I had the privilege of attending Capcom's Street Fighter IV launch party Thursday night, and though you've already seen Mr. Chester's notes on the event, allow me to share my perspective.

I was invited to the event as a VIP guest (thanks Jeff), but apparently there were two levels of VIP, one that lets you skip the line to get in, and another that actually lets you into the VIP lounge upstairs. I wasn't important enough to get upstairs, but being able to skip the monstrous line was a nice advantage.

Once inside, it was clear that this event was created and run by and for true fans of the Street Fighter series. Giant papercraft SF characters hung from the ceiling (my friend Steve and I are the only ones who I think noticed that they seemed to have folded Ken into Chun-Li's intended position, and vice-versa), custom-painted arcade cabinets featuring the various SF games over the years were tucked into corners, miscellaneous random SF-related merchandise was on display right next to the viewing room for the SF anime movies, and – of course – Street Fighter IV was on hand in great quantities for anybody to play.

Fortunately, I got into the event a little before the general masses did, so I got in a few games of SFIV before having to wait in line ten minutes between rounds. I did alright, but was decimated by Jeff Rubenstein (he's got a pretty mean Guile), who was in turn decimated by Nick Chester. One day, Cammy and I will rule the world. Just not today.

There was a company called Coveroo doing free laser-etchings on phones if you had time to wait in line and fill out a little paperwork; Cammy is now a permanent part of my iPhone 3G. I recommend checking them out if you're into personalizing your equipment.

There were also many musical and celebrity guests at the show, including DJ Q-Bert and a good portion of the cast of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. Michael Clarke Duncan said that the movie's gonna be "the best," so I guess it'll be awesome!

Of course, I brought my camera with me and got some pictures of all of this. Here are a few of them, but you can find the rest on my Flickr page. Enjoy!