The tournaments offer a new take on classic SFIV competition. They are broken out into 5 different levels, which means everyone can participate and find a good challenge without getting blown out of the water or bored. You score Grade Points (GP) for tournament wins, and as your GP total grows, you’ll become eligible to enter into more exclusive tournaments. Winning tournaments will also net you Championship Points (CP). The CP work basically like “prize money” up for grabs in the tournament. The higher the GP skill of the players in a particular tournament, the bigger the CP prize!
In true tournament tradition, character selection is double-blind. With the CP purse on the line, you won't be able to see who your opponent has picked until you've both made your choices, and the battle is set to begin.
Here's some screen shots of the new Championship Mode courtesy of the Japanese SF4 blog.
Click images for larger versions
And here is how the disconnect tracker will look.
