"However thanks to a podcast made by 1UP the rumor was quickly smashed , stating that Kratos will be absent from Namco’s upcoming game. But, there still is the strong possible that he could be included in future planned downloadable content."

"Soulcalibur IV is the latest entry in the greatest weapon-based fighting game the world has ever seen, and it's now available to pre-order in the UK! We thought you guys would be interested to hear about these two fantastic pre-order deals."

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What's this? Soul Calibur IV screens that aren't all about mindless sex appeal?!
Gamespot Japan have just revealed a LARGE batch of new screenshots that focus on *gasp* actual gameplay and what the Character Customization is capable of.

(Go to source for all screens)

"Sorry for being curt there, but really, that's about all there is to these latest Soul Calibur IV shots. Tits. Oh, and that subtle crotch shot. Good to see Namco Bandai are remembering it's not all about Star Wars, and that there's a church full of the converted who still enjoy being preached to every now and again."

"- game feature dizzy : getting hit into walls makes you dizzy.
- game feature guard impact : opponent will fall during guard impact.
- game feature instant impact : when opponent attacks during guard impact.

- armor bar : keep blocking, bar becomes red, and eventually blue.

- soul impact : attack until opponent's health meter is red, then make opponent block -or- you can initiate with a guard impact.
- soul impact : when opponent is soul impacted, enter the heavy finish command to ex..."

"Get ready for one of the game industry's biggest events of the year: the annual E3 Media & Business Summit, better known simply as E3, which takes place this year in Los Angeles from July 15-17. The three days of the expo won't be the only days in which you can expect to see new games and announcements; this year, as with other years, several major game companies will be making big news before the show at their press conferences."

"Take her to mom: Aerith (Final Fantasy series)

Aerith is a sensitive girl that can warm any heart. Just ask any of the Final Fantasy fanboys who fell for her charms over the past few years. She's also deep-rooted when it comes to family and faith, as her role as an "ancient" clearly explains. Moreover, she can probably whip up a good salad, since she's so involved with nature.


Don't take her to mom: Morrigan (Darkstalkers series)

Not only is Morrigan almost completely underdressed ..."

"According to the rumor mill in the August issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Kratos is to appear as a PS3 exclusive character in Soul Calibur IV.

The magazine states that Kratos will be the next PS3 character revealed, so if the rumor is in fact true, we should be seeing something soon. Also, this will be the first look at Kratos on next gen hardware, and possibly a first glimpse at what to expect from God of War III. Obviously if Kratos appears in SCIV, Namco has cut some deal with Sony,..."

"While Soulcalibur III was largely forgettable for some of us at Kotaku, some of our best memories were forged in the game's custom character creation tool. The "dancer" style fighter armed with a pair of tambourines made for some rather amusing matches.

Soulcalibur IV doesn't appear to be a slouch in the custom fighter department, with all manner of ridiculous weapons and fetish focused accessories at your disposal.
Cowgirls? Check. Pirate wenches? Check. Cat-eared cuties wielding deadly..."

"First Guitar Hero kicks the bucket, now this... Soul Calibur IV has been dated and priced for Japan. That's good news!
Above is the official Japanese box art for the game, box art that features Darth Vader for the PS3 version. Yoda is on the Xbox 360 version's cover. That's, well, not such good news.

By putting these iconic Star Wars characters on the box doesn't it make Soul Calibur IV seem less like a Soul Calibur game and more like a Star Wars game? Yes, yes it does. You had a good r..."

In addition to yesterday's news about Darth Vader's "secret apprentice" showing up in SC IV, we get a trailer to accompany it. Check it out through the source.

"[Today] Namco Bandai channeled Yoda with the announcement that "there is another." Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game will feature the Secret Apprentice character from LucasArts' upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, allowing for proper lightsaber-on-lightsaber duels in a fighting game for the first time since 1997's original PlayStation game Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi.

The Secret Apprentice stars in Force Unleashed as Darth Vader's first Sith underling. Sinc..."

"In the latest Soul Calibur IV trailer entitled "Ubidays 2008: Transcendance Trailer," several new details were revealed that many viewers probably missed. After analyzing the trailer intently, here are a few of the snippets we happened to catch.

New Character:

Near the middle of the trailer a new character is revealed. We've heard whispers that he is a new character either known as Mars (aka Hades) or possibly Soul Edge reborn (notice the scar on his arm), but that he may receive a name..."

"The most recent Soul Calibur IV trailer seems to indicate that besides Star Wars characters and enormous boobs, the game also has destructible body armor. Meaning? That it appears throttling opponents hard enough causes armor to fly off. Wonder if it will be possible to knock Vader's helmet off or if this is just going to your typical disrobe-female-fighters kinda thing. Honestly, we're pulling for naked Yoda."

"As well as new characters, Soul Calibur IV will introduce a couple of new gameplay mechanics to the series. The first is the critical attack, which can be used to break through the guard of a particularly defensive player. If you manage to land several attacks on a players while they're blocking, their defense will eventually become weakened and their health bar will flash red. If you land another powerful attack when this happens, the character will stumble backward--giving you a chance to h..."

Yet more Soul Calibur IV screens have been released, this time showing the newbies Shura, Ashlotte, and the first glimpse of Setsuka in SCIV. Damn, those SC girls are boobful.

(go to source for more screens)

"This is yet another manga artist collaboration,the character is designed by Oogure Ito (Oh!Great) famous for his Tenjou Tenge and Air Gear mangas.This 19 year old girl name is Ashlotte Meideru and her weapon is a great axe."

"Yes. Shocking. For your submission, the above picture, showing Soul Calibur's Ivy as she's depicted on the game's official website. On the left, how she appears on the Japanese site. On the right? How she appears on the American site. This will not go down well with die-hard fans, Namco Bandai. They're not in this for the swordplay."

"So maybe you're still giddy that Darth Vader and Yoda (see a video of them in action here) will be making a guest appearance in Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), but don't look away just yet, because more and more characters are being revealed.

After unveiling four characters last month, the Japanese magazine Famitsu is back to let us know that Rock, Yoshimitsu, and Talim will be returning.

If you haven't encountered any of these Soul Calibur veterans yet, Rock is..."

"Outside of online play, one of the biggest tangents of discussion around “Soul Calibur IV” has been Darth Vader and Yoda as playable guest characters. Such inclusions are not new to the “Soul Calibur franchise” — “Soul Calibur II” had Link, Heihachi and Spawn — but Yoda has proven controversial, due to his extreme height advantage. The smaller they are, the harder they are to hit?

Sasaki isn’t worried. “The influences that Yoda will have in terms of gameplay because of his height, [is that..."

"Following yesterday's announcement that the original Soul Calibur will be making an appearance on Xbox Live Arcade, Ubisoft has announced that Soulcalibur IV will be making its way down under on July 31 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Soulcalibur IV is the series' first foray into the next-generation domain and features an expanded roster of fighters. Those who get the game on the PlayStation 3 will have access to Star Wars supervillain Darth Vader, whereas the Xbox 360 version feature..."

"Soul Calibur IV is in development for PS3 and 360. It will feature a fancy Critical Finisher system where you can instantly kill an opponent if you manage to empty their Soul Gauge two times in a row; this fills up when attacking but decreases when defending."

"There's a lot of people out there who feel that the fighting genre has gone the way of the dodo. While it's true that the days of people crowding around an arcade machine and lining their quarters up have passed, we can't help but feel that reports of the genre's death have been greatly exaggerated. One need look no further than the offerings on tap for 2008, as two of the year's most anticipated fighting titles are sure to be huge hits. Capcom will be bringing the latest Street Fighter game ..."

1Up drops the latest Soul Calibur IV bomb by confirming that two of the most iconic Star Wars characters will be playable in Namco Bandai's forthcoming PlayStation 3 (and Xbox 360!) weapons-based brawler. Apparently Namco Bandai has made nice with LucasArts to give Darth Vader and Yoda the SCIV makeover, ready to layeth the smackdown in the age of exploration. The lightsaber-wielding, Force-totin' badasses might seem out of place in the world of Soul Calibur, but hopefully they won't be mak...

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Step up on to the stage of history with our resident Soul Calibur experts -- Ryan O'Donnell, Soul Calibur IV.

Along with exclusive interviews with the entire development team, we're bringing you the very first footage of Soul Calibur IV. All of this waits for you to download now."

"As promised, Electronic Gaming Monthly managed to get a first look at Soul Calibur IV, and here are the scans from the magazine. The level of detail in the graphics includes "leather straps on Ivy's thighs make real-time indentations into her skin as she fights," and even "ridiculously endowed ninja gal Taki, who demonstrates what happens now that consoles can chum out superflucous polygons to render realistic nipples under a skintight leotard."

In my opinion, Soul Calibur I is the best 3..."

"What's changed this time round is that the next-gen platforms have network infrastructure already in place," commented Soul Calibur IV's director Katsutoshi Sasaki while chatting with EGM magazine."We've heard from fans that they really want the game to be online, so we figured that, with the current environment, we really couldn't make SC4 without online play.""