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Ace Combat Infinity is free-to-play
Namco Bandai Europe confirmed Ace Combat Infinity is the first free-to-play entry in the long-running flight sim series. The PS3 game was announced last month with little detail, and today Namco filled in a few of the gaps, revealing Infinity features both a single-player story campaign and an online mode, the latter for two teams of up to four players. According to Namco Europe's press release, Infinity wings its way to PSN later this year. When approached last month, a Namco Europe spokesperson told us the game was set to be available on September 25. Either way, expect it to loom overhead in the near future.
Namco Bandai extends Codemasters EU distribution deal through 2013
Namco Bandai Europe is continuing to distribute British developer/publisher Codemasters' games throughout Europe, Australia, and New Zealand this year. That distribution now covers "all key" EU territories, including the UK & Ireland. The new agreement represents both an extension and expansion of the two companies' distribution partnership, first cemented in 2010, and includes Grid 2 plus some "unannounced" Codemasters games.The news follows the recent announcement of restructuring at Codemasters, with 80 people reportedly laid off as a result. As for this side of the ocean, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment handled Codemasters' distribution in the Americas throughout last year after taking over from THQ - we can't see Namco Bandai America going back, somehow.
Ni no Kuni goes from another world to ours on January 22
The latest trailer for Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, posted by IGN, ends on the news that it'll be released in North America on January 22, 2012. Namco told Eurogamer that the UK date for the Level-5/Studio Ghibli PS3 game is January 25.The trailer also provides additional exposure to the English voice acting, which we declare "not bad." Should you disagree, however, take comfort in the knowledge that the Japanese track will also be on the disc.
Sky Crawlers landing in Europe this February
Namco Bandai declined to publish The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces in North America, licensing the game out to XSEED instead. However, the company is handling the game itself for the European release, due in February. The game is a flight action game developed by Ace Combat dev Project Aces, and based on both the novel and the Mamoru Ishii-directed anime film of the same name. In addition to the game, the movie is planned for a DVD and Blu-Ray release in PAL territories at an unspecified future date ("coming soon"). That seems like a good idea -- licensed games probably work better when people know what the source material is. %Gallery-67448%
