T. Hawk and new femme fatale look hawt. Update: Dee Jay confirmed!!

We all knew all knew this day would come. Following in the foosteps of Street Fighter tradition, Capcom is hard at work on an updated version to Street Fighter IV. The title is now officially being marketed as “Super Street Fighter IV”, once reported throughout the grapevine and Capcom’s own Japanese blog as “Street Fighter IV Dash”. Eventhubs.com dropped hints that the SSFIV will feature several characters from the Alpha, SFIII and Super SFII Turbo releases.

Up till now, we’ve all been going on hearsay — some of which was hinted by “reliable sources” within the fighting game community. Several posts originally popped up on Shoryuken.com, only to disappear within hours of the threads going live. Then, over the weekend, a photograph similar to this materialized on the web featuring the ever-pleasant Ono and a Gamepro Germany editor peforming their best impression of Ryu and Ken in Hadoken stance… and quite possibly posing at just the right angle to conceal the next SF production. Oh, but perhaps it wasn’t an accident. “I can see T. Hawk in that picture with uh… some chick.” “Oh, and there’s a BIG S in a poster by them.” “WOW!!!!” This is pretty much how the discussions took place over at SRK and other online message boards.

Well, in case you haven’t heard by now, yes, T. Hawk is back, which suggests that Dee Jay has to be making an appearance as well (it’s only logical since Fei Long and Cammy are already accounted for). Other unconfirmed reports, based on info released by Eventhubs makes mention that Makoto, Ibuki, Cody, Guy, Dudley, Karin, along with two brand-new characters (one of the them is said to be called “Juri”) will join the cast. Additional gameplay details (again, unconfirmed) have also been published on the site. Check them out for more details.

For now, bask in the glory that is the mighty T. Hawk. There’s also two images of “Juri” who we don’t have any concrete information just yet other that she’s working for Seth (hooray for bad girls). I can’t wait till Capcom breaks the lid on this WIDE open… the suspense is killing me.

Update: We just finished breezing through SRK and someone was able to find scans featuring Dee Jay (told ya he was in the game). See the link below!

Shot #1

Shot #2

Shot #3

Shot #4

Shot #5 (New)

With bonus Space Giraffe offer, too!
It’s been a long time in development but Gridrunner Revolution has finally been made available for download.  The high-speed, pleasantly mad shooter has a legacy spanning 27 years and counting, and time has treated its evolution very well.  The graphics are much nicer, and the gameplay better developed, but the classic arcade action is as intense as it’s ever been.

The basic premise is pretty simple- move with the mouse, the ship auto-fires, and when sheep power-ups are collected the ship adds more guns.  There are gravity wells around the single-screen playfield, and creating loops of bullets around them increases the score for everything.  The Revolution of the title comes from being able to rotate the ship a full 360 degrees, meaning not only can the entire screen be covered in firepower but you can more precisely position yourself for prettier bullet arcs, which directly increase the scoring potential.  Playing for the sake of blasting everything in sight is fun, and making complex bullet patterns is pretty.  It’s eye-candy mayhem at its finest.

Sweetening the deal is an early-bird buyer promotion.  Gridrunner Revolution is $20 by itself, or $25 with the excellent Space Giraffe.  Either way it’s an excellent application of the gaming budget.

We’ll always have up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right…

I am starting to think that I am in the wrong line of work. Lately it appears that a lot of talented writers have crossed over into the business/development side. On September 18, IGN will say goodbye to one of its own: Jeremy Dunham, who officially announced today that he will be moving onto new career opportunities and say goodbye to an epic chapter in his life.

Over the years, I’ve watched Jeremy soar to new heights, which originally started off from the humble beginnings of PlayStation Interactive/64i to GameFan Online, and eventually landing at IGN. Since that time, he’s become one of the most respected, influential writers in the industry due to his unconditional passion and dedication. After seven, exciting years – Jeremy will now take his talents into a new domain that is certain to create another dynamic era for gaming, though he’s tight-lipped on his involvement for the time being. (It’s probably got something to do with Konami — he LOVES that company.)

Well, we wish you the best man and we’ll be watching.

It’s all Seth’s fault!!!

Capcom may be closing the door for good on future Street Fighter projects, according to Ono who recently attended this year’s Toronto Fan Expo in Canada. Apparently 66% of the company strongly feels that they should not allow the franchise to continue. This news may come as a bit of a shock given the frequency of tournaments held throughout the globe, including the epic annual events like Evolution and Super Battle Opera. How could Capcom be possibly be thinking of throwing in the towel? Perhaps it’s related to the alarming rate of preowned Street Fighter 4 discs returned by mainstream players? I don’t think so — especially when subsequent reports have hinted of SFIV Dash (the equivalent of Championship Edition rumored to feature Dee Jay, T. Hawk and a few other fan-picked characters) is in the works and may debut this Winter.

It’s too early to speculate what the future holds in store for Street Fighter, but I am sure this won’t be the last time we see Ryu and co. in the digital realm.