Ubisoft has just announced their agreement with NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe SAS on the terms of which the latter will be handling the distribution of Soulcalibur IV on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and Soulcalibur Legends (exclusively) on Wii. As the report informs, both will hit European retailers and of course other PAL territories this summer.

Soulcalibur is a well known melee-based fighting series. Soul Calibur IV is the latest iteration which delivers new gameplay modes, new characters and a bunch of enhanced features along with state-of-the-art 3D modeling and animation. The game also boasts some pretty amazing character customization, with endless possibilities. To top it all, the online battle mode should prove once more that next-gen fighting games clearly lacked this addition and what better way to prove it than implementing such a game mode in Soul Calibur IV.

Another recent report concerning Ubisoft's latest installment in the fighting series says that as part of a big-time collaboration between the French developer, NAMCO BANDAI Games America and LucasArts, the Sith Lord Darth Vader will is featured as a guest character in the PlayStation 3 version of the game, while Jedi Master Yoda will be available as the same kind of character on the Xbox 360.

Makoto Iwai (executive vice president and COO at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc) had this to say in light of the initiative: "It is quite rare that two publishers of this caliber are able to collaborate on this level to create a top notch entertainment experience for next-generation platforms. In the entertainment industry, LucasArts possesses some of the most recognizable characters and franchises in the world. We're thrilled to integrate their historic characters into one of our most treasured brands"

The Wii version of the game, Soulcalibur Legends, is more for the action-adventure gamer in you, taking this unique approach to the series by using the Wii's motion-sensitive control scheme. So it's practically a different game altogether, worth buying at least to see how well a fighting series as popular as Soul Calibur can morph into the action-adventure type over night. R2D2 would have made a great guest character for the Wii version, don't you agree?