Of the eight characters, three have been announced: classic characters T. Hawk and Dee Jay (Dee Jay’s reveal coming in the latest issue of Famitsu, below), and newcomer Juri. The rest could be anyone; new characters, old favourites, a mix of the two. We have no idea.

In terms of improvements to the game itself, producer Yoshinori Ono says that every character has been changed slightly based on comments from both players and the dev team, while an improved online experience is also promised.

Which begs the question: why an all-new title, and not just a range of DLC? Ono says the changes are so extensive that they couldn’t just be tacked on, so a disc release was necessary. Those crying “RIP OFF” should know that the game “won’t be sold at full price”, and that those owning both the original and Super will are in store for an as-yet-unspecified treat.

Super Street Fighter IV Impressions – First Look [GameSpot]

A teaser website has appeared on Capcom’s Japanese portal, with the site’s URL seemingly promising a “new warrior” while the site itself gives the date 2009.09.29 17:00 JST, presumably for said warrior’s reveal. That’s Tuesday, September 29, at 5pm Japan time, meaning those in the US or Europe will need to wait until they wake up on Tuesday morning to see what’s going on.

Proper concept art, too, with pencils and sketchbooks and everything. Very nice stuff. Wish more developers did this, instead of releasing “target renders” and whatnot.

I’ve never cursed so much in my life as I did trying to unlock characters in Street Fighter IV, stumbling over Seth countless times before getting in that one lucky round, and in the hands of an even slightly skilled player? Forget about it. Now I don’t feel quite so bad, thanks to assistant producer Ryota Mitsuma.

“Yes, Seth and perhaps Sagat might have turned out a little bit stronger than we expected.”

Mitsuma delivered that choice tidbit during an interview with VideoGamer.com, and while I could simply end the article right here and hold on to my warm fuzzies, there was a bit more to it than that.

“A good player of another character can always beat a good Sagat player or a good Seth player,” he said. “I don’t think it’s too out of proportion, but we do acknowledge that they turned out a bit more powerful than we expected.”

I’m just going to selectively block out that part right there.

Capcom on SFIV: Sagat and Seth ARE overpowered! [VideoGamer.com]

Street Fighter IV won’t be officially released in US arcades. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be released anywhere outside Japan. Take Australia, for example. Or Korea, or Singapore. It might come out there!

Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono has revealed that while the game won’t be shipped to the US thanks to a market “on the decline”, there are other markets in the Asia-Pacific area region that Capcom are looking at.

Actually, there is quite a bit more demand [for SFIV] in Asia and Oceania than there is in North America. To be honest, the video arcade culture in North America is on the decline. There are not that many venues left for arcade video games any more.

We have seen that there is a lot of value in the markets of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, as well as some other markets.

So USA, no, Singapore, yes? Kooky.

Developer Interview [Capcom]

It’s like something out of a fanboy fantasy land. At next year’s CES, there will be a Street Fighter IV tournament. In which Capcom, Microsoft and Sony will select champions, then do battle.

For real. They will fight, you will take sides, shit will get real.

Each publisher’s community leader – Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb for Microsoft, Jeff Rubenstein for Sony and Seth Killian for Capcom – will be there, and they’ll be leading teams of 20 (with contestants drawn from people like you) in a three-way festival of dick-swinging, name-taking and all around shit-talkery.

CES is due to take place January 8-11 in Vegas. Further details on how you sign up for this apocalyptic event to come.

The boxes themselves are rather attractive in their own right, featuring a classic Street Fighter scene on the outer case. Inside players will discover a set of limited edition figurines representing Street Fighters past and present, with fan-favourite Ryu joined by the ridiculously busty newcomer, Crimson Viper. Along with the toys, Capcom is also including a bonus disc containing a selection of trailers and a full-length anime movie specially created for the launch of the game. Icing the cake is a mini strategy guide for the four new characters and the promise of exclusive downloadable content.

Here’s hoping we see something similar stateside, though I doubt my fireplace mantle is big enough to host both Crimson Viper AND her breasts. Hit the jump for the Xbox 360 version of the Collectors Edition.

If you think she looks like she’s 12, that’s because she actually is 12 — making her four years younger than the game’s 16-year-old Sakura. Click through the gallery below, which includes a pic with producer Yoshinori Ono. Now there’s someone who doesn’t look 12.

カプコン、「ストリートファイターIV」CM収録現場を公開 [Game Watch]

Unless it isn’t. Internets is internets, after all.

Assuming it is legit though, there are at least 26 playable characters – all the usual gang of Blanka, Chun Li, Zangief et al plus returning favourites like Gouken. There is some speculation that Rose from Street Fighter Alpha is lurking demurely on the bottom row.

Rose @ N.E.X.T Expo (Brussels) [Shoryuken Forums]