SEGA recently announced the release date for its flagship fighting title for the PlayStation 3, Virtua Fighter 5. The game will be shipping on 20 February 2007 in North America, and will be an official launch title for the European launch of the console in early 2007.

The fifth instalment in SEGA’s highly acclaimed martial arts fighting series will introduce two new characters to the 15 already carried across from previous games in the series. El Blaze is a Mexican fighting champion who uses a Lucha Libre (not to be confused with Nacho Libre) fighting style, while Eileen uses a Monkey Kung Fu style she learned from her Kung Fu master grandfather. As always, various costumes and items will be unlockable in the game so you can customize your character’s outfit and accessories. SEGA claim that the depth of the game has been increased in the new version by the addition of an “Offensive Move” technique which allows a player to move around their opponent. Virtua Fighter is a fighting series famed for its sheer depth of play, and this edition looks to be a worthy addition to it.