Street Fighter IV: The National Tournament

7:20 PM on 02.03.2009   |   Dale North

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Are you good at Street Fighter? Are you free February 21st? Then I have something for you: the Street Fighter IV National Tournament.

Capcom has teamed up with with GameStop and the EVO Championship Series to bring this tournament everywhere. That's at every GameStop.  

Get there on the 21st of February. Win and move on to the second round at regional stores on the 28th. If you're still in it, you'll go to the semi-finals on March 14th. 

The top sixteen will go to San Francisco on April 18th for the finals. They all get a 3-day/2-night stay there. The grand prize? A Street Fighter IV arcade machine! And get this: all finalists will score Mad Catz SFIV sticks and pads, the limited edition tournament belts, and will also earn a spot in the semi-final bracket at the EVO World Finals in Las Vegas! Damn! I knew I should have been practicing.

GameStop.com has all the details, and more await after the jump in press release form.

Are you up for this? Are you good enough?

GRAPEVINE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GameStop, Corp. (NYSE:GME - News), the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer, today announced that it will team with Capcom Entertainment Inc. and the EVO Championship Series to host Street Fighter IV video game tournaments at more than 2,400 of its U.S. locations beginning on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009. The tiered tournament program is one of several events GameStop will host surrounding the launch of Street Fighter IV, in stores Feb. 18, 2009.

The tournament will provide players with an opportunity to test their skills one-on-one with other contestants in a tournament to determine the store winners. Many of the participating GameStop locations will begin their tournaments at 2 p.m. local time; however, customers are encouraged to contact their local store to confirm the exact time of the tournament. All contestants must check-in at least 30 minutes prior to the start of play, and you must be at least 13 years old to participate in the event. Participants under 18 must have a parent or guardian sign their registration form.

Store winners will advance to a series of District Tournaments on Feb. 28; winners of these competitions will advance to the Regional Finals, which will take place on March 14. The top 16 Regional finalists will advance to the championship event, to be held on April 18 in San Francisco. Finalists will battle the competition in a series of matches on Street Fighter IV until one player is left standing. The Grand Prize winner will receive an authentic Japanese-style Street Fighter arcade machine. All 16 finalists will receive MadCatz official Street Fighter IV FightPads and FightSticks, and will qualify for the quarter finals stage of the EVO Championship Series world finals, the premiere fighting championship series for video gamers being held July 17-19 in Las Vegas.

For additional tournament details and to obtain a list of official rules, visit a local GameStop retail location or http://www.gamestop.com/sfiv.