Jason Axelrod

We got a few entries for the previous topic, and some people decided to take it in interesting directions. This week's topic is much more relevant to Soulcalibur 5. Concept Box Art! At the moment, Namco has yet to reveal the box art, nor the release date for SC5. So now you'll be able to send in your own box art ideas... As usual, be as creative as you want.

SAN JOSE, Calif., (October 6, 2011) – Leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced a clubNAMCO exclusive version of TEKKEN® Hybrid for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

This exclusive bundle includes TEKKEN Hybrid’s Limited Edition two-disc soundtrack and art book, along with an exclusive Mad Catz® all-black "TEKKEN Hybrid – Namco Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition ‘S’”. The TEKKEN Hybrid “Extreme” bundle will be limited to 1000 units and will be sold exclusively through the newly revamped clubNAMCO online store at www.clubnamco.com for $249.99.

We didn't get many entries for the prior Fanart Friday, so I extended it for two weeks... and we still didn't get too many entries. That's okay, it wasn't a topic I expected to appeal to many users. So this week will have a much broader appeal!

This week's topic is simple... Soulcalibur characters in present day! Just like Zasalamel's ending in Soulcalibur 4; what would your favorite characters look like if they were alive today? Be as creative as you want.

Well last week was a mistake. This was an awful, awful idea; and any of you who participated in it should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. These are not good, and I already regret ever doing this! You people are sick!

Hopefully this week's topic will give us a reprieve from you nasty people. Its a lot simpler: custom stages. Come up with some stage design; whether you want to be ornate and come up with a setting, or be as simple as possible and come up with a mechanic is up to you.

Tokyo Game Show started today (half a day ago, due to timezones) and already a metric ton of information has been released about various fighting games for the upcoming year. Soul Calibur V is of course no exception with Famitsu getting the details on two new confirmed characters!

The first revealed character is a returning favorite... Astaroth; who if my math is correct, is now 23 years old. The second new character is "Viola"; who attacks with disembodied jewels, very similar to Z.W.E.I. She is working with Z.W.E.I. to accomplish something or another.

We actually didn't get a lot of submissions for last week's Swimsuit Edition of Fanart Friday. What's the problem? Was the topic too "pervy" for Soul Calibur's obviously high brow stature and community? Well moving on...

This week's topic actually ups the perv factor; but in a different way. The topic: gender bending. Draw a Soul Calibur character, but in the opposite sex. Naturally, only official Soul Calibur characters will be accepted.

As you know by now, Kayane had some hands-on time with Soul Calibur V at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany. In addition to the chance to be the first person outside of Namco to ever play the game, she also managed to snag an interview with the producer of the Soul Calibur series: Hisaharu Tago!

In the interview, Kayane and Tago talk a bit more specifically on Namco's future interest with the tournament community, including patching, arcade editions and how they will try to listen to the players. Tago also specifically calls out Hilde's "Doom Combo" as a point of shame for them in Soul Calibur IV. Kayane asks a lot of specific questions about returning characters: Tira, Maxi and Voldo.

Also... if you look carefully at the video, you can see 32 slots for characters!