If you were to argue that this contemporaries of gambling was defined by any exchange concept, online community would have to rank pretty high on the list From the XII billion socialite playing World of Warcraft to the C of chiliad that regularly evaporate the hours away on Modern warfare 2, the pleasure of participating in a connected collective community has definitely struck a chord with gamers.

Both Street belligerent IV and HD Remix have benefited immensely from the convenience of having an arcade in your front room, with worthy opponent but a broadband connection away, courtesy of XBL and PSN.

Gentleman versus trough rubbish This is what the crowd came to see.

The leisurely anonymity of the bedchamber champion however is no replacement for acquiring your hands dirty – something that Capcom was keen to promote when they bought Super Street Fighter IV along with its colourful producer, Yoshinori Ono, to London to lay the proverbial smack down feather Unlike your typical promotional press event, this 12 hour clash of world warriors wasn’t only populated by game journos probing for that exclusive angle and complimentary drinks, but by XXX or so of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland fighting game elite, here by special invite courtesy of Capcom’s UK PR hero Leo Tan. The move turned out to be a shrewd one, as anybody who has ever witnessed YouTube footage shot illicitly at press event viewing viridity journalist button-bashing can testify – the game look best when handled by the pros.

As any sane thinking individual should approve of, there was barely a joypad in sight as participant opted for fully tricked-out joysticks. Some high end Madcatz or Hori produced, some usance built - most sporting enough alteration to make both Xzibit and Tim Westwood flush One cat had modded his stick from top to bottom with Final Fight artwork, including a scene from the classic beat ‘em up on the base of the stick, while another industrious feller had had fitted a metal hold to a stick for carrying ease Of course viewing off hardware is always secondary to viewing of skills, and thankfully, there were plenty of those to go around too.