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Namco Bandai climbs out of the red with pair of million-sellers
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, Namco Bandai's "Content" division -- which includes both home-console and arcade games, in addition to music and video products -- increased sales just enough to post a modest operating income of ¥3.09 billion ($38.5 million). In turn, the company turned around from the previous fiscal year's net loss to scrounge up ¥3.78 billion ($46.9 million) in profit. The publisher put out 88 games (including individual iterations of multiplatform titles) across six systems, selling roughly 20.9 million software units in the 12-month period. Its efforts were focused primarily on handheld releases, with 30 games on DS -- plus three more for the 3DS launch -- and 29 for PSP. The company's two bestselling titles during the fiscal year, however, were for home consoles: 2009's still-kicking Tekken 6 accounted for 1.15 million unit sales on PS3 and Xbox 360 in the US alone, and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 sold 1.1M units worldwide on those same consoles, according to the company's financial highlights document [PDF]. While Naruto performed above initial expectations, Enslaved failed to muster numbers in line with even the revised sales forecast reset by Namco Bandai in November. Ninja Theory's action-adventure had to settle for 730,000 units sold across PS3 and 360, falling short of the hoped-for 800K mark. As for Splatterhouse and Majin, the publisher did not report their individual sales, as both titles' performances seemingly fell below 400K units (Namco Bandai's cutoff line for "Main Game Titles," as they appear in the financial highlights report). For the current fiscal year, which began April 1, Namco Bandai forecasts continued gains resulting in ¥8 billion in profit. The publisher has plans to release 90 games during the period, including 26 titles bound for PS3. Props to anyone that can name three of them! (No googling.)
Save on Castlevania, Naruto and more in Amazon's year-end sale
If you thought Amazon would stop holding ridiculous sales because the holiday season is winding down, you are a fool. A hypothetical fool. Amazon's year-end sale (which technically started on Dec. 24) is as good as any offer the retailer had for Black Friday or the pre-Christmas shopping season! The PS3 version of Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is over half off at $25.99, as is the PS3 limited edition of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow at $39.99. Enslaved is just $19.99 on either system, and Atlus hits Demon's Souls and 3D Dot Game Heroes can be picked up for just $16.99 and $14.99 respectively. FlingSmash on Wii is $39.99, which at that price is essentially a free game with a regular-price Wii Remote Plus. Amazon is also offering a 75% discount on a large selection of downloadable PC games, and an even larger selection of casual PC games for $2 each.
Enslaved underperforms for Namco, Naruto exceeds expectations
Namco Bandai may have suffered less terrible losses in the first half of its fiscal year compared to last, but several of the publisher's major titles aren't expected to hit sales goals. Andriasang has a list of comparing the company's hopes for its software to the harsh reality, with Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Cosmic Destruction and Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2 being the overachievers. Ben 10 is expected to have 800K sales -- 100K over forecast -- and Naruto may move a million copies, 300K more than planned. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is expected to sell about 800K units, which is still good, but the publisher expected it to sell a million. Other titles expected to underperform, according to the company, will be the as-yet unreleased Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom with 300K units (-700K below) and Splatterhouse at 350K (-650K below). Enslaved deserves better so, with some luck, hopefully Monkey and crew will have a longer tail than Namco expects.
Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2 review
There's only one staunch barrier to entry with this game, and it's right on the front of the box. "Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2," with its awkward colon placement, speaks to fans of the serialized manga and its long-running anime adaptation so fluently, it sounds like gibberish to anyone else. Oh, and there's a "2" in the title, so now I can't follow because I don't know what happened in Gibberish 1. If you manage to get past the cover (featuring Naruto and his friend-turned-rival Sasuke, by the way), you'll find an energetic and accessible adventure that respectfully harnesses its source material, without locking out newcomers. Fans tuned in to keywords like chakra, Rasengan and Orochimaru will be more invested in the story, and everyone else will find some way to survive a fighting game without being ensconced in the narrative. Just pretend it's called Ninja Tornado Fight. %Gallery-97853%
Here are the world's biggest Naruto fans
You may think you're the biggest Naruto fan in the world, buying headbands, attending conventions, learning rudimentary Japanese and pirating every episode of the show ever. But unfortunately, you still can't compete with the team at CyberConnect2. Why? Look at that manga collection! This dev diary explains their passion for the brand.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 on the radar for Oct. 19 release
In case yesterday's announcement of two Naruto Shippuden games wasn't sufficient Naruto news for you, Namco Bandai announced the release date for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 for Xbox 360 and PS3. Fans will be able to take control of Naruto and, um, all those other characters on October 19. If you'd like to experience a sample of the Ultimate Ninja Storm -- an Ultimate Ninja Drizzle, perhaps, or Scattered Ultimate Ninja Showers -- Namco Bandai also announced that a demo for the CyberConnect2-developed fighting game is available now on both PSN and Xbox Live.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 isn't short on characters
Naruto games tend to be on the gorgeous side of things, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 looks to be another visually impressive entry in the franchise. And that attractiveness won't be lacking for applications, as the game features "over 40" playable characters, evidenced by its latest trailer from Gamescom. If you were looking for a Naruto trailer with, like, dozens of combinations of characters fighting each other, this is the one for you. If not, well, maybe this Dragonball: Raging Blast 2 trailer is more up your alley? We're doing the best we can here, folks.%Gallery-99730%
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 demo now available on Japanese PSN
Do you want to play some Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 before it comes out later this year? If you're a hardcore enough Naruto fan, you'll want to navigate the Japanese PlayStation Store to find the demo (under New Releases). If your kanji isn't up to snuff, don't worry. PSN Stores has recorded a video of the demo that you can watch after the break.
Preview: Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 aims to deliver what any sequel should strive to offer: expanding on the original game's strengths while diminishing its weaknesses. While the first Ultimate Ninja Storm was far from a perfect game, it delivered an incredibly polished (and most importantly, faithful) recreation of the first seasons in the Naruto series. With a number of significant enhancements being made for UNS2, there's good reason for hardcore fans to get excited. Undoubtedly, the most noteworthy aspect of the first Naruto game on PS3 had to be its graphics. Many of the anime's biggest moments were recreated using the in-game engine, arguably besting the visuals found in the original series. While we haven't seen the Xbox 360 port in action, the PS3 sequel still retains the vibrant, authentic look of a hand-drawn cartoon. It's hard to say if the graphics have gotten better, but there are definitely moments in UNS2 that are simply jaw dropping. The combat system has, for the most part, remained unchanged in UNS2. Hardcore fighting enthusiasts will still find it too simplistic. (It does, after all, have only one primary attack button.) However, Naruto fans will appreciate how true to the series fights feel. For the single-player story, it appears boss fights have gotten much more dynamic than before. My fight against Kakashi was lengthy, and moved from one arena to another. The enemy AI has a much-expanded set of moves that took advantage of the environment. For example, Kakashi would electrocute the water, forcing you to quickly find solid land to stand on. Now, fights involve more than just brute force -- there's platforming to think about as well.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 trailer is epic
We could go on about all of the badass ninja action going on in the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 trailer above, but we just can't get past how amazing it all looks in HD. It's like this trailer opened our skull and scooped out our brain, only to leave a drooling husk of a human being in its wake. We guess it's kinda impressive we managed to write this post. So hit the play button above and see Naruto and company throw down in splendid HD glory. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 launches this fall. [Thanks, Andre]
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 revealed, goes multiplatform
Namco Bandai is unsurprisingly working on a sequel to Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. Revealed in the latest issue of V-Jump, the sequel will take place right where the first game left off, at the beginning of the Shippuden series. Not only will the cast of characters be older in the sequel, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is promising some big new features, primarily 4-player support and a multiplatform release. Yep, unlike the first game, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 will be released on both PS3 and Xbox 360. Details are slim at the moment, but with a planned 2010 release in Japan, we'll undoubtedly find out more soon. So long as CyberConnect 2 can expand on the game's depth while keeping its good looks, anime fans will want to keep an eye out for this one. [Thanks Fidoboy17; Via Siliconera]%Gallery-20737%
