Virtua Fighter 4 in July

Thursday, Sega announced that it will release Virtua Fighter 4 for the arcades at the end of July in Japan. In addition, the company announced that its service for NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode cellular phone, VF.Net, is scheduled to begin this June. The service allows consumers to use a data card that works in conjunction with the Virtua Fighter 4 arcade machine. The card will allow the player's favorite character to gain experience, acquire items, and at a later date allow for the fighters tochange costumes. All data will be saved onto a server that can be accessed any time free of charge using an i-Mode cellular phone and the ID number on the back of the card. Access to exclusive content--such as rankings, search features, and newsletters--will incur a fee.

Virtua Fighter 4 for the arcades will also be on location test in Tokyo in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned for our hands-on impressions. The game has currently been confirmed for the Sony PlayStation 2 as well.