Street Fighter competitors get ready, because The EVO (Evolution) 2009 Championship Series, the longest and largest fighting game tournament in the world, will begin on July 17-19, in Las Vegas at the RIO Hotel & Casino. The big news is that Street Fighter IV will be in this year's competition lineup, which also includes a mix of old and new: Street Fighter III: Third Strike; Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix; Marvel vs Capcom 2; Soul Calibur 4; and Guilty Gears XX Accent Core. The decision to bump up the tournament to July is nice to hear for competitors here in the U.S. since Street Fighter IV won't arrive on consoles until February 17. So plenty of more time to master the characters and new features like the Focus Attacks and Ultra Combos is good news to hear. The bad news though is Japan already had the game out at the arcades last year, so folks who live there and breathe Street Fighter might have the upper hand at the tournament.

The EVO tournament will have the best players from across the globe come and compete to decide a champion. Fans who don't wish to compete at the tournament are still welcomed to come, where they can relax at free-to-play game stations and meet with other players from different cultures who share the same passion as they do for fighting games.

EVO has also partnered up with Gamestop's national Street Fighter IV tournament, starting February 21, where the final 16 players there will get an automatic seed in the EVO-semifinal bracket.

If you want to see the what the fan spirit is like for an EVO Championship Series event, here's a clip of a match at EVO 2004.