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Namco Bandai posts $66m loss in 1H 2009

Publisher/developer Namco Bandai has posted some rather dim results for the first half of 2009.

The company lost $66 million, while it posted a profit of $14 million during the same period last year, so it’s quite a decline, mostly attributed to lack of decent titles during the period. The company still expects sales to reach $94 million this year, fueled by Tekken 6, of which 2.5 million copies have already been shipped.

Namco announces Tekken 6 success

If you didn’t know, Tekken 6 made its way onto store shelves shelves on October 27th in North America and October 30th in Europe. But already Namco Bandai is announcing that they have shipped 2.5 million copies of the game.

Of course, this doesn’t exactly showcase the game’s success as these numbers focus on units shipped, not units actually sold. We’ll have to wait until the title has been available for at least a week before we see those numbers.

Anyone planning on picking up Tekken 6 if you haven’t done so already?

via joystiq

Namco Bandai dates Clash of the Titans

Namco Bandai has today let us know that the video game based on Clash of the Titans is in fact going to make its way onto North American shelves.

Exactly when, we aren’t sure but the developer has said that sometime in spring of next year the title will be made available for purchase for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. Namco Bandai hypes up the game a bit by saying they, “promise an unprecedented experience for video game and movie fans alike.”

via kotaku

Katamari Forever dated for US release

Namco Bandai has announced today that their ball-rolling puzzle game Katamari Forever will be seeing a North American localization and will make its debut on September 22nd.

The game features a total of 30 levels, some new and some are ports from older games.

No official release for Europe is planned, although it’s expected to be released in September. The game was released in Japan back in July for the PlayStation 3.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 5 coming to USA

Namco Bandai Games has announced that Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 5 will be localized and brought to the United States. The original game, titled Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Accel 2, was released back in winter 2007 in Japan for the PlayStation 2. However, the plot of the manga and television series in the Western hemisphere are way behind the much recent Japanese releases.

The story of the game will go up to the end of the Sasuke rescue arc. Sixty playable characters and twenty-four maps will be featured in the game. For any fans who have issues with the English dub, a  Japanese audio will be included. The game is currently under localization by CyberConnect 2.

Multiplatform European Ghostbusters dated

In Europe, Ghostbusters: The Video Game used to have an exclusivity contract for only Sony platforms. Today, we get release dates for the long awaited multiplatform release of the game.

Namco Bandai Partners has confirmed that Ghostbusters will be released for the Xbox 360, PC, Wii and Nintendo DS on October 23rd.

If you want a good idea of how the game will be, be sure to check out our review of the US version of the game.

Read (VideoGamer)

Tekken 6 shirts from TapouT announced

TapouT, a clothing brand geared towards the mixed-martial-arts community, has announced today that they will be creating shirts based on the Tekken 6 video game. These same designs will also be available in-game for characters to wear.

“Tekken 6 and TapouT fans share a deep-rooted passion for the mixed-martial-arts lifestyle,” said Namco Bandai’s Makoto Iwai “This partnership will bring TapouT’s signature style into the world of Tekken, giving new experiences to video game enthusiasts and MMA fans alike.”

Hopefully these shirts won’t look as awful as Ecko’s Halo shirts. The new clothing line will go on sale this September.

Read (PlayStation Lifestyle)

Tales of Vesperia demo coming to Japanese PS3s July 13th

While this is a Japan only announcement it will definitely give American PS3 owners a ray of hope — It was recently announced that Japanese PS3 gamers will be getting a demo of Tales of Vesperia on July 13th.

For those of you Xbox 360 gamers sitting there scratching your head, yes, this is the same Tales of Vesperia that was released for your console on September 17th.

Hey, at least the PS3 is catching up, right?

Read (Kotaku)

Tekken 6 director happy with Street Fighter IV’s success

Tekken and Street Fighter could arguably be considered two of the most successful fighting game franchises of all time so it would make sense for the two developing companies to hate eachother, right? Wrong, Tekken’s series director Katsuhiro Harada recently told VideoGamer the exact opposite:

“I’ve been a fan of Street Fighter in general, and I was kind of sad to see it die out in the arcades. So I was very happy to see it make a comeback – especially with that new look it returned with while staying true to the original formula. I believe a lot of fans were very happy with that.”

Not only is he the director of the highly anticipated Tekken 6, but he’s also a fan of Street Fighter? It’s nice to see two competing developers live in harmony.

Namco Bandai’s Tekken 6 is due out for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 27th of this year.

All 40 Tekken 6 characters available from start

It’s been a fighting game tradition to leave a characters as unlockables for some time now. However, according to Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken’s series director, this tradition is “outdated”.

He explained his reasong by saying that unlockables first came to be back in the arcade days when developers wanted to get people to play for longer thus increasing the game’s longevity.

I agree with Mr. Harada considering the first time I played Street Fighter IV online and got destroyed by Akuma’s Ultra Combo, I was none too pleased that I couldn’t return the favor next match.

Tekken 6 will be available with all 40 of its characters for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 27th of this year.

Read (videogamer)

Namco Bandai picks up Dragon Ball license

Formally owned by Atari, Dragon Ball has returned to it’s original publisher, Namco Bandai. This is unfortunate for Atari especially considering their current financial situation.

Bandai says that they will have exclusive rights to the Dragon Ball license 5 years beginning in January 2010. Additionally, they will publish the upcoming titles, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo, Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast.

Does Atari losing one of it’s biggest franchises mark the end for the aging company? I guess we’ll find out.

Tekken 6 gets its own wireless sticks

If you missed out on a chance to get your hands on one of the Street Fight IV FightSticks, and are planning on picking up Tekken 6 you should check out the recently unveiled wireless fight sticks (pictured above). These are the same fight sticks we mentioned in a previous post earlier today, so dont’ be confused.

Shown above is the official Tekken 6 Wireless Fight Stick bundle which includes the game, the controller and an art book. For those who care, the stick was made by HORI, not MadCatz.

Finally, the bundle will be made available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and cost $150 for both. The different between the two, however, is that the Xbox 360 version is white and the PS3 version is black.

Read (Joystiq)

Tekken 6 coming October 27

Namco Bandai has revealed that the long awaited follow up to Tekken 5, Tekken 6 will be released this holidays season, more specifically: October 27.

In addition, Namco Bandai announced two pre order incentives. Those who buy the game bundled with the new fight stick controller, can get a wireless version of the controller if they pre-order. The fight stick bundle includes the controller, the game and an art book, and will be released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 for $150.

The second pre order deal is available at GameStop only, and gives those who pre order a free downloadable Penny Arcade “samurai pack”, which we mentioned here.

The Munchables Game Review–OM NOM NOM NOM…

If you ever wondered what a hybrid of Pac-Man and Katamari Damacy might look like, then you need look no farther than Bandai-Namco’s newest bizarre action title for the WIi, The Munchables.

In The Munchables, you’re part of a race of fuzzy little critters that inhabits the planet Star Ving, in which said critters do nothing but eat on a series of peaceful islands interconnected by rainbows.  You may wonder how critters that do nothing but eat can actually survive in their ecosystem–that’s thanks to the Legendary Orbs, gigantic stone structures that vaguely resemble…pudding?  I think that’s pudding.  But I’m terrified that it might be something much, much more disgusting.  Anyway, the Legendary Orbs generate a nonstop supply of food for the critters on the islands, and all is high-calorie heaven until a race of aliens shows up and steals the Legendary Orbs so that they too can become superpowerful monstrousities. All would be lost until one of the critters notices that, hey…these aliens, these “space pirates” as they’re called…look an awful lot like food.  And so, in what may be the single lowest point in interstellar diplomacy since Douglas Adams’ microscopic space fleet was inadvertently swallowed by a small dog, the Star Vingians proceed to eat their invaders.

And that is where you come in.  You’ll steer one of two Star Vingians around, eating anything that even vaguely looks edible and occasionally jumping.  If you find a food monster that is bigger than your mouth (you can tell by noting the “level” of both your character and the character you’re about to chow down on) you’ll have to attack it first to break it into smallish, bite-sized pieces.  Attacking boss characters is slightly more complex than this, however, and requires attacking weak points that will be clearly labelled for you.

As you grow in level, you’ll also PHYSICALLY grow–picture Katamari Damacy in which you don’t push the Katamari, but rather, you ARE the Katamari.  The control scheme is very simple, requiring the nunchuk to move your character around and a couple buttons on the Wiimote to perform the rest of your functions.  It’s also a fairly fun title.  Chowing down on the various enemies and swelling in size is an admittedly visceral thrill, but sometimes, the fun gets a little…strange.  See, at the end of every round, all that food you’ve eaten has to go somewhere…and where it goes…well, this is actually really creepy.  Your character will execute a one hundred eighty degree turn, visibly strain, and…spew a pile of sparkly multicolored orbs from its lower rear quadrant DIRECTLY onto an elderly onion.  Who will in turn seem very happy about this development, and assign you a letter grade based on how deep a pile of sparkly orbs you’ve landed him in.

I thought it was some kind of weird caffeine hallucination the first time I saw it, but then sure enough, the next round I’m burying an elderly onion in a pile of spherical dookie all over again.  And he’s happy about it.

This aside, The Munchables is a surprisingly fun title with some decent humor, graphics and gameplay.  it may not be a great long-term value but in the short term it almost certainly won’t disappoint.  A terrific rental, and possibly even a good buy, The Munchables is plenty tasty.

E3: Soul Calibur Broken Destiny trailer

The latest portable fighting game for the Soul series is shaping up to look really good so far. Besides the addition of Dampierre and Kratos to the roster, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny mainly borrows Soul Calibur IV’s elements, ultimately becoming a portable version of the game. Nonetheless, it looks exciting to play as the protagonist of God of War.

Broken Destiny will be hitting stores on September 30th for the PlayStation Portable.