Fighting game characters have long been accompanied by their own personal arenas, and that's proving true for the Star Wars combatants appearing in Soul Calibur IV. The game was on display at the recent Anime Expo 2008, where attendees got a first glimpse at a fighting ground from a galaxy far, far away.

In this particular case, it's Darth Vader's stomping (and lightsaber-ing) ground: the docking bay of an Imperial Star Destroyer. No sign of Yoda's yet, but we're hoping for Degobah, the Jedi Council chambers, or Frank Oz's dressing room.

[Thanks, iChristy!]

Nintendo's love affair with the Neo Geo continues this week, giving players who have not yet shelled out for one of SNK's numerous other arcade collections yet another outlet to spend their hard-earned dollars, or rather, points.

• King of the Monsters (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points): While already available on the Wii already as part of SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1, it's good to know that despite all of the problems in the world, there are still some disagreements between a giant lizard and an overgrown beetle than can be settled as part of a midtown battle royal. SNK's arcade original King of the Monsters allows players to choose from six different giant creatures and then grapple with the others in order to decide the fate of the city, as long as that fate ends in total devastation.

Nineteen-year-old German homebrew programmer "Fuzzy" recently revealed his latest project for Nintendo's dual-screened handheld; a portable port of Nintendo's franchise mash-up brawler, titled Super Smash Bros. Rumble. The above shakycam video reveals the early fruits of his labor -- so far, only three levels and one character (Mario) are available. It obviously needs a massive amount of work, particularly in the character design and animation departments, but it's a wicked idea. We hope that Fuzzy will continue working on this inspired project, provided that Ninty's legal juggernauts abide.

Let's face it -- one of the main things that has set Mortal Kombat apart from its contemporaries throughout the years has been its inclusion of flagrant acts of grisly violence. When Ed Boon explained that the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe would explore the softer side of the series with Teen-rated acts of pugilistic carnage, many fans were upset, as it seemed their thirst for evisceration would go unslaked. The latest salvo of screenshots for the brawler from Midway might confirm or ease your fears of a censored MK title -- no, there's no evidence of any impromptu spine-removal procedures, but there's pummeling and arm-breaking aplenty. Does the latest entry in the toasty franchise look gruesome enough for your sinister bloodlust?

Konami has finally lifted the coffin lid on Castlevania Judgment, the Wii-bound installment of the long-running vampire vanquishing venture. If you missed the Nintendo Power reveal, know that Judgment allows players to "slash, stab and whip their way across a variety of stages and environmental elements," and play as several characters from the franchise's illustrious history. Also, it's a 3D fighting game, "certain to thrill old and new fans of the franchise."

Of course, not every connection with real Castlevania games will be severed -- in fact, you can hook up the upcoming DS game, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, to "unlock bonus gameplay content." Castlevania Judgment will also support head-to-head (Belmont-to-Belmont?) play via Nintendo's online service, perfect for those times when you just want to lash out at internet strangers. Whips! They did it again.

Who knew that Pulitzer Prize winning authors were taking their hard-earned awards and combining it with writing skill to... play Grand Theft Auto IV? It's not like they can be accused of slacking, having won a Pulitzer and all. Junot Diaz who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao spent some quality time ripping off cars and robbing his fellow Liberty City denizens, but in the end he says the game isn't worthy of the praise that's being spoon-fed to the masses.

Capcom's Seth Killian has posted a friendly note for fighting fans on the official Capcom blog, reminding us that Street Fighter IV begins hitting Japanese arcades the week of July 21. Not all that helpful for those of stuck in the States. Thankfully, "S-KILL" also has the lowdown on where and when the general public can experience the game for themselves on this side of the Pacific.

The final coin-op version of SFIV will be playable July 24-27 at San Diego Comic-Con and at the Evolution 2008 fighting game competition finals in Las Vegas from August 8-10. As an added bonus for EVO 2008 attendees, Capcom will have the latest build of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix on hand as well.

With Neo Geo games popping up virtually on the Wii, not to mention in more compilations than we can count without taking off our socks and shoes, we've begun looking at the cartridges gathering dust on our shelf and wondering if selling all that plasma to pay for SNK's console back in the early 90s was worth it after all. That said, if you didn't get your fill with Samurai Shodown earlier this month, perhaps this week will scratch your itch.

• Fatal Fury 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points): Today's release gives us yet another title in our Neo Geo collection to throw up on eBay. This second installment in SNK's 2D fighting game series lifts the original's pitiful three-character roster to eight, and when first released in arcades in 1992, it also marked a welcome, if obvious attempt to ride on the back on Capcom's Street Fighter 2 hadoken-embroidered coattails.

OK, so not so much a surprise on the XBLA front this week, since we brought you the rumor last week that Soulcalibur would likely be released soon on the service. (It'll be there this Wednesday for 800 points [$10]). But hey, Schizoid wasn't released like we thought it would be, so that's kind of a surprise, right? Not like, a great one, but a surprise all the same.

In other surprises that won't necessarily have you vibrating with glee, Wits and Wagers will be getting 280 new questions this week for 320 MS points ($4). In case, you know, you played it so many times that you ran out of questions.

When Soul Calibur's cadre of fighters cut their way onto the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this July in North America, they will do so in pairs. The latest issue of Famitsu reveals that the game will feature tag team elements in order to "perform combos" based on an on-screen meter that depletes as characters continue to test the bonds of friendship.

However, according to crack CAG translators, it remains unknown to what extent "character swapping" will be featured in Soul Calibur IV. The article interestingly only mentions the mechanic in reference to the game's single player mode, and that "teammates may suddenly join and leave at the end of the battle." We can't imagine that Namco Bandai would be so shortsighted as to leave something like this out of the game's versus mode. Still, we imagine that just the idea of Darth Vader conquering the galaxy shoulder to shoulder with top-heavy Taki (or Ivy, or Cassandra, or...) is enough to get fan fiction writers reaching for the keyboard and a change of pants.

Castlevania's coming to Wii after all, but not in the form you expected ... or may have hoped for. Nintendo Power's latest issue (August 2008, their 20th anniversary edition – congrats!) has the scoop on Castlevania Judgment, a 3D fighting game featuring characters (and game mechanics) from the classic vampire-thwapping franchise.

In its first look at the game, the Nintendo Power gang reveals that Castlevania Judgment will feature gameplay that uses the nunchuck for character movement and the Wii remote for swing-based attacks. Sub-weapons such as crosses and holy water, a staple of the series, will appear and – just as in the action-adventure games – cost hearts to use. The character roster as revealed so far includes Simon Belmont, Alucard, Dracula, Maria Renard, and Shanoa. Traps, random monsters, and destructible environments will also play into combat.

The August issue of Nintendo Power is arriving in subscriber's mailboxes now. Thanks to GoNintendo for the heads-up, and to Nintendo Power for confirming the story. Otherwise, we'd have chalked this one up to a really bad weird dream caused by too much cold medicine. Achoo!

Our frenemies at Xbox 360 Fanboy have noticed an interesting trend: Pages appear for games at Xbox.com, then they're the next XBLA games released. Seriously, it's happened twice. If we're in for a repeat performance, you can expect fighting classic Soulcalibur and former XNA title Schizoid to appear on the service next week, as pages for both have been discovered on the site.

As developer Torpex has already said Schizoid is due next month, which would lend a little credence to the rumor, though Soulcalibur remains a wild card. The the suspense is all but unbearable, but at least we know it will end Monday when the real additions are revealed.

Source -- Schizoid
Source -- Soulcalibur

The Super Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Deluxe Your Mom HD Remix beta started yesterday and, for those who just can't bring themselves to buy Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, we've placed some videos of what the beta looks like after the break. Although we received numerous complaints yesterday that the beta wasn't working properly, this seems a good a time as any to link the definition: Beta. For those who are playing the SSFIITHDR beta -- and actually have it working properly -- what do you think?