LegendaryArcturus
June 26th, 2007, 02:15 AM
Self-proclaimed Official Soulcalibur IV Thread here.
Returning characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Ivy
Taki
Tira
Siegfried
Mitsurugi
Yoshimitsu
Nightmare
Sophitia
Cassandra
Voldo
Astaroth
Raphael
Maxi
Yun Sung
Seung Mina
Kilik
Lizardman
Xianghua
Amy
Cervantes
Zasalamel
Talim
Rock
Setsuka
New characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Hilde
Algol
Bonus characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Scheherazade
Angol Fear
Shura
Ashlotte
[*Kamikirimusi
Guest characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Darth Vader
Yoda
The Apprentice
Keypoints from EGM #218 (August 2007)
Soul Calibur IV will run 60 frames per second(this was revealed previously).
The amount of detail in the game will be amazing! “The leather straps on Ivy’s thighs make real-time indentations into her skin as she fights.”
The development team is putting so much detail into the game that they are actually rendering Taki’s nipples under her leotard.
New characters will be kept under wraps and revealed closer towards the release date.
“Guard Impact” is back.
Stage design is still very early in development. Make sure to take note of these screens as the game progresses.
The stages will be far more interactive and play a bigger role in battle. They use Zasalamel’s clock tower stage as an example.
The development team is hoping to reduce the rate of ring out victories by making stages much larger than before.
The game will be based on the Soul Calibur III engine and will be reworked from the ground up for balance reasons.
Patching the game is possible if any issues come up with gameplay, but “we don’t intend to make a game that needs to be patched at a later date.”
The health gauge is going to be changed. There will be a way to beat your opponent that doesn’t involve the health gauge or ring outs.
No tag-team play.
In regards to Soul Calibur on the PSP: “We’re happy to hear that players would like to see Soul Calibur on the PSP, so we’ll keep that in mind.”
The “Create A Soul” mode is getting major improvements, such as being able to change your characters voice and certain customizations that will have an effect on gameplay.
Online custom character trading is a possibility, as well as bringing your custom character to a friend’s house.
Soul Calibur 4 Official
Coming to PS3 and Xbox 360
by Anoop Gantayat
June 12, 2007 - Namco's announcement of Soul Calibur Legends for the Wii a few weeks back was a big surprise for fans of the legendary swords and souls fighting series. But the big announcement was yet to come.
Today in Japan, Bandai Namco Games announced Soul Calibur IV for the PS3 and Xbox 360. This true fighting sequel in the series is expected to see Japanese, North American and European release in 2008.
While no gameplay specifics have been announced, we do have a logo. Scrutinize the artwork while we hunt down the details.http://ps3.ign.com/articles/796/796048p1.html
Soul Calibur IV Details
Namco considering 1080p support.
by IGN Staff
June 13, 2007 - While Soul Calibur Legends is the main event in this week's Famitsu, the magazine also has a teaser look at Soul Calibur IV, the Xbox 360 and PS3 sequel that will keep the focus on fighting.
SCIV is being directed by Katsuoshi Sasaki. The magazine lists the lead programmer as Masaki Hoshino. These two shared a few comments about what we can expect from the game.
The main concept of the game, Sasaki revealed, is to perfect the "cool action" for which the series is known. Sasaki and his team hope to push the boundaries in visuals, animation, sound and programming technology.
Hoshino fielded a question about 1080p support for the game. Bandai Namco is currently looking into including support for the high resolution mode. However, Hoshino feels that one area of the visuals must be maintained: sixty frames per second animation.
Legends and IV will take place in different areas of the Soul timeline Legends takes place between Soul Blade and Soul Calibur. SCIV will take place later on the time scale, focusing on the story of a father who uses the Soul Edge to become a hero. He ends up killing his own son who has taken the Soul Edge and put it to use for evil purposes. This is the focus of IV's story.
Compared to Legends, IV will have a larger cast of characters, but this is to be expected given the focus on pure combat. As for who is included in that cast, Bandai Namco has released a CG shot of just one character: Ivy.
Legends will precede IV's 2008 release, so we expect the focus to be on the Wii title for now. However, PS3 and Xbox 360 fans can rejoice! A true next generation entry in one of the best fighting game series is on the way!http://ps3.ign.com/articles/796/796195p1.html
Soulcalibur IV Goes Online
Legendary series finally introducing 'net play.
By 1UP Staff, 06/25/2007
Despite online multiplayer's growth, the fighting genre has notoriously resisted embracing the feature. The Mortal Kombat series was an early pioneer, but the old dismissal that online networking isn't fast enough for the split-second timing seems to be failing -- or companies have come to terms with it. Either way, the latest issue of EGM spills the beans: Soulcalibur IV will have online networking when it arrives on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2008.
"What's changed this time round is that the next-gen platforms have network infrastructure already in place," says Soulcalibur IV Director Katsutoshi Sasaki. "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."
Score one for gamers. But, with the introduction of create-a-character in Soul Calibur III and its assured revamping in Soulcalibur IV, will these customizations go to waste? "We definitely want to allow users to fight with their customized characters during online play. But we're unsure whether or not you'll be able to trade characters with friends."
Check out EGM's 14-page spread on Soulcalibur IV in the latest issue, on newsstands now. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3160573
What's the game about: It's the latest episode in Namco's super-popular Soul Calibur series, and the first one on the PS3/360 hardware generation. The one-on-one 3D weapons-based fighting action that has always been the distinguishing characteristic of the series remains unchanged. Check out the latest issue of EGM for a cover story on the game, revealing much more.
What's new for E3: The addition of online fighting means that Soul Cali...er, Soulcalibur joins the other three 3D Japanese fighting franchises (Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive) in the online match-up arena, moving competitive combat out of the arcades and into living rooms everywhere, opening the field for players of all skill levels to meet and compete. Now, instead of padding your record by whupping your baby sister's ***, you can bring your A-game to the masses to see how you really stack up. The game wraps up with new characters, bigger stages (for fewer ring-outs), and the possibility of all-new game features that haven't been decided on, but could include anti-ringout measures.
What we like: Not only is online play good for gamers, but it's good for the genre, which despite the popularity of the final four, has been shrinking despite itself over the last half a decade. With more people playing together online, it's possible that the fighting game genre may see a resurgence in popularity, which could inspire more sequels and, hopefully, more innovation. What we dislike: Ivy's been going back for seconds, as evidenced by the first promotional renders we've seen. Another thing is that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions seem like they will be the first releases of the game, with no arcade release preceding them. That factor led to balance issues with Soul Calibur 3 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3137887) (since an arcade release often supplies the dev team with valuable feedback in this area) and could become an issue here.
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160923&sec=PREVIEWS
CES 2008: Soulcalibur IV Shown
The Force is strong with some of the must-see new fighters in Namco's anticipated brawler sequel.
by Matt Casamassina
January 9, 2008 - At a Las Vegas-held press event this week, third-party publisher Namco showed off a playable build of the anticipated 3D fighter sequel Soulcalibur IV. Press gathered at club Blush in the illustrious Wynn hotel (a resort that houses its very own Ferrari dealership) for the festivities, which included everything from jumping dance music and a full bar to a presentation of the much-hyped game itself. Naturally, IGN's own editors took a break from CES 2008 coverage to stop in and see the new fighter, whose cast of blade-wielding brawlers now features such stars as -- are you ready? -- Yoda and Darth Vader from a galaxy far, far away. You just pre-ordered, didn't you?
Soulcalibur IV is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The ballyhooed franchise has remained at the tip-top of its respective genre due to its balanced and quick controls, deep fighting system and celebrated selection of characters -- a roster that has in previous games encapsulated such stars as Todd McFarlane's Spawn and Nintendo's very own Link of Zelda fame.
Namco introduced the game with a sizzle trailer -- what the company's EVP of sales and marketing called a "visual delight" -- which set up the gameplay demonstrations to follow. The short video montage showcased several different characters, including Siegfried and Nightmare, as they battled across a variety of different landscapes, many of them destructible. The footage displayed the fighter's polished visual style complete with stunning character and environment art, crisp high-definition graphics, advanced facial animation systems and more, and everything ran smoothly at 60 frames per second, a staple of the franchise.
Company reps said that Soulcalibur IV has been "completely recreated for both the PS3 and Xbox 360," and introduces several innovations. Obviously, high-definition graphics, but also a "completely new battle system," an expanded customization mode in which gamers can personalize their character and change the way they interact, as well as what they do, but also take these fully-tailored creations online. And finally, an all-new storyline that will reveal some big secrets that will "blow your mind."
The Soulcalibur Galactic Battle serves as the means to introduce both Yoda and Darth Vader into the roster. A separate montage video built up to the appearance of the major characters. "From all over the world they come in search of vengeance, honor, salvation," a voice-over announced during a selection of different clips from the game. "Driven by the desire to wield the soul swords. But the swords may have met their match." At this point in the video, the screen faded to black and we could only hear Darth Vader's trademark breathing. Then, both new fighters were shown for the first time and looking spectacular. Attendees on-hand for the event erupted into applause. At the same time, actors dressed in Stormtrooper outfits busted in through the door, led by Darth Vader himself.
Fans should note that Darth Vader is an exclusive character in the PlayStation 3 build of the game, whereas Yoda will flip into the air and take down enemies exclusively on Xbox 360. (We can only imagine the system-advocate wars which are bound to explode over this news, but we're staying neutral on this one.) After the reveal, the game's director noted: "When we see Yoda jump in our game, we're like 'Oh, that's definitely Yoda. That's definitely him.' And we we see Vader using the Force, we're like 'Oh, look at Vader. He's badass.'"
Unfortunately, Vader and Yoda weren't playable at the show. In the two stages of the game we saw during the demo, only three characters got that honor: Cassandra, Mitsurugi and Taki. We should also add that we walked the entire show floor tonight in search of a PS3 running SoulCalibur IV, but there were none to be found. For now at least, it looks like the game is only being shown on 360.
Soulcalibur IV is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this summer. Namco says that with this game "two beloved properties" have come together for "one beloved game," clearly referring to the addition of Star Wars fighters. We have to admit, while they may seem incredibly out of place in this universe, the Star Wars fanboys in us are delighted to see Vader and Yoda in this fighter.
IGN is off to play the game now so look out for more detailed impressions in the near future.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/844/844634p1.html
March 24, 2008
The Soul Still Burns
Hello everyone. I am Katsutoshi Sasaki, Soulcalibur IV director, and welcome to the first edition of our development blog. First off, let me express my thanks to the IGN network for hosting our blog and allowing us to speak directly to the readers. I hope in the coming entries that the team and I can give insight on how we’ve come to create Soulcalibur IV through inspiration, creativity, technology and the desire to create something special for our fans. So on to our first topic…
“Where It All Begins…”
It was right after wrapping development on the arcade edition of Soulcalibur III in early 2006 that we decided to start on Soulcalibur IV. It was also around this time that the next-gen consoles started coming out, so our team had meetings about what features, utilizing the capabilities of these consoles, we could offer in order to expand our audience.
Here’s what the team came up with:
•We wanted breathtaking graphics
•We wanted to build a community via online gameplay
•We wanted to evolve the “Character Creation” feature of Soulcalibur III as it was a standout feature of the product.
Based on this, we created a product concept as the next title in the Soulcalibur series.
The best part of weapon-based fighting games is its tactics revolving around weapons and the gorgeous animations associated with wielding them. There’s a certain freedom of movement, a visual exhilaration and intensity of psychological warfare with adjusting one’s attack timing and trying to read the other player’s mind. Because of this, players can virtually experience the state of a weapon master.
As we have an experienced team creating outstanding weapons for the first three games in the series, our biggest challenge was to create another weapon that was in no way inferior to the ones we’ve already created. Despite this, we had already had a few ideas we could easily think of. After a long process of trial and error, we have finally got to Hilde, a new character in Soulcalibur IV.
With Hilde, we convinced ourselves that a long spear would depict dynamism and a dagger could depict the sense of speed. Because of the dynamics of changing weapons, it had the potential to be an unprecedented “master’s weapon.” From there we decided the visual, gender, and characteristics to meet the concept of the “master.”
Behind the birth of each new character, there is an enormous amount of enthusiasm, ideas and challenges and time that have been spent in order to shape the player’s experience. http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/03/24/84774/
April 11, 2008
Online Gameplay
Hello everyone and welcome back. Soulcalibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki here. For my next entry, I thought I’d touch upon a new feature to the Soulcalibur franchise: online gameplay.
Enjoying a fighting game online was deemed impossible in the past but we are seeing more titles with such mode as being standard in recent days. Soulcalibur IV is also down as having an online mode as standard but it is an unknown fact to the outside world that we have been looking into such possibilities for quite some time now.
It was 1999 when the first Soulcalibur installment was in development when we first looked into the possibilities of implementing such an idea. Not surprisingly, due to numerous issues such as the network infrastructure, communication technology and servers available at the time, we concluded that it was too early in developing the idea. Simply speaking, we didn’t want to compromise the quality of the battle sequence while playing online.
Pushing the clock forward to 2008, we are now in an era where the network infrastructure is in place and is capable of hosting online battles worldwide. However, the main principle within the team has not changed since the early days as mentioned above and we are working hard to create an online environment which is smooth, fair and a place where everyone would be eager to take part.
We should be releasing more detail regarding the online features in the coming days but our prime achievement for the online mode has never changed which is to simply come up with a system where players with similar abilities can compete in a hassle free environment. Please look forward to the day when you can get your hands on the Soulcalibur IV online system.
Changing subjects, we recently announced the existence of the bonus characters other than the Star Wars guest characters. Maybe everyone knows about the bonus characters already but we have asked renowned manga and character creators to come up with the designs which we can use in Soulcalibur IV. Allow me to emphasize the fact that there characters are categorized as being a “bonus” rather than a “guest” character. The distinction between the two tends to be misunderstood, so here’s the clarification.
As the word suggest, “guest” characters appears in our game that do not belong in the original Soulcalibur storyline. They appear on as a one off basis but since they are usually well known characters recognizable by many, this helps us in maximizing the hype surrounding the title and increases the impact one gets when hearing about it.
On the other hand, the “bonus” characters can be seen as being a compliment or a special treat from the team to our customers. Such characters usually came to life as a pure coincidence and it can be a one off team’s favorite or even characters being created for different usage elsewhere. This time round, we felt that having characters designed by renowned creators would be a treat thus we went around asking if anyone was interested in the idea.
We still have more surprise under our sleeves other than Scheherazad and Angol so stay tuned for any future updates.
Until next time… http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/04/11/86499/
Soulcalibur IV Media Blowout
By: TeamXbox Staff - "TeamXbox"
June 10th, 2008
Developed by Project Soul, the legendary team behind Soul Blade and Soulcalibur I-III, Soulcalibur IV will re-introduce classic warriors from the series as well as introduce new characters that will bring new conflict and intrigue. Fully realizing the processing power of the Xbox 360, Soulcalibur IV promises to propel the fighting genre into the next-gen era. With visually realistic environments, interactive stages, enhanced AI, and a new battle system, Soulcalibur IV will be at the top of everyone’s wish list.
Key Features:
Online VS – for the first time in Soulcalibur franchise
Critical Strike for each characters
New game system: AMB (Active Matching Battle)
Many new interactive stages including refined familiar stages
Enhanced Character Creation mode
Numerous DLC
Special guests: Yoda on Xbox360 and Darth Vader on PS3
http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/2232/Soulcalibur-IV-Media-Blowout/p1
June 18, 2008
Aural Delights
Junichi Nakatsuru
Sound Director
Project Soul
Hi everyone. I’m Junichi Nakatsuru, the Sound Director for Soulcalibur IV. I’m glad to be bringing you the third installment to the blog. In this edition, we’ll explain how the background music (BGM) and sound effects (SE) are created for the game.
There are multiple groups that create the sound for Soulcalibur IV; specifically the BGM and sound effect/voice teams cooperate with outside studios to deliver the most dynamic audio for the game. To comment on the SE/voice over for the game, I will leave it to Yo****o Yano. For now, let’s get into the BGM.
The initial BGM theme of Soulcalibur IV was the “Final Battle.” (This of course doesn’t mean it’s the last game in the series. It’s just the mood that we were trying to create!). After the designer provided the theme, we started pre-production to emphasize the tension of battle rather than have the music fit a stage or environment. However during the creation process, I felt that the tone might be too heavy. In the end, the “Final Battle” BMG was too intense and the game designers requested something that was more in tuned with the Soulcalibur universe.
When it comes to the creation process, I usually don’t come up with any ideas after reading the storyline, talking with the game designers, etc. I’ll have some initial thoughts, but most of my inspiration comes when I am out of the office. Good ideas come to fruition if I still remember them by the time I get into the office. And if I don’t, then everything else is just fleeting and not meant to be.
Throughout the entire series, the background music has always sounded orchestral-like; however none of the music was ever performed by a real orchestra. We’ve created a Hybrid Orchestra Sound system that encapsulates the power and rhythm in the game that a real orchestra cannot achieve. But we know that there is a level of expression and quality that only a real orchestra can create so we tried to take those elements and incorporate them into Soulcalibur IV.
In spring 2007, the “Path of Destiny,” which was in Soulcalibur III, was played at a concert in Australia and we were impressed by the talent. That’s why with IV, we chose to record the music in Sydney, Australia because we could create something new that couldn’t be replicated in a Japanese recording studio. For more details on the recording session, please check out the music feature IGN did back in April: http://music.ign.com/articles/864/864127p1.html
Now let’s talk about the sound effects (SE)…
Yoshihito Yano
Sound Designer
Project Soul
Hi everyone. My name is Yo****o Yano and I’m in charge of the sound effects for Soulcalibur IV. As a group, we have a day-to-day task list to complete in order to create the best sound quality that surpasses the previous iterations.
We decided to do the Foley recording in a studio to enrich the overall sound. We created different audio for each footstep and armor movement as well as banged props on the ground to generate unique effects. The overall sound dynamically changes in real-time based on the battle situation.
People usually tend to notice high quality video footage, but it’s also important for the sound to be of equal magnitude. That is why we are working to create the highest sound quality for the entire Soulcalibur franchise. As the game outputs audio in 5.1 channel surround, I would strongly recommend for everyone to experience it at least once so that they can taste the punch of the audio.
I hope everyone is happy with the final results! http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/06/18/93294/
July 03, 2008
The Finer Points
Hi everyone. My name is Jaehyung An and I am the cut-scene director for Soulcalibur IV. This blog edition will focus on the story and cut-scenes within the game.
Before going into that, let me talk about why we created real-time cutscenes. In the past, realistic textures and lighting were only do-able through pre-rendered cutscenes. With the current generation of systems, we can now depict in-game textures in full detail. It also means that footage is free of any degradation. Our thought of wanting to provide the degradation-free footage to the HDTV audiences, led us decide to create the real-time cutscenes.
One of the most essential elements are the facial expressions of characters. By blending facial capturing and hand-animation, we succeeded to achieve a unique blend of realistic facial acting while keeping its original expressive characteristics. Other wonderfully beautiful and rich scenes include prominent effects personified by the real-time shading, and so on.
Of course, not only do the visuals carry the torch for cinematic excellence in the series but the audio as well. I hope you play with as many characters as possible in the story mode and enjoy each ending cut-scene.
Speaking of story, I’m Yoshihiro Nakagawa and I’m in charge of the story and character development for Soulcalibur IV.
Soulcalibur IV’s story is a culmination of the franchise’s 10 year history, centering on the two powerful swords, Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. This time around, a character that has ties to both swords will be revealed.
For the story settings of the new Soulcalibur IV characters, we established their characteristics based on their weapon and performance in the game. Character stories were also shaped by how the artists created the in-game models. Then once each character’s background story had been determined, we found ways to tie them into the “Battle between Soul Edge and Soul Calibur.”
We tried really hard to add some story-elements into the cut-scenes. In order to do so, we adjusted the development schedule so that we could prepare and create the character’s stories early on in the process and incorporate them into at the beginning of the cut-scene production. This resulted in having a very smooth development process between the finalized story and the creation of the cutscene content. Because of this optimal environment, our cut-scenes have turned out to be very high-quality, alive and emotional. http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/07/03/94745/
July 11, 2008
The Next Step
Mr. Hoshino
Lead Programmer
Namco Bandai Games
The wait is over! I am Hoshino-san, a lead programmer within the Project Soul team! In today’s blog, I would like to touch on some of the challenges we faced during the development process.
With Soulcalibur II, we did multi-platform development. But this time around we had some challenges in developing Soulcalibur IV. Still, our desire of wanting as many users to play and enjoy the game kept us moving forward. We really wanted to make this game available for all next-gen console owners.
Unlike Soulcalibur II, Soulcalibur IV is a completely new title and on top of that we didn’t fully know the capabilities of the next-gen systems. Our goal was for there to be no difference in quality between the X360 and the PS3 and at the same time we wanted to maximize each platform’s potential. Under such circumstances, our rendering team’s efforts at the early stage of the development were extraordinary. Also, keeping up with the SDK and firmware updates for both systems wasn’t easy.
Regarding online play, it was something our team has never done before and it was quite a challenge. Ultimately, the outcome is pretty satisfying and high-quality because a lot of networking experts throughout the company helped us out.
When the idea of “equipment destruction” came from our design team, we honestly got a little anxious as this too would be quite a challenge. With the combination of our effect team’s great performance and adoption of a game engine, the end results were much better than we expected.
All of the new and exciting elements to the Soul series, found in Soulcalibur IV, are the results of our programmers’ enthusiasm. We are confident that players will like them.
Personally, whenever I had a difficult time and was faced with a technical challenge, I would picture players enjoying our game. I didn’t want to make any compromises, I didn’t want to make a game that didn’t satisfy me when I imagine myself playing it, either. These are the kinds of thoughts that motivated me to pursue perfection.
The gameplay, controls, visual and audio of Soulcalibur IV on both consoles have the same quality yet make the most use of their respective system capabilities! Please enjoy both versions of the game and experience the most beautiful game in the world for yourselves!http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/07/11/95726/
Answered By Hideo Yoshie, Character Designer
We aimed to make a character that is the “king” of an ultra ancient civilization and a character that obviously proves the setting of being the strongest character ever in SC series.
So, he’s wearing a costume from the ancient kingdom that isn’t recorded in history, and it was really difficult and troublesome to make the design of his costume as so just by looking at it.
The final motif of the amour ended up being the “bird,” but there were many other ideas like the lion, cobra, dinosaur and more.
I believe the design combined dynamism and splendor, and is very cool.
His right hand glows red and his left hand glows blue because he holds the Soul Edge in his right and the Soul Calibur in his left.
Also he has 10 kinds of weapons built in his body and shows a variety of fights never seen before, including flying in the air and sitting in the throne.
I want people to have fun by his buzzard actions.
There was an idea for an additional option which he causes an off-site brawl with a pipe chair instead of the throne, but we were not able to put the idea in the game this time.
By the way, the Algol that shows up in the opening demo is Algol when he was still a human.. That’s why his hair has a different color from within the game. There are some more detailed differences, so please go on and find more differences on him for fun through the game.
NB_SoulCalibur's Blog on IGN (http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/)
IGN Video (http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/739/739576/vids_1.html)
Images from The-MagicBox.com June 26, 2007 (http://the-magicbox.com/0706/game070626a.shtml)
Images from 1up.com July 10, 2007 (http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3160240&sec=IMAGES)
E3 2007 Trailer July 10, 2007 (http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/12980)
E3 2007 Images July 10, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4622_en.html)
Famitsu Images August 09, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4791_en.html)
Images & Arts of Sophitia, Cassandra and Voldo August 16, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4817_en.html)
TGS 2007 Trailer HD (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25175.html)
TGS 2007 Images from The-MagicBox.com September 22, 2007 (http://the-magicbox.com/0709/game070922k.shtml)
Images of Cassandra and Mitsurugi October 26, 2007 (http://www.gamesradar.com/us/ps3/game/images/index.jsp?releaseId=20070613105150193045&page=1)
Images December 14, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_5662_en.html)
Images (Maxi, Yun Sung, Seung Mina) January 31, 2008 (http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/739/739576/imgs_1.html)
Images (Kilik, Lizardman, Xianghua) February 29, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6067_en.html)
Images (Maxi & Scheherazade) March 12, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6124_en.html)
Images (Scheherazade) March 25, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6213_en.html)
Angol Fia. March 26, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6222_en.html)
Amy, Cervantes and Zasalamel. March 28, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/gallery_8085_en.html)
Gameplay footage of Soul Calibur 4. April 17, 2008 (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32810.html)
Images (Talim, Yoshimitsu, Rock) April 28, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6384_en.html)
Images (Shura, Ashlotte, Setsuka) May 23, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6530_en.html)
Transcendance Trailer HD (May 28, 2008) (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34522.html)
Darth Vader's Apprentice (June 06, 2008) (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6607_en.html)
Gamevideos' Gameplay Video (June 10, 2008) (http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/19307)
Media from TeamXbox (June 10, 2008) (http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/2232/Soulcalibur-IV-Media-Blowout/p1)
Images of custom characters from IGN (June 20, 2008) (http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/739576/soulcalibur-iv/images/soulcalibur-iv-20080620104832795.html)
Gameplay of Soul Calibur 4 featuring 10 character. June 27, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6706_en.html)
Images of Algol. July 11, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6768_en.html)
Images of 2P costumes. July 18, 2008 (http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1216690_1407.html)
Official Soul Calibur Website (http://www.soulcalibur.com/)
Soul Archive (http://www.soularchive.jp/SC4/character/index.html)
Returning characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Ivy
Taki
Tira
Siegfried
Mitsurugi
Yoshimitsu
Nightmare
Sophitia
Cassandra
Voldo
Astaroth
Raphael
Maxi
Yun Sung
Seung Mina
Kilik
Lizardman
Xianghua
Amy
Cervantes
Zasalamel
Talim
Rock
Setsuka
New characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Hilde
Algol
Bonus characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Scheherazade
Angol Fear
Shura
Ashlotte
[*Kamikirimusi
Guest characters in Soulcalibur IV:
Darth Vader
Yoda
The Apprentice
Keypoints from EGM #218 (August 2007)
Soul Calibur IV will run 60 frames per second(this was revealed previously).
The amount of detail in the game will be amazing! “The leather straps on Ivy’s thighs make real-time indentations into her skin as she fights.”
The development team is putting so much detail into the game that they are actually rendering Taki’s nipples under her leotard.
New characters will be kept under wraps and revealed closer towards the release date.
“Guard Impact” is back.
Stage design is still very early in development. Make sure to take note of these screens as the game progresses.
The stages will be far more interactive and play a bigger role in battle. They use Zasalamel’s clock tower stage as an example.
The development team is hoping to reduce the rate of ring out victories by making stages much larger than before.
The game will be based on the Soul Calibur III engine and will be reworked from the ground up for balance reasons.
Patching the game is possible if any issues come up with gameplay, but “we don’t intend to make a game that needs to be patched at a later date.”
The health gauge is going to be changed. There will be a way to beat your opponent that doesn’t involve the health gauge or ring outs.
No tag-team play.
In regards to Soul Calibur on the PSP: “We’re happy to hear that players would like to see Soul Calibur on the PSP, so we’ll keep that in mind.”
The “Create A Soul” mode is getting major improvements, such as being able to change your characters voice and certain customizations that will have an effect on gameplay.
Online custom character trading is a possibility, as well as bringing your custom character to a friend’s house.
Soul Calibur 4 Official
Coming to PS3 and Xbox 360
by Anoop Gantayat
June 12, 2007 - Namco's announcement of Soul Calibur Legends for the Wii a few weeks back was a big surprise for fans of the legendary swords and souls fighting series. But the big announcement was yet to come.
Today in Japan, Bandai Namco Games announced Soul Calibur IV for the PS3 and Xbox 360. This true fighting sequel in the series is expected to see Japanese, North American and European release in 2008.
While no gameplay specifics have been announced, we do have a logo. Scrutinize the artwork while we hunt down the details.http://ps3.ign.com/articles/796/796048p1.html
Soul Calibur IV Details
Namco considering 1080p support.
by IGN Staff
June 13, 2007 - While Soul Calibur Legends is the main event in this week's Famitsu, the magazine also has a teaser look at Soul Calibur IV, the Xbox 360 and PS3 sequel that will keep the focus on fighting.
SCIV is being directed by Katsuoshi Sasaki. The magazine lists the lead programmer as Masaki Hoshino. These two shared a few comments about what we can expect from the game.
The main concept of the game, Sasaki revealed, is to perfect the "cool action" for which the series is known. Sasaki and his team hope to push the boundaries in visuals, animation, sound and programming technology.
Hoshino fielded a question about 1080p support for the game. Bandai Namco is currently looking into including support for the high resolution mode. However, Hoshino feels that one area of the visuals must be maintained: sixty frames per second animation.
Legends and IV will take place in different areas of the Soul timeline Legends takes place between Soul Blade and Soul Calibur. SCIV will take place later on the time scale, focusing on the story of a father who uses the Soul Edge to become a hero. He ends up killing his own son who has taken the Soul Edge and put it to use for evil purposes. This is the focus of IV's story.
Compared to Legends, IV will have a larger cast of characters, but this is to be expected given the focus on pure combat. As for who is included in that cast, Bandai Namco has released a CG shot of just one character: Ivy.
Legends will precede IV's 2008 release, so we expect the focus to be on the Wii title for now. However, PS3 and Xbox 360 fans can rejoice! A true next generation entry in one of the best fighting game series is on the way!http://ps3.ign.com/articles/796/796195p1.html
Soulcalibur IV Goes Online
Legendary series finally introducing 'net play.
By 1UP Staff, 06/25/2007
Despite online multiplayer's growth, the fighting genre has notoriously resisted embracing the feature. The Mortal Kombat series was an early pioneer, but the old dismissal that online networking isn't fast enough for the split-second timing seems to be failing -- or companies have come to terms with it. Either way, the latest issue of EGM spills the beans: Soulcalibur IV will have online networking when it arrives on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2008.
"What's changed this time round is that the next-gen platforms have network infrastructure already in place," says Soulcalibur IV Director Katsutoshi Sasaki. "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."
Score one for gamers. But, with the introduction of create-a-character in Soul Calibur III and its assured revamping in Soulcalibur IV, will these customizations go to waste? "We definitely want to allow users to fight with their customized characters during online play. But we're unsure whether or not you'll be able to trade characters with friends."
Check out EGM's 14-page spread on Soulcalibur IV in the latest issue, on newsstands now. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3160573
What's the game about: It's the latest episode in Namco's super-popular Soul Calibur series, and the first one on the PS3/360 hardware generation. The one-on-one 3D weapons-based fighting action that has always been the distinguishing characteristic of the series remains unchanged. Check out the latest issue of EGM for a cover story on the game, revealing much more.
What's new for E3: The addition of online fighting means that Soul Cali...er, Soulcalibur joins the other three 3D Japanese fighting franchises (Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive) in the online match-up arena, moving competitive combat out of the arcades and into living rooms everywhere, opening the field for players of all skill levels to meet and compete. Now, instead of padding your record by whupping your baby sister's ***, you can bring your A-game to the masses to see how you really stack up. The game wraps up with new characters, bigger stages (for fewer ring-outs), and the possibility of all-new game features that haven't been decided on, but could include anti-ringout measures.
What we like: Not only is online play good for gamers, but it's good for the genre, which despite the popularity of the final four, has been shrinking despite itself over the last half a decade. With more people playing together online, it's possible that the fighting game genre may see a resurgence in popularity, which could inspire more sequels and, hopefully, more innovation. What we dislike: Ivy's been going back for seconds, as evidenced by the first promotional renders we've seen. Another thing is that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions seem like they will be the first releases of the game, with no arcade release preceding them. That factor led to balance issues with Soul Calibur 3 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3137887) (since an arcade release often supplies the dev team with valuable feedback in this area) and could become an issue here.
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160923&sec=PREVIEWS
CES 2008: Soulcalibur IV Shown
The Force is strong with some of the must-see new fighters in Namco's anticipated brawler sequel.
by Matt Casamassina
January 9, 2008 - At a Las Vegas-held press event this week, third-party publisher Namco showed off a playable build of the anticipated 3D fighter sequel Soulcalibur IV. Press gathered at club Blush in the illustrious Wynn hotel (a resort that houses its very own Ferrari dealership) for the festivities, which included everything from jumping dance music and a full bar to a presentation of the much-hyped game itself. Naturally, IGN's own editors took a break from CES 2008 coverage to stop in and see the new fighter, whose cast of blade-wielding brawlers now features such stars as -- are you ready? -- Yoda and Darth Vader from a galaxy far, far away. You just pre-ordered, didn't you?
Soulcalibur IV is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The ballyhooed franchise has remained at the tip-top of its respective genre due to its balanced and quick controls, deep fighting system and celebrated selection of characters -- a roster that has in previous games encapsulated such stars as Todd McFarlane's Spawn and Nintendo's very own Link of Zelda fame.
Namco introduced the game with a sizzle trailer -- what the company's EVP of sales and marketing called a "visual delight" -- which set up the gameplay demonstrations to follow. The short video montage showcased several different characters, including Siegfried and Nightmare, as they battled across a variety of different landscapes, many of them destructible. The footage displayed the fighter's polished visual style complete with stunning character and environment art, crisp high-definition graphics, advanced facial animation systems and more, and everything ran smoothly at 60 frames per second, a staple of the franchise.
Company reps said that Soulcalibur IV has been "completely recreated for both the PS3 and Xbox 360," and introduces several innovations. Obviously, high-definition graphics, but also a "completely new battle system," an expanded customization mode in which gamers can personalize their character and change the way they interact, as well as what they do, but also take these fully-tailored creations online. And finally, an all-new storyline that will reveal some big secrets that will "blow your mind."
The Soulcalibur Galactic Battle serves as the means to introduce both Yoda and Darth Vader into the roster. A separate montage video built up to the appearance of the major characters. "From all over the world they come in search of vengeance, honor, salvation," a voice-over announced during a selection of different clips from the game. "Driven by the desire to wield the soul swords. But the swords may have met their match." At this point in the video, the screen faded to black and we could only hear Darth Vader's trademark breathing. Then, both new fighters were shown for the first time and looking spectacular. Attendees on-hand for the event erupted into applause. At the same time, actors dressed in Stormtrooper outfits busted in through the door, led by Darth Vader himself.
Fans should note that Darth Vader is an exclusive character in the PlayStation 3 build of the game, whereas Yoda will flip into the air and take down enemies exclusively on Xbox 360. (We can only imagine the system-advocate wars which are bound to explode over this news, but we're staying neutral on this one.) After the reveal, the game's director noted: "When we see Yoda jump in our game, we're like 'Oh, that's definitely Yoda. That's definitely him.' And we we see Vader using the Force, we're like 'Oh, look at Vader. He's badass.'"
Unfortunately, Vader and Yoda weren't playable at the show. In the two stages of the game we saw during the demo, only three characters got that honor: Cassandra, Mitsurugi and Taki. We should also add that we walked the entire show floor tonight in search of a PS3 running SoulCalibur IV, but there were none to be found. For now at least, it looks like the game is only being shown on 360.
Soulcalibur IV is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this summer. Namco says that with this game "two beloved properties" have come together for "one beloved game," clearly referring to the addition of Star Wars fighters. We have to admit, while they may seem incredibly out of place in this universe, the Star Wars fanboys in us are delighted to see Vader and Yoda in this fighter.
IGN is off to play the game now so look out for more detailed impressions in the near future.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/844/844634p1.html
March 24, 2008
The Soul Still Burns
Hello everyone. I am Katsutoshi Sasaki, Soulcalibur IV director, and welcome to the first edition of our development blog. First off, let me express my thanks to the IGN network for hosting our blog and allowing us to speak directly to the readers. I hope in the coming entries that the team and I can give insight on how we’ve come to create Soulcalibur IV through inspiration, creativity, technology and the desire to create something special for our fans. So on to our first topic…
“Where It All Begins…”
It was right after wrapping development on the arcade edition of Soulcalibur III in early 2006 that we decided to start on Soulcalibur IV. It was also around this time that the next-gen consoles started coming out, so our team had meetings about what features, utilizing the capabilities of these consoles, we could offer in order to expand our audience.
Here’s what the team came up with:
•We wanted breathtaking graphics
•We wanted to build a community via online gameplay
•We wanted to evolve the “Character Creation” feature of Soulcalibur III as it was a standout feature of the product.
Based on this, we created a product concept as the next title in the Soulcalibur series.
The best part of weapon-based fighting games is its tactics revolving around weapons and the gorgeous animations associated with wielding them. There’s a certain freedom of movement, a visual exhilaration and intensity of psychological warfare with adjusting one’s attack timing and trying to read the other player’s mind. Because of this, players can virtually experience the state of a weapon master.
As we have an experienced team creating outstanding weapons for the first three games in the series, our biggest challenge was to create another weapon that was in no way inferior to the ones we’ve already created. Despite this, we had already had a few ideas we could easily think of. After a long process of trial and error, we have finally got to Hilde, a new character in Soulcalibur IV.
With Hilde, we convinced ourselves that a long spear would depict dynamism and a dagger could depict the sense of speed. Because of the dynamics of changing weapons, it had the potential to be an unprecedented “master’s weapon.” From there we decided the visual, gender, and characteristics to meet the concept of the “master.”
Behind the birth of each new character, there is an enormous amount of enthusiasm, ideas and challenges and time that have been spent in order to shape the player’s experience. http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/03/24/84774/
April 11, 2008
Online Gameplay
Hello everyone and welcome back. Soulcalibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki here. For my next entry, I thought I’d touch upon a new feature to the Soulcalibur franchise: online gameplay.
Enjoying a fighting game online was deemed impossible in the past but we are seeing more titles with such mode as being standard in recent days. Soulcalibur IV is also down as having an online mode as standard but it is an unknown fact to the outside world that we have been looking into such possibilities for quite some time now.
It was 1999 when the first Soulcalibur installment was in development when we first looked into the possibilities of implementing such an idea. Not surprisingly, due to numerous issues such as the network infrastructure, communication technology and servers available at the time, we concluded that it was too early in developing the idea. Simply speaking, we didn’t want to compromise the quality of the battle sequence while playing online.
Pushing the clock forward to 2008, we are now in an era where the network infrastructure is in place and is capable of hosting online battles worldwide. However, the main principle within the team has not changed since the early days as mentioned above and we are working hard to create an online environment which is smooth, fair and a place where everyone would be eager to take part.
We should be releasing more detail regarding the online features in the coming days but our prime achievement for the online mode has never changed which is to simply come up with a system where players with similar abilities can compete in a hassle free environment. Please look forward to the day when you can get your hands on the Soulcalibur IV online system.
Changing subjects, we recently announced the existence of the bonus characters other than the Star Wars guest characters. Maybe everyone knows about the bonus characters already but we have asked renowned manga and character creators to come up with the designs which we can use in Soulcalibur IV. Allow me to emphasize the fact that there characters are categorized as being a “bonus” rather than a “guest” character. The distinction between the two tends to be misunderstood, so here’s the clarification.
As the word suggest, “guest” characters appears in our game that do not belong in the original Soulcalibur storyline. They appear on as a one off basis but since they are usually well known characters recognizable by many, this helps us in maximizing the hype surrounding the title and increases the impact one gets when hearing about it.
On the other hand, the “bonus” characters can be seen as being a compliment or a special treat from the team to our customers. Such characters usually came to life as a pure coincidence and it can be a one off team’s favorite or even characters being created for different usage elsewhere. This time round, we felt that having characters designed by renowned creators would be a treat thus we went around asking if anyone was interested in the idea.
We still have more surprise under our sleeves other than Scheherazad and Angol so stay tuned for any future updates.
Until next time… http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/04/11/86499/
Soulcalibur IV Media Blowout
By: TeamXbox Staff - "TeamXbox"
June 10th, 2008
Developed by Project Soul, the legendary team behind Soul Blade and Soulcalibur I-III, Soulcalibur IV will re-introduce classic warriors from the series as well as introduce new characters that will bring new conflict and intrigue. Fully realizing the processing power of the Xbox 360, Soulcalibur IV promises to propel the fighting genre into the next-gen era. With visually realistic environments, interactive stages, enhanced AI, and a new battle system, Soulcalibur IV will be at the top of everyone’s wish list.
Key Features:
Online VS – for the first time in Soulcalibur franchise
Critical Strike for each characters
New game system: AMB (Active Matching Battle)
Many new interactive stages including refined familiar stages
Enhanced Character Creation mode
Numerous DLC
Special guests: Yoda on Xbox360 and Darth Vader on PS3
http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/2232/Soulcalibur-IV-Media-Blowout/p1
June 18, 2008
Aural Delights
Junichi Nakatsuru
Sound Director
Project Soul
Hi everyone. I’m Junichi Nakatsuru, the Sound Director for Soulcalibur IV. I’m glad to be bringing you the third installment to the blog. In this edition, we’ll explain how the background music (BGM) and sound effects (SE) are created for the game.
There are multiple groups that create the sound for Soulcalibur IV; specifically the BGM and sound effect/voice teams cooperate with outside studios to deliver the most dynamic audio for the game. To comment on the SE/voice over for the game, I will leave it to Yo****o Yano. For now, let’s get into the BGM.
The initial BGM theme of Soulcalibur IV was the “Final Battle.” (This of course doesn’t mean it’s the last game in the series. It’s just the mood that we were trying to create!). After the designer provided the theme, we started pre-production to emphasize the tension of battle rather than have the music fit a stage or environment. However during the creation process, I felt that the tone might be too heavy. In the end, the “Final Battle” BMG was too intense and the game designers requested something that was more in tuned with the Soulcalibur universe.
When it comes to the creation process, I usually don’t come up with any ideas after reading the storyline, talking with the game designers, etc. I’ll have some initial thoughts, but most of my inspiration comes when I am out of the office. Good ideas come to fruition if I still remember them by the time I get into the office. And if I don’t, then everything else is just fleeting and not meant to be.
Throughout the entire series, the background music has always sounded orchestral-like; however none of the music was ever performed by a real orchestra. We’ve created a Hybrid Orchestra Sound system that encapsulates the power and rhythm in the game that a real orchestra cannot achieve. But we know that there is a level of expression and quality that only a real orchestra can create so we tried to take those elements and incorporate them into Soulcalibur IV.
In spring 2007, the “Path of Destiny,” which was in Soulcalibur III, was played at a concert in Australia and we were impressed by the talent. That’s why with IV, we chose to record the music in Sydney, Australia because we could create something new that couldn’t be replicated in a Japanese recording studio. For more details on the recording session, please check out the music feature IGN did back in April: http://music.ign.com/articles/864/864127p1.html
Now let’s talk about the sound effects (SE)…
Yoshihito Yano
Sound Designer
Project Soul
Hi everyone. My name is Yo****o Yano and I’m in charge of the sound effects for Soulcalibur IV. As a group, we have a day-to-day task list to complete in order to create the best sound quality that surpasses the previous iterations.
We decided to do the Foley recording in a studio to enrich the overall sound. We created different audio for each footstep and armor movement as well as banged props on the ground to generate unique effects. The overall sound dynamically changes in real-time based on the battle situation.
People usually tend to notice high quality video footage, but it’s also important for the sound to be of equal magnitude. That is why we are working to create the highest sound quality for the entire Soulcalibur franchise. As the game outputs audio in 5.1 channel surround, I would strongly recommend for everyone to experience it at least once so that they can taste the punch of the audio.
I hope everyone is happy with the final results! http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/06/18/93294/
July 03, 2008
The Finer Points
Hi everyone. My name is Jaehyung An and I am the cut-scene director for Soulcalibur IV. This blog edition will focus on the story and cut-scenes within the game.
Before going into that, let me talk about why we created real-time cutscenes. In the past, realistic textures and lighting were only do-able through pre-rendered cutscenes. With the current generation of systems, we can now depict in-game textures in full detail. It also means that footage is free of any degradation. Our thought of wanting to provide the degradation-free footage to the HDTV audiences, led us decide to create the real-time cutscenes.
One of the most essential elements are the facial expressions of characters. By blending facial capturing and hand-animation, we succeeded to achieve a unique blend of realistic facial acting while keeping its original expressive characteristics. Other wonderfully beautiful and rich scenes include prominent effects personified by the real-time shading, and so on.
Of course, not only do the visuals carry the torch for cinematic excellence in the series but the audio as well. I hope you play with as many characters as possible in the story mode and enjoy each ending cut-scene.
Speaking of story, I’m Yoshihiro Nakagawa and I’m in charge of the story and character development for Soulcalibur IV.
Soulcalibur IV’s story is a culmination of the franchise’s 10 year history, centering on the two powerful swords, Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. This time around, a character that has ties to both swords will be revealed.
For the story settings of the new Soulcalibur IV characters, we established their characteristics based on their weapon and performance in the game. Character stories were also shaped by how the artists created the in-game models. Then once each character’s background story had been determined, we found ways to tie them into the “Battle between Soul Edge and Soul Calibur.”
We tried really hard to add some story-elements into the cut-scenes. In order to do so, we adjusted the development schedule so that we could prepare and create the character’s stories early on in the process and incorporate them into at the beginning of the cut-scene production. This resulted in having a very smooth development process between the finalized story and the creation of the cutscene content. Because of this optimal environment, our cut-scenes have turned out to be very high-quality, alive and emotional. http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/07/03/94745/
July 11, 2008
The Next Step
Mr. Hoshino
Lead Programmer
Namco Bandai Games
The wait is over! I am Hoshino-san, a lead programmer within the Project Soul team! In today’s blog, I would like to touch on some of the challenges we faced during the development process.
With Soulcalibur II, we did multi-platform development. But this time around we had some challenges in developing Soulcalibur IV. Still, our desire of wanting as many users to play and enjoy the game kept us moving forward. We really wanted to make this game available for all next-gen console owners.
Unlike Soulcalibur II, Soulcalibur IV is a completely new title and on top of that we didn’t fully know the capabilities of the next-gen systems. Our goal was for there to be no difference in quality between the X360 and the PS3 and at the same time we wanted to maximize each platform’s potential. Under such circumstances, our rendering team’s efforts at the early stage of the development were extraordinary. Also, keeping up with the SDK and firmware updates for both systems wasn’t easy.
Regarding online play, it was something our team has never done before and it was quite a challenge. Ultimately, the outcome is pretty satisfying and high-quality because a lot of networking experts throughout the company helped us out.
When the idea of “equipment destruction” came from our design team, we honestly got a little anxious as this too would be quite a challenge. With the combination of our effect team’s great performance and adoption of a game engine, the end results were much better than we expected.
All of the new and exciting elements to the Soul series, found in Soulcalibur IV, are the results of our programmers’ enthusiasm. We are confident that players will like them.
Personally, whenever I had a difficult time and was faced with a technical challenge, I would picture players enjoying our game. I didn’t want to make any compromises, I didn’t want to make a game that didn’t satisfy me when I imagine myself playing it, either. These are the kinds of thoughts that motivated me to pursue perfection.
The gameplay, controls, visual and audio of Soulcalibur IV on both consoles have the same quality yet make the most use of their respective system capabilities! Please enjoy both versions of the game and experience the most beautiful game in the world for yourselves!http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/2008/07/11/95726/
Answered By Hideo Yoshie, Character Designer
We aimed to make a character that is the “king” of an ultra ancient civilization and a character that obviously proves the setting of being the strongest character ever in SC series.
So, he’s wearing a costume from the ancient kingdom that isn’t recorded in history, and it was really difficult and troublesome to make the design of his costume as so just by looking at it.
The final motif of the amour ended up being the “bird,” but there were many other ideas like the lion, cobra, dinosaur and more.
I believe the design combined dynamism and splendor, and is very cool.
His right hand glows red and his left hand glows blue because he holds the Soul Edge in his right and the Soul Calibur in his left.
Also he has 10 kinds of weapons built in his body and shows a variety of fights never seen before, including flying in the air and sitting in the throne.
I want people to have fun by his buzzard actions.
There was an idea for an additional option which he causes an off-site brawl with a pipe chair instead of the throne, but we were not able to put the idea in the game this time.
By the way, the Algol that shows up in the opening demo is Algol when he was still a human.. That’s why his hair has a different color from within the game. There are some more detailed differences, so please go on and find more differences on him for fun through the game.
NB_SoulCalibur's Blog on IGN (http://blogs.ign.com/NB_SoulCalibur/)
IGN Video (http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/739/739576/vids_1.html)
Images from The-MagicBox.com June 26, 2007 (http://the-magicbox.com/0706/game070626a.shtml)
Images from 1up.com July 10, 2007 (http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3160240&sec=IMAGES)
E3 2007 Trailer July 10, 2007 (http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/12980)
E3 2007 Images July 10, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4622_en.html)
Famitsu Images August 09, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4791_en.html)
Images & Arts of Sophitia, Cassandra and Voldo August 16, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4817_en.html)
TGS 2007 Trailer HD (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25175.html)
TGS 2007 Images from The-MagicBox.com September 22, 2007 (http://the-magicbox.com/0709/game070922k.shtml)
Images of Cassandra and Mitsurugi October 26, 2007 (http://www.gamesradar.com/us/ps3/game/images/index.jsp?releaseId=20070613105150193045&page=1)
Images December 14, 2007 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_5662_en.html)
Images (Maxi, Yun Sung, Seung Mina) January 31, 2008 (http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/739/739576/imgs_1.html)
Images (Kilik, Lizardman, Xianghua) February 29, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6067_en.html)
Images (Maxi & Scheherazade) March 12, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6124_en.html)
Images (Scheherazade) March 25, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6213_en.html)
Angol Fia. March 26, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6222_en.html)
Amy, Cervantes and Zasalamel. March 28, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/gallery_8085_en.html)
Gameplay footage of Soul Calibur 4. April 17, 2008 (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32810.html)
Images (Talim, Yoshimitsu, Rock) April 28, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6384_en.html)
Images (Shura, Ashlotte, Setsuka) May 23, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6530_en.html)
Transcendance Trailer HD (May 28, 2008) (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34522.html)
Darth Vader's Apprentice (June 06, 2008) (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6607_en.html)
Gamevideos' Gameplay Video (June 10, 2008) (http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/19307)
Media from TeamXbox (June 10, 2008) (http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/2232/Soulcalibur-IV-Media-Blowout/p1)
Images of custom characters from IGN (June 20, 2008) (http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/739576/soulcalibur-iv/images/soulcalibur-iv-20080620104832795.html)
Gameplay of Soul Calibur 4 featuring 10 character. June 27, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6706_en.html)
Images of Algol. July 11, 2008 (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6768_en.html)
Images of 2P costumes. July 18, 2008 (http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1216690_1407.html)
Official Soul Calibur Website (http://www.soulcalibur.com/)
Soul Archive (http://www.soularchive.jp/SC4/character/index.html)