A lot of people ask me "Seth, where can I go to hear the best in Street Fighter piano arrangements, performed live?" 

My answer is always the same, and if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times:  the Math Department Faculty concerts in Barcelona. 

Duh! 

It's a good time to be a Street Fighter. 

First things first... let's make it official:  Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix drops for PlayStation Network on November 25, 2008, and on Xbox LIVE Arcade on November 26, 2008.  Get hype!

I'm also excited to announce that we'll be throwing giant hadokens up in everyone's grill with our "Season of Street Fighter."

What is the "Season of Street Fighter"?  No, it's not Ryu in a Santa hat or Ken hurricane-kicking a dreidel.  It means we're unloading a giant dumptruck full of Street Fighter fun and it's backing up to your front door NOW:

You heard about the Street Fighter table for Pinball FX, but that was just the beginning.  We've also got a Street Fighter UNO DLC pack, featuring cards with signature Street Fighter specials, as well as your favorite SF backgrounds and themed music.  And last but not least, Capcom will also have another “Little” Street Fighter surprise coming to the PSN soon.

You can find all of this juice at our Street Fighter digital destination sites, on the New Xbox Experience and the PlayStation Network.

And just in case you thought you knew what to expect from Street Fighter, think again.  In addition to all the Street Fighter DLC, I'm also excited to announce a direct-to-download album of Street Fighter-inspired hip-hop! The Street Fighter Underground Remix album will feature the musical flavor of artists such as DJ Qbert, Hieroglyphics, Redman, Oh No, DJ Toure, Mistah F.A.B. and Zion I. Each of the cuts will be available exclusively on PlayStation Network, FOR FREE, when SF HD Remix launches!

Hit the jump for the full press release!

CAPCOM® ANNOUNCES THE “SEASON OF STREET FIGHTER®”!
An Amazing Array of Downloadable Surprises Arrive in Celebration of the Launch of  Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix

SAN MATEO, CA — November 19, 2008 Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, is proud to announce the “Season of Street Fighter®” in celebration of the imminent release of Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix, coming to PlayStation®Network on November 25, 2008, and Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft on November 26, 2008. The “Season of Street Fighter” will feature an assortment of Street Fighter-themed downloadable content (DLC) packs, music inspired by Street Fighter, and newly revamped digital destination points for both the Xbox LIVE online games and entertainment network and PlayStation®Network.

Capcom kicked off the “Season of Street Fighter” with the release of the Super Street Fighter® Pinball FX downloadable pack, which added a new Street Fighter pinball table to one of the most popular downloadable games on Xbox LIVE Arcade. The Street Fighter UNO® DLC pack will feature new Street Fighter Command Cards with signature Street Fighter power moves, as well as backgrounds and music inspired by Street Fighter. Capcom will also have another “little” surprise coming to the PlayStation®Network later in the holiday season.

Additionally, Capcom will be releasing a direct-to-download music album of hip-hop tracks inspired by the Street Fighter series. Street Fighter® Underground Remix will feature the musical flavor of artists such as DJ Qbert, Hieroglyphics, Redman, Oh No, DJ Toure, Mistah FAB and Zion I. Each artist has produced a Street Fighter tribute track that will be free of charge and exclusive to the PlayStation®Network when Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix launches.

Complimenting the Street Fighter themed content, fans can access all of the Street Fighter related material through two new branded digital destinations. Capcom’s branded store on PlayStation®Network is the only third-party company to offer a centralized area where gamers can download games, demos, themes, videos, and music. Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix will be one of the first games to be featured in the New Xbox® Experience with a Branded Destination Experience, which will offer a variety of Street Fighter related downloadable content including new Premium and Basic Themes.

ScrewAttack put together another of their always-great Top 10 lists, this time focusing on games that need to be brought back. 

After giving Capcom the props for revisiting games like Bionic Commando and of course Street Fighter, he mentions a few things I'd personally like to see (like Starfox!), as well as a bunch of choices from the Capcom stable, including Power Stone, Strider, and... I won't give away their #1 choice. 

But really?  People want that?  We had no idea!  Anyway, tell us, what games do YOU think Capcom should revisit?

It's a good time to be a Street Fighter.

On the heels of our Capcom Store on PSN, we're all excited that Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will be one of the first featured games on the New Xbox Experience (cool kids call it "NXE," which only takes like 43% as long to say). 

What does this mean to you?  It means SF HD Remix will have a great central hub on both XBox 360 and PSN, to give you a one-stop shop for themes, gamerpics, videos, and new DLC. 

When will the Xbox "Experience" and the PSN Capcom Store feature the game for you to play, you ask?  Real soon!  Why it feels like it could be just a few days away =)

Hit the jump for the full press release!

SAN MATEO, CA — November 18, 2008 — Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, is proud to announce that the much anticipated Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix for Xbox LIVE® Arcade will be one of the first games to be featured in the New Xbox® Experience with a Branded Destination Experience.

Launching tomorrow, the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix destination experience will provide a central place for Xbox LIVE Arcade gamers to learn about new content, view the latest trailers, and access downloadable content, including picture packs, and both Basic and Premium Themes. The new Street Fighter® Premium Theme features extensive high-definition graphical layers that take over your Dashboard, presenting a fully dynamic and encompassing package for the ultimate social entertainment experience on Xbox LIVE.

“With 1080p high-definition art and graphics, and the ultimate user feature set, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is the perfect game to compliment the New Xbox Experience,” said Christian Svensson, VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development at Capcom Entertainment Inc. “Capcom is dedicated to providing captivating content to the digital space and we’re proud to participate in this new era of Xbox LIVE.”

For a screenshot of the new Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Branded Destination Experience, visit: http://www.press.capcom.com

For more information on the New Xbox Experience, visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/nxe

For more information on Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, visit: http://games.capcomdigital.com/streetfighterIIhdr

This is part 17 in an extended series of articles from David Sirlin, detailing the changes we’ve made to the rebalanced mode of the new Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

This article takes us through a few sneaky upgrades to the man with the million-dollar smile and an inexplicable attraction to the word "Maximum": Dee Jay!

Part 17: Dee Jay

Ten years ago, most people rated Dee Jay bottom tier, or close to that. Over the years though, both the US and Japanese players discovered that Dee Jay isn’t so bad after all, and say he is somewhere around the middle. His crossup medium kick is deadly. His ducking medium kick is extremely high priority and knocks down. His Max Out projectile is solid, his slide is useful, and his Up Kicks are decent at anti-air and are pretty damaging.

Only two moves are different for HD Remix Dee Jay: his Machine Gun Upper (charge down, up + punch, then mash punches) and his Dread Kicks (charge back, forward + kick)

Machine Gun Upper
In ST, this move requires a very precise timing of mashing punches for it to get all the hits: fast, but too fast and it won’t work! Two or possibly three people in the United States can actually do this, so I figured it was time to bring Machine Gun Uppers to the people. Now it’s very easy to mash out all the hits on this.

To compensate, the Machine Gun Upper does much less dizzy and damage overall. Crossup medium kick, low jab x 2, MGU is an easy, good combo though. It does a bit less damage than the slightly harder crossup medium kick, low jab x 2, stand strong, Dread Kicks combo.

The Machine Gun Upper has a new property, too: it can destroy fireballs! Dee Jay’s best matches are against characters without fireballs, so this is a clever way to help him in matches where he needs help, but not affect matches where he’s already good. Some things you should know about this are that startup of the move cannot destroy fireballs (only the parts that can actually hit) and that every single hit of the move can destroy fireballs.

Most importantly though, you can charge down/back, then go to up/back + punch to perform the MGU while STILL retaining your charge for a Max Out projectile. That means when the opponent throws a fireball, you can cancel it with the MGU, then throw back your own projectile faster than you otherwise could have. On paper, this sounds strong, but in practice it’s actually quite a bit of work Dee Jay’s part to eke out a small advantage.

Also, it matters a lot which part of the MGU destroys the fireball. If you see the fireball coming, then destroy it with the MGU, you’re still going to have to go through with the rest of the MGU before you can throw your own Max Out. It’s a lot more effective if you guess the fireball and do your MGU early so that the very end of it destroys the fireball. That way, you can throw your Max Out immediately after. But if you’re doing the MGU that early, the opponent can counter by doing nothing or jumping in or throwing a delayed fireball. It’s an interesting guessing game, but in my testing, it was never really dominating.

Dread Kicks
In ST, the time between the two hits of this move is so big that even if you hit with the first hit, the second one hardly ever connects. You can even get Dragon Punched between these two kicks. In HD Remix, the second kick comes out faster, so that it almost always combos. To compensate, each hit does less damage. You can think of it somewhat like Bison’s Scissor Kick in that it’s a pressure move that does two ticks of block damage.

In ST, the short version of the Dread Kicks (which hits only once) can go over low attacks. In HD Remix, the medium and roundhouse Dread Kicks have this same property. This is probably Dee Jay’s biggest upgrade as it makes it pretty scary to try to sweep him. Note to the curious: the medium and roundhouse Dread Kicks do not go over Sagat’s low fireballs, sorry.

Dee Jay gained a few tricks, but it remains to be seen how much they help him. Keep in mind that he has been secretly pretty good for 14 years.

--Sirlin