Street Fighter II Live Pushed to Q2, Cites Online Troubles

<img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/news/sfII_xboxlive.jpg" align="right" width="180" height="120" hspace="4" vspace="4" class="newslink" /><a href="http://www.gamespot.com">GameSpot</a> has posted an updated <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/streetfighteriihyperfighting/index.html">hands on impression</a> of <b>Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting</b> for <b>Xbox Live Arcade</b> from a recent <b>Microsoft</b> showcase event. <b>SFII:HF</b> is the trailblazer for all 2D twitch fighters being adapted for online play over <b>Xbox Live Arcade</b>. The success of the experience created by <b>Capcom</b> will set the bar for future 2D fighters, most importantly <b>Midway's</b> <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/umk3/">Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3</a>. While the single player game was functionally sound at the event, the online modes were unavailable for demoing after the lack luster build that debuted at a <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/streetfighteriihyperfighting/news.html">Capcom event</a> in Las Vegas back in February.

Like other Xbox Live Arcade games, you'll be able to earn achievement points for fulfilling certain requirements. Some are easy, like simply playing a game with each character. Other single-player achievements include beating the game without losing a round, and so on. Online, you'll earn points for playing in 250 matches, winning 100 matches, reaching the top 10 leaderboards, and so on. Overall, there seems to be a good balance of easy and difficult points to earn.

So, what's the hold up? Well, presumably there's still work to be done on the online side of things. Considering that a fighting game is useless without a steady stream of competition, the online play will either make or break this one. Last reports put this game on for a March release, but we'll have to wait and see what Capcom is up to.

Click to expand...

Although the impression states the game is still set for March, an accompanying <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/streetfighteriihyperfighting/media.html?autoplay=6146370">video interview</a> with <b>Capcom</b> producer <b>Albin Pedroso</b> stated that the game will be available in "<b>Q2</b>" of this year, which puts the title out to <b>June</b> at the latest. <b>Pedroso</b> states that the team working on the game are still hard at work trying "to optimize the code to recreate the best online experience for all users."

This makes classic MK's online prospects very promising. Despite this being accomplished for SF first, I bear no grudge, because that just means we'll get the perfected process for use with UMK3! (and hopefully MKs 1 and 2 as well!)