It took long enough, and we told you it was coming, we even had images, but it is finally official. Dengeki reveals that both Yoda and Vader will be available as downloadable characters on their respective systems. It will be 600yen for Yoda and 400 MS points for Vader. No word on dates yet, but we expect it soon since the models are likely already prepped.

Just in case you missed it, folks, there is now a Soul Calibur demo posted on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo weighs in at 695mb, not so big. If you are still on the fence over this great game, check out the demo.

Namco contacted us and asked us to remove the media because they were "unauthorized in-development material taken from the game." We removed them, but you can draw your own conclusions.

Another quality GamersReports exclusive coming your way, folks. According to one of our illustrious anonymous email sources, these three screens are of Darth Vader versus Yoda in the Xbox360 version of Soul Calibur IV. The Vader is being planned as an add-on download, it seems. No word on when, or even if ever it will be released, but the proof is in the screens, unedited for your pleasure. (Thanks, Dogbat)

*Update: Just to clarify, the Vader is supposedly going to be a download add-on, that may or may not be charged for, and this comes directly from Namco, not hacked from the disc or fan-hacked or any such sort of trickery. It is likely going to work in reverse for the PS3 version with Yoda, as well. Just to clarify on some speculation we've seen, thanks.

Just a quick post. Our friends and Namco reminded us that there is a real nice Soul Calibur IV video over at this website (just click on video). In honor of the release of the excellent original version of Soul Calibur on XBLA, the game that started it all, check this video out, and grab SC IV when it hits!

Namco has come out to state that the Soul Calibur IV PS3 install size is in line with other games. Apparently, there are rumors circulating the net of a 6gb install on the PS3, with a 2gb save file. This is not true, says Namco. Good to hear for 20gb PS3 owners.

Namco Games Director Katsutoshi Sasaki has stated that the PS3 version of the beautiful weapon-based fighter Soul Calibur IV no longer runs slower on the PS3. It is now on par with its Xbox360 cousin, apparently. The earlier hands-on previews had reports that the PS3 version suffered from a substantial bit of slowdown, but after significant development changes, the problem has been rectified, thankfully. Now that the console editions are on par, it begs the question, which will you choose? Xbox Live or PSN for your fights? Dual Shock 3 or 360 pad for your pleasure?

"There is no difference," said Sasaki. "At the first stage of development, the goal was to have no gameplay differences on either hardware and our programmers actually made it come true. Quite frequently, we forget and grab the wrong controller when looking at the screen."

As you can see from these images, Darth Vader's new Sith apprentice is indeed featured in Soul Calibur IV. He is a human, and he holds his lightsaber like a dagger. No word on his name, at this point, but as you can see from the image versus Yoda, we really are being treated to saber-on-saber fighting, complete with pristine graphics. What a treat! Yes, we know Yoda is only in the Xbox360 version, but we put the screens in both console sections anyway.

We all knew that Darth is appearing in the PS3 Soul Calibur IV and Yoda is appearing in the 360 SC4 game. Today though, namco dropped another bomb and confirmed "there is another." The secret sith apprentice of Darth Vader from the upcoming Force Unleashed game will be in both editions of the game! This means that there will finally be proper saber-on-saber battles, the likes of which not seen since games like Masters Of Teras Kasi! Awesome news!

IGN got to test out the Yoda character in the new Soul Calibur game. Yoda is an Xbox360 exclusive character, just like the PS3 has its own exclusive character, Darth Vader. The game is beautiful, as you can see by the video, and it plays well, too. We cannot wait for this one, folks, but read for yourself.

Soul Calibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki has said that he is looking forward to competing with Capcom and their impending Street Fighter IV release. Sasaki relishes the competition, he says, and likes to look for new ideas in other games like SFIV.


"When we see some other game that has some new element that we could probably borrow and make Soulcalibur even better, then we will definitely look into it," Sasaki told MTV Multiplayer. "Creators are always being stimulated by all the games on the market."