Fighting games are getting more popular, and as fighting games get more popular, the number of tournaments increases. Something we've witnessed in the SF/MvC community is that when there is a glut of tournaments, the tournaments without a live stream of the events often feel "less important". Thats not to say they in fact, are less important; but they get less exposure and consequently often feel less credible.

As most of you know, we have our own live stream. And while the lack of Soulcalibur on the stream is credited to the decline of popularity in the game, I have still incrementally improved on my equipment so that when Soulcalibur does get popular again, we'll have something special. I often get emails and private messages from people asking what kind of equipment I use; so I figured I would use this column to outline whats needed to give a decent quality stream.

While everyone was busy watching the Soulcalibur V stream yesterday, and in between the announcements that I posted on the SoulCalibur Facebook page for the stream, this piece of news was announced.

Insert Coin Clothing was approached by Namco Bandai Games to produce official t-shirts for the franchise to coincide with the launch of Soulcalibur V, with their first design being one of Cervantes de Leon. If you are a Cervantes fan, looking to represent Soulcalibur, or just looking for a cool t-shirt to wear, then look for this shirt when it becomes available sometime in the first quarter of 2012.

While SoCal Regionals was taking place this past weekend, France was also having their own tournament for Soulcalibur V at a session organized by Namco Bandai Games which took place on December 17th.

The tournament videos, which have been provided to us by Deus-Kaliya, feature players such as Keev, Dina, Hayate, Kayane, Scud, Varghas, Akire, and DTN. Maybe one of the French players can provide some details on the actual tournament for us, so check after the break for the match videos.

Do you love the music in Soulcalibur V? Do you have $80? Then you can purchase the limited edition Soulcalibur V Original Soundtrack from Eminence Music Production.

The limited edition soundtrack, which is now available to preorder, contains over two hours of music on three audio CDs. The limited edition also comes with liner notes, a behind the scenes DVD, and a special set of character cards packed into a hardcover case.

Today, Daishi mentioned via Twitter that the next Soulcalibur V broadcast from their offices in Tokyo, Japan, will take place on Thursday, December 22nd. In this broadcast, the developers will be showcasing matches featuring Xiba, Yoshimitsu, Cervantes, and Aeon, along with something yet to be announced.

I will let the readers speculate on what else may be shown or announced during this broadcast, so make sure to tune in to the broadcast on Thursday and follow @Daishi_CALIBUR for all of the latest Soulcalibur V developments.

I initially had something else altogether planned for this week, but some recent discursive trends in our happy little corner of the Internet make me think I should intercede with everybody for a moment and make a few things crystal clear. I’ve said in the past, both implicitly and explicitly, that this is a very exciting time to be a fan of Soul Calibur.

We’re just weeks away from the release of what looks like it will be an amazing game, we have a solid infrastructure in place as a community that will help people meet up, compete, and improve, and plenty of folks seem legitimately interested in SC5—even people who’ve never picked up any prior SC game seriously.

Given all of those good things and the potential they represent, those of us who have been around for a long time have an obligation to maximize the benefits of all that hype to the best of our ability. Or at least we shouldn’t torpedo everything. Sounds difficult? Never fear, I’m here to share some simple rules which will help immensely.

TagYouRPregnant has been working hard to provide us with videos from the latest public build of Soulcalibur V which is being played this weekend at SoCal Regionals 2011. The videos show off the four newest characters to be revealed (Xiba, Aeon, Yoshimitsu, Cervantes), along with the second player outfits for the new and existing characters.

Also, tune in tonight at 8PM Eastern/5PM Pacific where Soulcalibur V will be streamed live from SoCal Regionals on Twitch TV, courtesy of Level Up Live and Namco Bandai Games.