Power Glove Love

So, it’s October 16, 11:16 PM Central Time. If you haven’t heard, hours from now, Capcom is about to make a HUGE announcement, equivalent to that of a “Megaton Bomb”. If you check the Capcom Website, you’ll even notice a countdown clock in place, also with the words: “Prepare Yourself.”

So what’s the big deal, you ask?

It all started at Tokyo Game Show 2007. Capcom apparently had “3 big news to announce”, which had fans hoping that Street Fighter IV may finally be released. It turns out, according to a Capcom rep (here and here), that they were all just RUMORS. There were never “3 big news” to announce, to begin with. Which, of course, left a lot of fans dejected.

But nearly a month after that hoax, Kotaku released an article regarding an announcement so huge, it’s an equivalent of a “Megaton Bomb”! Specifically, Brian Dunn of Capcom adds with: “…everyone at Capcom knows all the fans are extremely anxious for a NEW SF game, believe me. That’s about all I can say about that…”

But that’s not all! There’s also this cryptic blog entry at Capcom USA’s website, titled: “Prepare Yourself”. The cryptic message, being a series of question marks:

??? ???? ????????????? ???? ??? ????????? ? ????? ? ??????.

??????? ???????? ??? ? ?????!

And so, rumors (or promise, however you want to view it as) of a possible Street Fighter IV had been reborn!

As I’m typing my first ever article for Power Glove Love, the timer is counting down to 8 more hours. I feel like a kid again, waiting to open his presents for Christmas! Oh well,for the mean time, we can speculate a bit more! My guess is, it’s not just going to be one announcement, but several HUGE announcements, which are going to be most or all of what’s below:

1) Capcom merges with Sony - one of the more popular rumors that’s been going around lately, especially since a Capcom rep had mentioned that “…the PS3 will be getting more love from us.” At the very least, if Capcom doesn’t merge with Sony, it might mean a HUGE Capcom franchise that is totally EXCLUSIVE to the PS3. But what could it possibly be?!

2) Mega Man in Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Still a very plausible theory. If you look at the character roster so far, there appears to be two more empty slots in the “Newcomers” section (at least, for symmetry sakes). If you remember correctly, ever since Nintendo admitted Solid Snake into the character lineup, they ran a fan poll of which (non-Nintendo?) character people wanted to see in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Now that Sonic the Hedgehog is confirmed to be in the character roster, the next logical (and most popular video game mascot) is of course, Mega Man. Also, keep in mind that according to the Smash Bros. official website, the game’s release had been delayed to February 10, 2008. Sounds like they needed more time to add more “guest characters”!

3) Playable demo of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix - This is something that we actually already know, so it’s not much of a “surprise”. However, if Capcom is releasing a series of “big news” (like I’m expecting them to do), they might as well include this announcement.

4) New Street Fighter Movie - Remember this? What if their huge announcement is really just a preview on this supposed new SF movie? People will be disappointed, hahahaha. What’s worse, Capcom will probably make a game about this movie about a game, which has a huge probability of “bombing”. Is this what you meant by a bomb, Capcom?

5) Arc Systems Works vs. Capcom - or “Sammy vs. Capcom”. Or “Guilty Gear vs. Street Fighter”. However you want to call it. Remember this concept art of this proposed project? We’ve never heard about this project lately, and most people simply assumed that this project was canned. HOWEVER, since it’s also known that Capcom is collaborating with Arc Systems Works for Sengoku Basara X, it’s not an outlandish theory that they’ve been working on this game, in secret, as well…

6) Street Fighter IV - Hope and Despair, all rolled into one packet! Some fans had been so jaded with the unfulfilled promise of SF4 that they aren’t even entertaining this idea anymore, for fear of setting themselves up for extreme disappointment. Can’t say I blame them, though.

But we simply can’t ignore the seemingly cryptic hints of a “new SF game” by those Capcom reps…

I’ve also been paying attention to this forum thread on Shoryuken.com. Apparently, this topic had been previously closed, only to be re-opened and unlocked by a few people “in the know”…players (like Seth “s-kill” Killian) who either work for Capcom themselves, or they know people who work for Capcom. PLUS, there is this bizarre posting spree by SRK.com’s admin, Mr.Wizard, of several random Capcom games that end in “4″. To the naked eye, it seems like this site admin is merely spamming with his “speculations” as to what the announcement is. However, his spam posts have a pattern, and as I’ve said, they’ve all ended in “4″. Does he know something we don’t? Hahaha. The major reason why most gamers think it’s not SF4 is because Capcom U.S.A. doesn’t even have the right staff AND sufficient resources to create and develop a game as such anymore. Most of their old crew that worked on fighting games already work for other companies (like Arc Systems Works). HOWEVER, with that said, Capcom is ALREADY collaborating with Arc Systems Works for a project like Sengoku Basara X. What IF… Arc Systems Works was the main developer for SF4, with Capcom as its PUBLISHER?

Speculations! Hype! Megaton Bomb! Prepare Yourself! Hurry up already, Wednesday morning!