As far as video game companies go, I think that right now, Capcom may be the best as far as fan service goes. Not only are they bringing back Bionic Commando (and two times instead of one, so we're sure to be satisfied on some level), and NOT ONLY are they bringing back the classic Mega Man 8 bit series in MM9, but Sheng Long is finally going to be a character in Street Fighter IV. That's fan service.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Capcom do only great games. In fact, I don't think anyone can disagree that they have become masters of milking frenchises to the bone, particularly after all those editions of Street Fighter but only a numeral 4 to show for it. And likewise, I am really not a fan of the new Mega Man series which are not the originals. However, Sheng Long is something which should have been included in the series for a while, even if it just started as a magazine ad. If it has so much traction, then it has worth.
I think companies should include characters like that more often in their games. Nowadays, doing public betas is a no brainer, but players should be polled further, not only to choose what they want to see and not see, but also to participate in some of the designs. The old Mega Mans did it and in today's world, with the Internet, it would just be more publicity and popularity for that game.
Oh, and while I have your attention, remember that companies look at your invested dollars when they price new downloadable content, not at your complaints. I bought Doom on XBLA recently because it had gone down to 5$. That was the price I was willing to pay and would have been quite hypocritical to critic a 10$ price and whine about it, but buy it as well. As gamers but especially as customers, we have power, the power of our dollar. Make it count.
I wouldn't get my hopes high
Because capcom implied the inclusion of "Sheng long" but it was an april fools joke. Also you might be referring to the anime trailer that was recently released and in it a man appears at the end, that mas is/was Gouken the master of Ryu and Ken that was murdered by Akuma, following the street fighter canon he can't appear since he is dead but might be included as a hidden character. I guess we won't know until the games launches
Yup, that's Gouken, no Sheng
Yup, that's Gouken, no Sheng Long. When that April Fool's joke was created way back when, they used the character design for Gouken as the inspiration for what Sheng Long should look like as it's basically meant to be the same person.
Yes and recently
Capcom made a joke about finally including Sheng Long in SFIV but it was just their april fools joke.
Street Fighter The Movie: The Game
I recently read an article by the lead artist on SFTM, and he was mentionning how Sheng Long was almost included as a character for the game. He had been approuved and digicized, but because of delays they didn't have time to add him to the roaster. He also mentions how the developpement happened and proposes reasons why the game sucked so much. For anyone interested, the PDF is available here.