Sega announce Virtual On Force conversion for Xbox 360

It turns out the XBLA release of Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram exceeded even Sega’s meagre expectations, as the publisher has spared little time in getting to work on a conversion of Virtual On Force, a 2002 arcade game that trumps its predecessors by offering multiplayer for up to 4 pilots.

According to andriasang.com (awesome site dealing exclusively with Japanese gaming news – any self-respecting game fan will bookmark it immediately), Sega plan on releasing Force as a packaged retail product to coincide with the series 15^th anniversary, and there’s even mutterings of a limited edition (although whether we’ll see it – or indeed, the vanilla version – remains to be seen). For more screenshots, please visit this page at Famitsu (don’t worry about the Japanese – you won’t need to read it).

And while I’m plugging sites, check out Mecha Damashii, home of Mecha God and all-round nice guy Ollie Barder. As the preeminent speaker on all things Virtual On, his feature article on the history of the series (including Force and its ill-fated console counterpart, Marz) sheds more light on the subject than any I’ve read to date.