Arcades Live!

...in your living room.

Street Fighter IV releases tomorrow in America after selling out in Japan. Every copy in stores is now in someone's home. Wow. I haven't played a fighting game seriously since my friend Vega and I got every single costume in DOA 2: Hardcore on the PS2. Come to think of it, that was the last time I had friends that would actually hang out with me... Fighting games just aren't as fun alone. Still, I am a fan of the classics. I haven't found a single review of SF4 that doesn't say, "keeps the best of the old while bringing in the best of the new." Apparently, it is the perfect sequel, and I will actually pay my hard-earned $60 to see a game company make a perfect upgrade of a genre they invented that was on the verge of death. Fighting games have always been about direct one-on-one competition, and now that Street Fighter finally has online play, maybe I can get into the genre a little better. It's hard to find people to come over and play video games all night when there's school, jobs, and girlfriends in the way. Now that I know there are people gaming at 3 a.m. when I finally drag myself home from Domino's, I can find friends again in a game that, until yesterday, I honestly had no intention of buying. I want to be part of something great, something beautiful.