Capcom & Namco: All you need to know

Apparently, there's an article in Game Informer talking about not only Capcom Vs. Namco, but also a separate title of Namco Vs. Capcom. One would use the SF4 engine, the other would use the Tekken 6 engine. I already made a comment earlier about how I generally hate the Vs. series, but I want to be more unbiased on this specific issue. Fortunately, anything I'm saying here is purely speculation, because this hasn't even been officially announced yet, let alone any real gameplay aspects.
First, one game is surely going to overtake the other. You'll have 2D lovers and 3D lovers clearly supporting their preferred play style, and I don't predict many people working with both. The fighting game community wouldn't be "split" from this though, since they already are in their own camps. This would actually be something to help bring them together, though not very well.
The biggest thing on my mind is the problems Capcom would bring to Namco. Very few projectiles have ever existed from Namco. Devil's eye-lasers have been fortunately balanced. Jinpachi and Algol are not so lucky. Jinpachi is simply unplayable in Tekken 5 without a cheating device (and stays so due to his game-breaking unblockable fireball), but Algol's use of projectiles in Soul Calibur 4, even with answers available, is so powerful in that environment that he has been banned from competitive play (BTW, I welcome challenges from good Algol players). There's no way Ryu is going to be left out of the competition, therefore he will most likely be allowed to use his Hadoken. That means the door is thrown wide open for projectile use.
Initially, I thought this would mean Namco would have to radically change their strategy, but they actually have the basis ready. They just gotta make counter-projectile strategies easier to use and projectiles themselves worse off. For example, the reason Algol's projectiles are so good is because he can shoot them very slowly. This is not to say that the game should force fast, unsafe projectiles all over, but they do have a clear example of where it fails. You simply have to keep projectiles ever clear in your mind when designing moves. Yoshimitsu wouldn't take much imagination to figure out a good a few ways around fireballs. Talim and Taki would do just fine. You'll have some more awkward moments like King or Rock potentially lunging over them, but overall the nature Tekken & Soul Calibur have established give them significant room to move. This will also allow some characters to cut loose. Cervantes and Jack could probably shoot real bullets if done right. I easily could see Nina getting some knives. Taki might even get kunai.
Capcom will have to do some inventing on its own side too, as there are aspects to Capcom's gameplay which simply are not very present with Namco. Primarily, you'd have to cover super moves because Tekken does not have much in that area (Soul Calibur has Critical Finishes that would qualify). The bigger question would be how Capcom handles the question of basic moves vs. non-special command moves (think of stuff like slides or Chun-Li's aerial triple-step). It wouldn't be too difficult to figure out what signature moves would qualify as specials for the sake of chip damage & cancel combos. Additionally, you have to consider a lot more aerial moves as well as anti-air possibilities. Everyone will finally need an answer to Jack or Yoshimitsu suddenly flying (oh gods, I hope they don't actually institute flight like in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2), because that's the height most characters will reach on their jumps. Most of Namco's games take place closer to the ground than Capcom does.
I would like to place emphasis on the statement that both games will use the engines used for existing games. Of course, this could just as easily be for the sake of comparison, but with Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 heavy in the public's mind, they could've easily used a previous Vs. game for reference. I strongly dislike the heavy emphasis on juggles in Tekken 6, but as long as both games will actually keep to their original mechanics, there just might be something to this. I would gladly play Capcom Vs. Namco if it works exactly like Street Fighter 4, and this would be the first time I know where a Vs. game wasn't overly complicated.

That said, here are some interesting concepts I got while writing this.
* No, we are not going to get our Fei Long vs. Marshall Law. They are both based on the same real person, so it would be too redundant. We will, however, get Marshall Law in Capcom's game and Fei Long in Namco's game just to screw with us! :)
* It's not necessarily a given that we will have Zangief, given his absence from Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom (Alex essentially took his place). Capcom will need something to rival Namco's King though, and I have to wonder whether it'll be Capcom's star wrestler Zangief or their own luchador El Fuerte. There are certainly other wrestlers to consider, but these are the most relevant.
* If they do institute full-scale flight, Crimson Viper's gotta get it. She clearly flies in the anime, but all she gets is super jumps in SF4.
* For Namco's version specifically, you really need Sword Man or Knight Man. You've got friggin' Soul Calibur characters; give Capcom's side some melee weapon-themed Mega Man robot master.
* Make sure you've got some long-distance Soul Calibur characters involved for Namco's game. They don't need to work around projectiles quite so much.

Matchups we must have:
* Heihachi vs. Gouken
* Sakura's so getting her ass kicked by Xiaoyu.
* Zangief vs. Kuma
* Sagat vs. Bruce: It seems like an interesting matchup. Sagat would really have to maximize the distance control.
* Juri vs. Lili
* Zero vs. Yoshimitsu
* Boxer vs. Steve: Keep Dudley out of this one.
* Elena vs. Eddy: Elena can fill the role of female Capoeira without needing Christie.
* Guile vs. Dragonuv

Matchups we don't need:
* * There's not enough room in one game for Rufus and Bob to be together. I'd never dare put my Xbox on a television if that happened.
* I understand the urge to do so, but please do not include Lars Alexandersson. It'll get all sorts of fangasms of Ryu vs. Goku, irritating us for having to put up with it and said players for the match not living up to their imaginations.
* Dee Jay vs. Eddy: Dee Jay and Eddy have nothing to do with each other. I don't care if they're both rhythmic in their fighting styles, stop comparing them.
* Ganryu vs. Honda: Seriously guys, just have one or the other. They wouldn't fit in each other's worlds.