Square-Enix recently brought its popular Final Fantasy series to the iPhone, and now another heavy-hitter, Capcom, is bringing yet another marquee title to the platform. That title is Street Fighter — and Street Fighter IV, a port of the latest installment in the series, is now available for purchase in the App Store for $9.99.

But wait, that’s a fighting game. On the iPhone. Which has no physical controls. Sure, there’s been a few to date, with mixed results, but there must be a reason the genre hasn’t caught on with developers with the ferocity of, say, accelerometer-based driving games, no?

That’s definitely what I thought, but I purchased and downloaded the game anyway, against my better instincts, because I love the series, notably Street Fighter IV for the PS3. And because when I was considering a purchase, it had only received five-star reviews, which is rare even in the early going for any iPhone game.

Luckily, I was not disappointed. Street Fighter IV does indeed make the very best of an admittedly bad situation with its iPhone port. As you might expect, it uses a virtual joystick and virtual kick/punch buttons superimposed on the gaming screen. As you might not expect, this approach feels neither clumsy nor half-hearted in this particular Capcom game, something which could not be said for earlier releases from the same company (Mega Man II, anyone?).

Special moves are easy to execute, or at least as easy as they are to do using a traditional controller, probably more so. I’m usually pretty inept at even getting off a decent Shoryuken, but I manage it no problem most of the time on the iPhone. The graphics are amazing, and the game runs perfectly smoothly on my iPhone 3GS, with no lag or visual oddities. The intro movie is particularly mesmerizing if you’re keen on CG’d graphic treats.

For $9.99, you get a variety of modes of play, including Bluetooth multiplayer with nearby opponents. Eight characters are playable in the iPhone version, but that’s plenty considering the platform and the more casual feel of the game. Kudos to Capcom for focusing on delivering awesome gameplay over unnecessary extras like a massive roster of fighters and levels.

If I were Sony or Nintendo, I’d be watching these releases mighty closely. Major studios are definitely going to be keeping an eagle eye on sales of ports like this one, especially as the investment/risk ratio of App Store development continues to become more and more appealing. Sony in particular had better make good soon on those smartphone/gaming platform plans if it wants to remain relevant enough for anyone to care when and if it does.

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Step right up and welcome to “Photo or ‘Shopped?” In this first installment, you get to decide if UMPC Fever actually has legitimate photos of an iPhone 4G handset or if these are some type of image rendering. There’s no wrong answer — at least not until Apple actually announces a new iPhone handset — and participation is free! The prize pool is generally non-existent though, so you’re playing for pride and bragging rights.

From my perspective, the device in question looks like what I’d expect in a fourth-generation iPhone — a larger display but possibly a thinner handset. And the different colors like orange and green wouldn’t even surprise me. Apple went with multiple colors for the iPod, Nano line for example, and for some, color is a feature. The packaging in question looks very Apple-esque as well, so part of me says this could be the real deal. If Apple holds true to a June or July model revamp, they’ll have to start producing them a months in advance.

But then there’s the funky dock, which causes me to cringe. It looks like a bad mashup between a rocking chair and USB cable with a 30-ping connector. Granted, this could just be a third-party solution since it’s not going to fit in the iPhone box, but showing it at all loses street cred for this montage.

How about it, folks: photo or ’shopped?

Image courtesy of UMPC Fever and digital.xy

Leading up to South by Southwest my inbox has been littered with friend requests on Gowalla, a check-in service that I can use to show those friends where I am at any point in time. Underneath each request is a line that reads: “We recommend you accept friend requests only from people you know and want to share your travels with.” I confess, I read these friend requests from folks I have never met, talked to, tweeted with or emailed, and I don’t really know what to do. Accept them? Ignore them? Bemoan them on Twitter?

I have included a poll below asking when and with whom you guys share your location, because as a shy and privacy-focused person I tend to err on keeping my digital presence online and my real-world presence, not…anonymous, exactly, but I certainly don’t broadcast it to the world. And I think that will eventually mean I lose out on those serendipitous connections that location services can provide. For example, I might miss out on meeting the stranger sitting next to me in a coffee shop who reads the site and could offer a great conversation on the future of semiconductors.

With more than 400,000 users of Foursquare and Gowalla already, there are plenty of interesting connections I or anyone else could make. But there are also plenty of people who, like me, are clearly waiting to see how this check-in concept — and by extension, always-on location services like Google’s Latitude or Loopt — plays out. I’m hoping that at SXSW we’ll start seeing tools that use the check-in concept, not to award points or badges, but to facilitate useful interactions among relative strangers, such as, if you see a neighbor checking in at your kid’s school every afternoon, then maybe you can meet them and set up a carpool.

Much like it took time for people to see use cases and value in Twitter, which was an entirely new means of communicating, it will take time and a display of beneficial results before folks will see the value in displaying their location rather than focusing on the loss of anonymity. Until that happens, many people, when faced with an unfamiliar friend request, will likely hit delete. And without that large network of strangers, then the idea of machine-mediated serendipity remains just that — an idea.

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Here’s something you’re not likely to see in the iTunes App Store: the Opera Mini 5 browser. Opera demonstrated the software on the iPhone at Mobile World Congress, but odds are slim to none that Apple will allow the application in its store. Google’s Android Market, however, is a different story — case in point: Opera Mini 5 is available today for Android devices. The beta application is free to download, which I did just this morning on my Google Nexus One.

My initial thoughts: It’s a solid beta effort and if you’re a fan of the Opera browser, I’d definitely grab it. All of the value-add features, like Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, and password management are in there. However, the real benefit I see is with the experiment I’m currently running. Last week I asked readers how much 3G data you’re using on a smartphone. My own answer was lower than I thought, mainly because of my use of Wi-Fi. Since that time, I haven’t used the Wi-Fi radio on my Android handset.

Thanks to the Opera Mini approach of compressing web data on the Opera servers and sending an optimized stream of bits, I see a noticeable speed benefit when browsing on a 3G signal. Not every web site opens faster, but most do with Opera Mini 5 as compared to the native Android browser when using 3G. The New York Times home page is a prime example — Opera Mini rendered it in around 7 seconds, while Android’s browser took 12 seconds.

So if the browser is faster in some cases, why wouldn’t you use it? I’m finding that the font rendering isn’t quite as good in Opera Mini, nor is the text reflow. Android’s browser also offers finer control over the zoom level from what I can see. The visual experience is more like one from a slightly older smartphone or a super new feature phone — not a cutting-edge Android device. Still, it’s good effort for a beta and you’ve got nothing to lose since the download is free. And if speed or 3G throughput is a concern, you just might turn to Opera Mini for your web consumption needs. I plan to leave the browser installed on my handset and get some more day-to-day usage. Besides, it’s always nice to have options, no?

Image courtesy of Opera

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This will be my fourth year at SXSW Interactive. It’s definitely my favorite big conference; I love it because a large numbers of freelancers and web workers attend, and I always get a chance to have interesting conversations and hang out with really smart people. However, SXSW can be a little overwhelming, so I thought that I would share a few of my tips for enjoying your experience there.

1. Parties. SXSW is all about the parties. Seriously. OK, maybe it’s more about the people and the conversations that you have at the parties. More on the parties in later tips.
2. Pronunciation. SXSW is correctly referred to as “South by Southwest” or”‘South by” for short. Never refer to SXSW as S-X-S-W.
3. Pace yourself. It isn’t unusual for various activities to continue well into the night. Nothing starts before about 9:30 a.m., so sleep in, plan for an afternoon nap if you need one, and pace yourself by not drinking too much or too early.
4. Skip the big parties. The big, official parties are usually too crowded to be able to move or have conversations with people, so skip those and head out to some of the smaller parties or informal gatherings. You can usually find these by asking about them on Twitter or keeping track of your friends on your favorite location-based social networking service.
5. Prepare to walk. Just assume that you will need to walk further than you expect. The convention center is huge, with sessions spread out all over it; you’ll probably want to walk somewhere for lunch, and many of the hotels and parties are a short hike away. Wear comfortable shoes and think carefully about how much gear you want to lug around all day. Consolidate everything into one bag, since it can be too easy to lose track of things in the crowd.
6. Arrive early. SXSW is a huge show, and it suffers from long lines and overcrowding. The line to get your badge on Friday is likely to be very long, so plan for something to do while you wait. You should also arrive early to keynotes and popular sessions, since they often fill up quickly and start turning people away or moving people into overflow viewing areas.
7. Power is scarce. Arrive with a full charge and don’t count on being able to easily find power. The back of many of the rooms and the hallways often have power, but you’ll find a huge crowd around most of the outlets. Consider bringing a backup battery if you have one or a power strip to share power.
8. Attend sessions. SXSW has some amazing speakers, so plan to attend the sessions. It doesn’t hurt to do some advance planning to work out which ones you want to attend, but you should also talk to people and be prepared to switch sessions based on feedback from others. If you get into a session that isn’t as great as you expected, take a quick look at Twitter to see what sessions people are talking about and move on. The number of sessions is overwhelming, so attend what you can, but keep in mind that in past years, the sessions have been released as podcasts after the event. I attend what I can in person and then catch up on a some others after the event by listening to the podcasts.
9. Crazy weather. The weather in Austin is unpredictable. I’ve seen it alternate between pouring rain and blinding sunshine or freezing cold and really warm, so dress in layers and bring a rain jacket or umbrella. Like most convention centers, the indoor temperature can also vary widely, so dressing in layers can also help while you are inside attending sessions, too.
10. Guacamole. The Iron Cactus makes fresh guacamole right at your table, and they have decent margaritas. Enough said.

These are my top SXSW tips. What are your favorite SXSW tips and tricks?

From new data stores to large-scale databases to cloud-based storage services, it seems VC dollars these days are primarily flowing into two important (if somewhat unsexy) technology sectors: storage and big data. Which make sense, given that the continuous digitization of everything is resulting in a proverbial explosion of structured and unstructured data, in turn placing the systems under new kinds of stress. Here are some of the recent fundings that bring this trend into focus:

• Scale Computing just raised $9 million in funding in its second round that was led by by Benchmark Capital.

• Pivot3, a company that provides virtualized servers and storage, raised $25 million from Focus Ventures and other investors.

• RainStor, a structured data software company, today raised $7.5 million in Series B funding from Storm Ventures and Informatica.

We’ve been keeping track of this trend for nearly two years. So in order to get more context, check out these posts from our archives:

• Storage Startups Turn Cache Into Cash
• Who Will Cache in on Cloud Storage
• The Future Is Big Data in the Cloud
• Why Big Data & Real-time Web Are Made for Each Other.
• How Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon & Google Think About Big Data