One of the more recent traditions in the weapon-focused fighting series Soul Calibur is the inclusion of a guest character or two. It started in Soul Calibur II, with each console's version having their own exclusive character. It was later repeated with Soul Calibur IV, the PSP-exclusive Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, and the Wii-exclusive spinoff Soul Calibur Legends.

But rarely, if ever, do the characters truly mesh with the medieval-esque theme of the game, and they usually wind up sticking out like a sore thumb. That may be somewhat remedied with the newest character to join the fray, as Ezio Auditore da Firenze has now been confirmed for Soul Calibur V.

We first learned of the inclusion of the hero of Assassin's Creed 2 a few days ago when a leaked image of the Soul Calibur 5 character screen made its way online. Now, Namco Bandai and Ubisoft have officially confirmed his inclusion, releasing an official trailer to coincide with the announcement. In addition to showing off Ezio's skillset, as well as confirming that he will be using many of his trademark weapons in combat, it also confirmed that Ezio would be getting his own stage, albeit a bit different from the way it was in Assassin's Creed 2.

See for yourself via the official trailer for Ezio Auditore da Firenze below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBVdXToUvII

In addition to Ezio, we've also learned that another new character has been confirmed for Soul Calibur V - Leixa, the daughter of series mainstay Xianghua. Naturally, like new hero Patroklos takes after his mother Sophitia, Leixa's fighting style is said to be almost exactly like her mother's. Beyond that, we know nothing regarding Leixa - not even a screenshot to see what she looks like.

What's also been confirmed is the Soul Calibur V Collector's Edition, which will contain a 'making of' DVD, the official game soundtrack, an art book with signed art card, an appreciation letter from the folks at Project Soul, and the Dark Knight and Paladin sets for the game's character creation mode. Also, pre-ordering the title nets players the character Lord Geo Dampierre, who first appeared in Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny.

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Though Ezio is certainly a welcome addition to the roster, one can't help but wonder if that's it. We've only seen part of what's said to be a fairly large roster, so he may not be the only guest star to appear. The question is, who else could be included? (still betting on Devil May Cry's Dante)

Are you looking forward to using Ezio in Soul Calibur V? Will any other guest characters appear?

Soul Calibur V has now been confirmed for January 31, 2012, for the Xbox 360 and PS3.