So word on the street is that Firmware 2.5 will enable a print screen ability that will allow screen captures of your favorite gaming moments. This may not seem like a big deal, but many might be surprised at the frequency that they would use this function. How cool would it be to make the ultimate online slaughter you performed on your unsuspecting victim serve as your PS3 wallpaper for all to marvel as you boot up your system? Yeah, pretty cool.

Well now that people are getting their long awaited fighting game fix in Soul Calibur 4, Namco isn’t quite done yet as they get set to release yet another premiere version of one of their flagship fighting game franchises. Tekken 6 is on the horizon and there are some Japanese gameplay videos courtesy of Tekken Zaibatsu. This year marks the year of the fighting game and the ultimate versions of them seem to be coming back with a vengeance in the next few months and Tekken is no exception.

Seeing these games finally reach HD with current-gen graphics and technology are surely a sight to behold.

Soul Calibur IV has been out a week and instead of rushing out a review I wanted to give an informed opinion about the title. To cut to the chase, Soul Calibur IV is Legendary. Go buy it today if you haven’t already lost precious hours of your time to this masterpiece.

Graphics: The game is beautiful. There are some of the best rendered and animated models seen to date in a fighter. Lighting effects and stages that are so lush, in the middle of the action you can barely appreciate the details around you. There are even subtle camera effects that occur during fight rounds that create even more kinesis and energy.

Sound: Excellent metal clashes, echoing battle cries and death wails. Sound track holds up to the epic scoring found in previous installments. No songs have yet to loop in my head as they actually have in the past but perhaps given more time some tracks will top surface.

Gameplay: The revolutionary system tweaked to near perfection this time around. Characters seem a bit more balanced since SC3. The past few games have added new combatants and have been balanced with old guard favorites. The new critical finishes and armor break elements add new dimension to the fundamental gameplay that’s a tried and true classic. Critique’s lie in that some of the mobility seems a bit stiffened. The 8-Way movement that seemed to perfect itself in Soul Calibur seems a bit clunkier this time around. Also, they include an amazing ‘character swapping’ tag-team element to the single player modes but none in the VS. or any form of co-op implementation. At its, core SC is a game to play with others. Why introduce such an amazing feature and not put it in the modes it would be most appreciated?

Extras: Another crowning achievement. Custom character creation is incredibly deep. An unnecessary feature as the base roster is sufficient enough, you can create all types of combatants with skinny to muscular body types, faces, hairstyles and armor pieces. The color picker for everything looks like an Adobe Photoshop color picker. Any game with character creation need only look to Soul Calibur 4. My only critique in the extras department keeping the score from 100% is that past Namco fighters rewarded the player with rendered CG endings for every character. In this version, endings are adequate even though mostly rehashes of the same storyline per character. A small gripe considering how much work went into character creation, but enough to keep an arms length from perfect, which this game is dangerously close to.

Replayabilty: With an excellent interface that finally takes a PS3 fighter online I imagine many months of online battles with strangers and friends. The single player tower mode will keeps you busy as you unlock character items to adorn the regular cast and your custom fighters.

Bottom Line: Soul Calibur IV - 9/10