Renowned UK artist Dave White has produced a one-off ink drawing to celebrate the launch of Street Fighter IV. Valued between £7,000 and £10,000, it also happens to be the most valuable piece of original videogame art ever!

White, whose previous work includes commissions for Nike and Coca Cola, sketched a 5ft x 4f rendition of Ryu. The sketch was inspired by his love for Street Fighter and videogaming culture in general.
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Ve3tro writes: "Its the turn of Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Gouken and Dan to get a makeover with the release of the Shoryuken costume pack on Xbox Live MarketPlace today and next Thursday March 12th on the European PlayStation Store.

The packs will cost 320 MPs and £3.99 respectively."
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411mania gives a rundown on this week's game releases. Highlights include Phantasy Star Portable, The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match, and Sukashishipanman DS: Shokotak Koto Nakagawa Shouko Produce!

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Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
With Phantasy Star Portable, Sega basically took Phantasy Star Universe, fixed a lot of the problems people had with it, tweaked it to be more single-player friendly, and added more story elements. Some of those who hated PSU are actually saying that they like this version of the game. I find that hard to believe, but it's possible. If anything, this will at least give us something to do while waiting for Phantasy Star Zero.

Here is what you can expect from PSP:

- New story missions that take place between the original Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus
In Phantasy Star Portable you will team up with a Cast named Vivienne as she investigates recent terrorist attacks on the colony as well as animal outbreaks on the surface of some of the planets. Space adventure and mayhem follow. I thought that PSU's story was ok; it wasn't groundbreaking or very memorable but it was still decent. So, if Sega was able to craft a story that is at least on par with the first game's, these missions could be worth plaything through at least once.

- Local as well as online play (with the help of a PS3 or your PC)
As expected, you can play with three other friends locally using the PSP's ad hoc mode. Those wishing to play over the Internet have two options - one that requires a PS3 and another that requires a computer. To use your PS3 you have to download the Ad-Hoc Party application from the Japanese PSN store and do a little tinkering. You can find instructions on how to do this at the PSO-World forums here. If you want to use your PC there's XLink Kai. Note that these two options work for the Japanese and English dem...
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BeefJack writes, "It has not yet been proven that playing Guitar Hero can turn you into a rock god. Nor has it been proven that playing Singstar can turn you into a pop idol. However, if you wanted to become an Olympic gold medalist, what game would you choose to play? Beijing 2008 perhaps?

Not according to Great Britain's Tyrone Robinson, European Championship Taekwondo bronze medalist."
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Each review copy of Street Fighter IV sent to journalists was accompanied by a glossy training manual with bios, artwork, and moves lists for each character. Now you can get your hands on it, too.
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Capcom previously revealed plans to boost Street Fighter IV's multiplayer mode with a huge free Championship mode expansion shortly after launch but, despite the game having been out for over a week, there's still no ETA on the patch's release.

The new patch, as previously reported, is expected to expand the multiplayer portion of the game with an enhanced Tournament matchmaking system, a new points ranking system and the ability to record, play back and upload fight replays.

Sounds great, but don't hold your breath because Capcom was still unable to give CVG an estimated release for it this morning.
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It looks like there is no real need to buy a new controller to enjoy Street Fighter IV on the 360, as XCM's controller shell seems to do the job well enough with its improved d-pad. If that wasn't enough, the controller also lights up after installing the product. Check out the video review below, while more details on the product are available at XCMLive.com.
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David Sirlin, lead designer on Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, responded to an IncGamers request for comment regarding his recent Street Fighter IV posts - which caused more than a little controversy.
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411mania gives a rundown on this week's game releases. Highlights include Legacy of Ys: Books I & II, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, Stoked, The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

Legacy of Ys: Books I & II (DS)
Ys I and II have seen many ports and remakes since the first one came out in 1987; they've seen the light of day on such systems as the PC-8801, Famicom, Master System, DOS, Apple II, Saturn, and PS2 to name a few. The most widely-known versions are contained in the TurboGrafx-CD compilation, and for years that release was considered the best. It's place at the top was eventually challenged by Ys Eternal as it sported upgraded graphics, effects, and artwork as well as extras like new characters and scenarios. Unfortunately, Eternal didn't include voiceovers and some say that the remixed music was not as good. Apparently, enough people weren't satisfied so another update known as Ys Complete, which is said to have better graphics but an inferior soundtrack, was unleashed. Despite my best efforts, I could not find any agreement amongst Ys fans as to which official release is the definitive version since each of the three does at least one thing better than the others.

Preferences aside, there is one thing that fans of the first two Ys games can agree on no matter which version they've played - Ys I and II have some of the best music you will find in a video game. Every place I visited for info makes note of how awesome the soundtrack is. Knowing this, I questioned whether or not it was a good idea to play the games on the DS for the first time when I could just as easily track down the PC version and patch it or download the Wii VC one. Granted, Legacy of Ys comes with a free soundtrack if you preorder and it is portable. Maybe it would be easier to just flip a coin...

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Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii) ...
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OXM UK reports that David Sirlin, one of the chief designs on Super Street Fighter II HD Remix, has slammed Street Fighter IV for not being accessible enough.

Sirlin reels off a list of odd game design choices but also says that despite the hype and press that the game is accessible, Street Fighter IV is anything but, especially in comparison to other games in the genre.
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Gamezine: "One of Britain's Olympians is now using Street Fighter IV as part of his training. He has full backing from sports psychologists.

Sportsmen are hard at work training for the London 2012 Olympics and to best our 2008 medal performance, one of Britain's Gold hopes has included a video game in his daily training.

Tyrone Robinson, a British International Championship Gold Medallist and a European Championship Bronze Medallist in Taekwondo, has turned to the classic beat 'em Street Fighter IV.

Now a best-seller, the game has been entertaining gamers around the world, even breaking world records, but now it's being tasked with training a potential Olympic Gold medallist..."
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Sales for Capcom Co's Street Fighter IV Collector's Edition for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 increased on Mon. following a product restock at retailer Amazon.com.

On Tues., SFIV Collector's Edition held a sales increase of 252 percent -
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Gamerdeals.net writes:

"For the week of February 24, 2009, Halo Wars continues to takes the top spot on the cross-platform Gamefly Top Ten 'Most Queued' list. Following close behind is Street Fighter IV (PS3/Xbox 360), and Killzone 2 (PS3). MadWorld is at the top of the Nintendo Wii Queue as well...

Queue up the complete Gamefly Top 10 most requested lists:"
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GamesRadar and Capcom have teamed up to create a very special competition for all you Street Fighter fans out there. ... » Read More

Gamezine: "Sales of Capcom's Street Fighter IV lead on the PlayStation 3 after its UK launch.

Despite the smaller install base and the continued lower-than-Xbox 360 hardware sales, launch sales of Capcom's Street Fighter IV led on the PlayStation 3 at 53%, with 47% selling for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

The title fought its way to the top of this week's UK All Formats Chart, knocking off long time number one Wii Fit."
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The successful record attempt took place in London on Friday afternoon. Official Guinness World Records representatives were present to adjudicate the feat, which is now shortlisted for inclusion in next year's Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition.
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Capcom announced that it has shipped 2 million copies of Street Fighter 4 world wide. Perhaps Capcom underestimated the popularity of its series. So much so that on Thursday Japan actually sold out of the game in every store.
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Capcom's revival of the Street Fighter franchise appears to be having success on a worldwide scale. The company announced today that Street Fighter IV has crossed the two million mark in worldwide shipments.
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Eurogamer's Face-Off coverage continues at a brisk pace, with an in-depth look at Capcom's first 10/10 game in some time: the ultra-playable, supremely rewarding, and utterly irresistible Street Fighter IV. There's the usual in-depth technical analysis, precision h.264 comparison movies and, of course, the requisite lossless 24-bit RGB screenshots gallery.
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Street Fighter IV was just released this week, along with the Mad Catz line of Official Street Fighter IV FightStick and FightPad controllers. While you may be able to find the game, the controllers have been tough to get, both online and in stores. A Chun-Li FightPad, which has a $39.99 MSRP, was going for as high as $149.99 through a third-party Amazon seller. There are also exorbitant prices on eBay, with the SFIV Arcade Fightstick Tournament Edition ($149.99 MSRP) going for $499.99.

I asked a few questions to Mad Catz Global PR & Communications Manager Alex Verrey, to help clear up a few rumors and get the details on what's up with the shortage and when gamers can expect to find them.
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