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Capcom's VP of strategic planning and business development, Christian Svensson, officially confirmed the retailer-listed $40 price for the upcoming car vandalism sim, Super Street Fighter IV, in a recent interview with Gamasutra. Expanding on statements made when the game was first announced, Svensson said, "Going $10 above Platinum/Greatest Hits pricing was sort of a nice compromise ... It's $40 -- we had two choices, and the economics didn't work out on one ... no matter what, we were fracturing the userbase, and we had to start from scratch."

He went on to explain that the content was simply too much for a platinum version of the game, and that a new release would render cross-game play between SFIV and SSFIV impossible due to differing "title IDs." Svensson also teased that those who played SFIV on the system for which they purchase SSFIV will get access to "a nifty little special set of things that those people will have the option of enjoying that others won't."

Moving on to the subject of January's launch of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Svensson said, "We're a couple weeks in right now, and we've been doing re-orders. We're not at all dissatisfied with the sales at this point." As for long-term sales of the game, he added, "We are cautiously optimistic that it's going to have long legs ... the Versus series is well served by Tatsunoko as an outing. It really happens bring Versus back as a viable brand for Capcom." With any luck that means we'll see more ... interesting mashups from Capcom's Versus series in the coming years. Maybe Nintendo or Square? Whaddya say, folks?

Were you up in the wee hours of the morning this past weekend, waiting in line for your chance to pick up Tatsunoko vs. Capcom a bit early at the Nintendo World store in New York City? Yeah, neither were we, but Nintendo World Report was there and they asked producer Ryota Niitsuma a whole mess of questions about the game.

Notably, when Niitsuma was asked what other franchises he might like to work with in future "vs." titles, the producer openly stated his desire to work with not just "a whole lot of" game developers in the US, but also that he'd "love to" work with Nintendo or Square Enix. As for us, we'd love the chance to shoryuken the hell out of Cloud Strife. But hey, who wouldn't?

In bringing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom to the US, the latter company is taking a pretty big risk -- but fighting game fans get an even bigger reward. Even if you've never heard of half of the characters in it, or don't really care about the amount of resources put into releasing it stateside -- complete with new characters, modes and online play -- you can't help but appreciate this oddball fighter because it's just so damn good.

Looking at its roster and the fact that it's on the Wii, it would be easy to dismiss Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as a gimmicky fighting game, but it's an honest-to-goodness hardcore entry that is among the very best Capcom has made in recent years. It's easy to get into, yet surprisingly deep and steeped in fan service. It's also one of the nicest looking games (so far) on Nintendo's console.

Even though Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is already bordering on the legal limits of how many characters are simultaneously allowed in a single game, Capcom thought about adding others. We all knew (and are very depressed about) the almost-inclusion of Phoenix Wright, but according to a web chat with producer Ryota Niitsuma (via Siliconera) the Samurai Pizza Cats were once considered for the game.

"We at Capcom too, wanted to see the Samurai Pizza Cats in the game. We were in discussion with Tatsunoko Productions to try to get them in the game. It went right up the last minute, but it didn't go through," revealed Niitsuma. It didn't end there, either -- Capcom even considered putting in Speed Racer. Niitsuma commented that the hurdle with him was putting his race car into the game, something we find a bit odd considering the game has characters who are far larger and comprised of far more complicated mechanical parts than a stinkin' race car!

In other news: Joystiq finally has a Samurai Pizza Cats tag. May it console you in your time of need.

With the Wii-exclusive Tatsunoko vs. Capcom dropping next week and Super Street Fighter IV on the horizon, Capcom sees fighting games as a focus for the company going forward. "For us, internally, fighting games are where it's at recently," we were told by Tatsunoko vs. Capcom producer Ryota Niitsuma, who added that, "as a company, we'd like to keep making more of them because that's what we do and we do it well, and I think there's a future there for that."

Although the company has produced a variety of 2D and 3D fighters in the past, Niitsuma pointed toward the likes of Street Fighter IV as a blueprint for its future fighting games. "I think we excel at making 2D fighting games. I think we have the knowledge and the know-how and the experience to make successful games in that style," he told us, explaining that, "right now, you see that we're trying to move away from straight-up traditional 2D fighting into what I guess you'd call '2.5D,' where you take the 3D fighter models and marry them to a 2D fighting plane. For now, that's the way we're going to go."

Capcom still intends to test new ideas in that space between 2D and 3D, though. "There are all these things we can do ... you take the camera and move it around," Niitsuma said, gesturing with both hands to illustrate an in-game camera orbiting the fighters. "It's still a 2D fighting field, but the camera moves in a 3D space. That's just one possibility of something we'd like to be able to do."

Speaking to Joystiq, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom producer Ryota Niitsuma has said that the prospect of future Capcom-made games based on Tatsunoko properties is indeed a possibility. "The reception of the game by Tatsunoko was quite positive," Niitsuma told us. "[Tatsunoko] saw how we were able to incorporate the characters very successfully into a fighting game, so I think that, in the future, that could lead to us using Tatsunoko characters in other ways."

"I can't say there's any concrete information, or there have been any steps in that direction yet, but I think the possibility is there," he said. Niitsuma added that sales of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which ships next week, will influence that possibility, saying, "if the sales of this game do good in the States, then I think that will open up many doors." Furthermore, Niitsuma said he feels that the game's status as a "Versus Series" title will likely sell more copies here than its inclusion of Tatsunoko characters.

If there above image wasn't a dead giveaway, we'd certainly be up for a Capcom-developed Gatchaman action game. Let us know what you'd like to see in the comments.

Much as it did for North America, Nintendo just tossed out a huge list of release dates for Europe in Q1. And right at the top of the list is a new DSi hardware bundle, to be released on February 12. If you don't feel like holding out one more month for the out-sized DSi XL, you can get a pink DSi with a copy of Nintendo Presents Style Boutique.

In other hardware news, the company announced that it will continue offering the previously limited-edition black Wii bundle, which includes both Wii Sportses, a Wiimote, a Nunchuk, and a MotionPlus.

As for the games, there's a lot coming up on Wii and DS in the next few months, including both Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Ace Attorney Investigations from Capcom, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Phantasy Star Zero, Excitebike World Rally and more.

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We rarely get to praise advertising for a Wii game, because it rarely exists, and when it does, it's rarely anything special. But Capcom nailed it with this TV commercial for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, featuring stop-motion action figure combat between Ryu, Mega Man Volnutt, Ken the Eagle and Tekkaman Blade. The animation is well-done, the combat is well-choreographed and at no point do three generations of family giggle at you from a couch.

Capcom says the commercial will be showing "in HD glory on USA, SyFy, Adult Swim and more starting next Monday." Provided it runs frequently enough and at good timeslots, this thing could actually sell some copies of the game. Check it out after the break.

Though they've seldom been mentioned since the fighter was announced for a North American release, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom contains a wide selection of minigames -- one for each character in the original Japanese release. While it's currently undetermined whether all the new characters added for Ultimate All-Stars will have unique extra games, Capcom has revealed at least one new one: "Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Shooters," a vertically-scrolling, Commando-esque shooter starring the characters from the fighting game.

The up-to-four-player minigame apparently features not only multiple stages, but branching paths, as well as special moves. It appears to be based on the Lost Planet-themed PTX-40A "AK Extermination Mission" minigame, but expanded. See a clip of Ultimate All-Shooters -- which appears to have been captured from VHS -- after the break.

This week's Nintendo Channel update may be a bit on the slim side, but Nintendo Week is back and actually has a few worthwhile snippets in this week's episode. First up, Capcom's Seth Killian struts his stuff in Tatsunoko vs Capcom, explaining the title for the unaware and showing off some of the combo-heavy gameplay behind it. Then, there's the Reggie Fils-Aime interview where he talks about the Nintendo Week program, some of the third-party support Nintendo platforms enjoyed in 2009 and the DSi XL. He also manages to bring up the upcoming Zelda game without actually talking about it.

Head past the break for the full rundown of this week's Nintendo Channel content.

After a successful partnership on XBLA/PSN release Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (breath), Udon Entertainment and Capcom are once again working together, though this time the Street Fighter comic book artists are adding endings to upcoming Wii fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. Despite Udon's pedigree, the announcement post remains overwhelmingly humble, saying, "Everyone at Udon is very proud to have contributed to such an epic piece of video game and anime history." We haven't gotten our hands on any screens of the endings just yet, but we'll be sure to give you a gander as soon as we do.

[Via Capcom-Unity]

No, not bundles of actual sticks, but bundles of the Wii fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and its special edition FightStick. Should you desire a copy of the game and the artwork laden stick, the bundle will set you back $124.95 at the Capcom Store. Taking the individual prices of each product -- $49.99 for the game, $79.99 for the stick -- the bundle will save you a whopping five dollars. So yeah, it's not exactly the most amazing deal in the world, though we suppose it does save you the hassle of dealing with two boxes.

[Via GoNintendo]

Capcom has released two videos of the newly-announced Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars character, Yatterman-2. Unsurprisingly, given the way the rest of the game has played out, she's utterly ridiculous, throwing giant heart-shaped electrical spark formations out and summoning a gigantic robot pelican!

In addition to the videos, new screens featuring a Yatterman-1 and Yatterman-2 team document the kind of giant robot animal chaos you'll be able to unleash -- possibly with a branded implement -- when the game comes out on January 26.

Just a few weeks before the game is due for release in North America, Capcom revealed one final new character for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Yatterman-2. For those of you unfamiliar with the Yatterman series, Yatterman-2 is the girlfriend of "Yatterman-1" Gan, who accompanies him on his superhero-ing work, and uses an electrified baton in fights. For the more pragmatic among you, Yatterman-2 is another character you'll get to try in the game, which should be exciting on its own merits. This is the last of the rumored new characters to be revealed.

You can see Yatterman-2 in action at GameSpot -- the character premiered exclusively on that site's "On the Spot" video feature.

Though we've had very specific hints about such an item for a while, MadCatz never released details about an officially licensed Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars arcade stick until today. Now, the peripheral maker has announced that the stick is real and will be out sometime this month, to coincide with the game whose name and art it bears. It's so real that, as Kotaku reports, you can pre-order one from MadCatz's site!

The stick connects to the Wiimote for a wireless-ish experience, a de facto upgrade over the wired connections used by the PS3 and Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV FightSticks. It'll retail for $79.99.