Comic Con 2008 San Diego

Welcome to Viewpoints coverage of the 2008 Comic Con convention (is that redundant?) in San Diego.

STREET FIGHTER IV

At the moment, I'm sitting in a Street Fighter IV panel.

I'm not a big gamer, I'll be honest, but I'm here and judging by the size of this crowd, this is going to be a pretty big favorite among gamers, especially fans of the Street Fighter II game.

I remember playing Street Fighter on my cousin's Nintendo when I was younger, but I'm pretty clueless as to how the game has evolved and what it plays like today, so for the most part, I'll just pass along some interesting insights into the SF IV world.

The art style of Street Fighter IV is not going to be 3D, it'll be more of a throwback to the SF II art style. That news got a loud and enthusiastic cheer of support from the fans in the crowd.

All the characters in SF II are slated to return for SF IV. They will be fully playable.

There will also be four new characters.

Because SF is back, due in large part to American demand, two of the new characters, Crimson Viper and Rufus, are American characters, a break from the traditionally Capcom Japanese characters. They're not as popular yet, but the producers on the panel guarantee that fans will enjoy them.

For the first time ever, Capcom will announce the staff involved in producing animated preview trailers for SF IV here at Comic Con. That staff, of Studio 4*C includes Koji Morimoto as Supervising Editor.

The creative director of SF IV reiterates that this newest installment is "less of a sequel to Street Fighter III as it is a return to" the style of play of SF II. Again, this news tears a loud roar of excitement from the audience.

Watching previews of the game, I can't help but recognize a majority of the characters. Even for someone outside the sphere of active gaming, this preview has me wating for my chance to play a little SF IV.

This preview has gotten the biggest round of applause I've seen since Comic Con began. The panel even had to thank the crowd for their enthusiasm.

There are 10 machines here at Comic Con for fans to test drive SF IV. I think I can bet where a mojority of these audience members will be later on today...

By a poll on the Capcom Capcommunity Web site, the character that most fans would like to see brought back is Candy. When the Comic Con audience is asked what characters they would like to see return, the name I hear the loudest is D.J.

Time for a little Q&A:

Audience member: "I was wondering if you guys were planning on having a custom or collecters edition Game Pack."

Creative Director: "We'd love to see that happen. here's what you need to do: bombard CapCommunity with that" request.


After the Q&A segment, there was a screening of a never-before-seen animated trailer explaining the story of what happened between Street Fighter II and Street Fighter IV.

That's all for the SF IV panel. Check back for updates on HBO's True Blood and Showtime's Dexter.

Arigatou