East v. West; this battle’s about to explode.

Street Fighter IV may seem dead online, but offline, the game remains popular as ever.

This evening, Gootecks is hosting the latest Bar Fights event featuring Empire Arcadia against some of Southern California’s top talent. Look forward to seeing Justin Wong, Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez, L.I. Joe Marn Phan and Sanford Kelly go head-to-head against Alex Valle, Ed Ma, Combofiend, and  some unannounced participants.

It’s all going down very soon (22 minutes at the time of this article being published). Get hype! Thanks to Triforce for the heads up.

Free TV : Ustream

Ono spills more details. Whoo hoo!

We couldn’t think of a better way for this month to kick off than to hear more about Super SFIV. Today, IGN published a huge blowout that unravels some major areas we’ve been wondering about since Capcom officially confirmed the game’s existance.

Get the full 411 by clicking here. Get hype, spring can’t come soon enough!!!

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)

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.

Popular gaming league selected to officially endorse clothing lineup.

Empire Arcadia, a gaming league composed of exceptional diehard players, recently joined forces with clothing line Jinx to represent its latest clothing lifestyle. Viewers who tuned in to G4TV were treated to a 30-second clip showcasing the spirit of what Empire Arcadia, featuring its founder, “Triforce” and Justin Wong, who currently holds the title as all-time fighting game champion in North America!

The commercial contains a variety of clips derived from recent documentaries on Empire Arcadia including brief glimpses of the league in action, training at its home headquarters while of course, featuring the players sporting Jinx’s apparel consisting of contemporary tee-shirts, hoodies, and other unique selections. The clip ends with the founder’s firm mantra: “We get into it… how do YOU get into it?”

Speaking as a longtime, avid gamer, I am thrilled to see companies extending sponsorships to gaming leagues like Empire Arcadia.  The organization is literally growing by leaps and bounds as it continues to  focus on building teamwork, core values and supporting/hosting community events that impact the lives of gamers of all ages.

Check out the commercial in its entirety below…