One of the most hotly anticipated video games of the year, Street Fighter IV, has just been shipped to retailers by developer Capcom, in preparation for its release on Friday 20th February.

The game will be released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, and is expected to make a big impact on the genre of fighting games. The new version of Street Fighter will feature a range of returning characters, including Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li. However, new characters created exclusively for Street Fighter IV will also appear.

The game's environment and its characters are portrayed in high definition 3D, but it is played in classic 2D perspective with some added 3D camera features.

Ben Wyer-Roberts, Capcom's European marketing manager, said: "Long time Street Fighter fans and those new to the series will be blown away by the all new Street Fighter IV. From a game series that has over 20 years of heritage, Street Fighter IV is the perfect blend of well loved characters and features from the past and some amazing new ones. Street Fighter IV is undisputed heavyweight champion of the next generation fighting genre."

New special moves on SFIV include Focus attacks, Super Combos and the "revenge-fuelled" Ultra Combo system. In addition, there will be online gameplay features, such as online challenges, versus mode, tournament mode and world wide online play. So far, the game has been receiving positive reviews from industry press.

Martin Robinson, a writer for IGN UK, reviewed SFIV for the Xbox 360 and concluded that it was "no less than the new standard for beat-'em-ups". And in a blog post for Wired, Chris Kohler called the game "an excellent return to form for a series (and genre) many had written off as dead."

Capcom is the developer and publisher behind a range of best-selling video games, including Mega Man, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry.

Wide range of games and accessories including Mario Kart, Rock Band and wireless controllers