There has been a push recently for a 3-way international tournament (Korea, Japan, and the US). CL and more than one top JP players really *really* want to see this happen. Of course, we wouldn't want that to happen without a port first.
I'm really surprised that Japanese and Korean players would even want to bother with the US,
especially at this point. Look at what Garu did coming into a version where his main character was significantly nerfed and he was not at all familiar with the changes made: he still ended up wrecking house. (I'm just glad he lost to Kusanagi, or that would have looked
really bad).
Can that gap close? Sure; it did a fair bit between AC and AA. Long term, I really like the idea of this and have no problem throwing my support behind it. Short term? It's silly.
I believe due to Kamina's handywork (among others), we could get some domestic support in Japan and also from Korea if we wanted to see a port happen for the sake of keeping the game alive here. As we've learned from Evo, I think Ecole is very hesitant (AKA completely unwilling) to support our arcade scene, but if we can convince them they will make money off a CC port it may become possible. We may be able to utilize this push effectively to make a port happen. I don't think we should sleep on it.
I appreciate their politeness but if they really need to ask us if we would like them to push for a console release, I would figure the answer would be self-evident. The notable thing is that the Japanese players want to see an international release.
An aside: that's not the lesson I learned regarding Ecole from Evo 2010. Well, I guess they aren't willing to support the arcade scene here -- hell,
I wouldn't be willing to support arcades in the US at this point. It makes less than zero business sense. The lesson I learned was that Ecole was completely oblivious to the fact that anyone outside of Asia played the game (which makes your next point all that more important).
The community over in JP is very active right now with the new version releases, so we shouldn't overlook the activity. We would definitely need to make a petition plan and get it onto the main page, along with support from multiple regions and players. I'm sure people like Chibi/Arly, LK, CL, and Kusa would have no problem with this. We would need someone more fluent (dakanaya, you would tremendously helpful, or Curbeh if he felt so inclined) to stress the importance of the port for the international scene (I'd be happy to do this, but we can make a new thread and edit it together.)
Normally, I hate petitions -- they tend to be useless, at best. However, if this was something actually requested by Ecole/French Bread/whoever then it might make sense. At least then it would have enough meat to get posted on all of the main community sites (SRK, IPW, EventHubs, etc.) which would further drive numbers.
Furthermore, I think some details should be communicated, like an emphasis on how different the international market is compared to Japan in a few aspects (like how different Internet connections are in the rest of the world).
If you guys really want to see the port happen, I think we should start moving already. Businesses rarely move in the direction you want them to by themselves. Basically, if we motivate the Japanese community to fight for our cause (in order for the possibility of a 3-way tournament to happen), and we show Ecole they can make money off it (which would be much easier on PS3), it becomes possible. Take the hype and run with it.
Or maybe people have already been doing that.
Apropos of nothing and everything: There have been attempts to bring a version of Melty Blood out in America.