A little over two years ago, we had our first big meeting in the US about the proposal for what would become Street Fighter IV. I won't lie: there was some initial hesitation in that first meeting. We were even wondering, Do people even want a new Street Fighter? Turns out: you do.
Last night Capcom hosted a crazy big ass party in Los Angeles, for you. I hope you were able to make it down, and if you did make it, I hope you were able to get inside. We were completely overrun by literally thousands of Street Fighters at our location at the Geffen Center at the MOCA in downtown LA. The event was thoroughly mind blowing, featuring tons of cool things to do (hit up Ono-san for an autograph! get a Street Fighter character etched onto your iPhone!), things to see (arty arcade cabinets! breakdancers! DJ Qbert! The Knux!), people to meet (Steven Spielberg! LeVar Burton! Michael Clarke Duncan! that dude out of Chuck and the Japanese guy off Heroes who isn't Hiro) and, of course, some serious goddamned SFIV beatdowns were issued.
We apologize to all those who couldn't make it in; we honestly had no idea that the Street Fighter love would pour out like that. We estimate that almost 4000 people showed up downtown; over the course of the evening, we probably were able to get about 2500 of you in through the doors.
Seth and I ran around like hopped-up chimpanzees all night long, and were able to connect with lots of Unity members at the event. I can't believe how many of you guys I recognized from profile pics and how many more of you recognized me from mine. Tells me that I need to stop using such ridiculous photos. Big ups to cosplayers like Big Mex and Jessica Villareal of Girls Got Game. JapanTime, I know you were there somewhere, sorry I missed you. And special thanks to Zach who brought me a killer Resaurus Ken figure. Thanks, brother!
Seth, Shawn and I are beat, but will post more next week. In the meantime, Big Mex is FIRST! with the event report, just like he was at the first Street Fighter Club. Check out his blog here.
I was there. It was a crazy night, I got there at 7:30 and didn't make it in until 9:30. We only made it after the line stopped moving and we just bum rushed the door.
AaronIt was well worth the wait though. I got plenty of free stuff and got to play plenty of SF IV. Although I do wish they had copies of the game and T-shirts on sale though. Still an excellent event nonetheless. It truly was for the fans.
I would say they need to have it in a bigger venue for Street Fighter IV Second Impact.
02:18 PM CST