The SoulCalibur series is no stranger to the concept of the cross game cameo.  Previous installments have seen Spawn, Yoda, Darth Vader, Heihachi and even Nintendo’s pointy eared Hylian, Link show up as bonus characters, so it only makes sense that the upcoming fifth game in the series will uphold this fine tradition.

Earlier this week a screen shot popped up in many an internet forum indicating that Ezio from Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed would be making an appearance on the game’s eclectic roster.  While it seemed like a safe bet that the photo was legitimate, we can now confirm from a recently released trailer that Ezio will indeed be a playable character on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

The famed assassin is the first guest character to truly fit in to the weapon-based fighter’s time period and setting, but it won’t be clear how he’ll play until we get closer to next year’s release date.

[UPDATE] The below trailer posted at GameTrailers indicates that a release date has also been announced. SoulCalibur V is scheduled to be released on January 31, 2012. Looks like we won't have to wait long to see how Ezio will fare against the SoulCalibur roster.