Just in time for E3, Virtua Fighter 5 for the PS3 has been announced. Bowels looped around your wiggling polygonal toes, you can expect to kick your way through your little brother's abdomen with two news characters — "El Blaze the Lucha Libre specialist, and Eileen, the monkey-style kung-fu master." In addition, fifteen characters from the previous Virtua Fighter games will be playable.

Another new addition to the core Virtua Fighter gameplay will be the addition of offensives moves, which are tactical sidesteps that are aimed to increase the importance of blocking and counterattacking. The game will also be plenty pretty if you have the rig for 720p.

The big bummer here? No online support. Given that the PS3 still has no real discernible online strategy, it is perhaps not surprising that Sega didn't want to hitch their horses to PS3 Live. The game's due out Spring, 2007... as usual for these sorts of games announcements, not nearly soon enough for our tastes. Expect to see footage on the E3 showfloor.

Virtua Fighter 5 Announced For PS3 [1UP]