The phenomenon of Street Fighter is globally unprecedented. From it\'s inception in 1987, it has grown and evolved as one of the key backbones of the two dimensional fighting game genre; encorporating millions of hardcore followers worldwide, and becoming a household name in the process. What lies behind the success of this franchise Any fighting gamer will tell you \'quality\' and \'innovation\'. Two words that sum up the pride that Capcom takes in giving the gamer an amazing experience. In 1995, both of these factors contributed to raising the benchmark of enjoyment when it came to fighting games, as the world saw the release of Street Fighter Zero / Alpha. The blend of anime style character animation along with the enhanced Super Combo system made this a title of choice amongst 2D fighting gamers in arcades everywhere. Fast forward a few years to the future, where the home consoles are now in fierce competition with each other (whilst slowly but surely, winning the gaming market war vs their arcade machine counterparts), and the Street Fighter Zero / Alpha series has seen two sequels - each bringing much more to the table than the last as far as the two aforementioned virtues of quality and innovation are concerned. The latest and greatest incarnation - Street Fighter Zero / Alpha 3, is set to be released onto the Playstation Portable console in the year 2006. This is overwhelming news to PSP owners, seeing as the PSP\'s library has an incredibly limited amount of 2D fighting titles. This occasion is especially joyous to those PSP owners who are simultaneously \'hardcore\' (not used lightly) fighting game enthusiasts that are fanned out all across the world, starving for a portable slice of fighting pie so to speak. The problem however, lies in the fact that the Playstation Portable\'s Directional Pad is extremely lacking when it comes to diagonal movements. Countless many players already aired their grievances regarding how unplayable it made Capcom\'s prior 2D fighting entry for the PSP: Darkstalkers Chronicle - The Chaos Tower. As such; sales for this title suffered immensely, and a game that could have been something special, sunk into obscurity on the sales charts. A recent IGN report states that Capcom Japan; in trying to conform with their vision of maximum quality gameplay, have produced their own plastic template that fits over the existing Directional Pad on the Playstation Portable. It is said this has received high praise in their testing labs. As such, Capcom Japan will be releasing only a limited quantity of these covers with orders of the Japanese version of the game. I see this as a huge folly on behalf of Capcom because no matter how much effort has been poured into maintaining the quality that we all expect and know Street Fighter Zero / Alpha to bring, Capcom have shot themselves in the proverbial foot as far as profitability outside of Japan is concerned. Upon release, it is plain to see that the title will instantly lose face with PSP owners outside Japan, as it is realised on a wide scale that the quality of the PSP Directional pad is plain mediocre when it comes to fighting games. You can see that this instantly cripples the sales potential of the title before the game is even on store shelves, aswell as dampering bottom line enjoyment for the small percentage who buy the game regardless. Capcom, I emplore you to manufacture these small plastic accessories en masse\' and distribute them worldwide to your faithful clients / fans of your work. The minute cost of production will far outweight the profit losses you are sure to suffer. You have come through once again and brought an amazing title out to the people who love you for your creations, but dont let this excellent example of your well reknowned innovation fall short of the international stage. ....as you can\'t drive a car without a decent steering wheel. Please: FIX OUR PADS!

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