The event will take place on January 7, at Planet Hollywood. All the game's new characters will be playable, the catch being you need to apply for a ticket and that you need to be 18+ to get in.

Full details for those interested below.

Super Street Fighter IV Las Vegas Fight Club! [Capcom]

In theory, you could outfit yourself head-to-toe in a Shadaloo uniform, as there are caps, beanies, shirts, jackets and even jeans on offer. Most of it tasteful, much even stylish (barring the "German nightclub" vest, anyways).The stuff is up for pre-order now, and should be out early next year.

Shadaloo Psycho Brigade by Triumvir (Pre-Order) [Triumvir]

Update: But it is and it isn't. Way back in September, a longtime Shoryuken forums contributor posted the names of the new characters before Capcom announced any of them. All turned out to be right. Three that have yet to be announced will return from Street Fighter III: Ibuki, Makoto and Dudley.

That forum post was subsequently removed, but the semi-common knowledge of these three, anyway, remains. Subsequent loose chatter on Street Fighter boards said the fourth guy is Hakan, an Arab grappler.

That brings the total of new characters to 10, six announced, so one wonders what the point is of Capcom dragging this out any further.

Anyway, that image above is EventHubs' screengrab of the Famitsu demo and analysis of the character select screen. Four are left blank. The remaining new characters, bosses and others are all identified.

SSF4 Character Select Screen, More Screen Shots [EventHubs via Joystiq]

World of Warcraft Special #1 (of 12)
Written by Mike Costa. Drawn by Pop Mhan.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
Kicking off a bold new direction for World of Warcraft comics! Algalon will be the judge! This special issue of WORLD OF WARCRAFT introduces new Horde and Alliance characters not yet seen in the ongoing series. Discover, through the eyes of The Observer himself, if the inhabitants of Azeroth are worthy of survival - or will they inevitably meet certain doom?

Street Fighter II Turbo #10
Written by Ken Siu-Chong. Drawn Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz and Bob Strang.

Summary Via Publisher Udon Entertainment Entertainment:
In stores this Wednesday Dec 16th is Street Fighter II Turbo #10. This issue features not only the tournament battle of Cammy VS Balrog, but also Ryu VS Sagat in the rematch of the decade! Plus an all-new Street Fighter III backup featuring the mysterious Q!

Some of them, you'll just be looking at, but others, you can buy from Ashley's online store, then wear them on your chest.

[infinitecontinues, via Etsi]

[via Capcom]

Toy importer Pop Culture Shock do, as they've published a gallery on Capcom's site showing the factory in China where SOTA's Capcom statues are put together and finished off.

Most of the shots depict SOTA's Zangief piece being assembled then painted, but you'll also see Sagat and Darkstalker's Felicia pop up as well.

Makes you wonder why they don't advertise "individually hand-painted" on the box.

Behind the Scenes With Pop Culture Shock's Felicia and Zangief Statues [Capcom]

Osama calls it The NEStickle (not to be confused with the NES emulator) because, well, why not. It's not like FightDeck or TurboConsole's gonna make this look any less weird. The NES controller houses the stick's USB cable, and it's compatible with all consoles and PC.

Osama says Nicolas, his friend, had to carve a reinforced interior from wood "using nothing but his laser vision. This insures that I don't over-zealously cave the NES in while pressing hard on those buttons when I'm losing badly to a cheap-ass who won't stop throwing me."

You can see more pics of the NEStickle and its construction over at the link.

Introducing the NEStickle! [Towards Mecca]

Explains Gamecity:

This year we commissioned design collective the Alaskan Military School to produce an animation package to communicate the ethos of the event. We recently launched a series of viral spots that are the first part of this collection of new work. They each take one of our favourite games at GameCity HQ and translate them into a 15 pixel grid. It's Hyper pixel minimalism! We realised that you can communicate the essence of great, iconic games with minimal visual information. I think this approach echoes the values of the festival, to take a sideways look at games, and foster a creative space.

Gamecity squared will be Oct. 27 to Oct. 31 in Nottingham, England. At the link, you can see also Parappa and Noby Noby Boy done in the same style.

Parappa and Street Fighter in Just 15 Pixels [Tim Maughan Books]

All photos from Kiddy Land, a toy store in Tokyo's Harajuku district.

Still, the Japanese Street Fighter IV official blog promised last week that they'd speak about a sequel this week. The writer came back and instead said something about promising there'd be more concrete information in the near future.

Some take that as confirmation a sequel is in the works. That would not necessarily mean Street Fighter V. It could be Super Street Fighter IV Tournament Turbo Alpha EX or something. Regardless of what it's named, any new game brings up discussion of what characters will or should be included. Which you are free to do now.

Capcom Hints at Street FIghter Sequel [IGN]

Snow's blog on Capcom-Unity showcased the six jumpers, ironed on with Dark Void, a zombie from Dead Rising, Mega Man, Salamander from Lost Planet 2, and the adorable Street Fighter babies (although I don't think they're from this piece of work.)

You know, the guy is single, but, I should talk to Seth Killian. I literally haven't seen him in nine months ...

Capcom Baby Swag = Cuteness Overload [Capcom-Unity via Go Nintendo]

[via Go Nintendo]

Confronted with his ex-girlfriend's rather facile reduction of two experiences - travel and video games -to somewhat common traits, writer Jason Wilson's first reaction is an enlightened outrage. Flitting across the world in Street Fighter, he's convinced, is most assuredly not like one visiting those places for himself.

Yet then Wilson encounters a game on his Wii, plays it with his two sons, and finds himself taken to a place that feels eerily like ones he's visited before. Not for their scenery or people - but for what he experiences, and remembers.

Travel Channels - How is a Video Game Like Travel Writing? [The Smart Set, Sept. 2, 2009. This essay was also published in The Best American Travel Writing 2009]

Not too long after we'd broken up, I came across the essay she'd referenced, "Nintendo and the New World Travel Writing: A Dialogue," by Mary Fuller and Henry Jenkins. Fuller and Jenkins likened Nintendo's Mario Brothers' adventures in rescuing Princess Toadstool to the nonfictional New World travel narratives of John Smith, Virginia Dare, and Pocahontas in the lost colony of Roanoke. Both are "forms of narrative that privilege space over characterization or plot development" and "a different way of organizing narratives" that they call "spatial stories." At the time, it seemed like the sort of loopy scholarship that got debated over a bong in someone's dorm room. But now I'm not so sure.

I thought seriously about travel writing and video games this past year when reading hundreds of nominations for The Best American Travel Writing. I spent a lot of that period playing Wii with my two sons. We enjoyed a game called Endless Ocean, in which you play the role of a deep-sea diver who, along with a somewhat irritating companion, a marine biologist named Katherine, explores the fictional Manoa Lai Sea in a fictional South Pacific. The graphics are amazingly life-like, and over time a whole world with a diverse underwater ecosystem - full of whales, tropical fish, stingrays, sharks, and other sea life - slowly, gently emerges. In fact, calling Endless Ocean a "game" at all is stretching the definition. The challenges aren't very taxing - it's almost impossible to run out of air, and not even the sharks bite. There's only a light plot involving the legends of native peoples of fictional Pelago. Most of the time, you sort of swim around, unscripted, collecting new species of sea creatures and exploring coral reefs, sea caves, and sunken ruins, But after hours of leisurely navigating, a strange emotional experience begins to take hold. Suddenly, the discovery of a simple seahorse or a bit of an artifact is a cause for joy. Upon uncovering an ancient, fossilized whale whisker, I found myself looking forward to surfacing and celebrating with my kooky shipmate, whom I now called Kat. Virtual as it was, Endless Ocean was beginning to take on the recognizable rhythms of travel.

All of which mean that Endless Ocean was becoming a little scary. I wondered if someday in the not-so-distant future, fake gaming worlds like Manoa Lai might replace, say, the real South Pacific as an actual destination. If the current economic and energy crises continue, perhaps my boys will have to skip the old backpacking trip to Europe and instead experience that formative travel though some type of gaming. I guess if that unfortunate outcome truly does come to pass, at least I take solace that some form of travel narrative might still possibly thrive.

- Jason Wilson

Weekend Reader is Kotaku's look at the critical thinking in, and of video games. It appears Saturdays at noon. Please take the time to read the full article cited before getting involved in the debate here.

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Sonic Universe #7 ... Written by Ian Flynn. Drawn by Tracy Yardley.

Summary Via Publisher Archie Comics: PART THREE OF THE EPIC "MOBIUS: 30 YEARS LATER" TALE!
"What's Old is New Again": King Sonic has been evicted from his castle with only Lara-Su at his side! What's a deposed king to do? Gather up some Freedom Fighters, that's what! But who? And from where? This pulse-pounding tale allows readers to see some familiar faces as the Future Freedom Fighters assemble for the first time!

World of Warcraft Book 1... Written by Walter Simonson. Drawn by Ludo Lullabi and Sandra Hope.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment: Collecting WORLD OF WARCRAFT #0-7, based on the world's most popular massively multiplayer video game! In this epic tale, a human is found unconscious, with no memory of who he is. Enslaved by the Orc Shaman Rehgar Earthfury, this man must fight for survival, striking uneasy relationships with other races in his quest to find the secrets of his past!

World of Warcraft Book 2... Written by Walter Simonson. Drawn by Ludo Lullabi and Sandra Hope.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment: The second WORLD OF WARCRAFT collection, featuring issues #8-14 of the hit series, tells the saga of the Missing King of Stormwind. Upon learning he is in fact the lost ruler of Stormwind, Lo'Gosh returns to reclaim his throne with his comrades-in-arms Valeera and Broll. But all is not as it seems in the Eastern Kingdom, especially if one informed dwarf has anything to say about it.

Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li #4 (of 4)... Written by Ken Siu-Chong. Drawn by Omar Dogan.

Summary Via Publisher Udon Entertainment: In the conclusion to Chun-li's prequel miniseries, the strongest woman in the world comes face to face with the king of Muay Thai! It's Chun-li VS Sagat, with the souls of eight thousand Chinese warriors on the line!

Warcraft Legends: Volume 5... Written and Drawn by various.

Summary Via Publisher Tokyopop: Some of the world's best talent — including New York Times Bestselling Warcraft author Richard A. Knaak — join together to bring the world of Warcraft to life as never before! Told from both Alliance and Horde points of view, these stories have entertained the likes of travelers, soldiers and thieves in taverns, inns and camps all throughout Azeroth. They have endured the trials of time and have earned the title of legend.

According to Diablo III's Jay Wilson, The Monk was inspired by pen-and-paper roleplaying games. They liked the idea of a fast and fragile melee character. He's a contrast to the Barbarian...the slow, tanking character. Another inspiration came from fighting games...as I mentioned in the liveblog of the Blizzcon 09 opening ceremonies, the Monk looks like a cross between Dhalsim and Zangief from Street Fighter.

The Monk uses fighting-game like combos and holy magic, favoring speed over toughness. The class will have complementary skills...skills that work together better than they work apart. He will be a tougher character to master, for advanced players.

Leonard Boyarsky explained that they wanted an Eastern European feel with an Asian influence. They are the holy warriors of the game, religious warriors raised in spiritual seclusion from childhood to be living embodiments of their gods. The theological motivation gives them a nice contrast with the Witch Doctor. They are part of a highly structured society, answering to their church.

The Monks are known throughout the world, respected and feared...holy killing machines.

Wyatt Cheng, produder for the game, said that one of the team's goals was to create a fighting game combo system that fits with Diablo III. They want to add depth to the melee moves. They referenced Diablo II's Assassin and World of Warcraft's Rogue.

They went over some Monk skills, like the Way of the Hundred Fists. The power features three clicks of the same power that transitions from a single attack to a massive AOE. Then there's Crippling Wave, which first slows the enemy, then reduces damage to the Monk. Each skill seems to have different stages. In Exploding Palm, the first and second hits do damage, the 3rd adds a damage-over-time effect, and, if the enemy dies by this DOT, it explodes.

The powers can be combined....so stage one of one power can be switched to stage two of the next and stage three of the next. The different combinations should make for many unique strategies.

Julian Love, also from the development team, talked about the Monk's special effects. The goal is to combine martial arts action with holy colors - gold and silver - with a bit of runic knowledge to help highlight the Monk's appreciation of art and form.

With those goals in mind, they showed us the Monk's Seven Sided Strike. It's like Chain Lightning from Diablo II, only YOU are the lightning. They took some basic movements, added in bright and flashy, holy golden colors, tweaked up the explosions - "Explosions make everything better." Amen, brother.

Then they added in some 2D fighter artwork style, and then used runes to frame the area in which the action takes place. The end result?

We'll be getting some hands-on time with the Monk later this weekend. Stay tuned!

They'll be sold for $90 each if you want to buy them individually. And if you do, hey, that's cool. We're not judging. But as you can see, you might want to look at buying both, what with their bases locking together to form a Cammy sandwich.

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Street Fighter IV #3 (of 4)... Written by Ken Siu-Chong. Drawn by Joe Ng.

Summary Via Publisher Udon Entertainment: It's bad girl VS school girl as Crimsom Viper makes Sakura her latest target! How does Sakura fit into the S.I.N. organization's plan.. and why would they want Dan Hibiki as well? The answers could be DARKER than anyone suspects!

The Legend of Zelda, Volume 6: Four Swords - Part 1 ... Written and Drawn by the duo known as Akira Himekawa.

Summary via publisher Viz Media: Four Swords, Part 1. Link, now a Hylian Knight, serves Princess Zelda at Hyrule Castle. When Shadow Link kidnaps Princess Zelda, Link once again must prepare himself to defeat the forces of evil. To do so, he needs the legendary Four Sword, but getting it means releasing and then battling the ancient evil power Vaati. The Four Sword also splits Link into four different versions of himself, and these new Links aren't team players! Rescuing Zekda, beating Vaati, and getting his wild alter-egos under control isn't going to be easy!

Sonic The Hedgehog Archives Vol. 11... Written by Ken Penders, Kent Taylor. Drawn by Kyle Hunter, Art Mawhinney, Manny Galan, Patrick Spaziante, Harvey Mercadoocasio, Andrew Pepoy .

Summary via publisher Archie Comics Media: The Sonic Archives series has emerged as one of Archie's best-selling trade paperbacks, as fans both new and old can relive the glory days of Sonic the Hedgehog in these high-quality, digitally-restored graphic novels, complete with all the classic Sonic stories from the 1990's! Now with Sonic Archives Volume 11, Sonic lovers can add to their collections issues 41-44, stories which are almost impossible to come across now. And best of all, the colors are completely re-mastered to give the issues a brand-new look!

Stories include: "... And One Shall Save Him" - Sally, Sonic and Geoffrey attempt to save King Acorn, but will they survive the Zone of Silence as past and future collide? "In Every Kingdom There Must Exist a Little Chaos" - the epic "Sword of Acorns" storyline begins here, as Knuckles searches for the fabled sword against staggering odds! "The Dream Zone" - the story that introduces the "Dream Watcher" device that will play a major role in the "Endgame" saga! "Black & Blue & Red All Over" - Evil Sonic is back... and it looks like Knuckles is helping him!

Like other pieces sold by premium collectible firm Sideshow, this isn't cheap. Unless, that is, you find $375 cheap. Which we don't. If you do, however (or just really like Zangief!), it'll be out in Q4 this year.