A month or so ago there was a Capcom weekend on Steam, where some of the publisher's finest cuts were free to play for a few days. Out of curiosity as to whether my old 360 arcade stick would work with it I downloaded Ultra Street Fighter IV [official site]. I have a long history with Street Fighter IV and thought I knew what to expect – but the World Warriors blew me away again, and that once-dusty stick is now part of the furniture. Here's why.

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In my hazy role as news editor of Rock, Paper, Shotgun, I'd like for us to cover fighting games more. They're fascinating systems of intricate parts I broadly understand enough to mention but fumble horrible trying to execute. "Attack priority, yeah?" I offer. "Invincibility frames? Leave it out bruv!" See, I skipped fighting games as a littlun, as a crone really have the time to teach myself from scratch, and as a serious business professional don't want to fake it. Shame.

But here, as a token gesture, is word that Ultra Street Fighter IV has arrived on PC.

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I could probably tell you more about the prohibition era than I could about Mega Man games. Did you know that, on average, Americans consumed three times as much hard liquor while the eighteenth amendment was in place than they do now? And that there were getting on for 100,000 illegal speakeasies in New York alone? By contrast, I can tell you that I once played a Mega Man game on a friend's GameBoy in the early 1990s and thought it was kind of hard.

Mega Man isn't exactly a PC series, but nonetheless Capcom are releasing official retro shooty-platformers Street Fighter x Mega Man later this month, as a celebration of the series turning 25 and an apology for doing something or other I don't really understand that made Mega Man fans upset. It features the little blue chap battling against similarly pint-size, 2D recreations of Street Fighter's man-puncher's gallery.

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Capcom's blog has mentioned that the PC version of Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition is getting multiple updates: "Our development team has been cracking the whip on this project, and are aiming to have the 2012 update ready for you all by the end of February. We will have additional updates in these upcoming weeks. so keep an eye on this space for more info." The patch was a big rebalance of various characters, which were deemed out of whack, so to speak, on the console versions for a patch in December.

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I do believe that is the longest abbreviation I have ever put in a headline. But still not as long as the one Lewie used in the original story about this issue. The news should be clear, however: Capcom have announced some substantial changes to their original DRM plan for the PC version of Super Streetfighter IV's Arcade Edition. Christian Svensson writes:

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UPDATE: Capcom appear to be reconsidering certain elements of their DRM plans, but removing GFWL is not on the table, and they say that removing the DRM completely is "not feasible". They also discuss removing the DRM from legitimate copies of the game in the event of it being cracked.

Here's a new one. The original Street Fighter 4 sold well on the PC by Capcom's own admission, but apparently some folk found a way to acquire it without paying for it, so they didn't bother releasing the PC version of Super Street Fighter 4 that they had already more or less developed. I hope no one tells them that piracy happens on consoles too, or they'll maybe stop releasing any games, and just produce them for their own amusement. They've had a change of heart for the latest iteration though: they'll be letting PC gamers give them their money if they so choose. Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition is coming to PC, and it's learnt a few new DRM tricks too.

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Are we still sore about Capcom not bringing Super Street Fighter IV to the PC? y/n? Well, in case you can't decipher those aconyms in the headline, today Capcom announced that they're working on PC releases of both the enhanced Arcade Edition of Super Street Fighter IV, boasting four new playable characters (Yun, Yang, Oni and Evil Ryu), some balance changes and an impressive new suite of replay features (including the ability to "follow" the replays posted by any players or friends of your choosing), and Street Fighter X Tekken, due out in 2012. Trailers after the jump.

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