Street Fighter turns 25 this year, and to commemorate the illustrious franchise milestone Capcom has lined up a full year of celebratory festivities, including a global tournament series that is scheduled to open in July and end in December (details will soon be posted at www.streetfighter.com/sf25/).

There’s also this behemoth of a 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set that’s sure to jolt fans into a Street Fighter hyper-mode frenzy. This bad boy is a Street Fighter birthday party in a box containing: four Street Fighter games; two discs loaded with bonus videos, animated series episodes, and the Street Fighter II animated movie; a statue of Ryu; a full-size replica of Ryu’s karate belt; an art book; an epic 11-disc soundtrack set; and a classy storage chest emblazoned with the 25th anniversary emblem, certificate of authenticity strapped to the underside of the lid.

The Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set will be available in North America on September 18th for PS3 and Xbox 360. Start saving your quarters, because it’s gonna cost you $150. That arcade cabinet piggy bank from the Street Fighter X Tekken Special Edition should finally come in handy.

Here’s a complete list of what comes in the Collector’s Set:

– Past and Present Street Fighter Games – Playable on current gen PS3 and Xbox 360 console systems, the four critically-acclaimed titles selected from the star-studded catalog are: Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter® III 3rd Strike Online Edition, Super Street Fighter® IV Arcade Edition with all costume DLC, and Street Fighter® X Tekken® including all character and Swap Costume DLC.

– Exclusive Video – The two-disc Blu-Ray set includes a documentary that highlights the profound influence the franchise has had on fans – and vice versa – throughout the years. The collection of videos also includes Street Fighter®IV and Super Street Fighter®IV Anime movies as well as all episodes of the Street Fighter animated series and Street Fighter®II: The Animated Movie.

– Light-up Ryu Statue – A specially commissioned and highly-detailed collectable Ryu statue stands prominently at 8” tall and features the iconic character in mid-Shoryuken, with flames lit from below.

– 11-Disc Soundtrack – Street Fighter game music spanning the past 25 years, in addition to remixes and fan-created music inspired by past Street Fighter games.

– 64-page Hardcover Art Book – A tribute to Street Fighter game fans from all over the world, the art book includes fan pieces submitted by professional and aspiring artists alike.

– Ryu’s Belt – Created to regulation specs, the full-size martial arts black belt is a replica of the one Ryu wears and even includes his classic “Fūrinkazan” in kanji!

– Certificate of Authenticity – Each Collector’s Set comes individually numbered complete with a certificate of authenticity.

Capcom sure is going to have one of the top E3 lineups this year if this list is any indication:

• Street Fighter IV: Final arcade code running on a heaping handful of arcade machines.
• Resident Evil 5: Game of show? Quite possibly!
• Dark Void: Also playable, also awesome. Snazzed up since CAPTIVATE08 and ready to totally jetpack your face.
• Bionic Commando: New areas and enemies, now playable on console!
• Mega Man 9: Put on your retro hats and prepare for a major challenge.
• MotoGP ’08: This year’s installment of the fastest-growing motorsport on two wheels. We’ll be running the 360 version.
• Neopets Puzzle Adventure: Surprise hit from CAPTIVATE08, we’ve got more to show on this puzzle adventure game created by the guys who brought you Puzzle Quest.
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix: A new batch of characters will be selectable for hi-def brawling.
• Plunder: Something new is happening with our digital pirate’s booty…
• Bionic Commando Rearmed: It’s almost out, and we’re showing it one last time.
• New games-on-the-go from Capcom Interactive, our mobile group
• Plus a new super-secret project, Flock!

Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, Bionic Commando, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Dark Void… I mean come on, these are all sure to be top draws at next week’s show!

Capcom’s official E3 2008 line-up revealed [Capcom Unity]

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Just in case it slipped your mind, Capcom has extended a friendly reminder that the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Xbox Live Arcade-exclusive beta test begins tomorrow. The only criteria for entry is that you purchase the XBLA version of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 for 800 Microsoft Points. After that, you’re all set to begin the download.

At this point you are probably wondering what exactly the beta will entail. Well, let me tell you. According to the note Capcom sent me today, the beta will provide only two fighters to choose from — those two being Ryu and Ken, duh! — and a good variety of play modes to test out, including Player or “Quarter” Match, Ranked Match, and Tournament Mode as the online offerings, and even a little local, offline two-player brawling.

The best news of all, however, is the proposed length of the beta phase. For a game like this, you’d probably think the beta would be maybe a couple weeks. But oh no my Street Fighter loving friends, it’s actually going to last upwards of eight weeks! The estimated end date is August 20th right now, but keep in mind that Capcom is reserving the right to close it down “whenever we decide that we’ve had enough people using cheap moves on us online.” So if you want the beta to run its full course, don’t be cheap bastards. Got it?

With that I’ll leave you with this gallery of six new screenshots. Two gameplay videos are supposed to be coming along tomorrow too, so be on the lookout for those.

Capcom just sent along a note with further information regarding the start date of the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix beta test. Available exclusively via the purchase of the Xbox Live Arcade version of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, which has now gone live and is available for 800 Microsoft Points, the SSF2THDR beta will officially begin on June 25th. Once the beta begins, the menu button located within Commando 3 will activate and link over to the beta download. At this time, beta.capcom.com will also go live and begin accepting bug reports submitted by participants.