Pre-TGS: Virtua Fighter and Tekken in one advertisement

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In the March 29 morning issue of the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shibun, Sega and Namco published a joint advertisement about its fighting game Virtua Fighter and Tekken for the PS2. The left-hand side of the ad shows Akira from Virtua Fighter with his famous quote, "Jyunen hayaindayo," which translates to "You're ten years early." While Jin Kazama of Tekken sits on the other side of the page with his reply, "You're a year late," poking fun at Sega's recent transition from hardware maker to third-party developer. The rest of the ad continues the good-natured jabs, with Sega talking up its entry into the PS2 game fighting market and Namco proclaiming that it will continue to dominate the PS2's fighting category in the 21st century.

Namco and Sega have been working together lately on a recently released arcade game called Vampire Night--could this ad be a hint of things to come? We'll attempt to uncover the answer at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. Come back tonight for full coverage of the show.