The Soul Still Burns

1up.com has up an in-depth preview of the PS2 exclusive Soul Caliber 3. From the article: "... Yotoriyama and team Calibur's latest effort -- a true PS2 exclusive set for release this fall -- will be packed with gameplay modes (we'll get to those later) designed to entice all types of newcomers. 'We developed [Soul Calibur III] with features that will appeal to a variety of consumers in order to get them to pick up the game and experience that great gameplay. That goal hasn't changed since we developed the first Soul Calibur [on Dreamcast].' On the gameplay side, not a whole lot has changed either -- which, for many Soul devotees, is a good thing."

Comments

I hate exclusives

[Hidyman]

I still want SC3 on XBOX 360 ... Gorram it!

Soul Calibur 3

[Anonymous Coward]

not Soul Caliber 3.

Re:Soul Calibur 3

[badasscat]

not Soul Caliber 3.

Kind of a pet peeve of mine - is it so hard to just copy and paste the correct title?

For those that don't get the reference, it's spelled "bur" as in "Excalibur". That's where the "Calibur" in "Soul Calibur" comes from. It's a play on words.

But really, even if you don't understand the pun, have you never even looked at any of the previous games? Never seen the title screen or game artwork?

Considering...

[Anonymous Coward]

that the ps2 version sold the worst out of the 3 multiplatform releases of SC:2, it's almost a certainty that sony made some sort of "agreement" to secure exclusivity of this title. I just think it'll bite the devs in the ass, they have to mostly build a whole new audience for this game now, it's franchise popularity means very little to the success of this game.

Re:Considering...

[Guppy06]

"Exclusive" doesn't mean what it used to mean. Consider Resident Evil. I expect to be playing this on my magical purple lunchbox of joy within six months.

Re:Considering...

[MyDixieWrecked]

ps2 version sold the worst out of the 3 multiplatform releases of SC:2

wtf are you talking about?!

the ps2 version was the best (mostly due to the superiorly designed controller).

perhaps you mean that the PS2 version had the worst exclusive character (haiachi)?

I never used spawn on the xbox version. I couldn't play that one more than a couple minutes since the controller sucks so bad and makes my wrists hurt almost immediately after I begin playing it.

the gamecube one was ok (link is pretty awesome), but the button layout on the controller is so horrid for SC, that I don't do well enough to warrant playing it.

Re:Considering...

[Gothic_Walrus]

[Considering] that the ps2 version sold the worst out of the 3 multiplatform releases of SC:2

Sold the worst. Not "was the worst."

Slashdot - where basic reading comprehension isn't required! :)

Re:Considering...

[MyDixieWrecked]

comprehension schmomprehension.

yeah, I misread. sorry. =P

Re:Considering...

[buffer-overflowed]

The PS2 controller sucks. It seriously is horrendously awful. A lot of people have been using it for so long, they no longer realize precisely how much it blows. Your hands will cramp when holding it for long periods of time, the buttons are cryptic with an excessively steep learning curve, the shoulders weak, the analog sticks are positioned poorly... Ugh. Give all 3 controllers to a non-gamer, cover up which system it's for, and no one is EVER going to pick the PS2 one.

Re:Considering...

[MyDixieWrecked]

hey bro, you keep replying to my posts. =P

the thumbsticks don't really bother me since the only game I've ever used them in was katamari Demacy (which they're perfectly fine for). They're way too sensitive for use in a fighting game and I do fine with the D-pad.

The d-pad on sony controllers is split, which leads to some painful thumbs, especially after playing Narutimet hero for hours on end, but I'm curious what you're favourite controller is.

The gamecube one is, by far, the most comfortable, but not suited for most games. The enlarged A button (it's A that's big, right? the green one) is a hastle most of the time. But I like the shape and it feels nice in my hands.

Xbox, don't even get me started I've dealt with 4 broken controllers and my wrists hurt after about 20 minutes of play.

My favourite semi-modern controller is the dreamcast. It was perfect for SC and had a good overall feel and weight.

next on my list is the 6-button mini-controller for the genesis

The last working home console I bought was a turbo grafix 16, so all of my gaming has been on my friends'/ roommates systems for the last 10 years or so, or handheld gaming (I love my SP, DS and PSP).

I used to hate the snes controller when I was a kid, but that was only because it was such a pain to do a haduken with a shoulder button.

Re:Considering...

[buffer-overflowed]

Hah, you replied to me/Sielwolfs back and forth! And appear to have gotten the joke. You rock.

I love the dreamcast controller as well. My favorite of the current gen is probably the Gamecube, even though it's horribly suited to a few genres(like console FPSes). It just has an incredibly shallow learning curve, and it's layout makes sense mentally. It's comfortable, and it's analog stick is probably the most like an actual joystick out of all of the controllers. Plus the wavebird is excellent. One of its big flaws is the d-pad. Which I would call about as useful as an appendix is to us, a vestigal organ. If you're going to deprecate something that much, don't bother including it. The other problem with the GCN controller is that it's nigh-impossible to hit b+x, which removes one button combo.

Anyway, Dreamcast, then Gamecube, then the XBox S. Which has a sort of dreamcast-esque feel to it to me anyway. Then the dualshock.

Of course, I've been using a dualshock for over a decade now, so I'm really, really used to it. But it's still tough mentally to remember, without holding one and doing the movements, where the various abxy equiv buttons are. If I factor in experience, then the dualshock wins out over everything but the dreamcast, but not because of any design merits. The whole analog clicking thing... well, ugh.

Of the old controllers, well I loved the original NES one, not because of layout, but because of sheer durability, important in something that's frequently power-chucked at walls. The rest were all fine, except atari's non-self centering joystick.

Re:Considering...

[MyDixieWrecked]

yeah, I try. fortunately for you guys I don't have an attention span long enough to actually read that crap and post something real.

I was gonna give the NES controller honorable mention, but when I get on a roll typing I lose my point, so yeah. NES controller was great, albeit, too small for a adult's hands.

my hands cramp up worse when using oldschool NES controllers than the enormous XBox cuntroller.

I'm not familiar with the Xbox S. I assume that's the mini-controller the japanese were crying for.

The name of the game

[Anonymous Coward]

Geez. It's Soul Calibur! CalibUr. Like, you know, Excaliber.

Stealing thunder?

[askew1]

It makes me wonder why they decided to make it an exclusive. I'm sure they'd sell millions of copies if it was an XBOX360 launch title. It might even look better. I don't think it could play any better.

But I guess considering the history of the game and the sheer number of PS2 consoles sold they're guaranteed to sell more copies of it. If they release before the XBOX360, they could steal some thunder (and funds) from M$ as well.

Re:Stealing thunder?

[ZakuSage]

It's easier, faster, and makes the game look better if it's focused on one console. Porting the game to X360 wouldn't be wourth it, as they'd make more money just selling it on PS2. Same goes for porting it to GCN or XBX. This is especially true for PS2. To make something look great on PS2 it really has to make good use of the console, which is obscure in archetecture. Porting away from this archetecture takes time, effort, whatever, and while it would be good fan service, it's a lot easier for them to focus on one console and the one with 91 million sold is an easy choice (a 65 million console lead on the nearest competitor).

Re:Stealing thunder?

[VGMSupreme]

it's a lot easier for them to focus on one console and the one with 91 million sold is an easy choice (a 65 million console lead on the nearest competitor).

While true, I would still make since to port it also to other systems, a la Soul Calibur II. While the PS2 has 91 million units sold, you are only going to get a subset of that number. If you add in the subset of the numbers for the GC and the XBox, then you are talking about much more value for you game, and extra revenue.

I still would not have it going into the XBox360, only cause it is still new architecture, and it might not be ready at the Xbox360 launch. Leaving it on the PS2 is for people who are not going to buy it at Xmas or for families who can't afford it right now.

"Sorry Johnny, we could not get your Xbox 360... but look. This "Soul Calibur III" is out, and you can play it on your PS2."

Re:Stealing thunder?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Porting the game to X360 wouldn't be wourth it, as they'd make more money just selling it on PS2. Same goes for porting it to GCN or XBX"

This isn't actually true. Simply by making Link a playable character in Soul Calibur II the Gamecube's version outsold both the XBox and PS2 versions in North America and Japan (I'm not sure about europe though). I'm positive that if Namco wanted to re-create that success they could talk to Nintendo about keeping Link as a Playable character (which shouldn't be too hard, the could possibly reuse a lot of the content) and possibly have Gannon as an unlockable character. The total cost of porting the game would be a minimal cost to refactor minor sections of the engine, and the cost of adding 1 different character; the total benefit would be 2 Million units sold.

The simple fact is that in this day and age both Sony and Microsoft are using "dirty tricks" to encourage exclusive content; Microsoft throws money around and Sony (I have heard) will throw around threats until you comply.

Re:Stealing thunder?

[apoc06]

you also leave out the fact that due to the layout of the gamecube controller, there are very few fighting games on the gamecube as is.

the release of a game of this "caliber" and you have an instant hit on the fighting genre deprived gamecube. its harder to release a fighting game on the ps2 or even xbox because there is more competition for the fighting genre fans.

but dont fret. nowadays the term exclusive usually only applies for a certain amount of months. look at grand theft auto. look at metal gear solid. if you dont have all of the systems, just be patient.

Re:Stealing thunder?

[apoc06]

yeah, but porting the entire engine and game would be one serious headache. i have no idea how the engine runs under the hood, but porting it to either of the parrallel running architectures of the next gen systems would be one serious headache.

granted the game would probably sell pretty well since there are few launch fighting titles, but still the userbase for the next gen systems will be alot smaller than the current generations. it took namco a while to learn how to harness the power of the current gen systems, im sure they would rather have a decent current gen title, than a launch title that plays suspiciously due to them still trying to get a grips on the newer architecture.

since its at least temporarily exclusive, they will probably pull in lots of SC fans that own multiple systems. and they also avoid the inevitable "well, all these games are great and cool and all, but the graphics here are better, the controller here is better"-banter from those of use with multiple systems too.

Re:Stealing thunder?

[YomikoReadman]

The lack of fighting games on the GCN has far less to do with the controller layout and more to do with the target demographic. While putting in Link as a playable character in SCII pushed it far past both the Xbox and PS2 versions of the same, the console simply doesn't need a horde of crappy fighting games , assuming that's what you're referring to as competition. Getting back to the controller layout, I personally preferred the GCN controller layout to that of the PS2 and XBox versions. Then again, I find the GCN controller to be better on a lot of levels than the micro sized PS2 controller, and the oversized XBox controller, and yes, I do have the S models for mine.

Ultimately, regardless of whether or not SCIII gets moved to other consoles, I think restricting it to the PS2 is a really bad idea. Work in Samus, Zelda/Shiek or perhaps one of the characters from Fire Emblem and put it back on the GCN.. then watch the money roll in.

Re:Stealing thunder?

[apoc06]

capcom and namco each have created tons of decent fighting games, and most would not be considered crap. the majority of their games end up on the ps2; if not just the ps2 exclusively. each company has their reasons; thats just the way it is.

for target demographics being the reason for there not being many GC fighting games, but you also admit that the GC version sold well. super smash brothers sold well. i would say that there is a market for gc fighting games. publishers and developers are just choosing not to publish them for the gc. also you mention that working in other nintendo characters would help the game sell even more. basically it sounds like you are wishing for soul calibur ripped of its story and characters just replaced by nintendo properties?!??! im envisioning super smash brothers powered by the soul edge engine!!! lol.

if your thinking is indicative of how most nintendo owners felt, what hope would a third party developer have in creating titles for the revolution if he doesnt somehow work mario, zelda, samus, etc into the game? im sure that many already feel this way, hence lack of much third party support. namco has its own intellectual property, i doubt they wish to contine down the road of paying for licenses from other companies when they themselves have dozens of their own original characters. smaller developers obviously couldnt afford to pay for such a license, so where would that leave them in nintendo-land?

as for controllers, each is well suited for different things. my hands must be better suited for the ps2. to each his own, but admittedly many gc owners complain about the button layout of the gc controller not working well with many games. [read the posts on this page alone if you want proof].

also, why is it that no one here is crying that there is no tekken5 for GC or xbox?

Re:Stealing thunder?

[YomikoReadman]

for target demographics being the reason for there not being many GC fighting games, but you also admit that the GC version sold well. super smash brothers sold well. i would say that there is a market for gc fighting games. publishers and developers are just choosing not to publish them for the gc. also you mention that working in other nintendo characters would help the game sell even more. basically it sounds like you are wishing for soul calibur ripped of its story and characters just replaced by nintendo properties?!??! im envisioning super smash brothers powered by the soul edge engine!!! lol.

Just because Smash Brothers and SCII w/ Link did well doesn't mean that all games will do well. SCII did well because of Link. Smash Brothers, OTOH, is not atypical of a 2D/3D fighting game such as Soul Calibur or Tekken. Lumping it in with them is pretty stupid and nearsighted, IMO. As for me wanting Soul Calibur with Nintendo characters, I don't. However, more of the same that they did with SCII, working outside characters into the Soul Calibur world would be nice.

f your thinking is indicative of how most nintendo owners felt, what hope would a third party developer have in creating titles for the revolution if he doesnt somehow work mario, zelda, samus, etc into the game? im sure that many already feel this way, hence lack of much third party support. namco has its own intellectual property, i doubt they wish to contine down the road of paying for licenses from other companies when they themselves have dozens of their own original characters. smaller developers obviously couldnt afford to pay for such a license, so where would that leave them in nintendo-land?

Where on earth did I say that? Again, Soul Calibur did well because of Link. That doesn't automatically mean that any 3rd party game will automatically fail. Super Monkey Ball and it's kin are outstanding examples of that. Nice troll on your part there, though.

As to the GCN layout, anyone who had an issue with that bought an arcade style joystick. I know that I personally did. Ultimately, while I can deal with the GCN layout, and I can deal with the PS2 layout, they both ultimately suck by comparison to an arcade stick. That said, neither prevented me from doing everything with the gamepad that I can do on an arcade stick.

As to tekken, noone cries for Tekken 5 because it sucks. It's more of the same crap that was in Tekken through Tekken Tag. As has been said elsewhere in the thread:

Tekken is the worlds worst game of Trivial Pursuit. It's all about who knows how to chain together ridiculously obscure moves which will prevent your opponent from doing a thing

That right there completely sums up my thoughts on Tekken. I'll take Soul Calibur, DoA, Marvel vs Capcom or Capcom vs SNK over that trash any day of the week.

Re:Stealing thunder?

[apoc06]

yeah, i might have been exaggerating a bit as far as sc3 using nintendo characters. i am just saying that there is a very real sentiment amongst developers that GC games succeed based upon their alignment with the existing nintendo properties. many [not all] third party developers w/o NoA licensed characters release games for GC that they have ported to other platforms or they choose to continue known gc-friendly franchises.

in terms of adding licensed nintendo properties to third party games, you have to understand that can get expensive. not all developers have to do that, but its starting to get underlined all the time by NoA that titles using their characters get an added boost. that boost is something that publishers will push their development houses for. they are always after squeezing that last dollar out of our collective pockets.

as for the control scheme of the nintendo controller versus the other controllers, i would say that the GC controller is slightly harder to use for your average cross platform game this generation. there are several that share my sentiment, but everyone has their own preference. for example there are people that still swear by the original xbox "hamburger" controller. personally, its just that its probably the main gripe i hear from loyal nintendo fans themselves.

as for tekken, tekken 5 does not suck. tekken tag... eh, ill give you that. the comment you referenced refers to tekken tag, not tekken5. try it out once if you get a chance. its not sc2 or 3, but its much better than tekken tag.

Re:Stealing thunder?

[YomikoReadman]

I've played Tekken 5 in the arcades. Admittedly, it's not as bad as Tekken 4 or Tekken Tag. However, that doesn't mean it's not the same old 'learn every move with one of 2 or 3 characters and then only someone who's just as good with one of thsoe can tie you every match'. It is, and that sucks, plain and simple.

As to controllers, the only folks I hear singing the praises of the original XBox controller are those strange MS fanboys who think they can do no wrong. Every other sane person, even those with really big hands, seem to think that it sucks. As to nintendo fans, I've rarely found a rabid one. All the rabid fans seem to be PS2 fans or XBox fans. Ultimately, it's what you're used to, I suppose. I get along fine with all the controllers, but I tend to use slightly larger 3rd party PS2 controllers, stock GCNs and since the S controller is the smallest available for Xbox, I'm stuck with that. I'd prefer something smaller, but w/e.

PS2?

[ElleyKitten]

With the 360 and the PS3 releases so soon, it doesn't really make much sense to make it for PS2, let alone PS2 only. The Gamecube version of SC2 sold much better than the PS2 version anyway, so I think they definately choose the wrong system to be exclusive to.

Re:PS2?

[xenocide2]

While I can appreciate someone who is fond of ye olde Nintendo, there is a counter argument. SC2 sold well to the cube audience, but if you consider SC3 to be a product that caters more to the audience on the ps2 that didn't buy last time might make the franchise more popular overall. As for the exclusity, I can only imagine that they expect the sales boost from the other two franchises to not be worth the extra cost. Or hats of money, but that seems a bit silly.

Basically, you have no sense of business. Follow the money. The games industry is an industry first, an art a distant second.

Re:PS2?

[ZakuSage]

If I remember correctly, while % wise it sold better on GCN, the game in real numbers sold much better on PS2.

Re:PS2?

[Anonymous Coward]

Meh, I don't know. I read a few writeups when picking which version to buy, and they all said the PS2 was the worst of the three, with the Xbox having a slight edge graphics wise over the GC version. So it became a question of which bonus character to get.

Some dude from Tekken, Spawn, or Link. I went for Link.

Re:PS2?

[MWoody]

The 3 versions were identical save for a) graphics and b) a single extra character. The PS2 lost in terms of graphics, as could be expected; Gamecube was much better, and XBox a little better than the 'cube. As for special character, XBox got Spawn, PS2 got Heihachi (from Tekken - a boring, pointy-haired old Japanese man), and THE GAMECUBE GOT LINK.

So, given the choice, fans of the series obviously went for the Gamecube or XBox version, with the only people buying the PS2 version doing so because they're huge Tekken fans and/or they only own a PS2. However, with the choice of systems removed, those folks (myself included) who got the XBox or GC version would gladly purchase the PS2 version.

It does seem a little surprising that it's not a PS3 title, but we've got to play SOMETHING while waiting for the next gen. Frankly, I've been a little disappointed with the lack of new games in the past month, and I'm glad not everyone is jumping on the new system bandwagon just yet.

Re:PS2?

[Anonymous Coward]

Soul Calibur sales in North America:

Gamecube: 767,000
PS2: 709,000

http://www.the-magicbox.com/Chart-USPlatinum.shtml

I don't have a link for it but the same story is repeated in both Europe and Japan. The only reason (I suspect) that Namco is going PS2 exclusive with Soul Calibur is that Tekken 4 and Tekken Tag Tournament both sold over 1 Million units in North America and Japan and they suspect that Soul Calibur III can match those numbers if it were PS2 exclusive.

Re:PS2?

[DarkZero]

With the 360 and the PS3 releases so soon, it doesn't really make much sense to make it for PS2, let alone PS2 only.

I think it's really pretty simple:

PS2 installed base > 360 and PS3 launch sales

Ease of coding on PS2 > ease of coding on new console

Ease of coding on one console > ease of coding on many

As great as the Soul Calibur series is, it's really just a rehash of Street Fighter 2's sales formula. They've found a great gameplay engine with very few bugs, which is all that any fighting game fan really wants, and they just keep using the same core game engine and movelist over and over while adding a few graphical tweaks, minigames, and a handful of extra characters. The entire philosophy behind it seems to be, much like SF2, "let's find a way to do less work for more money". Releasing it only on the PS2 means that the game is cheaper to make, but will still sell very strongly.

It's also worth noting that a lot of Xbox and GameCube owners also own a PS2, but chose to buy the Xbox or GameCube versions because they're prettier. They may have sold like 700,000 copies of SC2 for the GameCube, but they'll probably only lose like 25% of those customers by making it PS2 exclusive, because a lot of those GameCube customers also own a PS2. The lost sales from making it PS2 exclusive are probably eclipsed by the savings from only coding on one console and not bothering with making multiple ports that all have to be individually coded, bug tested, packaged, and shipped.

Re:PS2?

[ElleyKitten]

>>Basically, you have no sense of business. Follow the money. The games industry is an industry first, an art a distant second.

I wasn't saying it should be on Cube because it would be more artsy or whatever you were going for here, I was saying it should be on Cube because SC2 sold the most on Cube. Now, some of them will probably buy SC3 on PS2, but some don't have PS2s, some won't buy SC3 for other reasons, and some will realize the only reason they bought SC2 was for Link (and there were a lot of people in this catagory) who might have bought SC3 for Cube, but there's not a chance they'll buy it for PS2. I'm not sure what they're doing with SC3 to make the people who didn't buy SC2 want it, but I really don't think they'll find enough new customers to replace the XBox and Cube fans they're losing. Of course, this is only speculation. We'll find out who's right when SC3 comes out.

Re:PS2?

[Anonymous Coward]

i had the xbox version and i will beg to differ. the graphics may be a tad nicer on the xbox, but they are leaving out that the gameplay was considerably better on the ps2. i bought the xbox version due to the graphics, but the control setup let alot wanting.

what genius decided that the edges of the xbox controller s should have stiff, sharp edges?!?!?!? fighting games using the dpad will have you aching after 30 minutes. trust me unlocking everything on that sucker meant some hurt thumbs. the GC controller is useless when it comes to fighting games. well, any game that doesnt require the use of anything other than one main button.

sold it a while back, but makes me wish i had invested in the ps2 version instead, maybe i would still have it.

Re:PS2?

[apoc06]

also, we still do not know what additional costs namco incurred by including the three different characters in sc2. obviously since they are the owners of the tekken IP, including heihachi didnt cost them anything. they ported over several of his moves/animations from tekken, so thats less work; they saved there. licensing spawn and necrid from todd mcfarlane for the xbox version undoubtedly cost them. im sure that nintendo didnt just hand over link for free either, but that's debatable.

once those licensing fees are taken into account, its quite possible that the ps2 version made them the most money even though it didnt sell as well.

SNES-itis

[shoptroll]

Just let the system die already!

Seriously, I think after playing GTA3 + VC exclusively on PC i've become a bit biased towards the system (PC version looks magnitudes better... San Andreas' PC Screens look mint), but hasn't the PS2 been around for almost 5-6 years now?

Namco would've been better off doing the cross-platform release again.

Re:SNES-itis

[jclast]

Maybe not SNES, but I don't think we should just move on. With all the backwards compatibility, does Alien Hominid 2 really need to be on the XBox 360? Will ports and remakes really take up all the room on a BluRay?

I know I'd buy a lot more compilations and ports if they were released on the last generation's media. After all, I'll be able to play PSX, PS2, and PS3 games on my PS3, right? Why not port Final Fantasy III or Front Mission to the PSX? You've got a huge pre-installed base, and you can still make money from those who haven't bought the latest and greatest yet.

And what about the little guys? Can they all afford a run on the Revolution? Probably not, but I bet it'd be a lot easier to press some GameCube discs. Old doesn't have to mean dead.

Re:SNES-itis

[YamadaJiro]

The PS2 is the video game console guaranteed to be in more homes than any other game machine, period. Making a game for it still makes sense, especially since the PS3 will supposedly be backwards compatible. I'm betting they'll make "SC3 Championship Edition" or something for next-gen consoles in a little while, just to milk the series.

Re:SNES-itis

[ElleyKitten]

>>Why not port Final Fantasy III ... to the PSX?

Wow, someone else besides me actually cares that they haven't done that! Seriously, I have FF 1-9 minus 3 on my playstation, and that's really annoying. Supposedly it's coming out for DS, but it's just not the same. Of course, I'ld probably buy it for both systems like I did with FF1+2, but that might just be because I'm dumb.

Ok, that was horribly off-topic and rather pointless. But more on off-topicness, what's wrong with SNES-itis? The SNES is a great system that I still play. Seriously. I played Illusion of Gaia yesterday. I'm a freak. I'll go away now.

Re:SNES-itis

[shoptroll]

Actually, Front Mission was ported to PSX (as Front Mission 1st) to coincide with the release of the 4th game in the series. However, 1st was never released stateside.

I think the idea nintendo might be trying to pull off with the revolution is that if you don't need all the features of the Revolution, make an N64 or SNES game if you want for their digital distribution (maybe for indie developers, homebrewers, or enthusiasts). It'd be an interesting to see if thats where things go eventually.

My original point is that it seems foolish for them to snag an exclusive agreement with Sony with the PS3 looming and the fact that the PS2 ought to be heading for "retirement" soon.

I'm actually currently readying myself for a go at Secret of Mana with some of my roomates. I wasn't knocking longevity of systems, it just seems like Namco could've had better options.

Gameplay

[jellodc]

I think the gameplay changes would be the biggest impact for the true fans of the series. I've played sc and scii before, but I have a couple friends who have mastered it and they've tried explaining to me how balanced the gameplay is that any little change could ruin a potentially good game.

Re:Gameplay

[superpulpsicle]

I played the original sc in the arcade when it was surrounded by swamps of people. sc faded, and I didn't even bother with sc2.

The fighting game era is over. The last good fighting games are Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament. And that's pushing it compared to the fighting eras of the 90s.

Re:Gameplay

[YamadaJiro]

According to the article, they've only made minor changes: guard impact went back to SC1 controls, and the playfield is smaller to force more 8-way run. Most hardcore SC players I know hated the simpler guard impact system, so this is welcome news.

Basically, it sounds like SC3 is really just the best of SC1 and SC2, as well as a lot of new modes. No complaints here.

Re:Gameplay

[MadMoses]

The fighting game era may be over for you, but it is not over for us.

Re:Gameplay

[Pxtl]

Speak for yourself. Powerstone II, Virtual On, and Super Smash are specacular games (fitting loosely in the genre). Tekken Tag, meanwhile, is the world's fastest game of Trivial Pursuit. It's just a contest to see who knows the more obscure moves. Soul Calibur, by comparison, is actually _fun_.

And apparently, the MvsSNK games were a big hit.

Re:Gameplay

[mink]

Rival Schools for the Dreamcast is way fun as well.

Soul CALIBUR

[Elkboy]

It's Soul Calibur, not Soul Caliber. Common unnessecary spelling misstake on the intertron - especially since the game's name is written in big, bold letters on top of the page.

My guess it comes from Excalibur.

Re:Soul CALIBUR

[Anonymous Coward]

That's right. The Soul Calibur is supposed to be a shape-shifting weapon that takes on the form its wielder is most comfortable with. The idea is that many different legendary weapons such as Excalibur were actually Soul Calibur.

However, in all of the games so far (including, of course, the original game Soul Edge) all of the characters have been out to either obtain or destroy the evil weapon Soul Edge which is also a shape shifting weapon.

So here's the storyline in a nutshell for Soul Edge through Soul Calibur II:

The pirate Cervantes was the first one to have Soul Edge. He was killed by Siegfried who believed the sword had the power to revive his dead father. The sword told him that in order for it to become powerful enough to do this he had to kill as many innocent people as possible and he became consumed by the sword's evil to become Nightmare. Later, it was revealed that Xianghua's mother's sword was actually Soul Calibur and she used it to shatter Soul Edge. However, after the fight Soul Calibur was pulled into a void by Inferno, the spirit of Soul Edge. After this the fragments of Soul Edge still exist and Cervantes is resurrected by one of the fragments. Nightmare also possesses a fragment and as the two of them kill more people their fragments begin to grow back. Even though both of them both have a considerable portion of the power of the original sword, it will not be complete until all of the fragments are rejoined.

There are many other subplots in addition to this. I've found the back story for all of the characters to be surprisingly well written over all but one thing still confuses me. Why on Earth would a 17th century Greek woman be worshipping the gods of Olympus instead of being a member of the Greek Orthodox Church?

Re:Soul CALIBUR

[mink]

For the same reason a 20th century American woman descended from African and Egyptian blood would worship Athena. Because it's her choice.

A Behind Closed Doors Apology?

[sesshomaru]

When I heard that SC3 was going to be a PS2 exclusive, my immediate thought was that Sony put the screws to Namco over the fact that they got the worst of the three extra characters. XBox got Spawn, Gamecube got Link and PS2 got Heihachi Mishima. Now, I like Heihachi fine, but the fact is he just doesn't have the pizzazz of the other two.

Re:A Behind Closed Doors Apology?

[apoc06]

after playing the xbox and ps2 versions [i own the xbox version] i can say that spawn wasnt exactly the greatest character they could have used. spawn would have been more well suited to something like a streetfighter or darkstalkers. more of a 2d fighting game character since you dont really get to use most of what could be considered his really cool abilities. heihachi is solid, and link sounded interesting, but well... i havent played it. the overuse of nintendo franchises kinda disturbs me.

Waiting for a Xbox, GameCube, 360 or Revolution

[Cap-America]

I'm waiting for the Xbox, GameCube, Xbox360 or Revolution version of this or Soul Calibur 4.
I didn't like it on the PS2 and I hate the fact that its PS2 Only. Lets just hope this is just temp.

Re:Waiting for a Xbox, GameCube, 360 or Revolution

[james_r_boyer]

I wont buy it either. I am not a fan of the PS2 controller or graphics. It's a real lost being PS2 only. Oh well plenty of other games to buy.

Where's the online play?

[EverdredReturns]

I loved SC2, played it a lot on PS2 and GC, and am looking forward to this one despite their single-system stubbornness. But, where are the online modes? The majority of other fighters have an online mode in at least one of their incarnations, so doing the same for arguably the best 3D fighting series around should be a no-brainer. The character creation mode looks pretty fun. I just hope they can maintain the previous games's balance. Having online battles would have made the custom characters so much sweeter, though...

Re:Where's the online play?

[CoffeeJedi]

i have a feeling that that's partially why we won't be seeing this on XBox, MS probably made online play a requirement, and Namco didn't want to. seeing how online play isn't as popular or widespread on PS2, they could get away with not including it.

Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[Enti]

I'm not all that disappointed over the supposed PS2-only launch. The hardware is obviously dated, but I'm sure you guys can stomach only a slight increase in bounce realism as far as Taki is concerned. The real issue is something that everyone else seems to be overlooking - The PS2's perfect controller. I know, I know, 'Link is super sweet omgwtf', but the Gamecube's controller is disgusting when it comes to fighting titles (and some other popular genres). I can't count how many times I failed to chain attacks properly because the adorable (3) bean buttons were never designed to be used the way SCII requires them to be with some of it's characters. The X-box controller is a matter of preference. I think the D-pad feels horribly placed (too low) compared to how the PS2's is located right around the thumb's neutral position. Seriously though, I love the Xbox controller; it's only way to fly right now for PC gamepads (Psychonauts is pure digital love with it in hand)... until the 360's native USB hits and changes everything for the better (is that still a touted feature, or am I ten or so press releases behind?). Don't think that I'm making this call purely based on what I've seen of the GC controller from the other side of a glass case at Best Buy. I purchased it for my GC (only system I have, by the way), and played countless hours. Unfortunately though, it was ruined for me after I was at a friend's house for a bit of gaming. After a half hour on the PS2, I was sold, and still can't bring myself to play it again on the GC. Either way, PS2 takes the cake as far as I'm concerned.

P.S. I guess you could always just use a converter, but I'm told those do not fly so well in tournaments.

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[Enti]

Damn, posted my first version instead of the rewrite. I'm not good with the intarnet how did that gte ther -_-

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[murky_lurker]

Amen. My experiences with the terrible controls in COD - Finest Hour for the Cube has sworn me off Activision shovelware conversions for the future- the Normandy landings were tricky enough without soldiers accidentally falling to prone position when attempting to aim/shoot. That said, I was never totally convinced about that little D-pad. It's cute as a salute to the controllers of yore, but in most games I've played it's too fiddly to be of much use.

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[iainl]

If you're playing in tournaments, then I'd expect to be laughed out of the room for using anything other than one of Hori's arcade sticks anyway. Neither pad comes close to the precision and response of a stick and full-size face buttons. Not just because you can perform the more complex combos on a stick with greater ease, but having the four buttons under your hand without having to move means you're much faster. Blocking with your thumb alone turns your game up several notches.

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[Prophet of Nixon]

I find the best controller for SC2 to be the old (big) xbox controller, since it has six face buttons in two rows, and its handy to set the extra two buttons to horizontal+kick and vertical+kick. I still don't understand why they quit making those, I would've left them on-market along with the smaller ones (which are also nice for certain games). Either one beats a PS2 controller by a mile, which is so small and lacking-of-grip that it makes my hands cramp.

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Most games shops here in the UK still seem to sell third party versions of the original model X-Box controller, as well as the newer S-controller and its spin-offs. Of course, my experiences of these "cheap and nasty" controllers in the past have been pretty poor, particularly in terms of reliability (I had 3 of the aforementioned 3rd party controllers a year ago, only one is still working now), so you take a chance in buying one. Mind you, this isn't confined to X-Box and/or 3rd party controllers. My Gamecube controller gave up the ghost after about 12 months of intermittent use, with the console itself expiring about 2 months later. Ironically, my three-year-old PS2 still works perfectly well, despite having had a veritable hammering.

Of the three systems' controllers, I'd probably take the X-Box S-controller as my first pick. I agree that the dualshock is slightly too small and doesn't offer as much grip as it could. The original X-Box controller is just a bit too large for me on most games. I sometimes get the feeling it was built with Halo specifically in mind, then had to be redesigned in a hurry once it became clear how awful it was for most other games. The Gamecube controller is just... nasty. I can only assume that a lot of alcohol was involved in its design. The three little bean-shaped buttons are almost impossible to access in a hurry, particularly if you want to do so without hitting the big green blob of doom in the process. Don't even get me started on the length of the cable they ship with it.

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[Enti]

Good point. The Xbox controller was the only one designed for the average american hand - big size 4 lyf!

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[nekoes]

Link is super sweet omgwtf!!11oe

Re:Visually defeated, but pad still sexy?!

[buffer-overflowed]

The PS2 controller sucks. It's just sucked for so long, we're all used to it.

Hahahahaha

[Anonymous Coward]

Real gamers play with the arcade sticks. Gamepad controllers? Buhahahaha

Modded Overrated

[sesshomaru]

When I heard that SC3 was going to be a PS2 exclusive, my immediate thought was that Sony put the screws to Namco over the fact that they got the worst of the three extra characters. XBox got Spawn, Gamecube got Link and PS2 got Heihachi Mishima. Now, I like Heihachi fine, but the fact is he just doesn't have the pizzazz of the other two.

Hmm, that got modded "overrated" so it wouldn't be metamodded, I still think it is a valid point though.

Re:Modded Overrated

[sesshomaru]

When I heard that SC3 was going to be a PS2 exclusive, my immediate thought was that Sony put the screws to Namco over the fact that they got the worst of the three extra characters. XBox got Spawn, Gamecube got Link and PS2 got Heihachi Mishima. Now, I like Heihachi fine, but the fact is he just doesn't have the pizzazz of the other two.

Somebody really didn't want anyone to see this post.

Sony and PS2 APIs

[Taulin]

Over the years, Sony has slowly released better APIs allowing developers more direct access to the hardware. At the beginning they were really stingy. God of War really shows off the system and gave me faith even though I thought the PS2 was dead. Then again, GOW was created by a Sony team, so I am sure they really have the inside APIs to hit the hardware hard. Perhaps Namco made deal with Sony.

typical hater's comment

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop dreaming. Buy PS2...

I'm just disgusted to imagine the reason you don't buy PS2.

Crap.

[Premo_Maggot]

I was hoping they were going to release this on Dreamcast 2. But seriously, what the hell, why isn't it going to be in arcades?

Not getting PS/2 for one game.

[sl3xd]

Too bad it's PS/2 only. I quite liked how Soul Calibur 2 was a tri-console release; have the Xbox and Gamecube versions. Too bad, though; I won't be getting SC3 because I'm not buying the PS/2 for that one game. (And it's the only game that even tempts me...)

I love this series!

[H0D_G]

Soul Calibur, for me, is the greatest console fighter out there. As A PS2 owner, I'm glad that I will be able to play it. I'm sure Namco knows what it's doing.