Soulcalibur V Message Board

SoulCalibur 5 takes on PSN and Xbox Live Games on Demand on April 23, for $20 on each system, direct from Namco Bandai.

SoulCalibur 5 launched in January of 2012, and we found it to be "simultaneously one of the best Soul Calibur games ever made, as well as the worst Soul Calibur game ever made." It makes sense in the context of the review, we promise - that's what all the text above those stars is for.

Soul Calibur 5 takes on PSN and Xbox Live Games on Demand on April 23, for $20 on each system, direct from Namco Bandai.

Soul Calibur 5 launched in January of 2012, and we found it to be "simultaneously one of the best Soul Calibur games ever made, as well as the worst Soul Calibur game ever made." It makes sense in the context of the review, we promise - that's what all the text above those stars is for.

Namco Bandai's Game Software Division brought in 13.8 billion yen ($176.3 million) in its fiscal Q1 (ended June 30), up over last year's 10.4 billion yen. Overall, the "Content Business" that includes game software brought in 57 billion yen ($728.18 million), a 60% increase over the 35.6 billion from the same time last year.

The success of Namco's game business is partly due to just brute force - Namco released 46 games worldwide in the quarter, versus 27 last year. Its best selling game for the quarter was Soulcalibur 5, which added 680,000 worldwide sales to its total, for a life-to-date 1.38 million. Its other named best sellers include Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, which sold 440,000 in the quarter, and the Japan only Toriko Gourmet Survival 2 for PSP, which sold 100,000.

Namco Bandai cordially invites you to celebrate the union of its child, Soulcalibur 5, and ... "Bridal Costume" DLC, today. The ceremony will be held on the Xbox Live Marketplace, with a reception on the PlayStation Network later (PSN weather permitting). Punches will be served.

The couple has requested that, in lieu of gifts, attendees donate $3 to the console marketplace of their choice.

Hey everyone,

On April 10, 2012 eight qualifying players from tournaments held across the globe will be facing each other to battle it out for the SOULCALIBUR V World Championship title in Las Vegas, Nevada. With over $10,000 in prizing, arcade sticks, games and more going to the combatants, this will be an event to go down in the history books.  And we’re even giving fans a chance to win cool items by tuning into the action!

The SOULCALIBUR V World Championships will be broadcasted live by community stream evangelist Team Spooky, featuring hype and play by play commentary by Fighting Game Community leader Mark “MarkMan” Julio and myself, Rich “FilthieRich” Bantegui, to keep fans updated and entertained. Special guest and game director, Daishi Odashima will also be in attendance to chat about the game with fans at the event.

We invite you to watch this “HYPE” SOULCALIBUR V World Championships event, and for a chance to win awesome swag from our event partners – Hori, Mad Catz and Sony Computer Entertainment America! Make sure to tune into the stream on April 10 at 7:00pm PST at: http://www.own3d.tv/teamspooky. For questions you can tag me directly at http://www.twitter.com/Filthierich or check out http://www.facebook.com/SOULCALIBUR.

The Project Soul team, and NAMCO BANDAI Games have made it a priority to listen and engage the competitive fighting community during development and through the release of SOULCALIBUR V. We’re listening, taking notes and letting fans voice their opinions to help us keep the SOULCALIBUR franchise as one of the best fighting series out there. The SOULCALIBUR V World Championship is an excellent opportunity to see the passion and heart that goes into competitive tournaments and we plan to support more tournaments in the future.

Check out the video below, get hype, and get the popcorn ready on April 10. We’ll see you then!

SoulCalibur 5's lackluster single-player offerings majorly stuck in my craw when I reviewed it last January, and while the game's combat is primarily excellent, I couldn't overlook the fact that its story mode is, as I said in my review, "a 3-hour hodgepodge of indecipherable, confusing storyboard panels punctuated by random (although admittedly gorgeous) cinematics."

As it turns out, I wasn't the only one who wanted more from the game's story mode: "Our first plan on the storyboard was that we had every characters' story, and actually we do have it in the studio, but time-wise, man power-wise we weren't able to do it and only one fourth of what we planned to do is in the game," said SC5 director Daishi Odashima during an interview with Train2Game.

In its current form, SC5's story mode follows the adventures of Sophitia's children Pyrrha and Patrokolos. Similar story modes would have existed for every character, but developmental restrictions prevented that from happening. Voice overs for some characters' canned stories exist in a finished, usable state, but Namco Bandai currently has no plans for how (or if) they'll ever be used.

#soulcalibur Seeing where the plotlines for your favorite characters go. The shiny CGI ending sequences. These have traditionally been the reasons a person sits through the cheap-ass boss fights in a 3D fighting game. SoulCalibur V gave you neither and many fans of Namo's fighting franchise—including me—were pissed at their absence. What makes the lack of a fully-fleshed out story mode in SCV even more infuriating is the revelation that a lot of the work was done. More »

Are you one of the eight best SoulCalibur 5 players in the world? Then you already know about Namco Bandai's World Championship event, because you've been invited to it. For everyone else: Namco Bandai has gathered the eight best players from around the world, and will have them compete in Las Vegas on April 10 for a $10,000 prize pool.

If you want to see the absolute highest-level SC5 play, and how it differs from your constant attempts to ring out your friends, you'll be able to watch a stream brought to you by Team Spooky. Check Facebook for more details on how you can go see the event -- it appears some kind of party bus is involved.

Soon Google image search won't be the only place you can see SoulCalibur 5's cast in short-shorts.

#soulcalibur Pac-Man is having a hell of a career second act in fighting games. Of course, he is one of the free characters in Street Fighter X Tekken on the PlayStation 3. Now it looks like he'll be included—as some kind of bizarre head-thing—in Soulcalibur V's next batch of monthly costume DLC. See for yourself at 1:02 in that video. More »

So, remember how SoulCalibur 5 is getting monthly costume DLC starting next month, and how we were absolutely positive it wouldn't be what we were expecting? Well, turns out this first pack is actually exactly what we expected, in that its mostly random goofiness and fanservice.

The new array of costumes will be available for purchase through the "Cepheus Store," which will presumably be added during the game's March 21 system/balance update. The store is divided into categories, the ones listed in the video being "Classic Headgears," "SCV Character Equipment," "Maid Costumes," "Active Wear," Ancient Armor" and "Modern Costumes."No word yet on pricing, or whether the costumes will be sold as complete outfits or individual pieces.

The above trailer also teases costumes and accessories coming in future updates, which appear to include fishing regalia, flight attendant outfits, the equipment needed to make King from Tekken, and ... a Pac Man head?

The secret to a successful modern fighting game isn't so much the launch as it is the post-launch support. It's kind of like an MMO, in that patching and re-balancing based on community input adds refinement and longevity to the platform. Namco Bandai seems to get this, as it'll be updating SoulCalibur 5's ranked match matchmaking algorithms and character balance next Wednesday, March 21. Specifics on those balance changes are forthcoming, according to the SC5 Facebook page.

The curators of the Stage of History have also announced that SC5 will receive monthly costume DLC packs, the first of which will arrive on April 3 for the 360 and April 4 for the PS3. No word yet on costume pack pricing or content, but we've got a sneaking suspicion that whatever we're expecting, we're probably way off.

Hey, we'd all like to have our own little place on the stage of history, but do you have any idea how desirable that real estate is? It's only so big a stage, you guys.

Thankfully, this year's stay won't set us back the full price: Amazon currently has SoulCalibur V on sale for $39.99 on both Xbox 360 and PS3.

Anyone who's listened to my long, incoherent rambles on The Joystiq Show knows that I love fighting games more than most things that exist. What you may not know, however, is that my love for a good combo is rivaled only by my desire to spit sick verses over fly jams. So, when Joystiq's Alexander Sliwinski and Steven Wong suggested that I marry my two passions into one creation, how could I resist?

The end result (embedded above) is a SoulCalibur 5 rap song written and performed by yours truly. The destructively sick beat was lovingly crafted by tanner4105, an incredibly talented producer and electronica artist who donated his services out of the goodness of his own heart. Full lyrics are available after the break!

#soulcalibur We already knew that SoulCalibur V's character creator is powerful enough to allow you to create all sorts of messes, but this ups the ante one notch more. More »

#soulcalibur While it may seem like a video of me singing to my two children as they bounce along to a song Will.I.Am did for Sesame Street a few years back, this is a video about SoulCalibur V. More »

A few weeks ago, Mad Catz sent me one of its latest arcade sticks, the SoulCalibur 5 branded Soul Edition arcade fightstick. After daily testing on SC5, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Mortal Kombat, the Soul Edition not only met my expectations, but exceeded them, as you can tell from the review video above.

The company's Tournament Edition sticks have always been excellent pieces of hardware, and the Soul Edition is no exception. It's solidly constructed from arcade-quality parts and is heavy enough to stay in place, regardless of whether you fight on a table-top or your lap. The stick's striking motif and subtle design elements set it apart from every other mass-produced arcade stick on the market; if you want to stand out at your local Ranking Battles without incurring the cost of a custom-made stick, you'd be hard pressed to find a piece of fighting tech that's this unique, right out of the box.

#soulcalibur If you allow people the freedom to create things, you can count on one thing: sex. Just look at all the dick faces people made with Nintendo Miis. Nintendo Miis! They're the most innocuous things imaginable, and bam, cocks. More »

#soulcalibur With the past couple of years dominated by Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat-style 2D fighters, it's nice to see the return of one of the big 3D fighting franchises. That is, unless you're a game reviewer. Then it's time to step into the critical ring. More »

#soulcalibur Not yet four years has passed, but check out how the latest SoulCalibur compares to SoulCalibur IV. Can you spot the difference? Hint: it's not just the graphics. More »

#review Soul Calibur V, like almost all fighting games nowadays, finds itself having to serve multiple purposes for a broad and fragmented user base. Fighting games demand investment if you're actually trying to excel at them. You've got to pick a character that speaks to you and then master enough moves to be competent and diverse. Nobody's just showing up to get beat down, after all, and winning ugly is worse than losing. More »

Soul Calibur 2 and I used to be "an item," back in the day. We spent every evening together, laughing over the ridiculous ring outs we shared and taking special pride in infuriating my friends, together. It was rare to ever find us apart for more than a few hours at a time; I loved Soul Calibur 2 with all of my heart.

Things change, though, and as time marched on we realized that staying together wasn't the best thing for the both of us. The world had moved on, my needs had changed, and Soul Calibur 2 understood that it was time for me to go. Despite trying to reconnect a couple of times, we haven't really talked much since the old days.

So imagine my surprise when SoulCalibur 5 showed up at my apartment, looking better than ever and wanting to go a few rounds. We've been spending a lot of time together, and it's been a pretty intense emotional rollercoaster, truth be told. I've rediscovered all the little things I used to love, as well as the reasons why we broke up in the first place.

It's hard, because when you get back with an old flame, you want things to go back to the way they used to be, and that's rarely (if ever) possible. SoulCalibur 5 is a far cry from the game I used to love, and it's got more than its fair share of problems, but deep down, the soul still burns.

Jeff and Brad compare the diameter of their spiritual force to that of Italians, nice ladies, and Blood Burgers.

#soulcalibur SoulCalibur V is in stores today across the U.S., where players are a lot less likely to dress up as a whip-wielding Ivy or Ezio Auditore de Firenze than the special gamers inhabiting the world of the SoulCalibur V launch trailer. More »

#amazon Though hundreds of thousands of gamers swear by Amazon.com when it comes to ordering new releases or old favorites, I've never once ordered a video game from the popular online marketplace. Despite the allure of free launch day delivery and bonus credit, I've limited my game spending to local retailers. I didn't realize why until I finally caved and purchased SoulCalibur V online. More »

Earlier this week IGN ran a poll about potential DLC characters for SoulCalibur V. It was a mix of returning fighters, video game characters, and pop culture icons. Check out the results...

If you pick up Soulcalibur 5 next week, and find that your custom character just isn't looking right without, say, a bikini, wings, and face paint, Namco's got you covered (in bikinis, wings, and face paint). The publisher has announced three DLC packs for Europe, each running 160 Microsoft Points or €1.99, and each loaded with basically insane things to put on your characters. As a nice bonus, they all include in-game music tracks from previous Caliburs, which can also be purchased individually.

On February 3, you can buy the aforementioned bikinis, wings, and face paints as part of a bundle of "nine exotic customization items." This comes with music from Soul Blade and Soul Calibur. February 14 includes "fearsome" items like "breast plate, kimono, and animal heads." Animal heads. This set is bundled with SC2 and 3 music. Finally, on February 28, you can get nine more items, including "mask, face paint, camouflage and skull." Along with your download, you get music from Soulcalibur IV and Soulcalibur Broken Destiny.

No announcement has been made for a North American release, but we're confident Namco will let you buy that kimono and skull soon enough.

#nsfw And you thought the giant boobs were crass? Ha! This is another advert for upcoming fighting game SoulCalibur V. It's cheeky. Literally. More »

The first piece of DLC for Soulcalibur V will be made available next week...

Soulcalibur 5 comes out in less than a week; why waste time with separate trailers when you can slam them all into one super convenient video? Check out Algol, Edge Master and Devil Jin's Custom Character fighting style (!), as well as character poses narrated by SC5's obligatory gruff guy.