Mercury News writer Gieson Cacho put together a top 10 list the likes of which I'm more used to seeing on video game websites than in newspaper coverage (even the online kind). I'm not at all surprised to see the Mercury News covering video games, though. Some of you may remember that VentureBeat games writer Dean Takahashi used to work there — and believe me, games journalism is catching.

Here's the rest of Cacho's Top 10 games of 2009:

2) Uncharted 2
3) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
4) Assassin's Creed 2
5) DJ Hero
6) Killzone 2
7) Dragon Age: Origins
8) Batman: Arkham Asylum
9) Forza Motorsports [sic] 3
10) Little King's Story

Best Game of 2009: 'Street Fighter IV' knocked out the competition [San Jose Mercury News]

Click the thumbnails for more information about each of this week's new comics. All hit comics shops in the U.S. today.

Resident Evil #3 Written by Ricardo Sanchez. Drawn by Jheremy Raapack and Al Barrionuevo.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm:
Videogame industry writer Ricardo Sanchez brings the bio-weapons of Resident Evil to the jungles of South America! Follow two agents as they unravel the connections between a Space Station, a telepathic G-Virus and Geisel Industries.

Modern Warfare 2 #1 Written by David Lapham. Drawn by Kevin West.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm:
In anticipation of the sequel to the groundbreaking game, WildStorm brings you a no-holds-barred, brutal tale of the mysterious Task Force 141 soldier known as "Ghost." Learning the motivation behind his mask and moniker is the tip of the iceberg in a story spanning the globe from the United Kingdom to war-torn Afghanistan to the drug war in Mexico. Believe us, this will be talked about for years to come! Award-winning creator David Lapham (YOUNG LIARS, Stray Bullets) is joined by artist Kevin West in a shattering 6-issue tour-de-force epic!

Street Fighter IV #4 Written by Ken Siu-Chong. Drawn by Joe Ng.

Summary Via Publisher Udon Entertainment:
Street Fighter IV #4, the final chapter of our four-issue SFIV miniseries, goes on sale November 11th! This issue features the epic matchup Seth VS Akuma, plus appearances by Sakura, Dan, C.Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and more! Also, the issue will feature the first in-story appearance of one of the all-new characters for Super Street Fighter IV(heck, they game won't even be out until Spring 2010!). So don't miss it!

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Wordspit hadoukens backpackers ear's with Joystick Madness (The Music Video) [Capcom-Unity]

Good news then, to gamers with cold arms and a need to snuggle: Street Fighter IV Snuggie is real and for sale.

After seeing a pic of the arm-holed blanket on Twitter, we checked in with Capcom which was able to confirm it was the real deal, but declined to comment on whether they would be the official Holiday gift for Capcom programmers in 2009.

Twitter

Capcom offered the following as one of its strategies for the second half of its fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2010.

Use digital distribution to maximize opportunities to sell software
-Sell game software by using network downloads in order to give users more options.
-"Marvel vs. Capcom 2", "Fate / unlimited codes" (overseas), and others
-Constantly offer upgrades and earn profits by using PSN and XLA [sic] to distribute additional content.
-Constantly sell "Resident Evil 5", "Street Fighter IV" and other additional content

Paid downloads for Street Fighter IV from earlier this year included $4 packs containing five alternate costumes for the game's fighters. (Check out a full list and reader reaction.)

Resident Evil 5's prominent paid download was its $5 competitive multiplayer mode add-on. While some gamers complained that the modes should have been included in the base $60, Capcom countered by explaining that the additional content was budgeted and developed separately.

Capcom was unable to provide Kotaku with sales figures for any of that content.

Capcom's next releases on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, Super Street Fighter IV, and Resident Evil: Alternative Edition. No concrete DLC plans have been issued yet for any of those games.

Master Chief is cute because it's carved from a green pumpkin. Akuma is cute because it's a dad's contribution to his family's pumpkin count, which is about to get bigger by one. And the Spy could potentially be cute, if you ever got that mask off him.

The "mystery game" is actually an iPhone game called Sneezies sent my way by an enterprising iPhone dev who apparently knows how to carve a pumpkin.

Mad pumpkin respect to Jacob Hemphill, Jordan Rubow, Jimmy LeBlanc, Easy Tiger, Joe V. and Gavin Bowman!

The Uncharted 2 home space, which we've discussed previously, is set inside a Nepalese village, where players can hunt for an ancient Ganesh mask, participate in a torch race, or play the Fortunate Thieves card battle game, which can be seen in the video on the official PlayStation Blog. It's probably one of the most enticing reasons I've seen to download a PlayStation Home space.

In addition to the Uncharted 2 space, Tekken 6 and Street Fighter IV will also be getting themed spaces in tomorrow's update, with 25 alternate Street Fighter IV costumes released in the PlayStation Home mall to commemorate the occasion.

All of that, plus a new Penthouse personal space and tons of new fake things to buy, coming to PlayStation Home tomorrow. Now who's excited?

UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Hits PlayStation Home + Tekken 6 & Street Fighter IV Spaces [PlayStation Blog]

Sound quality isn't so hot, but the song itself is surprisingly touching.

Street Fighter IV Love Song [Albotas]

There I go, giving away the punch line. Yes, Street Fighter IV's muscle-bound French fighter Abel might have wound up a small boy with pigtails, according to the game's battle planner Taisaku Okada, who commented on the original design in a post on the Japanese SFIV website. As translated by Andriasang.com:

"With Abel, we wanted to make someone representative of 'the weak can beat the strong,' and so he was originally a small judo character who could be mistaken for a girl."

I would have preferred the smaller look to the one Capcom eventually went with, but then I've always been fond of smaller characters kicking the crap out of bigger ones.

Along with the more feminine Abel, the developer post also takes a look at the difficulties of maintaining character appearance in the newer game, Honda's skeletal structure, and raging staff fights over Street Fighter IV's art direction. It's all in Japanese, so make sure to bring along your closest squiggly-reading friend.

第2回 [Japanese Street Fighter IV Blog via Adriansang.com]

Must tone those thighs! That's model Ryu Ji Hye as Chun-Li. She's an announcer on Ongamenet's Street Fighter IV show. Not sure who the dude is.

Ryu Ji Hye Street Fighter IV Ongamenet Promo Video [Really Cute Asians]

The new Xbox 360 Platinum Hits inductees are Grand Theft Auto IV, Street Fighter IV, Left 4 Dead, Saints Row 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Two of those titles have sequels due out rather soon, so best to get them before they become antiquated by Left 4 Dead 2 and Super Street Fighter IV.

Price in U.S. dollars starts "as low as $19.99," price points that some of these titles have been flirting with for some time now. But according to the official release, some retailers are offering a buy two, get one free deal on the Xbox 360 budget line of games, passing the savings on to you!

There is a reason for Capcom including a Korean fighter, it seems. Producer Yoshinori Ono explains that while making the arcade version, the president of Capcom pointed out that there wasn't a South Korean fighter in Street Fighter. The reason for giving Juri a Korean background is to appeal to a wider gaming market audience.

According to Ono, South Korean players might have wondered why there was never a Korean fighter in Street Fighter, but there have been Korean fighters in Tekken and The King of Fighters.

For example, South Korean fighter Baek Doo San first appeared in 1995's Tekken 2, and Kim Kaphwan, leader of the KOF Korean team, has appeared in SNK titles since 1992's Fatal Fury 2.

『スーパーストリートファイターIV』に韓国籍のキャラクターが参戦した理由 [はちま起稿]

Of the eight characters, three have been announced: classic characters T. Hawk and Dee Jay (Dee Jay's reveal coming in the latest issue of Famitsu, below), and newcomer Juri. The rest could be anyone; new characters, old favourites, a mix of the two. We have no idea!

In terms of improvements to the game itself, producer Yoshinori Ono says that every character has been changed slightly based on comments from both players and the dev team, while an improved online experience is also promised.

Which begs the question: why an all-new title, and not just a range of DLC? Ono says the changes are so extensive that they couldn't just be tacked on, so a disc release was necessary. Those crying "RIP OFF" should know that the game "won't be sold at full price", and that those owning both the original and Super will are in store for an as-yet-unspecified treat.

It's due in Spring 2010 for the PS3 and 360. We'll ask what's up with the PC version.

Super Street Fighter IV Impressions - First Look [GameSpot]

A teaser website has appeared on Capcom's Japanese portal, with the site's URL seemingly promising a "new warrior" while the site itself gives the date 2009.09.29 17:00 JST, presumably for said warrior's reveal. That's Tuesday, September 29, at 5pm Japan time, if you need to set a clock.