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Ultra Street Fighter IV app

Yoshinori Ono on Twitter just tweeted that Ultra Street Fighter IV will be seeing an official frame data app. Along with another game I'm massively looking forward to, Mario Kart 8, it adds further weight to the argument that playing a game during game sessions is no longer enough from a business or true gamer perspective; you have to tide gamers over in-between gaming sessions and keep them interested in the product with things like game apps.

Capcom have had a decent stab at porting some of their fighters to touch screen devices, but anyone who's halfway into those type of games will ultimately find touch screen controls severely limiting and ultimately frustrating. Releasing second screen/off-screen/not-near-a-tv-screen (?!) apps which compliment the console core content make a lot of sense; consumers benefit by gaining access to useful information they might not otherwise have easily to-hand and video game producers make a decent amount from app sales.

It's interesting to see the different approaches of Nintendo and Capcom to their upcoming game-accompanying apps; the Mario Kart 8 app will probably act equally as well as a draw to new gamers and help encourage sales by showcasing race highlights, whereas the Ultra Street Fighter IV app looks like it might cater for the hardcore fighting game crowd.

If Capcom produced an app which helped newcomers to Street Fighter learn the game, or helped share matches across social media, then they would surely grow their user base.