He still doesn't belong in this game, but if he's going to be in it, you may as well use him in his native surrounds. That way you can at least pretend Kilik's an curious bonus character in a Star Wars fighting game, and not the other way around.

It seems almost pointless to write hands-on impressions of a game several of you have already gotten your hands on, by I assure you my hands are professional trained to receive impressions still harboring the faint traces of a spiral notebook I fell asleep on in 1989. Those are lasting impressions right there. Either way, I got a chance to test my Soul Calibur IV mettle against some of the Namco Bandai folk at E3 last week, and boy did I ever fail to kick complete ass. Word to the wise: don't button mash against employees of the company creating the game. They are wise to such tricks. Could I alter my strategy and beat them at their own game?

Soulcalibur IV Start Screen and Character Selection

Reader Sourside21 found four Photobucket images of Soulcalibur IV breaking the street date by about 10 days. Well, maybe. It looks like these guys are playing it in the back of a store, so maybe they're employees (or friends) playing with the stock after hours. Naturally, we don't see any gameplay. But we do see the character selection page and Kratos ain't on it. "We'll probably be getting a lot of information on how each of the characters play soon," Sourside21 surmises. Good bet. All the full size photos are on the jump. Officially, Soulcalibur IV drops on July 29 in North America, July 31 in Japan, Australia and Europe, and Aug. 1 in the UK.

Ah, the onward march of technology. Though the fiddly arguments over what “next gen” really means are unceasing, the general trend is that games get bigger, slicker, richer and more lifelike with every passing year.

Soulcalibur’s Ivy may be the poster child for this annual augmentation – literally. It seems with each passing year, her endowment multiplies, ushering in each passing technological evolution with more ludicrous, top-heavy jiggle than the era before.

But it’d be unfair to pick on Miss Valentine. After all, unrealistic body types in games are nothing new, a conversation-starter as old as Lara Croft. The fact that “sex sells” and the proliferation of exploitive body types is a cultural pandemic, not simply a video game issue, is the easy way to explain it, but the “easy” way is seldom very enlightening, nor does it help us learn about why we play.

What does it all mean, in an interactive medium where realism, immersion and engagement are the primary goals? Are we seeking idealistic images as avatars for ourselves, to complete the fantasy of power that gaming can provide?

Is this a case where the gaming audience has been misjudged through the ages by marketing teams who assume each and every one of us is a vapidly salivating 15-17 year-old male – until their assumptions have unconsciously shaped our taste?

Let's shift the focus away from the Soul Calibur IV women for a moment to focus on the new big boss of the Soul Caliburse, Algol. Not to be confused with petite Angol, Algol is the king of an ultra ancient civilization, and the strongest character ever in the Soul Calibur series. This according to character designer Hideo Yoshie, who addressed Angol's design in a statement accompanying these new screens of the character today.

So how powerful is the bird-armored ancient ruler? His right hand glows red because he is holding the Soul Edge, and his left hand holds the Soul Calibur and a blue glow. He has 10 different weapons built into his body. In short, he's much more of a bad ass than a generic energy being who mimics the other character's styles could ever be. Hit the jump for the full description in somewhat broken English from Hideo Yoshie.

Check Out SoulCalibur IV's Darth Vader Stage In Action

Soul Caliber IV’s Starwars Stage [Aeropause]

Soulcalibur IV Adds One More Female Fighter

With this, the seventh new character to join the Soulcalibur IV line up, we're starting to notice a trend. Kamikirimusi, like her predecessors Shura, Scheherezade, Algol Fear, and Ashlotte, is a female fighter designed by a well known Japanese artist, this time by guest artist Hirokazu Hisayuki. Kamikirimusi will fight with a very large metal club/mace and satisfy fans of exposed upper thigh flesh.

Her facial expression seen in the scan above — click through for the full-sized version if you're just visiting the front page — accurately sums up our thoughts on her design.

Ivy's Soulcalibur III Outfit Surprisingly Less Whorish Than We Recall

If the Soulcalibur IV media flood has you pining for a simpler, more demure Ivy, perhaps this Soulcalibur III era Ivy from Enterbrain will fit the bill. Oh, sure, the breasts are still obscene and the outfit isn't exactly appropriate for Sunday mass, but at least there's some amount of coverage here. Plus, it's perfect for displaying on your work desk. What co-worker wouldn't impressed by $120 USD worth of PVC, molded perfectly into Ivy form?

If the cost and shame hasn't scared you off yet, inquire with your immobile action figure importer of choice, because there's not a ton of time between now and September.

Soul Calibur III 1/6 Ivy [HobbyStock]

The Soulcalibur IV Ladies In Action

Sorry for being curt there, but really, that's about all there is to these latest Soul Calibur IV shots. Tits. Oh, and that subtle crotch shot. Good to see Namco Bandai are remembering it's not all about Star Wars, and that there's a church full of the converted who still enjoy being preached to every now and again.

Soul Calibur IV Features Hot Tag-Team Action

The latest issue of Famitsu has more news on Soul Calibur IV. Nothing on Star Wars or disappearing clothes here, though, this stuff's technical: the game will feature tag-team action. Yup, in the good old-fashioned Marvel v Capcom style. Well, almost. It's supposedly not quite as extensive - it's suggested that team-mates are used only for stuff like combos, not full-blooded, mid-battle tap-outs. There's also only mention of it being available in singleplayer, but still. A Vader-Kratos (if confirmed) one-two punch? What a weird and wonderful world we live in.

Soul Calibur IV Features 'Character Swapping' [1UP]

Xbox Live Soul Calibur Sure Looks Like Soul Calibur

It's been almost nine years since I first played the Dreamcast port of Soul Calibur which, at the time, seemed like the pinnacle of fighting game visuals. Another instance of my gaming career where I genuinely thought "This is it. They've done it. It can't possibly get any better." This was, of course, before the engineers at Namco Bandai dedicated man hours and processing power to ass-jiggle physics; before we really knew how detailed a cod piece could be. Anyway, the compressed Soul Calibur for Xbox 360 seems like a fun diversion, but I've still got my Dreamcast hooked up to Input 3 on my television. And Soulcalibur IV is out, like, any day now. Kinda makes the whole thing seem moot.

Soul Calibur Gameplay HD [GameTrailers]

If Darth Vader wasn't enough to sway you toward the PS3 version of Soulcalibur IV, perhaps the God of War will. According to the latest issue of EGM magazine, by way of 1UP, Kratos may be joining the line-up of souls in Namco Bandai's newest weapons-based fighter. Considering that Yoda versus Voldo fights will be commonplace, we're nonplussed at the concept. It's a surprisingly good fit.

Sure, it's a rumor, but that "expect confirmation soon" and a hint about Xbox 360 owners getting their own platform-specific fighter — Joanna Dark? Marcus Fenix? Banjo?! — makes us wonder if this is less of a rumor than it is a tease.

Quartermann: God of War Meets Soul Calibur? [1UP]

While Soulcalibur III was largely forgettable for some of us at Kotaku, some of our best memories were forged in the game's custom character creation tool. The "dancer" style fighter armed with a pair of tambourines made for some rather amusing matches. Soulcalibur IV doesn't appear to be a slouch in the custom fighter department, with all manner of ridiculous weapons and fetish focused accessories at your disposal.

Cowgirls? Check. Pirate wenches? Check. Cat-eared cuties wielding deadly feather dusters? Don't ask stupid questions.

First Guitar Hero kicks the bucket, now this... Soul Calibur IV has been dated and priced for Japan. That's good news! The game will be released on July 31st for ¥7,800 (US$73). Above is the official Japanese box art for the game, box art that features Darth Vader for the PS3 version. Yoda is on the Xbox 360 version's cover. That's, well, not such good news. By putting these iconic Star Wars characters on the box doesn't it make Soul Calibur IV seem less like a Soul Calibur game and more like a Star Wars game? Yes, yes it does. You had a good run SC. Gonna miss ya.

Hit the jump for Yoda and try not to wonder why the Lightsabers aren't slicing through the swords!

A brand new character is joining the cast of Soulcalibur IV and, surprisingly enough, this one isn't sporting Jabba the Hutt sized breasts. Darth Vader's "secret apprentice" Starkiller, star of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will join Yoda and Vader in pitting lightsaber against blade when the game hits the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next month. Yes, Starkiller is coming to both versions of Soulcalibur IV, making your decision that much easier.

Soulcalibur IV Unleashed [GameSpot]

The most recent Soul Calibur IV trailer seems to indicate that besides Star Wars characters and enormous boobs, the game also has destructible body armor. Meaning? That it appears throttling opponents hard enough causes armor to fly off. Wonder if it will be possible to knock Vader's helmet off or if this is just going to your typical disrobe-female-fighters kinda thing. Honestly, we're pulling for naked Yoda.

Pic and video after the jump.

They got the scale right. Vader's a big guy. And they got the cloak right. And...the lightsaber. I guess. But really, all this does is confirm that while for a percentage of people their fanboy dreams are about to come true, it confirms for the rest of us that this is the stupidest Vader-related idea since someone thought screaming NNNOOOOOO would be touching.