Assassin's Creed protagonist Ezio Auditore da Firenze may be the next Soul Calibur series cameo, if a purported screenshot from a fighting game tournament is to be believed. The picture is said to come from the beta version of Soul Calibur V, and shows Ezio in his best assassin gown on the character select screen.

A tipster sent the photo to Joystiq, but that lone piece of evidence is all we have so far. Namco Bandai has not officially commented on the rumor, but Shacknews has contacted the company and will update as more information becomes available.

The lack of confirmation or other pictures, paired with the oddity of having a huge reveal readily available at a tournament, gives some cause for skepticism. On the other hand, Ezio actually fits pretty seamlessly into the Soul Calibur style, so he makes a lot of sense as a cross-over character. If we didn't already know him from Assassin's Creed, we might assume his lavish robes and weaponry were designed by Project Soul themselves. At the very least he doesn't stick out like certain Force users.

Soul Calibur V is due in 2012.

[Image courtesy of Joystiq.]