When it shits on Wii, it blasts out in a stream – just like diarrhea. Wii already missed out on Marvel VS Capcom 2 – which is bad enough given the console is actually powerful enough to run the game. Now it’s missing out on Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur IV. Sure, these games wouldn’t be able to run on Wii. But that didn’t stop Namco developing them for the PSP. Yes… Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur IV will be releasing for the PSP!!

Tekken 6 for PSP will just be the standard version of Tekken 6, and not the updated version: Bloodline rebellion which will release for consoles later this year. But the game will not be some badly cut down affair. It will feature the full Tekken 6 character roster, character customization, new items not featured in the arcade version of the game and ad-hoc play.

I lied a little when I said Soul Calibur IV was heading for PSP. The PSP soul game is titled Soul Calibur: Broken destiny. Not a direct port of Soul Calibur IV, but a game which will retain many of the gameplay elements of IV. Returning characters from IV will also have their IV move sets and costumes. The game will feature new game modes and also a couple of new characters. The only new character to be confirmed so far is Dampierre. Who looks like a money swindling, knife wielding gay pimp from a Dicken’s novel.

Namco may as well fly a blimp over Nintendo, Kyoto which reads “F**K Wii!” The Wii flogs more units than the PSP and is more powerful, yet loses out on 2 high profile, blockbuster beat ‘em ups to it! Looks like that PlayStation love still runs deep. Real deep.

PSP owners, rejoice! You just got a couple of good games to look forward to. I guess a Wii port wouldn’t be out of the question entirely. Namco Bandai could always just port the PSP version. It’s not like the Wii version would look THAT much better. (Tee-hee!)

I think Soul Calibur IV is a bloody awful game. But it was an awful game with kick arse graphics and also a pretty decent soundtrack. The soul series’ soundtrack has a patchy history. They’ve definitely fallen off a little with each new game. Soul edge’s soundtrack was a masterpiece which I will forever hold in high regard and every now and then am partial to listening to. But the sequels featured soundtracks which were mundane and forgettable, save for the odd one or two stand out pieces.

Whilst Soul Calibur IV’s soundtrack isn’t amazing, it is solid and probably one of the more grandiose  and atmospheric soundtracks of the bunch. My favourite piece from the soundtrack has to be “Immaculate pledge” – hands down. It’s dramatic, melodic, memorable and captures the partial essence of what made Soul edge’s soundtrack so brilliant. The piece also has a sense of familiarity about it. Every time I listen to it I keep trying to rack my brain on which other Soul Calibur piece it reminds me of.

Listen: Immaculate pledge

Soul Calibur IV
© 2008 Namco

For the mp3 players: Soul Calibur IV – Immaculate pledge

As the trailer showed, breakable armour has been brought to the Soul arena! It’s nothing new, because many fighting fans (Sega ones in particular) will recall Fighting Vipers featuring breakable armour and that was released well over 10 years ago. Plus, characters could be placed at a defence disadvantage by being disarmed in Soul blade. But none the less it’s a cool new addition that will change the flow of fights greatly. The armour system works in the exact same way it did in Fighting vipers: with a character able to lose armour from their top, midriff or lower part of their body and their defence dropping as a result. I’m such a picky bastard that I hope the armour stays on the floor when it’s broken off. None of this disappearing into thin air bullshit. This game is rolling on PS3 and Xbox 360 – it better make use of that extra processing power.

As one of the earlier trailers showed, characters will have critical finishers. If a characters soul gauge gets depleted twice, then they’ll be open to get critical finished like a silly sucka. As if ring outs and after K.O grapples weren’t humiliating enough – you can add critical finishers to the list. I can’t wait to see them all. If Seigfried’s Ice slash, Ivy’s alchemist sword blade rape, Voldo’s sex rolly polly bomb and Kilik’s Phoenix smash (these are not official attack names) are anything to go by, you know they’re going to be over the top, razzle dazzle, pyrotechnic laden smackdowns.

I wasn’t really wowed by this game before, but it impresses me more with each new trailer that gets put out. If Namco really fine tune the characters and give the game some substantial game modes – this could be something special. The jury will be out until this game releases on whether this can better the original Soul Calibur on Dreamcast. Perhaps third time will be the charm…

Proceed on to watch how Darth Vader rolls in Soul Calibur IV. Stans and fan boys with weak bladders and bowels should proceed with caution…

There you have it! Nothing flashy about how he fights, but I guess it was what we all expected. Darth Vader was no Darth Maul in the fancy fighting department. I’m more amped for seeing Yoda in action, because I know he’ll be more interesting to watch and play as: with all his bouncing around, his speed and his grunts as he attacks and gets hit. Hopefully we’ll get a video of Yoda real soon and possibly one that shows off a couple of Darth Vader’s grapples and throws. You can always rely on Namco to give the Soul Calibur cast a cool looking, over- the-top grapple and throw to humiliate the poor sucker on the receiving end.

I also wonder what Darth Vader’s finishing move will be…

Namco have unveiled 2 brand new characters for their forthcoming Soul title: Goth lolita inspired robot girl Ashlotte and dual Katana wielding beauty Shura, as well as revealing the new look for Soul Calibur III’s Setsuka. It seems big breasts are the watch word for the ladies of Soul Calibur, more so in installment number 4 than ever. Setsuka’s rack has been upgraded to drastic levels just like Ivy’s were and Shura has a big old rack too. Ashlotte’s are quite small and modest, but she is an android and a young one at that. Not that this would stop Namco mind you. They had no qualms about having Xianghua’s big ol’ teenage rack swinging around in Soul Calibur 1.

I’m loving the dual katana wielding chick. Easily one of the best looking new characters so far. It’s probably because she reminds me so much of Taki, who has been my fave character in the Soul series since Soul blade. And also because she reminds me of Psylocke from X-Men – who I’ve always liked and favoured in the Capcom games she featured in.

The character models on the ladies look great (as always), but I still have a nagging issue with the girls all having the same big eyes, round face and zero ethnicity. Setsuka looks like a white woman and not Japanese at all. Shura is the only character I’ve seen in this game with some ethnicity to her facial features. She looks more like Taki than Taki herself because of it.

It’s look as though Soul Calibur IV will have the biggest character roster of them all, which is great. But I just hope Namco balances them all correctly and has them all fight uniquely – because many of the new characters share similar weapons and look to have similar disciplines to the veterans.

[Gamersyde]

Namco have revealed the new(ish) looks and character models for Soul Calibur veterans Seong Mi-Na, Maxi and Yun-Seong.

Seong Mi-Na is asking for a wardrobe malfunction in that outfit, Yun-Seong has me jealous of his 6-pack and if Maxi is made to look anymore like Elvis Namco are going to have to pay the Presley estate some royalties.

Check out high quality images of how the trio look in game below…

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