Virtua Fighter 5 for Xbox 360 ships October 30

Fighting fans have been waiting years for online play to be added to the Virtua Fighter series. Now they finally know exactly when that waits ends, as Sega today confirmed for GameSpot that the Xbox 360 edition of Virtua Fighter 5 will ship Tuesday, October 30.

Originally released earlier this year on the PlayStation 3, Virtua Fighter 5 featured 17 fighters--two of them new to the series--as well as the ability to customize characters with new items purchased with in-game prize money. The big change for the Xbox 360 version of the game will be online play. Other additions include leaderboards and the ability to download matches from the top contenders so as to study their fighting styles. Players will also be able to purchase downloadable Virtua Fighter 5 content through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

As far as changes that affect the offline experience, the Xbox 360 edition will have vibration support for the Xbox 360 controller. It will also be based on the latest arcade hardware revision, and players will be able to go through a quest mode featuring more rivals than before. There will also be new training options in the dojo mode.

For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.