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people playing for viewers to watch. Bizarre Creations already accomplished something like this with its Gotham TV for PGR3, so I'd like to think it's possible.

The one thing these games have in common is the unfortunate requirement to be able to play online if you want to have the most fun, unless you have a stable of friends to play against. Fighting games were always popular for their adversarial nature. But with the decline of arcades across the U.S., online is the only place to see fresh competition. This could help explain the popularity of Street Fighter II and Ultimate Mortal Kombat on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. These two games, along with the Xbox game Guilty Gear X2 #Reload (which is backwards compatible), will help keep you sated for a 2-D fighter until Street Fighter IV is released. Although Guilty Gear may put of casual fans with its quirky, oddball, and bizarre characters (ex. Bridget), anyone looking for a deep, 2-D fighting experience should check it out.

So while the list is short at the moment, there will be two marquee entries into the arena. Capcom's aforementioned Street Fighter IV, thankfully sticking to its 2-D roots but unfortunately nowhere near completion, and Soul Caliber IV, a weapon based fighter from Namco Bandai.

Not much is known about Street Fighter IV at the moment since it is still so early in development. But it is certain that it will appeal to hardcore and casual fans alike (something Street Fighter III didn't do), contain online versus play with a yet unannounced revolutionary feature, an upgraded look, significant changes to the fighting system, as well as the return of Street Fighter veterans Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, and Dhalsim.

As for Soul Caliber IV, in addition to weapons into the mix, Soul Caliber utilizes an 8-way movement system and ring-outs to add to the strategy. And as a series first, online play will be added to compliment its engaging Weapon Master mode, in which a player plays through the game in a storybook fashion. This mode allows a player to unlock other characters, costumes, weapons, and modes for play. As well as allowing for some diverse encounters, such as quicksand levels where the fighters sink if they don't move, stages that gusts of wind will knock you off, "mined" stages that deal extra damage for being knocked down, and many more. But everyone was thrown for a loop when it was revealed that this iteration would have more Force than others in the series. Darth Vader will be making his presence felt on the PS3, with Yoda representing the house that Lucas built on the Xbox 360. While the Star Wars fan in me welcomes the addition of the little green Jedi master, the fighting game fan in me laments the assured reliance on low attacks I will have to resort to in order to beat him.

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