Soul Calibur III PS2 exclusive?

By Ellie Gibson Published 23 March, 2005

You'll be able to create and customise your own character. Apparently.

The third instalment in the Soul Calibur series will be hitting the shelves this autumn, according to a report in US magazine GamePro. And, unlike its predecessor, Soul Calibur III is set to be a PS2 exclusive.

The game will feature 25 fighters, including three new ones. But most interestingly, you'll be able to create and customise your own character, selecting their gender, weapons and even occupation.

New modes are said to include 'Soul Arena' and 'Museum', with the latter offering a look back at the history of the series. And possibly a gift shop selling postcards and pencil sets.

Namco Europe declined to comment on the GamePro article, stating that "nothing has been announced." More as soon as something is.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • speedjack #1 7 years ago

    Nooooooo !!!!

    SC2 is one of my fave games ever and looked stunning on the Cube. To release this as a PS2 exclusive and ignore the 2 most graphically capable consoles is a crime.

    (Would be nice to see it on the PSP tho').

  • drumbaby #2 7 years ago

    SC2 looked stunning on the PS2 though. There really wasn't an awful lot in it, imho.

  • Blerk #3 7 years ago

    Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be 'exclusive' in the modern sense of the word. i.e. for about ten minutes.

  • Rahul #4 7 years ago

    Wait, I missed something here...

    Who's Ellie Gibson?!

  • Razz #5 7 years ago

    Oh damn... it's going to look AWFUL on that dated piece of shit too. Soul Calibur 2 looked awful on the PS2 as well. Oh Fuck, SCE must payed through the nose for that.

  • Blerk #6 7 years ago

    Who's Ellie Gibson?!

    Debbie's sister.

  • IronGiant #7 7 years ago

    "Oh damn... it's going to look AWFUL on that dated piece of shit too. Soul Calibur 2 looked awful on the PS2 as well. Oh Fuck, SCE must payed through the nose for that."

    That's bollox, have you played/seen Tekken5 on PS2?

    This is nothing though, i expect plenty more of these exclusivity shenanigans when PS3/XBox2 get rolling..

  • Madder-Max #8 7 years ago

    /steeples fingers

    Eeeggsellent!

    The last one was stunning......especially Ivy!

  • Razz #9 7 years ago

    I'm not talkign about bloody tekken though am i? I'm talking about SC2. It looked poor... very poor indeed.

  • martyngates #10 7 years ago

    theyd better get the intro sorted this time!, mmm soul edge intro, the greatest intro of all time

  • Razz #11 7 years ago

    "It looked virtually identical on the PS2 next to the Cube - plus you didn't have to use the spazzy controller. "

    WTF?! It looked like a poorly emulated pixelated version, with buckets of slowdown, and missing details.. etc etc. in short. It's looked damn poor in comparison. i agree on the controller though, thank god for pad converters... :)

  • IronGiant #12 7 years ago

    "I'm not talkign about bloody tekken though am i? I'm talking about SC2. It looked poor... very poor indeed."

    Right.. so because SC2 in your opinion looked shite that means SC3 will too even though Namco have just released Tekken5 which looks bloody great. Sound logic there sherlock.

  • Blerk #13 7 years ago

    I don't like the shoulder buttons. They're just... wrong.

  • Serraphin #14 7 years ago

    Ellie Gibson.... not Petes' Ellie Gibson...member of the Kit Kitchen Massive?

  • Peekaboo #15 7 years ago

    " The PS2 didn't suddenly grow some new texture memory though"

    No it didn't but Namcos knowledge of how to use what is there more effectively has increased.

  • beep #16 7 years ago

    I'm sure I saw figures somewhere that showed Soul Calibur II had sold more copies on the Gamecube than the PS2 and Xbox. I guess a lot of people wanted to play as Link.

    Still, it will be interesting to see how SCIII does if it is indeed PS2 exclusive. No doubt it will sell better, but I get the feeling it still won't be the runaway smash they'd like it to be (something about the Soul Calibur series)...

  • absolutezero #17 7 years ago

    I have the Hori SNES pad for my Cube making the Cube SC2 by far and away the best version.

    Gotta say the PS2 was quite ugly in comparison with the other 2.

  • savant #18 7 years ago

    Meh. SC2 wasn't a patch on the original and the mission mode was poor. The original Dreamcast Soul Calibur is still the definitive weapons fighting game all these years later.

  • Peekaboo #19 7 years ago

    " .... so what could they do with even more?"

    Have a look at the Tekken 5 arcade machine ;-)

    And then wonder how they squeezed it all into the PS2.

  • FooAtari #20 7 years ago

    Man thats a totally shit. Goddamn Sony and their "lets screw up the industry" ways....

  • Burton2000 #21 7 years ago

    yeah it wud b sily to have it exclusive to ps2 as yes the gamecube game sold more than ps2 and xbox version the figures were 38% of first week sales were for cube folowed by 34% ps2 then 28% for xbox yeah it was cus of link and if they did the same again put link in it it wud sell well again prob
    Edited by Burton2000 at 23/03/05 @ 13:23

  • IronGiant #22 7 years ago

    "Man thats a totally shit. Goddamn Sony and their "lets screw up the industry" ways...."

    Yeah like no one does exclusivity deals and it's just Sony.. *Resident Evil*. Better get used this, with PS3 and XB2 probably being close in terms of power it's exclusive software that they both need to set them apart.

  • Tweakmonkey #23 7 years ago

    As a publisher it makes sense to rehash the old games and release them as new because of costs. But as the man said - it just seems against the spirit of the series to have SC3 already. They should wait till next gen.

  • Nillsens #24 7 years ago

    I played both the PS2 and Cube version and I prefer the GC controller by far. It's much easier to roll from X to Y or A or any of that, I had to hold my thumb at weird angles in order to do the same on PS2.

    I've clocked over 130 hours in that game, almost all vs. the same person. He still has the best time on arcade mode on my mem card, damnit :p

  • The-Bodybuilder #25 7 years ago

    It's a sad generation, when the original SC still looks better than the majority of fighting games today (excluding the tekken 5 and obviously the DOA games on the xbox).

  • Razz #26 7 years ago

    "Meh. SC2 wasn't a patch on the original and the mission mode was poor. The original Dreamcast Soul Calibur is still the definitive weapons fighting game all these years later. "

    Damn Right! Dare I say that it even looked better than SC2 on any console... it had so much style and beauty, SC1 on the DC is truly the pinnacle of weapon based 3d fighting games.

  • Kami #27 7 years ago

    I, too, heard that SCII sold more on 'Cube than PS2 or X-Box, but the simple truth was that Link sold the 'Cube version. Spawn and Heihachi were great characters, but if anything, SCII proved Link's popularity is still absolutely phenomenal. Not to mention it's one of the most finely balanced fighters you're ever likely to play...

    SC3 a PS2 Exclusive? Nah, I can't see it working, SC2's appeal for me was Link - still an excellent game, but what sold me was Link's appearance in the 'Cube version. And sad to say, I think that is how most will remember SC2... "That one where they put Link in!"

    That said, I'm with above comments. SC3 on next-gen please... not this generation. Space the games apart and make sure they're the best that can be done... Soul Calibur is still the cream of weapons-based combat on any console. They should be very careful about jumping into a sequel so soon...

  • Sid-Nice #28 7 years ago

    The PS2 will be the only viable console of this generation to sell games on in the near future. In November 2005 all Xbox fans will want the Xbox 2, so it's a waste of time producing the game for the Xbox 1. As for the Gamecube, if a great game like Resident Evil can't top the charts, then why bother with a mediocre fighting game? Namco could add Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy to shift some software, seriously though the Soul Calibur series died with the Dreamcast. IMO

  • IronGiant #29 7 years ago

    "It's a sad generation, when the original SC still looks better than the majority of fighting games today (excluding the tekken 5 and obviously the DOA games on the xbox)."

    I'd hardly call it a sad generation at all, more a lazy one. The current machines are very capable of good results, Tekken5 and DOA prove that.

  • FooAtari #30 7 years ago

    "exclusive games sell systems - that's why PS2 is on top."

    Dunno about that, I would say clever marketing and the "cool" image it seems to have obtained is what shitfs PS2's After all the biggest selling games are porbably EA's crap.


    Ok so Sony are not the first ones to get exclusive titles but they just seem to be at the bottom of everything that is wrong with the industry these days IMO. By the way dude I accidently ignored you, how do I unignore someone?

  • Thamuhacha #31 7 years ago

    DBZ Budokai roars off the shelves in Spain / France / Italy and does sod all in the UK

  • Royal Fool #32 7 years ago

    They might still do ports later on with added extras for Xbox and GC... wouldn't put it past them.

    It's Namco, after all.

  • skybluesam86 #33 7 years ago

    But I want Link again. Link rocked.

    I'm not going to lie - the inclusion of Link was a major selling point for me.
    It's a brilliant game in it's own right, and not one I'd usually go for, but having Link made me look into it a bit more.

  • Kami #34 7 years ago

    Stupid having Link in SCII? On the contrary, I think it was genius! Those "stupid" moves were valuable to Link as a stylish character, Link isn't the most powerful, he isn't the fastest, he doesn't have the best range... but he scores maximum points on style and combo potential.

    Yeah, I've seen my brother misuse Link... heck, even I did to start with... but then, who doesn't misuse a characters cheapest moves to start with? The bomb can be a cheap move... but that said, used right it can be a great addition to combos. The bow and arrow, again - it can be a cheap move, but have you seen someone pull off a juggle, and as the opponent flies out of range, they use the bow and arrow to get one last sneaky hit in? I've spent ages practicing that, and I've still only pulled it off a handful of times.

    Link was a very well balanced character. His cheap moves were not particularly powerful enough to really cause too much grief. Besides, don't get me started on Tekken and Eddy/Christie... if there was ever a button-basher's wet dream...

  • Planet #35 7 years ago

    > The PS2 didn't suddenly grow some new texture memory though.

    Why can't people that don't understand the slightest bit of the internals just shut up? That is one point in democracy broadly misunderstood: you CAN have an opinion, but you don't need to have one, especially not tell it everyone. If you got no clue: try keeping silent next time.

  • RobTheBuilder #36 7 years ago

    SCII looked so so much better on Cube, and it didnt have the horrible loading, AND it sold more.

    If this decision HASNT been influenced by Sony then Namco are fucking stupid.

  • Killerbee #37 7 years ago

    Shame. Having supported the Cube version of SCII (Link + the better analogue controller) I imagine I'll probably be giving this a miss.

    Sure the PS2 gives Namco the biggest target market, but it's also the most competitive for beat 'em ups. Given the massive number of PS2 copies of SCII in the bargain bins in most retailers, I don't think Namco should be getting their hopes up that making it an exclusive will boost sales.

  • Dizzy #38 7 years ago

    Since SC2 was justa bad clone of the first game, I don't really care. I will still be playing SC1 on DC.

  • Razz #39 7 years ago

    Aye. it is the best version.

  • Genji #40 7 years ago

    /hugs Dreamcast

    I still love you!

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #41 7 years ago

    Screenshots, getttt yer screenshots!
    Edited by Bertie at 24/03/05 @ 16:26

  • Razz #42 7 years ago

    Just as i thought. The horror... the fugliness... *shudders* i don't know why people still bother to make games for the PS2.

  • pelolep #43 7 years ago

    "Or... maybe they make a beat 'em up filled with Nintendo characters!!!!"

    Its called Super Smash Bros.

    BTW, this isn't gonna be exclusive. They are just saying it is so that more people are gonna buy the PS2.
    Edited by pelolep at 24/03/05 @ 18:14

  • tengu #44 7 years ago

    Yeah! Curse the shitty PS2 to hell! Who cares if it has all the best games and that, it SUUUUUUUUUCKS!!!!11!1!1!111!