Capcom USA is in a bit of a pickle. Seems they want to give us shiny new Street Fighter IV figurines to play with in the bathtub display in a mature fashion atop our mahogany bookshelves, but there are just so many characters out there they cannot decide which ones to make. They've decided to turn to the gaming community to decide, with a poll running along the side of their page that will allow you to choose your top three choices for immortalization in PVC form. Will you go with the new characters just to give them a fair shake, or are the 20 million Chun-Li figures out there just not enough for you? Hit up the Capcom blog and make your voice heard!

Street Fighter IV Figurines: Vote for your Favorites! [Capcom Unity Blog]

Reader Pon Zu reminds us that there is another game with the roman numeral IV in that we are terribly excited about by pointing us towards Famitsu, where the latest batch of screens from the game reveal two new characters, M.Bison and Balrog. Better known in the states as Balrog and Vega, these two are at completely opposite ends of the fighting spectrum, with one being all about speed and finesse and the other focused solely on brute force. M.Bison knows not how to kick, and Balrog looks like more of a woman than Chun Li. All is right with the world.

『ストリートファイターIV』四天王の存在が明らかに！[Famitsu - Thanks Pon Zu!]

While Crecente and McWhertor will be flooding your consciousnesses with Street Fighter gameplay impressions later, I wanted to start things off with an amuse-bouche and just focus on one thing: just how freaking gorgeous SFIV is in person.

Because while I was initially skeptical about the 2.5D art direction, now I'm a total convert. SFIV's graphics dropped my jaw in a way that hasn't happened with a fighter since the original Virtual Fighter. Even when you don't have the pleasure of actually playing, the game is pure eye candy high fructose corn syrup concentrate.

On the last day of GDC, while we didn't have a chance to actually participate in our 3-way Kotaku Street Fighter IV Tournament To The Death, we did have a chance to sit down (or more aptly put, stand up) with Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono and translator/assistant producer David Crislip. Even after hours of interviews, he was still boyishly enthused about the game and willing to answer all of Crecente's frothing fanboy questions (like, how awesome will SFIV be, kinda super awesome, or really super awesome?). I was just pleased to hear that we have the same favorite character: Dhalsim.

We'll be celebrating all GDC next week with a Street Fighter IV tournament—"if we have time," Crecente hedges. I take that as Crecente being frightened by my patented Chun-Li just-keep-kicking maneuver that I've never, ever seen anyone else use. But it begs the question—who will advance the furthest in the tournament? Brian "I once worked at an arcade" Crecente, Michael "I was born in an arcade" McWhertor or Mark "goddamn I look good in that picture" Wilson? Vote, and then check in next week to find out the results...if they happen.

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Capcom has released a batch of new Street Fighter IV screens and they are down-right fierce. Sorry for that abominable pun, but the hadokens actually do look rather good, even if these screens seem alarmingly familiar. We'd certainly like to see a new character or stage sometime soon, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Here's to hoping the AOU 2008 show will prove that theory wrong. Anyway, there are eight of these new lovelies, still providing the same mixed emotions about Street Fighter IV, or as we're about to start calling it, Street Fighter II EX Plus.

According to Next-Gen's blog, Capcom may be revealing a bit more of the recently announced Street Fighter IV this Thursday, including exactly how the game will look. How will the company show it off? Presumably via EGM magazine, by way of 1UP. The current issue of EGM teases in its closing comments "We're kicking off our first issue of the new year with a cover story so epic, we can't even tell you about it", signing off with a roman numeral three that looks suspiciously like it belongs in a Street Fighter logo. 1UP writes today that "you won't be disappointed" by the new EGM cover it will reveal on December 6th. Coincidence? Doubt it!

Uh oh. That's the day the new Grand Theft Auto IV trailer hits the web. Time to bring in some reserve internets.

UPDATE: Reader Jon points out that these Street Fighter roman numerals have been running for the last three issues. I just checked back issues #221 and #222 which contain I and II respectively on the Next Month page.

Street Fighter IV Info Coming This Week [Next-Gen]
Save the Date: 1UP Coverage You Can't Miss [1UP]