in the future for our A.D.D. minds to care about. Bring on the 2007 games!

Yeah, you read that right. Despite all the cries that it would ruin game balance, and that Virtua Fighter just wouldn't work online, there it is. Sega has officially announced that Virtua Fighter 5 for the Xbox 360 will feature online versus multiplayer. Given that this was one of our personal predictions for E3, we couldn't be happier. Online play in Virtua Fighter 5 will allow players to take on opponents in 1-on-1 matches over Xbox Live. The 360 version is based on the latest arcade revision and features new additions to the Quest and DOJO modes. Of course, Online play stands out as a particularly ostentatious feather in the 360 version's cap, as the PS3 version is an offline-only affair.

The crew over at IGN received an "eyes on" preview of the Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 and came away starry eyed impressed. SEGA was eager to show off the ported PS3 game and rightly so, because they went back into the code and polished everything for the 360 version. IGN says that VF5 on the 360 is noticeably prettier, because subtle new effects were added (like morning fog) and the aliasing issues that were so noticeable in the PS3 version have been fixed. And for you arcade diehards, SEGA also mentioned that HORI will be releasing a plain Jane VF5 arcade stick when the game releases.

Even though SEGA hasn't confirmed or denied online play (we're praying it does), it sounds like the 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 will be the uber edition. Things are looking great for Virtua Fighter fanboys.

It seems there's some confusion surrounding the release date of Virtua Fighter 5 according to Eurogamer. It seems that several online retailers, including GameStop, Amazon, and Play.com, are listing the game as a fall or even winter release. SEGA begs to differ and has confirmed with Eurogamer that Virtua Fighter 5 is still planned as a summer release. Eurogamer also notes that we still don't know exactly what will be different between the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the title, especially given recent revisions to the arcade game. Of course, we're all still hoping for online multiplayer, but we're not hoping too hard.

Fighting games used to be king. Once upon a time, back in the 90s, arcades (remember those?) were full of fighting games of all kinds. You could fight with and against just about anything you pleased: dinosaurs, robots, time travelers, ninjas, werewolves, you name it. With so many games from which to choose, rivalries were formed. After the Street Fighter VS. Mortal Kombat era rose the Virtua Fighter VS. Tekken era. When the Dead or Alive series arrived, Virtua Fighter's influence was unmistakable (the original DOA ran on the VF2 arcade board after all). The game's had identical control schemes (as long as you disregard VF3's unfortunate dodge button), similar combos and even shared many fighting styles. So, which one is better?

GameTrailers is letting the gaming public decide by pitting Virtua Fighter 5 against Dead or Alive 4. It's simple, watch a video (also in HD) then vote for your favorite game in several categories. Cast your vote on the best graphics, gameplay, characters, and more. After you vote, see how your choices reflect the general public.

Currently, it's a pretty close race, with DOA4 winning people over with its stages and modes, while VF5 wins in the areas of graphics and gameplay. Which do you prefer?

Frankly, we're still miffed that SEGA refuses to add online play to its flagship fighting title, Virtua Fighter 5. Of course, that doesn't mean we won't ravenously devour every scrap of information about the game that comes our way. Today's latest on Virtua Fighter 5 comes to us from Gamertag Radio in the form of three new screenshots. Yeah, it's not exactly earth-shattering (like, say, announcing fully integrated online play), but it's better than nothing. Besides, the game is just damned pretty.

VF5 hits (and kicks) the Xbox 360 this summer. Anyone out there plan on picking it up?

Sure, the game is already out for the PS3 and so people can have a pretty good idea about how the box is going to look for Virtua Fighter 5, but it's always nice to see it with the proper 360 cover dressing. The difference between the two is slight, at best. The image is the same on the top, bottom and left sides with the 360 version showing more of the characters in the backround on the right. We have a humongous resolution version also available for your scrutiny. Box art aside, you down for some Old school SEGA style fighting?

After briefly, mistakenly and idiotically reducing the entirety of Europe, with all its many cultures, languages and shoes to just the UK in an article yesterday, we've taken steps to reinforce the pathways that connect our brains to our rapidly typing fingers. Said fingers insist that we now draw your attention to the PS3's continued success in Madagascar the United Kingdom, with launch titles Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm perching comfortably atop the Chart Track software list for the week ending 24 March.

Insomniac's first-person shooter debuted in the number one spot, with the muddy Motorstorm slotting into second position. Virtua Fighter 5 is all the way down in 14th position, bested by Namco's symphony of slide, Ridge Racer 7 (11th) and the comparitively out of tune F1: Championship Edition (7th). Finally, historically accurate crab battle simulations find themselves relegated to 16th position.

With these PS3 exclusive (for now, in the case of Virtua Fighter 5) titles making a splash in the charts alongside the PS3's strong launch performance in Guam the UK, it seems the doom and gloom impression that resulted from so many dead launch events was unwarranted. The coming weeks will show us whether or not the PS3 can maintain its momentum in both hardware and software sales.

Personal gloating moment: after obtaining the rank of "Veteran" in Virtua Fighter 5's Quest Mode, my thumbs are killing me. But it was worth it. Still worth it, since every character I fight now tries to demote my rank. Anyway, we got an e-mail from a fan who bought the HORI Pro Fighting Stick in one form or another. Granted, his board and stick seem to be a lot larger than the one offered by Amazon, but if you're really into fighting games and really against the SIXAXIS D-pad, it's probably worthwhile. I'm used to the D-pad now, especially the extra-handy shoulder buttons that help me with hitting two or three buttons at the same time. If you've got VF5, how are you guys faring? What character have you taken under your wing?

[thanks a lot, Chairman!]

Well, we're going to go ahead and dip ourselves into the "review" world here. For the first PS3Fanboy metareview/review, we're going to go over Sega's Virtua Fighter 5. I was able to pry myself away from it long enough to write this. First off, we've compiled a few key sites and the copy of EGM sitting on my coffee table. I'm pretty sure "Game Informer" is the same as 1UP, but I might be wrong. Anywho, they scored the game thusly:

IGN: 8.8

Gamespot: 8.1

1UP: 9.5

EGM: 9.5, 10, 9.5

Before we go on, the rest of this review is a bit lengthy. So we're going to separate it into the "continued" portion. Go ahead and click through!

You can never have enough Virtua Fighter, as we've been reminded while playing the sublime PS3 version of VF5 over the past fortnight. It's a game that successfully caters for every type of player, from wide-eyed novices to sharp-eyed experts -- and those groups could well clash north of Tokyo tomorrow, where Sega is holding a "Fight of the Century" Virtua Fighter 5 tournament at Japan's annual AOU arcade game exhibition.

The competition will take place in the VF5 corner of Sega's huge AOU booth, with 64 players (each of whom must have their own VF.Net access card in order to take part) fighting it out for the title of "Fighter of the Century." There's no big prize on offer (Sega isn't as generous as From Software), but that title will be coveted by Japan's Virtua Fighter hardcore and we expect the competition to be very serious indeed. The tournament will be played on Version B of VF5, which is the same build that Sega has ported to the PS3.

If you check out the latest Japanese video game rankings (ignoring all the pictures of the cute Asian women), you may notice that a certain title actually managed to pass by all those Wii and DS titles that have been very complacent at the top of Japanese charts for a long time (and not undeservingly so). While it may look like a bunch of question marks initially, you'll soon deduce that the game in the #1 spot is, in fact, Virtua Fighter 5.

VF5 has apparently sold 48,346 copies since its release on February 8th -- and these rankings are measuring from February 5th - February 11th. Four days, fifty-thousand copies? Nice job, Sega and Sony. The question we should be asking is: will this game stay at the top of the chart? Will it have a similar impact Stateside and over in Europe? In any case, hats off to a great start, Virtua Fighter 5.

Let's welcome in Media Create's record of the past week's game sales in Japan. This is where you'll get big numbers and not-so-big numbers, mixed in with the crucial numbers one through ten -- a mathematician's wet dream. Firstly, here's this week's chart, with combined total sales of titles inside those pouting parentheses:

1. Virtua Fighter 5 - 48,346 units sold last week (new entry / Sega, PS3)
   
2. Wii Sports - 45,897 (1,004,555 units sold to date / Nintendo, Wii)
   
3. Wii Play - 36,090 (879,432 / Nintendo, Wii)
   
4. More Brain Training - 32,800 (3,963,712 / Nintendo, DS)
   
5. New Super Mario Bros. - 29,026 (4,118,078 / Nintendo DS)
   
6. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 27,519 (304,113 / Capcom, PS2)
   
7. Wario: Master of Disguise - 26,815 (185,695 / Nintendo, DS)
   
8. Harvest Moon: The Island I Grew Up On - 26,804 (106,212 / Marvelous, DS)
   
9. Luminous Arc - 25,676 (new entry / Marvelous, DS)
   
10. J-League Pro Soccer 5 - 24,468 (131,541 / Sega, PS2)

And here are some lessons we can learn from the big figures:

• Virtua Fighter 5 is the WINNER
• Sega is Sony's most valuable ally in Japan right now
  
• Capcom's San Andreas marketing has paid off
• DS-like "slow sellers" are also possible on Wii
• There's still a place in the Japanese market for little players, which is just Marvelous

As the definitive fighting game tournament (for the Western world that is), the EVO2K series is always one of the years hottest events. This year will be no exception as the final line-up of games has been decided.

Returning for yet another headlining act will be Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. It will be joined by Marvel VS Capcom 2, Guilty Gear XX Slash, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Capcom vs SNK 2 and the immortal Super Street Fighter II Turbo. New to this years competition are Virtua Fighter 5 and Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The latter of the two isn't all that surprising as Mario Kart DS was thrown into the fray last year for both fun and profit. Virtua Fighter 5 on the other hand will be interesting. The last time Sega's flagship fighter graced the stage of EVO was in 2004 and the turnout weren't favorable to say the least. While a new game could help strengthen the community, we'll have to wait and see if it can generate better results.

If you're interested in throwing down with some of the best in the world, check EVO's website for information regarding qualifiers in your area. If not, you can always qualify at the main event itself in Las Vegas.