If you’re a Street Fighter fan, you’ve probably been scouring the Interwebs for info, any info, you can get your hands on regarding Street Fighter IV. Heck, even casual gaming fans are devouring Street Fighter screenshots faster than Kobayashi downs hotdogs . One of the best places on the net for interesting SF4 news is the official SF4 blog . I find myself on it constantly, mashing F5 as if it was the jab button, in hopes that on one of the page refreshes, I’ll suddenly and magically be able to understand Japanese. To save you the trouble, from now on, we will be translating the entries from the Japanese SF4 blog and reposting them here, in English (For those that can only read Swahili, I’m sorry, but you’re outta luck!). To kick things off, here’s are the two most recent entries after the jump.

“Mysterious Figures” by Natsuki Shiozawa, Project Manager. Posted February 12th, 2008. We‒re only a week away from the AOU show! Before long, the veil will be lifted and new information on characters, gameplay systems, and more will finally be made public! Have you been practicing? Round 1 is about to begin! Anyway, check this picture out…

Looks like a couple of cute girls hanging out at a meeting… The men in the room are all members of the Street Fighter IV team. Just what is going on in this scene? As you can see from the photo, our fearless leader, Ono-san and all the other guys in the room make it a real sausage party aside from the young ladies in the foreground and yours truly (24, F). If you haven‒t guessed, I‒m the one holding the camera. Anyway, for those of you who may be wondering why there are a couple of good looking young ladies present, be sure to come visit us at Makuhari Messe for the AOU show to put this mystery to rest once and for all!

“Character Section Updated!” by Natsuki Shiozawa, Project Manager. Posted February 9th, 2008. Top of the morning to you, faithful readers! Sorry to have kept you waiting, but we finally have got the “Character” section updated ! Just click on “Character”, followed by “Gallery” to see some familiar faces. Look carefully, and you’ll notice that that’s not the only update we’ve got for you this time. The “System” section has also been added! Be sure to check it out! What you’ll find there are descriptions of a couple of new gameplay innovations to be found in Street Fighter IV. These are the “Focus Attack” and “Ultra Combo” Systems! You can check out some screenshots of these in sequence via the “Slide Play” option to get an idea of how they look. You won’t want to miss this!

The Focus Attack builds upon the idea of “reading” your opponent to determine what they’ll do next and acting upon it. Think of it as a little extra spice to the formula you‒re already used to. All you need to do to activate this move is press your middle punch and middle kick buttons at the same time. Although simple to execute, the real key will be using strategy to determine when to use this technique to your advantage.

Ultra Combos are presented in a really cool fashion, with camera zooms and special effects out the wazoo. Take a gander at this shot of Ryu here and I think you’ll get an idea of what I mean.I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait to see what the rest of the cast has in store for their Ultra Combos! In the “Gallery”, you’ll find piles of fresh screenshots showing off the newly announced characters! You can check out their special moves and enjoy the details shown off in the “moving painting” art style at your leisure. Don’t miss it! And, there you have it. Be sure to drop us a note if you have any opinions to share!

In addition to posting future entries, we’ll also be posting the previous entries as well, in archived form. To see them, just check out entries marked by the “SF4 Blog” tag.