Jason Axelrod

We don't get a lot of SOULCALIBUR news these days. Project Soul is currently putting all of it's efforts into its recent free-to-play single-player title.

So for now, in the meantime; while we wait ever-patiently for signs of SOULCALIBUR VI, we'll have to settle for costume pack trailers for Lost Swords. This month's trailer has the upcoming "Magic Knight" pack, designed by manga artist Yamatogawa... yeah... looks nice.

Over the past few days, regular visitors may have noticed a series of small changes to the front page. This is from a brand new article and widget system I have recently implemented here on 8WAYRUN. I have done my best to keep the new system looking like the old system, but there are a myriad of changes behind the scene.

Firstly, and most importantly: the front page article list. The new system has a much better record when it comes to performance. The front page will now load three times faster (according to database performance, not necessarily your bandwidth constraints). In addition to this, you will notice the new larger feature slider which spans the length of the entire page instead. Fully response, this slider will work on your touch devices.

So by now we all know that the HD remake of SC2 was created using the European version of the game; which happened to be the final edition of the game when it came out back in the previous generation of consoles. Unfortunately, it also happened to be the worst version of the game; so bad that even at some European tournaments, they used the North American version!

Well this week, Bandai-Namco (formerly Namco-Bandai), released a patch that addresses some of the bugs introduced with the European version; as well as some of the bugs introduced in the HD-porting process. No word on whether or not this patch adjusts many of the issues with frames in the game, including the changes to clash windows... However, this is pretty good since I don't think any of us were expecting a patch in the first place.

With Christmas around the corner, it has become obvious to anyone that the release for Lost Swords has slipped into 2014. Initially slated for release before the end of 2013, Namco-Bandai has just confirmed that the game will not get an official release till next year. Project Soul has pushed the game back in order to provide a higher quality game to it's fans.

With the bad news however, is some good news. Three new characters have been added to the roster. In addition to the previously announced Mitsurugi, Siegfried and Sophitia; Astaroth, Nightmare and Pyrrha will also be playable upon the game's release. How do you guys feel about the choice of new characters? Did they add your favorite character? Are you disappointed at the addition of yet another sword and shield character?

So a couple of months ago, we unveiled a large rewrite to the Media Library here on 8WAYRUN. The core function of the rewrite was to build up a "filter" system so that videos could be more easily sorted based on the character usage within those videos. The filters work in a *booru-style system that allows you to add and remove character filters at will.

Well as of today, that feature has been expanded! Now, in addition to character usage, players can also be tagged to videos; provided that player has an account here on 8WAYRUN. So in addition to being able to search for videos featuring both Talim and Sophitia, you can refine the search to include specificity of players as well! For example, you can easily locate videos featuring: Hwang and Ramon!

Naturally, since this is a new feature, and there have been zero players tagged in the past; I'm asking you users to help go through the almost 6,000 videos already in the archives and start tagging players!

A fellow member of 8WAYRUN @saki has been working tirelessly for the past few months on a fan-made version of SOUL EDGE 2. The game is based on the very popular M.U.G.E.N. platform, so naturally its a 2D, 6 button fighter. But this isn't just some simple M.U.G.E.N. mod; he's customized everything, down to the menus and the music.

Since this is the first public version of the game, only a few characters are currently available: Cervantes, Mitsurugi, Taki, Sophitia, Siegfried, Nightmare, Ivy, Astaroth, Seong Mi-Na, Jin Kazama (Tekken) and Saber (Fate). There are also seven iconic Soulcalibur stages recreated in 2D form. Saki informs us that not all characters are complete (only 4 characters even have throws), and that this is strictly a beta.

In case you've been out of the loop (what the hell?), SOULCALIBUR II is getting an HD remake! And its releasing today on PSN, and tomorrow on XBL for the low price of $20. In addition to being an HD remake of the most successful SOULCALIBUR game to date, it will also be receiving an online mode; hopefully with the best-in-class netcode found in other Namco fighters.

So in honor of this auspicious release, we here at 8WAYRUN will be giving out a series of download codes (courtesy of Namco-Bandai) for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of the game. In order to enter, all you need to do is retweet the above tweet! If you win, we will contact you with details on which version you want... so make sure you also click that FOLLOW button.