Crap. Then there's no reason for me to get Soul Calibur 4 or vice versa. You can't have 'em both, you know.

Wow, this is huge news. Hopefully Sega will catch on and do the same with VF2!

Not a chance. Since every Soul Calibur since the first version (which was a significant advance on Soul Edge / Blade) has been sort of an incremental update of the game before, SC would be too similar to SC4 for there to be any brand synergy like there would be with the new Bionic Commando and Bionic Commando Rearmed.

Also, there is no way Soul Calibur could fit within the XBLA size restrictions. The DC game is probably hundreds of MB.

I don't know where you heard that news, but it sounds extremely unlikely.

What part of "Its true" didn't you understand, Gnort? ;)

Kidding of course, but it looks to be very legit, it was announced at Namco Day or whatever they're call it (its all over the internet, check for yourself). But I agree with you, I can't see why anyone would want both of them.

Edit:

http://www.namcobandaigames.com/news/press/press/284/page/1

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6189383.html?tag=latestnews;title;0

Gamespot also confirms it.

One big difference between the old game for XBL and the new one being developed for 360 is that the XBL one will only support local multiplayer.

What part of "It's true" didn't I understand? The part that didn't give any link or even cite any kind of source ;)

But after seeing many sites post the news, it must be true. I'll be very interested to see what size it ends up - after MS agreed to bend the rules for Bionic Commando Rearmed, maybe Namco figure they will do the same for them.

Doesn't really appeal to me, though. I'm definitely buying SC4 the day it comes out, why would I want to waste 800 MS points (or more) on an inferior version? It's not like the original has different play mechanics, it just has worse graphics, less characters and less moves.

I'm buying this right now. I'm a Soul Calibur fan (SC2 is the best 3d fighter ever IMO) and along with the release Soul Calibur 4 (already preordered), SC XBLA is a must-buy.

"Also, there is no way Soul Calibur could fit within the XBLA size restrictions. The DC game is probably hundreds of MB."

Depending on which specific release the DC version is just unde 250 MB base. Most DC games are 300 MB or smaller, they just read larger due to "dead sectoring" used as copy protection. Also they can recompress sounds and such which trim it down significantly without much change in quality.

Local multiplayer only isn't a killer for me. Actually I have yet to play a online fighting game which worked well. A lag bump or such in a FPS is annoying, but in a game like Soul Calibur it would drive me crazy.