While the headline is basically a rhetorical question since we all know the answer, the question is being raised with Capcom’s console division now that the PC and even Xbox 360 versions of the game have been hacked by users to change move sets and more. As Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report tells us concerning SFIV tournaments:
“The concern now is that prize tournament events will never be 100% secure unless carried out in a special location allowing the onsite monitoring of the players to ensure no cheating; this moving the amusement SFIV more and more as the only true tournament infrastructure for the game.”
Personally if I were going to compete on SFIV I would want it to be as close to the arcade as possible anyways but this does raise a good question in case anyone is concerned about 
the version being used to play. Speaking of SFIV tournaments, we also have some news on a recent SFIV tournament that was held in South Korea, all inside of an arena that they are becoming famous for. The arcade version is the de facto standard for their tournaments and it looks like this particular tournament was pretty big.
Of course I am not against doing tournaments using other versions of the game – personally I am going to hold tournaments using the PC version of the game at my arcade as unfortunately getting an arcade setup is just out of the question due to price. I wouldn’t allow for any hacks to be used of course and if I could hold tournaments on the arcade version I gladly would. I imagine any ‘official’ tournaments will continue to be held with the arcade version and that will probably grow in case they release a new version of the game to arcades soon.
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Are you talking about online tournaments? Hardly anyone really into Street Fighter would seriously participate in one of those anyway. Hilarious model switching hacks and turbo button joysticks aside, the issue of lag is probably enough to dissuade most folks from putting up actual money. Having to play against someone with a poor connection is annoying as is, trying to do the same with a prize on the line wouldn’t go over so well.
It doesn’t really mater which system is used as any tournament would have to be done on the tournament organiser’s machine anyway to prevent cheating. Lag will count out any big money comps on-line as well.
seems that we have forgotten that Capcom (and Microsoft) were hoping that remote tournaments – players linked over wire was going to be a big money generator!
The plan to have to have all tournaments (involving prizes) to be played ‘live’ was not the original plan. Microsoft Arcade LIVE depends on the remote model.
I also attended a consumer SFIV on the games launch and everyone from Capcom said ‘arcade perfect’ – when did we come to admit there is a lag problem?
Wha? Who said the home versions aren’t “arcade perfect”? Offline I have no problem going back and forth, it’s the same game. But to think playing online would be the same is just naive, why would someone believe that? Why else would you have a thousand folks gathering this weekend in Vegas to prove who the best is?
But the arcade version is connected (NESYS)? Okay so the PS3 and XB360 versions are AC perfect as long as you use the specific controllers, but are not secure – like the PC version, so that prize tournaments can only be played in-person… better?
Well, the arcade version’s connected to a lan, there isn’t any latency over that. You’re not playing people halfway across the country, only halfway across the room. So no real difference, aside from a few thousand dollars.
I’m just saying that important tournaments being played in person on either console or arcade is already the norm, and that isn’t going to shift until somebody figures out how to move data at the speed of light cross-country. Just seems to me that stating the obvious and using that as some sort selling point for the arcade comes across as pedantic.