SoulCalibur has long held a special place in the hearts of fighting game fans.  The combination of weapon based combat combined with exaggerated, yet memorable characters was a welcome change of pace from the Tekkens and Virtua Fighters of the day.  While never accused of being the deepest of fighting games, its trademark accessibility assured that both the core and casual fighting fans could enjoy their time in the ring.

It’s been four years since the last SoulCalibur was released and a lot has changed. The fighting genre has seen a revival and the market is a lot more crowded than before. So when the sixth installment was announced in May 2011, fans of the series knew that business as usual would no longer be enough. The new SoulCalibur V would have to make substantial changes in order to differentiate itself from the other big titles in the fighting genre as well as evolve from its previous iterations in the series.

Three years after the release of Soulcalibur IV, Soulcalibur V was officially announced by Namco Bandai last night. Due out for a 2012 release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the next installation of the weapon-based fighting series will return in all of its violent and chesty glory.