Ultra Street Fighter IV invitational and exhibition matches announced at the upcoming SoCal Regionals,

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

SoCal Regionals, which starts today, will be one of the absolutely most important major tournaments in the FGC going in to 2014, and Capcom have helped up the ante and will together with SCR run a ten-man Ultra Street Fighter IV invitational tournament, featuring some of the best SFIV players in the world like Lee 'Infiltration' Sun Woo, Justin Wong and Bruce 'GamerBee' Hsiang.

On the subject of elite competition, it was also revealed earlier in the week that Twitch.tv will be sponsoring the trip for two of Japan's current heav hitters in the shape of Yubiken Michael Tran and Wao, who recently performed above any expectations in the Japanese Topanga A League.

Twitch.tv's Ben Goldhaber told Eventhubs that the company's previous way of sponsoring FGC related tournaments yielded few results for either part, and that they are currently in the process of thinking out more unique ways that Twitch can contribute, and cited that the two player's recent success in Japan warranted their decision. "Wao and Michael-tan haven't been to the U.S. before, as far as I know. Given the recent success of both players in the Topanga League, it made a lot of sense."

Along with this, exhibition matches pitting Northern and Southern California, one of the most hard-hitting rivalries in the American FGC, will be organized alongside the main tournament as a hype event for fans of the West Coast to gloat in to determine whether or not South beats North, or vice-versa.

Image Source: g4tv.com, levelup-series.com