Soul Calibur IV to feature online play

As part of their Soul Calibur IV cover story, EGM has got word from director Katsutoshi Sasaki, that the sword-clashing sequel will be sporting online play when it lands next year on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. With Namco-Bandai already taking the Tekken series online, it was only a matter of time before Soul Calibur made the evolutionary jump to the Internets.

So what has changed since the previous game? Sakaki explains that now, consoles come standard with a network infrastructure (see: Xbox Live, PlayStation Network) so, "with the current environment, we really couldn't make SC4 without online play."

Sakaki also stresses that while you may not be able to trade them online with friends, customizable characters will be playable online. Now that Soul Calibur has joined the modern age, there only seems to be a scant few fighters missing from the party.