At this year's New York Comic Con, the Street Fighter X Tekken panel dropped a bunch of newsworthy stuff for fans of the game. First and foremost, the game finally has a release date of March 6, 2012. Also, Rufus from Street Fighter IV fame has been officially confirmed for Street Fighter X Tekken. But the biggest news coming out of the panel has to be the details for the newly introduced Gem System. The Gem System helps both fighting game rookies and those seeking another layer for an already deep fighter.

Yoshinori Ono and Seth Killian were at hand to detail everything we should know about Street Fighter X Tekken's Gem System. So here's the breakdown: you can customize what gems your characters will be equipped with, and, depending on what type of gem you choose, you get a different kind of benefit. You can pick 5 gems for a character out of 5 categories of gems, including: Attack, Defense, Speed, C. Gauge (Cross), and Assist. Each gem also has a requirement that needs to be met before it triggers.

Now let me give you an example of how this works: if you have an attack gem attached to your character, that gem will require you to do something like land 5 normal attacks on your opponent. After meeting that requirement, the gem triggers and it'll be something like a 20% attack boost. Not too complicated and it's also good for new players who need more than a handicap change. There's also defensive gems where it'll help you autoblock moves. A defense gem would be good for a guy like me who is way too aggressive. There are so many other gems, and it's up to you to mix and match the best combination to fit your needs.

To me, it's a great idea on paper, but let's see how it goes competitively and online. What gems will be the ones to get abused the most? Which will be the most underused? Only time will tell. Street Fighter X Tekken will also have up to 4-players both off and online. It's looking like a very fun multiplayer experience when this title drops. Again, the game will launch on March 6, 2012 in North America. Oh...and a PC version is apparently in development. Yippee!