"Consumer anticipation for SOULCALIBUR®II has been monumental," said Dan DeMatteo, President and Chief Operating Officer of GameStop. "Our pre-sell programs have been strong since early on and we fully expect SOULCALIBUR®II to be one of the best-selling titles of 2003."

Featuring more than 15 characters from the original game, SOULCALIBUR®II introduces Necrid, a Todd McFarlane Productions character created exclusively for the series. Each video game system also boasts its own unique guest fighter: Nintendo's Link brings his chivalry to the Nintendo GameCube, Todd McFarlane's comic book hero Spawn brings his powers to Xbox, and Namco's own Heihachi of Tekken fame brings his melee skills to the PlayStation®2.

Exclusive to the U.S. and European versions of SOULCALIBUR®II are the playable characters Assassin, Berserker and Lizardman. Originally included as non-playable characters in the Japanese version, Assassin, Berserker and Lizardman are now playable in the following modes; VS Battle, Extra VS Battle, Team Battle, Extra Team Battle, VS Team Battle, Extra VS Team Battle, Practice and Extra Practice.

"We have finely tuned every aspect of game play to make the release of SOULCALIBUR®II an event well worth waiting for," said Jim Atkiss, Product Marketing Manager at Namco Hometek Inc. "The game has already taken top honors as `Best Fighting Game' at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, and it's poised to exceed expectations and take home even more awards by year's end."

A continuation of the popular SOULCALIBUR® series, SOULCALIBUR®II received the "Best Fighting Game" award at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. With 10 game modes, a host of unlockable costumes and arenas, and over 200 collectible weapons and items, SOULCALIBUR®II delivers the intense fighting action that fans have come to expect of the series.