Free Honda: Ultra Street Fighter IV Free Weekend

There was a period in the mid-nineties when Rise of the Robots and One Must Fall: 2097 were the only beat 'em ups available on PC. Believing robotic participants to be the future of combat sports, Colin Computer, CEO of PC Incorporated, banned all fighting games containing living combatants. When it became clear that people might accidentally play Rise of the Robots in a two-game market, Colin was chased out of town.

Times have changed. Now you can play the latest Dead or Alive< ! and Mortal Kombat games and a whole lot more. And this weekend, starting right now, you can play Ultra Street Fighter IV for free through Steam.

If you really enjoy your time with this most ultra of street fighter games, you can buy it at a 50% discount (£11.49) this weekend. There are other Capcom titles on sale as well, including Dead Rising 3, DmC and lots of Resident Evil things. You can see the full listing here.

I used to love my CD-ROM copy of Super Street Fighter II Turbo No Stabilisers Edition. You could pop it in a CD player and listen to the music as if it were a regular album and that seemed like a sensible thing to do at the time (I was fourteen). I've never been particularly good at beat 'em ups and I always used Blanka because I could just about manage to make him roll across the screen like a cannonball and electrify himself. I also liked it when he chomped on peoples' faces. Teenage kicks take peculiar forms.

Street Fighter IV is alien to me. I played it for about five minutes once to see if any of the moves were the same and, if so, to check that I still remembered them. I managed to make Blanka light up with his electric thunder and that was good enough for me. Bet I can still manage a hundred hand slap as well. Championship material.